American University

A college of about 6,000 undergrads in NW Washington, DC. American is consistently ranked in the Top 100 Colleges in the United States (currently #85 by U.S. News & World Report). It has students from all 50 states and 140 countries. Besides George Washington University it is the only university in America chartered by an act of Congress. You won't get your typical "college" experience here, as many students are off campus and involved in outside jobs, internships, etc. in the District of Columbia. American sports a small, though charming and beautiful, campus. Some of the students can be stuck up and talk about how they "got into Harvard, Georgetown, and Columbia, but got a full ride at AU", but overall most of the kids are down to Earth and friendly. Most everyone's politically active/knowledgable, and campus life is generally stimulating. It's a dry campus though, and the RA's/Campus Security can get God-complexes sometimes, so take a shuttle/10 minute walk to the metro and go to Adams Morgan or Georgetown on weekends. Generally though a pretty chill place to go to school.