<p>&CTScoutmom</p>
<p>+1 to you!
That was really helpful. Moms are always so smart!</p>
<p>I agree with NewHavenMom. You will find the people with whom you want to associate based on like-minded pursuits. My son is in the same situation as you. Being a black male, he has usually been the only or one of two in any of his AP classes. I will share an essay my son wrote about this for one of his college apps. I think it is very relevant.</p>
<p>We live in a world of grand generalizations. It is the mechanism by which racism, sexism, and homophobia are produced. Generalizations print false labels onto those with certain congenital attributes to fill voids of ignorance. Cocooned in a world of na</p>
<p>@Joiedv
Massive applause to your son for the essay he wrote. I’m finding more and more african americans who have gone through the same thing as me, just like your son. Even though I’m used to the rain, sometimes a jagged drop slips in and hurts me. Even though I don’t want to hide under the roof because I know I wouldn’t fit in, I still cry because I know that the others under the roof wouldn’t let me in anyway. No matter how secure you are with yourself, it always hurts even just a little when a group of people writes you off and decides they don’t like you because of how you dress or speak. Especially when it’s your own race.</p>
<p>Another point made by NewHavenCtmom is to review the web site she posted. On there you will see that UNC Wilminton has a four year graduation rate of 44.5% and 15% of students transfer out of the school. That is something you should consider. Like I said, you have a lot of opportunities and I think you should expand your horizon. Look “outside the box.” For whatever reason, you have predetermined that you want to go to schools in that geographic area, and you are thus limiting yourself.</p>
<p>@Joiedv Your son’s essay is VERY good :)</p>
<p>CTscoutmom made some good points. </p>
<p>I didn’t find your question to be elitist. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to expand your circle of friends to include some similar minded African Americans. Of course, no matter what the percentages, every AA won’t be a friend. That’s OK-you just want the potential. </p>
<p>Are you considering any smaller schools?</p>
<p>@Prefect
I’m considering unc chapel hill (I think enrollment there is about 18,000), east carolina (24,000) and unc wilmington (13,000)</p>
<p>@Joiedv
That is a very good and inspirational essay! I’m unfortunately in the same boat as your son. A lot of my friends always tell how I don’t act nor talk like a typical black person. It’s very sad and disappointing that our AA race is stereotyped as loud, obnoxious, and ill educated. I’m also a high achiever and some of my own family members labeled me as “stuck up”. It doesn’t really bother me because I’m comfortable with who I am and what I want to do with my life. 
Again very good and well written essay! Kudos to your son! :D</p>
<p>^^ i am the only african American in my grade that takes APs…enough said about my school. I wanted to go to a school with a low % of AA but has diversity because the world is not black or white it has a little bit of everything.</p>
<p>^ I agree. However I do want to go to a school that has a reasonable amount of AA students because I barely have a AA friend at my school. I have friends that are everything but AA. lol</p>
<p>Seeking friends based on race is tough. You need more in common than skin color to be friends with someone. It may be that you have more in common with folks outside your race than inside. It’s weird but I’ve seen it.</p>
<p>I know many blacks with only black friends and some with only white. Myself, it’s a combination of everyone. </p>
<p>There are things that only someone with a common upbringing and challenges can relate. But true friends can get passed that and really be helpful regardless of race. Dating is a much more complex story though.</p>
<p>@Madaboutx
My circle is really diverse. We always joke about that. My group of close friends has two whites, one Hispanic, one Asian, and another african American besides me</p>
<p>Yes! I wanted to choose uncw too, but I lloked at the diversity is horrible! I’m originally from out of nc, but I need to stay close to home. unc-charlotte seems like another option or what about unc-pembroke? I’m intelligent and no offense but hb college seems too party for me…</p>
<p>@tiaram
For me, pembroke is too unknown and in the middle of nowhere and still not very diverse. However, two black girls from my school are going there and they aren’t ratchet at all and are good students so maybe if you look into unc pembroke you’ll see the good in the school that they saw!
I’ve got unc charlotte on my list too. The only thing I’m concerned about is how many students there are very motivated and were top of their class. I relate to those people the most. I want a school with diversity but if the school has a high percentage of black students that are more concerned with partying and smoking than school and clean fun, it’s still not going to be a match for me. I want a school with a good amount of black students that are like minded to me.</p>
<p>That’s exactly how I feel</p>
<p>When I was looking at colleges, I didn’t really care what percentage black they were, but I did like to see colleges without a majority race. Most of the colleges I saw like this were just under 50% white, 20-30% Asian, and 20-30% URM, usually with the percentage of Hispanic students higher than the percentage of black students (and with Native American students at 1 or 2%). </p>
<p>My high school was about 40% black, but incredibly racially divided. From 8th grade on, students were tracked into honors, high honors, or regular classes. In high honors, I saw fewer than 10 black people everyday. My school now is probably about 10% black, but I actually see black people and have black friends, for the first time since the early years of elementary school. It’s also nice that there’s diversity beyond black and white. In my hometown, there are basically no Hispanic people, and very few people from backgrounds anywhere in Asia. That’s definitely not the case here.</p>
<p>The only thing I avoided in looking at colleges were ones with low overall diversity. A lot of my friends go to our state flagship. It’s over 80% white. I avoided that sort of environment in choosing schools.</p>
<p>My son just crossed off UNCW as well. UNCW is trying to build their AA population, which is great. However, the area surrounding the campus is not very welcoming to AA students - especially black males, from what we’ve read/heard. My son is accustomed to being the minority from his previous school years, and he has several friends from all races. However, I want him to enjoy his college experience without having to constantly worry about being targeted for something. Yes, that is usually how things are in the real world. But I’d rather it not happen during his college years, if we can help it. I do know of some AA females who are very happy at UNCW. There are also AA organizations at UNCW, who network to make the college experience a good one. I’m glad the support is there.</p>
<p>[I</a> Wish I Were More Surprised At What A Student Exposed About His School, But I’m Not](<a href=“I Wish I Were More Surprised At What A Student Exposed About His School, But I'm Not - Upworthy”>I Wish I Were More Surprised At What A Student Exposed About His School, But I'm Not - Upworthy)</p>
<p>AA males represent less than 2% of UCLAs incoming freshman class. (and half are athletes!)</p>
<p>I wonder if schools like UCLA, just attract few AA male applicants, simply because of the lack of diversity? Or (and I think this more likely) the UCs rely too heavily on statical algorithms for ranking applicants, which make for a very homogenous student body. </p>
<p>I can certainly understand why high achieving AA males would shy away from UCLA.</p>
<p>We toured UCSD earlier in the week. It is a fantastic campus. Unfortunately, there were so few AAs that we began counting how many we saw during the 90 minute tour. There are 23k students and we saw 11 AAs on campus. </p>
<p>Our D attends a diverse high school and most of her close friends are white. A college with low diversity wouldn’t be anything unusual to her but she/we would prefer AA diversity in the 8% to 15% range.</p>
<p>My D will keep UCSD on her interest list but we would prefer a college with higher diversity. This leads to a vicious cycle where top AA students choose not to apply to schools with low diversity which in turn leads to lower diversity and fewer applicants.</p>
<p>UCSD is a great campus but having just 2% AAs is a huge turnoff.</p>
<p>We (Black Americans) really need to get our heads into academic competition that is happening. We should fighting hard in this arena to win this game in far greater numbers than are doing so now.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, many of us view academic excellence in very narrow ways and rarely get the big picture of how the game is fought and won. Too many parents think they know the game and too few really know it at all.</p>
<p>I do view academic excellence and success as a game. Basketball, football and baseball were all white sports at one time. Once we mastered the rules, we mastered the fundamentals then mastered the game and took it to new levels. A similar game plan needs to take root in the hearts and minds of Black parents and children.</p>