@missacademy2018 I am also looking at UPenn for college! I talked to a couple of black students, and they did emphasize sticking with people of our race. I am also the “token black girl” and I want a mix of both. It is important for me to a decently sized black student body, but its not the be all end all for me. At my school, its pretty common for races to not mix as much, and I think that its up to me to find a diverse friend group.
@missacademy2018 I know whatever school I go to it’s going to be a culture shock. My school is about 20-20-20-20 for all the major racial groups. I cross schools off if they are not at least 5% black. (Except for UT because it’s my only safety). I honestly prefer 9% at a minimum and a reasonable percentage for other minorities too. I was one of a few Black kids in Elementary school and couldn’t even explore my racial identity until Junior high. Definitely not going back!
@ Hamlon which schools are you finding with 9% AA stat? Please share a list. We are focusing on liberal arts colleges in Northeast and with a few exceptions most are in 4% range. Ivy Leagues may be a bit different but even they may be a stretch with those figures.
@ missacademy2018 I feel your pain and S18 is in a similar situation when we do our college visits - looking for the elusive AA students on campus. One thing we learned is to visit schools during the week to really get a feel for the student body in general, silly that we just figured this out but it made a difference. Previous visits were on Saturdays and we did not see many students of color, but on a week day we got to see the flow of the campus and more students of color coming and going. With that said, you will have to find your own village at the college you choose.
A suggestion made to me by @planner03 which I thought was perfect was to attend the Fly In programs to get the true feel of the community of color at the colleges. So start making your lists because the deadlines creep up fast.
Here is an article from NPR that helps put the search into perspective:
@magnetnh Vanderbilt(11%), Duke(11%), Amherst (12%), Williams(12%), Barnard (12%), Grinnell(?), and a couple others.
@Hamlon thanks for sharing. Only one on S18 list is Amherst. I hear mixed reviews from URMs at Williams. Once again the tip on the fly-ins would be helpful to check it out for yourself. Williams is also more isolated, whereas Amherst has the five exchange.
Others to add to list from article detailing percent of black students at top schools include Pomona 15.8%, Swarthmore 13.0%, Smith 11.2%, Lafayette 10.2% and Wesleyan 9.1%.
Are any of you considering any of these schools?
@magnetnh I’m looking into Wesleyan, FWIW. I don’t really know all that much about it.
@magnetnh I actually was considering Pomona and Wesleyan! Didn’t know their % were so high, Pomona’s especially.
@ Hamlon that’s great that you were considering those two great schools. I don’t know much about Pomona but have heard generally positive things. I know more about Wesleyan since I am in CT. It is a great school and of course is in the news more because of it’s famous alum Lin Manual Miranda and Hamilton. He recently endowed a Hamilton scholarship at the school. I like the location, a small city but close to other major hubs like NYC and Boston and other top colleges. Yale is about 20-30 min away. It has an excellent curriculum and appeals to us because of their arts programs but excels in many other majors. Another factor I heard, but I think may be hard to pull off is that they do have a 3 year graduation option which I like for financial reasons. I know two kids from our district who have been very happy there. One con you will hear about, which also made the news was regarding some heavy drugs on campus and a couple of students who were arrested and charged. They have a fly in program but do some more research for yourself and let us know if it stays on your list.
Hi everyone, I’m looking at Columbia, Cornell, UT Austin, Rice, Washington, and Cal Poly for architecture.
4.5 W 3.4 UW, note I missed roughly 3 months sophomore year and had to finish classes in a non-traditional format which explains low GPA. Currently taking AP calc AB, AP US, AP physics 1, left off AP English due to struggle to complete classes last year. Planning on Calc BC, AP government, AP physics C, AP English next year. Final Note, I will graduate with 6 architecture credits in HS (I know these don’t transfer to college), and will have a strong portfolio and recommendation letters to make up for low GPA. No SAT scores yet, will update when I receive results.
Gender: Female
Age: 17
State: MS
Interests: Medicine, Chemistry, Writing
Ethnicity: African American
Dream school: Vanderbilt (My ACT scores are very low so Vandy is on the back burner for now)
Other Schools: Emory, Tulane, NYU, Spelman, Howard, or Tuskegee (If I don’t end up at one of these schools, I’m 99.90009090% sure I’ll be attending my safety school, which is Ole Miss)
Summer Plans:
Hopefully I get accepted into the Science Research Institute I applied to
Attending a free 3 day campus experience @ Ole Miss (it’s exclusive to AAs which is pretty nice)
Volunteering @ The Red Cross
Doing extreme ACT studying
Working on Common App Personal Essay, Supplements, Etc…
Doing my annual summer community service project
Tutoring elementary students in summer school for a short time
Getting my driver’s license
#:-S
@atxCO18 @xvibesx Welcome to the thread! Next year is about to get pretty hectic. The Quetbridge college prep app is still open. If you qualify, apply! Also, Matriculate/College Point has a free online mentoring program. I applied last week and got my mentor yesterday. They will lead you through the college process until you get acceptance letters next year!
Saw this post in another category and thought I would share here. Once you read what are your thoughts?
The post kind of confused me to be honest. Was the OP’s point that the best schools for black students are either a top 50 liberal arts school or a top 5 HBCU? I agree that HBCUs provide a unique and amazing experience for students. I live near Howard, and when I’m near the school I can really feel a sense of community. However, I think it all depends on personality and background. I am not applying to a LAC or HBCU, but I am applying to several state schools and a couple of ivys. @magnetnh
@magnetnh I think that’s an interesting perspective, I don’t necessarily agree with the opinion that all private schools are better than state schools such as UT Austin or Cal Berkeley, but I can kind of understand where they are coming from. One thing I would challenge them on is their view on HBCUs, although I am not interested in them, I think they serve a purpose, and having most smart AA students go to liberal arts schools would have a damaging effect on the historical, cultural, and academic institutions that HBCUs are.
@magnetnh I do think it’s kind of harmful to tell us that there’s little value in going to an hbcu. With the current political climate, I can see the appeal in attending one. There’s something I’d know I’d get at an hbcu that I’d have to actively search for at a pwi. I’m not sure what to make of this post. It’s well-known that hbcu’s have less resources($$) than pwi’s for a variety of reasons, but that isn’t every students deal breaker. It was also pretty petty of them to say that out of the 107 hbcu’s in the US only Spelman would be worth attending.
I think the poster in the above mentioned thread forgot to include the important disclosure: “in my opinion.” What background, experiences, and credentials entitle them to make such authoritative, sweeping declarations?
It is truly a personal choice for each and every student and there is much more to consider than the elite status of the college to which they were accepted. I have gone back and read some updated responses from the OP of that thread and they mentioned that bright students at HBCU’s should not have to sit in classes with other students who may just be at the algebra level. My first thought was that it was just too simplistic a statement because in my opinion the reason we have students who may be getting to college at the algebra or even more basic level is because of the lack of rigorous education in many of our poorest or urban districts. The argument needs to be made that in order to make those bright students we need to start at the beginning, and that is in elementary and middle school. Our district is very diverse and students have many choices, we know students who personally felt more comfortable at HBCU’s than some of the top ivies they were accepted to. Just last year one student chose the state flagship over one of the top Ivies. Every one, and I mean every one, told her she was making a mistake but she stood confident in her choice and has thrived and is very happy at the state flagship as a freshman. So ultimately it is a very personal choice for the student and I recognize that as a parent.
Hello everyone, here are my credentials:
I currently live and attend high school in the Greater New York Area. My high school has 2,200+ students with a 50% majority Hispanic population. African-Americans consist of 15% of the school. The majority of seniors in my school go to schools in the SUNY system (ex. Binghamton, Stony Brook), and it is not uncommon for students to be accepted into competitive colleges but not limited to: Cornell, Brown, Yale, UPenn, Duke, and Columbia.
Unfortunately, due to being one of the few black kids in my grade with a high GPA, my peers and I tend to be alienated by other black students who could care less about school.
My GPA is a 3.8 W, 3.5 UW, and am currently taking AP U.S History, AP Language and Composition, Pre-Calculus (class gives college credit), Physics, Principles of Engineering Honors (PLTW), Mandarin Chinese, and Honor Band. I am active in my school’s Jazz Band, Marching Band, and National Honor Society (completed 60 hours of service). Outside of school I am part of a student youth council, countywide wind ensemble, and a Saturday STEM program. I have received numerous academic achievement awards such as NYSSMA Conference All-State Participation and Scholar Athlete.
For colleges, my top choice is Cornell University. I am considering other rigorous schools such as Carnegie Mellon and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and SUNY schools such as Binghamton. I want to focus on (Civil) Engineering.
I hope to receive more information and connect with other people in this thread!
Hey guys, I’m a little late on this but I’m only applying to schools with at least 6% black students. I’m basing it off of uva because someone in my fam goes there and says the black population there is enough to feel comfortable and since I last checked, they have 6%. A lot of the Ivies are actually in this range, I crossed off Cal Tech from my list and Harvey Mudd because they are much smaller schools so they only have like 1%, and I don’t think I could handle it.