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Auditing Guidelines By School

Please see below for lists of ineligible/eligible courses by school. All courses require professor and/or department approval.

Instructor names can be found by expanding the “View Available Sections” tab on the desired course in the schedule of classes, and instructor contact information can be found using the university directory. If no instructor name is listed, department approval will also be accepted. Contact information for academic departments can be found using the university directory.

Applications submitted without instructor or department approval will be denied.

General Requirements

The following courses are not eligible for the audit program:

Seminars, workshops, boot camps, internships, or independent studies
Courses that require a special tuition rate or are taught at other institutions through the consortium
Course sections with a restriction listed under “Additional Information”
Courses facilitated by a third-party vendor

Any questions about course eligibility should be emailed to the appropriate school or department.

Professor Approval to Audit

Instructor or department approval is required of all courses selected from the schedule of classes, including back-up courses, and must be received as an attachment to your application. If an instructor or department will not give approval, applicants are encouraged to pick another course. Applications submitted without prior instructor or department approval will be denied.

We encourage audit applicants to use and edit the email template provided below when requesting professor or department approval for a course.

SUBJECT: Permission to Audit [Course Name]

Hello Professor [last name],

My name is [your name] and I am writing to seek permission to audit your class, [Class Code – Class Name], for the [fall/summer/spring] semester through AU's Audit Program. The program requires audit participants to receive permission from professors via email before applying.

I am currently [current job/goals/schooling]. I am looking to [what you hope to gain from auditing the course] and would appreciate the opportunity to audit your course this semester.

I am happy to discuss expectations around my participation in your course and to answer any questions you may have about my experience or interest. If you have questions about the audit program itself, you can email alumniaudit@american.edu.

Thank you,

[your name]

College of Arts and Sciences

All courses require professor or departmental approval.

The following course sections are not eligible to audit for Fall 2024:

ALL online courses in Health Studies and Economics
ALL Capstone Experience Courses
AMST-400 Interpreting American Culture
AMGT-680 Cultural Policy and the Arts
AMGT-696 Selected Topics: Non-Recurring
AMGT-794 Lit Review & Proposal Writing
AMGT-795 Research and Writing
ANTH-421/621 Health Geographies
ANTH-422/622 Neoliberal Globalization & Health
ANTH-423/623 Militarization and Health
ANTH-424/624 Science, Technology and Health
ANTH-425/625 Health, Care, and Social Movements
ARTH-205 Renaissance Perspectives
ARTH-225 Buddhist Arts of Asia
ARTH-256 Mediterranean Art History
ARTH-256 Mediterranean Art History
ARTH-257 Spanish & European Art History
CAS-301 The SEA Semester Experience
ENVS-324-003 Environmental Health
HIST-085/485/685 Hiroshima, Nagasaki & Beyond
HIST-399 Conversations in History
HIST-468/668 Topics in Public History – Museums Inside Out
HIST-751 Graduate Research Seminar
HLTH-245 Multicultural Health
HLTH-366 Spanish for Public Health
ISCI-196 Selected Topics: Non-Recurring
ISCI-450/650 AU I-CORPS Venture Develop
MATH-125 The Math Workshop
MATH-170 Precalculus Mathematics
PERF-065/165 Musical Theatre Production
PERF-066/166 Musical Theatre Role Development
PHIL-120 Do the Right Thing
PHIL-200 Introduction to Formal Logic
PHIL-220 Moral Philosophy
PHYS-230 Changing Views of Universe
PSYC-115/116 Psychology as Natural Science
SOCY-210 Power, Privilege, & Inequality
STAT-202 Basic Statistics
STAT-320 Biostatistics
STAT-415 Regression
WGSS-350 Interpreting Gender in Culture
WRT-025 STEP Pre-College Writing Seminar
WRT-100/101 College Writing
Any 488 World Language Course (FREN 488, GERM 488, etc.)
Any capstone or thesis experience courses
Any course sections listed as "Open only to students in the International Accelerator Program"
Any courses with a "CAS" or "MUS" course prefix including CAS-124
Courses listed with "Restriction: Applied Economics Online(MA)," "Restriction: Nutrition Education (MS)," "Restriction: Data Science Online (MS)" or “Restriction: Health Promotion Mgmt (MS)” including but not limited to:
- ECON-600
- ECON-601-001/003
- ECON-605-001/003
- ECON-623-001/003
- ECON-624
- ECON-632
- ECON-642
- ECON-661
- ECON-673
- ECON-680
- HLTH-525
- HLTH-530
- HLTH-570
- HLTH-610
- HLTH-615
- HLTH-625
- HLTH-630
- HLTH-640
- HLTH-641
- HLTH-645
- HLTH-650
- HLTH-651
- HLTH-655
- HLTH-683
- HLTH-696

Kogod School of Business

All courses require department or professor approval.

The following courses are not eligible to audit for Fall 2024:

FIN-060 - Introduction to Finance
KSB-100 - Business 1.0
MGMT-458 - Strategic Management
Sections restricted to the Kogod Honors Program
Courses restricted to the Full-time MBA program and the MS in Marketing program
Online MBA course
Online MSAn courses
Online MSIRB courses
Online MS Accounting courses
Online courses offered through 2IR, 2U, or Deltek

School of Communication

All courses require department or professor approval.

Only the following courses are eligible to audit for Fall 2024:

COMM 200: Writing for Communication
COMM 260: Quantitative Methods for Journalists
COMM 365: Digital Media and Culture
COMM 401: Communication Law
COMM 409: Journalism Ethics
COMM 420-009: Pop Culture and Communication
COMM 544: Foreign Correspondence
COMM 560: Backpack Documentary
COMM 678: Advanced Portfolio: Large Format Photography

School of Education

Courses in the School of Education are eligible for audit at the professor or department’s discretion. Please obtain professor or department approval prior to submitting the application.

School of Public Affairs

All undergraduate courses require approval from the professor and from Saul Newman, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. Email him first for approval at snewman@american.edu. If he approves, you will then need to request approval from the professor. Please note for Fall 2024: approval may not come until at least the week before classes begin.

All graduate courses require approval from the department chair. If the department chair approves, you will then need to request approval from the professor.

Department of Government: David Lublin, dlublin@american.edu
Department of Justice, Law & Criminology: Bill Davies, davies@american.edu
Department of Public Administration & Policy: Anna Amirkhanyan, amirkhan@american.edu

The following courses are not eligible to audit for Summer 2024:

GOVT-391
JLC-491
All classes in the MPAP, MSCTHS, and Key Executive MPA as well as independent studies and internship classes as well as Master’s level independent studies and internship classes.
All SAMI classes (SPA 085 and SPA 685)
PUAD-610 Public Administration Capstone
PUAD-688 Policy Practicum
All doctoral-level classes
All Online MPAP classes including:
- PUAD-606 Foundations of Policy Analysis
- PUAD-612 Introduction to Public Administration & the Policy Process
- PUAD-617 Project Management
- PUAD-626 Legal Issues in Public Administration
- PUAD-630 Public Managerial Economics
- PUAD-633 Budgeting and Financial Management
- PUAD-650 Leadership in a Changing Workplace
- PUAD-660 Quantitative Methods
- PUAD-661 Foundations of Program Evaluation
- PUAD-665 Managing Human Capital Assets
- PUAD-684 Organizational Analysis
- PUAD-688 Policy Practicum

School of International Service