Our Class of 2029 has officially been welcomed to American University, and recruiting #AU2030 is already underway. Welcome to our new blog!

It’s another season of beginnings. It’s been a little over a month since the Common App opened for the 2025-2026 application cycle on August 1, and only a few weeks since we welcomed our new first-year and transfer students for move-in and the start of the fall 2025 semester.

Our Class of 2029—more than 1,700 students hailing from DC, 49 states, and 42 countries—received an All-American Welcome from fellow students, faculty, and staff, kicking off their AU journey with cheerful displays of community support, words of wisdom, symbolic rubs of the Eagle statue’s talon, and plenty of exciting Welcome Week activities.

While we couldn’t be more excited to see our newest Eagles around the nest, we also can’t help but look forward to recruiting our next flock of Eagles, the Class of 2030. It’s in our nature! After a record-breaking year of applications—20% over Fall 2024 and the highest number of applicants in American University’s history—in addition to our first year of implementing Early Action, we’re looking forward to what’s in store for #AU2030.

As we navigate the evolving landscape of higher education, we’re always looking for innovative and collaborative ways to expand how we recruit our future changemakers and make an AU education accessible to them.

In June, we announced a new partnership with Matriculate, a national nonprofit that connects high-achieving high school students from limited-income backgrounds with college advisors, to help students navigate the admissions process. Through this new collaboration that goes into effect with the Class of 2026 high school graduates, AU will meet the full financial need for at least two Matriculate High School Fellows, provide outreach and education to eligible high school students, and expand efforts to recruit virtual college Advising Fellows on campus.

It’s also been an exciting year for the entire American University community. From achieving R1 status as a top-tier research institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, to receiving the largest gift by any individual donor in AU’s history to name our School of Education as the Linda A. and H. Kent Baker School of Education, our mission to empower lives of service and purpose has never shone so bright here at AU.

We continue to expand our academic programs as we keep pace with new tools and systems in today’s workforce and nurture the next generations of leaders. Our Kogod School of Business unveiled a new suite of academic offerings in Business Analytics and AI, including an undergraduate major, undergraduate minor, graduate master’s degree, and certificates and badges. The College of Arts and Sciences just launched a new Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Popular Music Performance and Enterprise.

Additionally, 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the Katzen Arts Center, whose second floor is home to our Welcome Center. We hope you’ll schedule a visit to AU’s campus in our Washington, DC neighborhood this fall (a top contender for favorite time of year here) and get the chance to not just stand among the history but be part of history in the making. That’s what it’s all about at American University.

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