# American School of Dubai or Dubai American Academy



## tniznik (Oct 5, 2014)

Any insight on either one of these schools would be great. Is one better than the other?


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## JhonnyLever (Apr 24, 2015)

HI
Did you make the move? Did you get any feedback?


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

These two are the top two American schools in Dubai, easily.

ASD is older and is the only genuinely non-profit school. It has a charter that exempts it from having to comply with local educational ministry's requirements so it's not subject to local educational fads. This generally only impacts the Arabic and Islamic instruction, most schools are required to offer these two subjects and their final annual review score is heavily dependent on how strong those two courses are. ASD doesn't care, and doesn't offer a separate "Islamic" class. 

ASD has one of the nicest campuses in Dubai. The school gives preferences to holders of American and Canadian passports, so almost all students will have one or the other. Note that many students will actually be dual passport holders (such as Canadian-Lebanese). Academics are excellently regarded.

ASD is the more expensive of the two and has a complicated set of fees, which you can find out about on their website. Admissions is the most competitive of the two as a lot of places are taken up by company debenture.

DAA is accepted as the #2 American school, following ASD. It's run by the GEMS educational group, so it's technically a for-profit school, like most international schools in Dubai are. The campus is not as nice as ASD but I know Americans who liked it because it reminded them of their "normal" American school environment, while ASD is more like an expensive American private school. Academics are well regarded, probably not really different from ASD. More diverse student body, with both American/Canadian and non American/Canadians. Admissions is slightly easier than ASD but it's still a sought after school.


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