At the moment I am torn between these 3. I already live in the south so I know what is like to experience these types of racial problems. I’m not trying to “escape” racism, even though that would be nice I know right now that isn’t possible.
out of these three colleges : duke, rice, or Vanderbilt. whic has the least amount of racial issues?
Can you describe the racial problems that you perceive? So that we know what you are trying to avoid.
I don’t think you are going to get a hard and fast answer to this one. The best case scenario would be to talk to a current student of color at these schools about their experiences at them, but even that’s going to be highly individual: some students will have had great experiences; others may have had some sort of borderline or even actually bad experience. And even then, “racial” issues are very broad: the experiences are likely to be different for black students than they are form Latinx students, which are in turn different from Middle Eastern/Arab students, etc.
Houston, where Rice is located, is the most diverse city in the world. I’m not a minority so I can’t comment from the viewpoint of a person who is a minority, but I live in Houston and all kinds of people with all types of racial backgrounds are everywhere and no one thinks a thing of it.
for example, a college near me is known for leaving nuses on black students dorm rooms. issues like that and racial name-calling.
I can’t speak about Duke, but when my daughter visited Vanderbilt, her sense was that the Greek influence there made the school seem more racially segregated. My gut tells me Duke might be similar.
Rice, on the other hand, seemed more racially and ethnically integrated to my D (possibly because of the residential colleges). I know they make a lot of effort towards increasing diversity through multicultural recruitment programs, etc.
If you have the stats to be competitive at these schools, you may want to consider other schools that are outside of the south…just to experience a different part of the country. You may also get an edge (albeit small) being from south applying to schools in other regions.
Re: #5
Percentage of women/men in sororities/fraternities:
51/37 Vanderbilt
40/30 Duke
00/00 Rice (no sororities/fraternities)
If the possibility of racial segregation in sororities/fraternities is bothersome, you may want to check the chapter photo albums on their web sites to see if they are highly segregated at each campus.
Rice does have some interesting history in that its original charter established it as a tuition-free school for white residents of Texas. In the 1960s, the trustees moved to change both aspects of the charter (i.e. no longer restricted to white residents of Texas and no longer tuition-free), but had to fight off a lawsuit by alumni trying to prevent those changes.
https://www.law.uh.edu/ihelg/monograph/11-08.pdf
Now, Rice’s undergraduate enrollment is about 37% white, although 43% come from Texas, according to https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=rice&s=all&id=227757#enrolmt .
I’m a minority in Houston and I agree with @TexasMustang in recommending Rice and Houston. The Houston area is extremely diverse. I see the students in mixed race groups at nearby stores and restaurants. (Identified by their school gear.) Rice would be a top choice for my own children.
Why don’t you just pick a school in another part of the country?
Probably because there are ugly racial issues in all parts of the country?
My kid is a freshman at Vandy and the class is very diverse. I met lots of families at drop off and parents weekend and met lots with different backgrounds really enjoying mixing on campus. My kid does not plan to participate in Greek Life, Rush will be coming, so I cannot speak to that environment. Vandy seems to do a lot to make everyone comfortable.
Apply to all. If you get into any of the 3, which I doubt (“nuses”), then ask the question.
Rice
You are unlikely to experience any racial issues at any of them. Being admitted to all 3 would be somewhat of a miracle, however.
City diversity doesn’t necessarily impact the number of racial incidents at a specific university, or the feel of that particular university. Houston is a very racially diverse city - 26% non-Hispanic white, 24% Black, 44% Hispanic and 5% Asian. But so are Nashville (57%/28%/10%/3%) and Durham (38%/41%/14%/5%). There are lots of universities in relatively diverse cities that have been implicated in racial incidents. (It may improve quality of life when stepping foot off campus, though.)
The Greek hypothesis is an interesting one - Greek life does tend to be racially segregated at universities (especially Southern ones) so that may play a factor in the segregation of social life, too.
Rice is more ethnically/racially diverse than the other two, but not by a whole lot, and because of different balances of students - Vanderbilt and Duke both have larger proportions of black students, for example (probably because Durham/NC and Nashville/TN are both more traditionally and currently black cities/states). Rice has more Hispanic students (probably the same reasons). Vanderbilt has far fewer Asian students and fewer international students than either of the other two.
If you do a google images search on"vanderbilt sororities" you will see groups of women – all white – except for one photo that is linked to an article entitled “What it’s like to be black in a white sorority at Vanderbilt”
Here’s a quote from the article: "When Simi first came to Vanderbilt, she said: “I have never seen a racial divide as intense and conspicuous as it is here. I realized that coming to this campus, I was expected to make a choice between my white friends and my black friends.”
https://thetab.com/us/vanderbilt/2016/02/19/black-girl-white-sorority-1260
In doing the same search for Duke, their sororities also seem quite racially segregated.
I think that Rice’s Residential College system and lack of Greek life would allow for a much more integrated student body.
I easily found this 2017 photo of Phi Lamb sorority at Vanderbilt - note the numerous Black and Asian ladies:
https://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/insidedores/2017/07/cc-phi-lamb/
In the 2016-2017 school year, 42% of Vanderbilt students were members of Greek organizations. If one is of the personal opinion that Greek organizations at the school aren’t inclusive enough, then don’t join one. You can always find many diverse friends among the 58% that have no Greek involvement.
https://www.vanderbilt.edu/greek_life/about-us/
Houston’s supposed diversity doesn’t mean things are all peace, love and kum ba yah in the city. 302 murders in 2016, a 50% increase over 2011 - driven by the enormous gang and drug problems in the city:
https://www.click2houston.com/news/houston-murder-rate-remains-at-5-year-high
Houston 1 of 3 cities driving national murder rate higher, report says:
https://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/houston-1-of-3-cities-driving-national-murder-rate-higher-report-says
You don’t need to be choosy while applying. All three are becoming lottery type schools and so there is not much elimination process needed involving applications. If you do get into all 3, you may be happy attending any one of them.