African-American and Minority Students at LACs

Parents Forum
81

<p>
[quote]
Well that depends on what the student is looking for in terms of black enrollment. Insisting on black enrollment above 8% would eliminate a lot of schools, but I found plenty of great schools that met my threshold of 4%. And I can't think of a single school with less than 3% enrollment, for which there isn't a peer school with black enrollment of at least 3%...

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yep, right again foolishpleasure. 3-4% is a fairly low bar. Of course, borrowing from your comment to tokenadult, those percentages work out to pretty small absolute numbers at LACs. That alone understandably disqualifies them from consideration for many. However, given some of their advantages, I just wish more AA students would give LACs a chance. I wish more parents prepared their kids to go into those type of environments and thrive, to enjoy the opportunities there to be had. Obviously some do -- I wish there were more. But not to the extent that they are sent without being prepared for it. That happens far too often with predictably poor results.</p>

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<p>The kid was initially interested Carleton and Oberlin and 1 or 2 more LAC's I don't recall. In the end, rejected the idea of the schools because....climate, and the critical mass factor. She had just spent 4 years as the only AA student in her class and quite frankly, she was tired of it. </p>

<p>It's hard to explain, but her friends, pretty much discounted her being black, in spite of her being black. She resented that and it was difficult to make them understand. She figured she would get more of that at an LAC.</p>

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<p>Yes, 3-4% can mean as few as 24 black students at a very small college, like Bennington (enrollment approx. 800). But at a school with an enrollment of 2000, you're looking at 60-80 black students. </p>

<p>And 3-4% was my line-in-the-sand, a concession for an otherwise great school (like Kenyon); it was also my way of acknowledging that some of the more remote schools, despite their best efforts, understandably have a very difficult time attracting black students. My goal was 6-8%; again, not difficult since D was a relatively strong student (decent grades, strong scores, athlete). We'll see how it plays out for D2, who has a weaker academic profile.</p>

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<p>Updating the list:</p>

<p>Williams ( 9.8 %, 29.6 %, 6.7 %)
Amherst (9.5 %, 30.5 %, 7.1 %)
Swarthmore (8.5 %, 36.1 %, 6.6 %)
Pomona (8.2 %, 34.4 %, 4.0 %)
Haverford (7.5 %, 27.0 %, 3.7 %)</p>

<p>Lynchburg (VA) (7.3 %, 11.8 %, 0.7 %)
Rhodes (7.2 %, 14.2 %, 2.0 %)
Wesleyan University (7.0 %, 26.0 %, 6.0 %)
Occidental (6.8 %, 37.9 %, 2.7 %)
Furman University (6.8 %, 10.6 %, 1.9 %)</p>

<p>Pitzer (6.5 %, 31.5 %, 2.3 %)
Davidson (6.5 %, 14.8 %, 3.5 %)
Trinity (CT) (6.3 % , 17.8 %, 3.9 %)
College of New Jersey (6.2 %, 22.2 %, 0.1 %)
Drew University (6.2 %, 19.0 %, 2.0 %)</p>

<p>Bryn Mawr (6.1 %, 21.4 %, 6.9 %)
Bowdoin (6.0 %, 26.8 %, 3.0 %)
DePauw University (6.0 %, 14.8 %, 5.6 %)
Earlham ( 5.6 %, 11.1 %, 11.9 %)
Illinois Wesleyan (5.3 %, 12.7 %, 2.5 %)</p>

<p>Lafayette (5.2 %, 15.1 %, 7.1 %)
Barnard (4.9 %, 29.9 %, 3.7 %)
Goucher (4.9 %, 11.6 %, 0.5 %)
Carleton (4.8 %, 20.9 %, 5.7 %)
Grinnell (4.8 %, 17.1 %, 11.3 %)</p>

<p>Macalester (4.6 %, 18.1 %, 12.4 %)
Nazareth (NY) (4.6 %, 9.8 %, 0.9 %)
Claremont McKenna (4.4 %, 32.4 %, 4.7 %)
Holy Cross (4.4 %, 15.7 %, 1.0 %)
Dickinson (4.4 %, 14.2 %, 5.6 %)</p>

<p>Gettysburg (4.4 %, 8.5 %, 1.8 %)
Loyola College (MD) (4.3 %, 11.8 %, 0.8 %)
Sarah Lawrence (4.1 %, 15.1 %, 2.4 %)
Hampshire (4.1 %, 14.8 %, 3.9 %)
Colgate University (4.0 %, 12.6 %, 5.6 %)</p>

<p>Franklin & Marshall (4.0 %, 12.0 %, 9.4 %)
Wheaton (4.0 %, 10.8 %, 2.4 %)
Hobart & William Smith (4.0 %, 10.4 %, 2.0 %)
Kenyon (3.9 %, 11.7 %, 3.3 %)
College of Wooster (3.9 %, 8.1 %, 4.7 %)</p>

<p>Hamilton (3.8 %, 14.5 %, 5.3 %)
Kalamazoo (MI) (3.8 %, 12.6 %, 0.8 %)
Washington and Lee (3.6 %, 9.5 %, 3.9 %)
Centre (KY) (3.6 %, 8.0 %, 1.5 %)
Skidmore (3.5 %, 16.3 %, 2.8 %)</p>

<p>Union (3.4 %, 13.9 %, 2.2 %)
Middlebury (3.3 %, 19.6 %, 10.3 %)
Bucknell University (3.2 %, 13.5 %, 2.7 %)
Southwestern University (TX) (2.8 %, 22.0 %, 0.1 %)
Bates (2.8 %, 11.3 %, 5.3 %)</p>

<p>Eckerd (FL) (2.8 %, 8.9 %, 3.0 %)
St. Lawrence University (2.6 %, 8.9 %, 5.4 %)
Austin College (TX) (2.4 %, 28.3 %, 2.2 %)
Stonehill (MA) (2.4 %, 7.8 %, 0.4 %)
Colorado College (2.0 %, 14.6 %, 2.5 %)</p>

<p>New College (FL) (2.0 %, 14.3 %, 0.7 %)
SUNY Geneseo (2.0 %, 11.7 %, 2.2 %)
Augustana (IL) (2.0 %, 8.4 %, 0.7 %)
Muhlenberg (2.0 %, 8.3 %, 0.7 %)
Reed (1.9 %, 16.7 %, 5.3 %)</p>

<p>Colby (1.8 %, 13.3 %, 5.7 %)
Bennington (1.8 %, 6.8 %, 3.9 %)
St. Olaf (MN) (1.4 %, 7.9 %, 0.8 %)
Calvin (MI) (1.4 %, 6.3 %, 6.8 %)
Juniata (PA) (1.4 %, 3.9 %, 2.8 %)</p>

<p>St. Anselm (NH) (0.6 %, 3.8 %, 0.4 %)</p>

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<p>hudsonvalley51: Where's Oberlin?</p>

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<p>Plainsman -- Oberlin does not seem to post their Common Data Set reports online. You can always look at the UCAN figures but they round things out to the nearest full percentage point and the data is not always the most current.</p>

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<p>The UCAN site reports Oberlin's figures as 6% African-American, 19% all minority students and 6% internationals.</p>