Is American University or NYU harder to get into?

The biggest practical tradeoff is that NYU is meaningfully more selective overall, while American University is still selective but typically sits in a more accessible admissions tier. In real planning terms, NYU should be treated as a reach for most applicants, whereas American is more often a match or reach depending on your academics. That difference comes from NYU’s larger national and international applicant draw and especially intense competition in certain schools and programs.

So if your question is simply which is harder to get into, the answer is NYU. That is the more useful way to frame your list as well: do not treat these two schools as equally difficult. American attracts many strong applicants, especially students interested in politics, international relations, and DC-based opportunities, but it is not usually in the same selectivity category as NYU.

A second nuance is that both schools can vary by program. At NYU, applying to highly sought-after divisions such as Stern or Tisch can make admission even tougher than NYU overall. At American, selectivity can also shift somewhat by major interest, but the school-wide gap compared with NYU is still the main takeaway.

For college planning, that means NYU belongs in your more aspirational group, and American should usually be placed a step less aggressively unless your grades, course rigor, or testing are well below each school’s typical admitted pool. The two are not interchangeable from an admissions-risk standpoint.