<p>Just got in off of the waitlist and wanted to know about the Afr/Am Community? I've been to UPENN and although it was small (just one house: DuBois) The people were amazing? Just wanted to know if I can be myself at Harvard. (I mean I will anyway,but a strong Afr/Am community will make it easier).</p>
<p>why don;t you just read the statistics about the student population…</p>
<p>^ Because statistics just show numbers. Having a strong community is about more than numbers and percentages.</p>
<p>To answer the OPs question: Yes, there’s a very strong black community at Harvard. The undergrad student body is about 9 to 10% black, so that equates to roughly 6000 people.There are countless black organizations and they are some of the most powerful, visible, and active on campus. Black students at Harvard come from all walks of life - from those who are rich legacies to those who are the first in their family to attend college. All these people intermingle freely - date, form friendships, rooming groups, business partnerships, you name it. Black students at Harvard also represent many different ethnicities - recent African immigrants, the children of such immigrants, black Americans, Caribbean, and any permutation of biracial you could think of (I’ve known black and Korean, black and white, black and Indian, black and Puerto Rican …). You should have no problem being yourself there. The community is friendly and close-knit, similar to a (really big) family. </p>
<p>It’s important to note though, there is no black dorm at Harvard. Black students are randomly assigned to an upperclass house just like everyone else. </p>
<p>Overall I loved my time at Harvard as a black student. If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask.</p>
<p>Isn’t the undergad population more like 6500? Ten percent would be around 650.</p>
<p>^ Yes sorry, around 600 to 650 people. I added an extra zero in my earlier post.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, it helps a lot. But what about the Cambridge/Boston/Massachusetts area. Sorry if it’s too general</p>
<p>Could you clarify the question? What do you want to know about the area?</p>
<p>Sorry, but i’ve heard some pretty negative stereotypes about how Afr/Ams are treated in Massachusetts. Just wondered if you could clarify</p>
<p>There are some racist people in Mass., as there are everywhere. I’m not sure if it’s particularly prevalent there, but as an undergraduate it hardly affected my life at all. In my four years there, the only racist incident related to people in the Boston area that I recall is my friends and I being in a cab, and the driver telling a racist joke. When we got offended, he dropped us off halfway to our destination and we had to get another cab. But incidents like that aren’t frequent by any means. Most Harvard students spend the majority of their time on campus, so whatever amount of racism may or may not exist in the Boston area doesn’t really creep into the bubble.</p>
<p>On campus, there have been some issues with the Harvard police essentially racially profiling students, but the administration has begun addressing that in response to the outcry from minority students. Not coincidentally, the very strong black student community at the school was instrumental in drawing attention to the issue and getting some results from the school.</p>
<p>It’s good. Better than at pretty much every other Ivy.</p>
<p>Damn straight there is. There’s a freshman black table in Annenberg.</p>
<p>MA is a fairly liberal state and Boston/Cambridge is a metro/urban area which means that there is a lot more diversity and acceptance than other places I’ve been too. I’m not Afr-Am but I know for sure you will not feel out of place.</p>
<p>Also, did you take a look at the Afr/Am department at Harvard? So many amazing names…Gates teaches the intro course, I think. The number of concentrators is only slightly more than the number of faculty which makes the academic experience fantastic.</p>