<p>Hey guys! I will be a senior this fall and my stats, while not amazing, are good enough to potentially allow me acceptance into top schools such as Harvard. I come from an area of Houston, Texas that is predominantly Hispanic and African-American, and I have never felt like I was in the "minority" as I know I will be at most top schools in the nation. The college application process will be starting sooner than I am ready for, and I am starting to worry about my future social life. How easy or difficult is it for minorities to have a diverse circle of friends at schools up north? Thanks for helping me out!</p>
<p>Race won’t be an issue unless you complacently allow yourself to fall into a homogenous clique. </p>
<p>The real concern is whether you will be able to interact comfortably with students from different social backgrounds.</p>
<p>Over here it is very diverse and I have many friends of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, minus whites because we don’t have any in this area. I know that I can interact with people from different social backgrounds, can most other people from Harvard do the same?</p>
<p>It’s Harvard… people come from every corner of the globe from every state, and virtually all of them are open minded and sociable. I promise you that you won’t have any trouble fitting in.</p>
<p>Worry about this if and after you get accepted.</p>
<p>@KWU - how do you mean certain cliques? Final clubs (if so which ones)?</p>
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<p>I think by “homogenous clique” he meant a group of friends of a single color/race that tends to only hang out with itself…not as a manifestation of mindful racism but just as a tendency. I’ve seen this happen in high school but not really at Harvard.</p>
<p>Ok thanks guys! I really appreciate the help! I understand the gaining acceptance should be my top priority now, but I feel that there is little I can do other than keep my grades up first semester that will give me more of a competitive advantage. I’m finished with standardized testing and my extracurriculars are as good as they are going to get. THe only thing to do now is focus on the essays, and I already have a pretty clear idea of what I’m going to write about.</p>
<p>Black Issues in Higher Education ranked Harvard as the most welcoming non-HBCU school in the country for African-Americans.</p>
<p>Haha. Sorry for not being more specific in my original post. I’m Hispanic, not African-American. However, I do see how the information could apply to my situation as well.</p>
<p>^^Well, though this is simply based upon my very narrow experience, I did feel a lot more welcomed by the community there than at other institutions of a similar caliber.</p>