AU DC Semester - Fall

Take up to 16 credits  

• CORE-100 American University Experience I – AUx1 (1 cr.)  
  • AU Core Foundations requirement 
• CORE-107 Complex Problems Seminar (3 cr.)
  • AU Core Foundations requirement 
  • Taken in your University College cohort
• WRT 100 College Writing OR WRTG 106 College Writing, Intensive (3 cr.)
  • AU Core requirement 

• Quantitative Literacy I (Q1) (3 cr.)  

  • AU Core Foundations Requirement 

  • Multiple math and statistics courses to choose from 

• Major Requirement (3 cr.) 

• Elective (3 cr.) 

Greece Abroad Semester - Spring15 Credits

Students participating in Cornerstone Abroad will take some courses as a cohort and some courses alongside other study abroad or degree seeking students. Students should expect to make significant progress towards their AU degree requirements in their semester abroad. 

All students will take the following courses as a cohort:

• WRT-101 College Writing Seminar (3 cr.)  

  • AU Core requirement 

  • If the student has completed their W1 requirement prior to this semester, they can substitute another elective. 

• HIST-3XX 20th Century Greek History (3 cr.)  

  • AU Core requirement (Socio-Historical Inquiry Habit of Mind) 

• HIST-2XX Thessaloniki: A City and Its Inhabitants (3 cr.) 

Students will also be able to take several courses that count towards their major or elective requirements:

• 2 or 3 ACT major/elective courses (3 cr. each)

  • For the current course lists, please visit the ACT Course Offerings webpage. All courses at ACT must have a course equivalency before credit can be obtained.

ACT is an American style university in Greece with small class sizes and an involved student population, with approximately 1000 degree-seeking students from diverse backgrounds and about 30 different nationalities. Students can take three-credit courses in a variety of subjects ranging from liberal arts, technology, and business to Greek language, history, culture, and art. Courses that AU students will find particularly interesting are offered in Diplomacy and International Relations, Balkan and European Studies, Communication and New Media, and English Language and Literature. A full-time course load is usually four-five ACT classes for AU students (12-15 credits), and students can choose their courses up to and during the first week at ACT.

Enrollment will be based on available seats. Students will submit their course selections ranked in order of preference. 

In all instances, the credit students receive for their AU Abroad experience will appear on their AU transcript as AU credit and grades will be calculated into their overall grade point average.  

Universities around the world use different systems for calculating credit hours and grades. Please see below for additional information about how credits and grades earned on this AU Abroad program will translate to American University.  

Course Equivalency  

To determine what AU courses will appear on a student’s transcript, AU faculty members evaluate each course taken abroad and assign an AU equivalent. Students should visit the Course Equivalency Database to determine which of their courses have already received AU equivalencies. Please note, students are NOT limited to the courses in the database. They can request an equivalency for a course that does not have an active articulation. These requests are made through the Course Equivalency Database. 

If an ACT course is not yet in the course equivalency database, AU students can email bahry@american.edu to request syllabi for up to eight courses at a time using the ACT course title and course number. Once students have the appropriate ACT syllabi, please submit course equivalency requests using the course equivalency database linked above.

Course load and credits  

Students are required to enroll in a full course load (the equivalent of 12-17 AU credits per semester) while abroad. A full course load on this program is generally 4-5 courses a semester. All courses at ACT are worth 3 credits and the credit system is equal to the credit system at AU. 3 credits at ACT equals 3 credits at AU. 

Although many local ACT students do just 12 credits during one semester, AU students should be sure to consider if 12 is enough credits. Some AU students are required to maintain 15 credits average per semester for scholarship purposes - this applies abroad just like at AU.  Disregard the info from ACT that you have to pay tuition per credit for each credit over 12. You cannot take more than 17 credits per semester while you are abroad. 

Grading Scale  

Your program grades students on a similar scale to that used at American University.  No grade translation is necessary.  The only exception is in regard to the grades of D+ and D- given at ACT.  AU does not have these grades.  All levels of D (D+, D, and D-) earned at ACT will be given the AU grade of D.