<p>I tire of the constant alienation at white institutions. </p>
<p>Perhaps these colleges exist and I'm not aware?</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Alexisss, the college planner at my younger D’s school (grades 6-12) says that Spelman, Morehouse and Howard are in that group. I’m sure some would disagree, but I’ve never heard anything but high praise about all three. I’ve also heard good things about Xavier and Hampton.</p>
<p>D has Spelman and Howard at the top of her list when the time comes exactly for the reason you’re looking at HBCU’s. We are not yet at the stage of touring and applying but we spoke with someone just last weekend with a D at Spelman who raved about how excellent it was. I hope this helps.</p>
<p>I disagree. I visited Howard last spring and it was not a bad school, but definitely not Ivy Standard. I feel that it is strong in some fields (communications, music, dance, business) but weak in others (hard core sciences, math, pre-med). It is a great “black school” but not a “great school”.</p>
<p>Sadly they do not exist. Howard is argueably the “best” HBCU around but certaintly not up to par with the Ivies. I actually dont think It can compete with the other DC schools such as GW, American, and definitely not Georgetown. If an HBCU is the college style you are looking for than Howard can be seen as the “IVY” comparable relative to the other HBCU schools.</p>
<p>Howard is a bunch of students with fashion sense, and some brains. A lot of them have work ethic, but I don’t dress well enough to go there.</p>
<p>Morehouse is definitely not Ivy caliber.</p>
<p>Sent from my HTC<em>Amaze</em>4G using CC</p>
<p>Ahhh, I thought as much. In the past when hbcus first started, the students therein were perhaps more studious. Howard has turned out many great black leaders. I personally believe that reputation has been tarnished by the often ghetto people who attend nowadays. </p>
<p>That’s what I’m apprehensive about. I’m sick of white, elitist schools because the rude way in which they treat blacks. I dislike black schools because they are not elite enough. If I attend the latter, the black students may not accept me. I’m pretty fiery when it comes to convincing fellow African-Americans that education is imperative. Most hate this, lawl.
My high-school is second in the state. Yet most of the black kids are idiotic. Loud, anti-intellectual and obsessed with things of little importance. In my graduating class only four blacks had Summa Cum Laude. Myself, two black guys and some mixed girl. </p>
<p>And I’m addicted to prestige.</p>
<p>Well, that’s interesting. Obviously not everyone agrees about HBCU’s: [Ralph</a> Jones Jr: 16-Year-Old Black Male Chooses HBCU Over Harvard - BV on Money](<a href=“http://www.bvonmoney.com/2010/10/19/ralph-jones-jr-16-yr-old-black-male-chooses-hbcu-over-harvard/]Ralph”>http://www.bvonmoney.com/2010/10/19/ralph-jones-jr-16-yr-old-black-male-chooses-hbcu-over-harvard/)</p>
<p>Alex-my D has been fighting your fight since 2nd grade. As an advanced rising 8th grader she’s over having to justify her presence in gifted programs and summer academic camps to white people. The school she is at now has a diverse mix where being smart isn’t weird and where whites aren’t the majority. But the road there took a toll and she’s not interested in choosing prestige over a place where she is one of many. Yes, she’s run into black kids accusing her of acting white for caring about school but at this school there are many more who care right along with her. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>While there is the problem at “white” Ivy schools of prejudice and elitism, unfortunately attending a “black” school for that purpose is equally redundant. There are going to be people everywhere who will discriminate and judge based on race, that’s simply an unfortunate fact. If you want a good education, then sadly the better thing to do is go to a “white” school and tough through any idiots. You may be surprised, there are many many good students at these schools.</p>
<p>Nice posts you guys. If I might I add that after going to a overnight visit at a PWI I realized that the blacks at these schools “stick together”. They really look out for each other, and for me, it looked like it was easier to make close friends. When I visited Howard it was very cliquey. </p>
<p>These are biased views but they’re my views, use them as you please!</p>
<p>I am white so my kids and I have not experienced this issue when looking for colleges … however, for my kids diversity was a major attribute they wanted when looking for colleges (we got into this discussion because they are 1/2 Jewish).</p>
<p>The US is about 12% African-American and about 72% white. Top schools tend to be something like 50-55% white (from the US) … with about 10% international students (where some % is white also). Using the PWI acronym is interesting given top school are barely over 50% white … and I’d guess that will change within 10-20 years. </p>
<p>That said if I were not white or Asian than most students at top schools certainly would not look like me. Top schools tend to be something like 8-9% AA which given the US is about 12% AA is somewhat close to be representative. When my kids talked about this they looked at the issue this way … if they were in a minority (and if that was a concern of theirs) that the smaller the school the more likely it would be problematic. Cornell has about 13,000 undergrads at 8% AA that is about 1000 AA undergrads … Harvard had about 6500 undergrads or about 500 AA undergrads … Bowdoin has about 2000 undergrads so about 150 AA undergrads (all numbers are rough estimates). The percentage when looking at a crowd is about the same … but it seemed the larger the population the better the odds they would find good friends and/or any groups would have critical mass.</p>
<p>The article that sseamom posted is pretty biased. The author makes statements but really has nothing to back them up such as : Hbcus provide tools for success but majority institutions only provide social hurdles. Harvard and Yale have horrible records in hiring black professors. You can learn more on the Internet than from a stodgy professor. Hbcus are better than majority institutions for black students in almost every way, etc, etc. </p>
<p>In addition, FAMU was Ralph Jones 4th choice. Money was a major factor. FAMU gave him a free ride. Ivies gave money, but not a free ride. Also, he wanted to be close to home due to his age. An article on the root says he was accepted to 45 schools (what?!).</p>
<p>I hate how some people make ivy leagues to be “white-only” and therefore not suitable for blacks.</p>
<p>That’s nonsense.</p>
<p>These posts have been very insightful. </p>
<p>I’m amazed at that kid for his choice. Honestly, I’d have picked Harvard in a heartbeat. I can easily get a full ride there. </p>
<p>Sometimes I feel as though PWIs have a better education waiting for me, but then I am reminded of their histories with prejudice. I’ve seen the protests at Harvard that even a young Obama was involved in. Protests which sought the employment of more black professors.
Still torn.</p>
<p>And I’ve heard about the cliques at hbcus. I’m not for that. I’d rather have a community as opposed to a lame group wherein we’d probably only discuss fashion and music.</p>
<p>But, then again, at a PWI/school without many blacks, who would I date? We all know black women rarely date outside their race. And at a school with barely any black guys, I’m sure black women are least desirable. Lawl.</p>
<p>I have known lots of people who have attended ivy’s and they never complained of these issues… they all had great experiences. I know of a 2012 Harvard grad and a young man who is currently at Princeton. No issues. </p>
<p>My dd14 is currently at a summer program where she is one of 4 blacks in a pretty large group of whites and NO issues. The night she arrived she was the only black and she fit right in they all made her feel right at home. </p>
<p>So for what its worth… if you go in with these notions, you will find crap… so don’t look for it! Not to say that things don’t happen, but the blanket statement that all ivy’s are prejudice is unfair and silly.</p>
<p>Is it alienation or self segregation? Which I understand… we often fellowship with those we feel a kinship with… but college should be about breaking out of those comfort zones and moving beyond what feels good… its called growth…</p>
<p>@alexisss </p>
<p>You turn your nose up at elitism, yet you put your fellow black students down on this forum… so sad. Not to flame, but are you any better? You say that you hate the way some treat blacks… but how do you treat other blacks?</p>
<p>@mrluggs </p>
<p>Agreed.</p>
<p>When did I put them down?</p>
<p>Also, I understand being open to new experiences, but I’ve been around rude white people and ignorant blacks all my life. It’s tiring. Yes there are morons everywhere you go, but perhaps nonblacks have an easier time? I don’t know.</p>
<p>I was forunate enough to attend a fairly diverse and top ranked public high school in my state. Although us blacks were still a minority at the school made up of mostly asians and caucasians. Most of my friends are in fact asian and white and we get along just fine never any tension but it does help that our upper middle class suburban town is extremely tolerant and fairly liberal. I personally never considered an HBCU when applying for colleges because of the lack of diversity. Although alot of other top schools are composed of a large amount caucasians they still appeal and are able to attract decent amounts of people of other races such as asian, hispanic, african american, and a small amount of native americans. All races seem to favor atteneding a school composed mostly of caucasians than mostly african americans. I know for a fact I would feel much more uncomfortable at an HBCU than at other schools because everyone is the same. My current college is not super diverse but It appears to me in college as long as you are intelligent, hardworking, normal, and nice you will be able to make friends and be accepted regardless of your race. At my college it appears that the african americans are segregating themselves from the other races for whatever reason but by their own will and choice. It was kinda of that way in my high school as well, the “gangster wannabe” african americans cliqued together in their small group, while the academically inclined mingled with the all the races. Since my school is ultra competitve(in a friendly way) we all aim for the highest schools so HBCUs are not on the radar of any of non african americans nor the academically inclined african americans. Maybe in the past 5 years we have send one or two kids to HBCUs but neither had the stats to even get into our state flagship.</p>
<p>Stating my experience is not meant to disparage anyone. I’m simply relaying how I’ve been treated.</p>