Students who are new to American International College, including first-year students, or transfer students, may find themselves wondering how AIC ranks compared to other colleges that are similar.

Niche is an online company that produces rankings of schools, whether primary, secondary, and higher-education institutions, and reports their grades and rankings on their website.

The grades and rankings are calculated from many data sets on the schools as well as public reviews. The purpose of these rankings is for students to have a general understanding of what other people think of that specific school.

Niche has posted their grades and rankings for AIC on their website.

According to Niche, the grades for AIC are as follows: the academics received a C+; the diversity of the school received the grade of an A+; the athletics received a B+; the value received a B; the quality of campus life received a C; and the party scene of AIC was graded as a B.

As for a few of the rankings, AIC was ranked 75 out of 1,583 for the most diverse colleges in America, 477 out of 1,692 for most conservative colleges in America, and lastly was ranked 268 out of 1,407 for best athletics.

Now, it is important to hear student opinions on these grades and rankings as well, as some colleges may portray themselves differently during the application process.

It is also important to note that every student may have varying opinions on their experience so far at AIC, so it is important to see what students think about the school they attend.

Kyle Kalin, a sophomore psychology major, stated, “AIC was actually my first choice behind ivy league schools, which was definitely a stretch. But I figured it was worth applying.”

Kalin had AIC at the top of his list for hopeful acceptance, only trailing ivy league schools which he knew would be difficult to get into.

Other students, such as Antonaya McMillian, who is a communication major in her sophomore year, did not exactly have AIC at the top of their list. “AIC was not my first choice,” she explained.

As for the grades and rankings, some students seem to feel that they are accurate, while others believe they need some adjustments.

“The grades look accurate,” an anonymous source explained. “As for the rankings, I feel as though AIC should be ranked much lower when looking at the athletics and the conservatism of the school itself.”

Antonaya McMillian, on the other hand, agrees with some grades, but thinks some could be changed. “I agree with the diversity grade because the campus is full of students from all over the world. The athletics grade could be a little lower. The campus grade should be higher because overall the AIC campus is very well put together, and is a pretty safe school.”

Kyle Kalin was mostly in agreement with the grades AIC received, except for one. “I largely agree with the grades, aside from the education grade,” Kalin said.

“In my opinion, so far I have gotten a great education within my first couple of years. And I think my professors have been very knowledgeable as well as very helpful when I have questions.”

Now, as stated above, it is also important to make sure that the school is living up to the promises and expectations that were made during the application process.

“I do like the school overall,” Kalin admitted. “However, I will say that they definitely portrayed themselves in the application process a little bit differently than what it actually is, especially for commuters.”

Kalin faces some challenges as a commuter that he thinks were not presented to him when he was applying. “The school made it sound like AIC had a ton of commuters,” Kalin said, “and that they tailored the way school works to be more accommodating to them, which I don’t feel is the case.”

While the reality of commuting may have been misrepresented to some students, others feel that the school did portray an accurate picture of diversity on campus during their application process.

The same anonymous source from an earlier quote stated that “I had no preconception of AIC. I knew the numbers, the programs I wanted, and the location. The thing I can agree with is that the school portrayed itself as very diverse from what I heard, and it definitely has lived up to that standard.”

It seems as though there are some mixed feelings about this situation among the school’s student population.

When it comes to comparing AIC to other schools, everyone will have their own opinions. All students have things they dislike about the school and things they love about AIC.

Editor’s note: this article includes statements that are opinionated and do not represent the institution as a whole.