Top 100 Universities - Most Diverse, Most Integrated?

Parents Forum
1

<p>Yeah, that's a question. Those of you who know. Among top universities - not looking for LACs at this point, which do you know to be a) highly diverse b) very well integrated amongst ethnicities?</p>

<p>For example, Cal has a v. high population of Asians, so some built in diversity. However, rumor has it that the Caucasian kids and the Asian don't mix so much. Rice, on the other hand, has the reputation of being highly diverse and highly integrated. So does UMiami Florida. But I don't know if those reputations are correct.</p>

<p>Anyone know anything? Any of you statistics people feel like helping a poor quantitatively-challenged parent compile a list of racial breakdowns of top universities? Or point me to one that exists? If I can get that list, then I can just ask the forums for those places at the top how are the groups integrated etc.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>Try P-ton Review on-line.</p>

3

<p>OK, I looked. They agree with Rice and UMiami. They add Stanford. Then Yale apparently not so diverse but those who are there interact well....</p>

<p>Duke gets a bad grade.</p>

<p>Any more? Anyone know about Penn? Georgetown?</p>

4

<p>US News online has the percentages of each ethnic group in the student body of each school. However, that won't tell you how "integrated" the groups are.</p>

5

<p>I would say Swarthmore takes the cake in this category.
<a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/diversity.xml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.swarthmore.edu/diversity.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>It's been my impression, just as a frequent visitor to the NYU area, that it's well-integrated, looking at how groups of students go around the neighborhood, which is their "campus" after all. It makes sense, right in the heart of New York City.</p>

7

<p>sax, Swat of course is an LAC and Alu is looking for Uni's but those are good numbers . Oxy's are just as good, too. Save them some of that cake. ;) <a href="http://www.occidental.edu/x837.xml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.occidental.edu/x837.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

8

<p>The University of Chicago is probably medium-diverse, but students interact very well. Friendships aren't at all dictated by race or nationality, in my experience.</p>

<p>The #s from 2010:
African-American/Black - 6%
Asian-American/Asian - 15%
Latino/Hispanic - 8%
Multiracial - 1%
Native American - 1%
Unknown - 12%
White/Caucasian - 47%
International - 10%</p>

<p><a href="http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=377%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=377&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

9

<p>What constitutes more diverse? What would be the composition of a totally diverse campus? How is integratedness measured?</p>

10

<p>For the sake of curiosity, here is the racial breakdown of the US. These numbers are from Wikipedia.</p>

<p>White American - 74.7% ("the definition of White includes European Americans, Middle Eastern Americans (e.g. Arab Americans, Iranian Americans, Turkish Americans), Central Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans who reported as White in the 2000 Census")
Black or African American - 12.1%
Asian American - 4.3%
American Indian - 0.8%
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander - 0.1%
Some other race - 6%
Two or more races - 1.9%
Hispanics of any race - 14.5%</p>

11

<p>OK so I went to USNWR and looked. Looked at their top 20 - not debating here the merits, just as some sort of proxy for broad academic excellence. Left out the tech schools as my family is not interested in them and since I cut and pasted I'm the boss:). Added in a couple of state schools for interest, and UMiami because of its reputation as the most diverse and well-integrated school in the country. </p>

<p>All I can say is that all of these places are pretty white (but mostly less white than America I guess) but some are whiter than others. And I would love to know how the groups integrate socially, but somehow I really doubt that anyone will tell me anything but good things about their respective universities. And that's fine.</p>

<p>Racial Diversity at Top 25 Universities - USNWR</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Princeton
African-American 9%
Asian-American 13%
Hispanic 7%
Native American 1%
White 62%
International 9%</p></li>
<li><p>Harvard
African-American 8%
Asian-American 18%
Hispanic 8%
Native American 1%
White 56%
International 9%</p></li>
<li><p>Yale
African-American 8%
Asian-American 14%
Hispanic 7%
Native American 1%
White 62%
International 8%</p></li>
<li><p>Stanford
African-American 10%
Asian-American 24%
Hispanic 11%
Native American 2%
White 46%
International 6%</p></li>
<li><p>U Penn
African-American 7%
Asian-American 18%
Hispanic 6%
Native American 0%
White 60%
International 9%</p></li>
<li><p>Duke
African-American 11%
Asian-American 14%
Hispanic 7%
Native American 0%
White 63%
International 5%</p></li>
<li><p>U Chicago
African-American 4%
Asian-American 14%
Hispanic 8%
Native American 0%
White 66%
International 7%</p></li>
<li><p>Dartmouth
African-American 7%
Asian-American 14%
Hispanic 6%
Native American 3%
White 65%
International 5%</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia
African-American 7%
Asian-American 16%
Hispanic 8%
Native American 0%
White 61%
International 7%</p></li>
<li><p>Washington University - St.Louis
African-American 9%
Asian-American 10%
Hispanic 3%
Native American 0%
White 73%
International 4%</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell
African-American 5%
Asian-American 16%
Hispanic 5%
Native American 0%
White 66%
International 8%</p></li>
<li><p>Northwestern
African-American 5%
Asian-American 17%
Hispanic 6%
Native American 0%
White 66%
International 5%</p></li>
<li><p>Brown
African-American 7%
Asian-American 14%
Hispanic 7%
Native American 1%
White 66%
International 6%</p></li>
<li><p>Johns Hopkins
African-American 6%
Asian-American 19%
Hispanic 5%
Native American 1%
White 64%
International 5%</p></li>
<li><p>Rice University
African-American 7%
Asian-American 16%
Hispanic 12%
Native American 1%
White 62%
International 3%</p></li>
<li><p>Emory University
African-American 9%
Asian-American 16%
Hispanic 3%
Native American 0%
White 67%
International 4%</p></li>
<li><p>Vanderbilt
African-American 8%
Asian-American 6%
Hispanic 5%
Native American 0%
White 79%
International 2%</p></li>
<li><p>Notre Dame
African-American 4%
Asian-American 6%
Hispanic 8%
Native American 1%
White 78%
International 4%</p></li>
<li><p>UC Berkeley
African-American 4%
Asian-American 41%
Hispanic 11%
Native American 1%
White 41%
International 3%</p></li>
<li><p>UMichigan
African-American 7%
Asian-American 12%
Hispanic 5%
Native American 1%
White 70%
International 5%</p></li>
<li><p>UTexas
African-American 4%
Asian-American 17%
Hispanic 16%
Native American 0%
White 59%
International 3%</p></li>
<li><p>UMiami-Florida
African-American 9%
Asian-American 5%
Hispanic 23%
Native American 0%
White 56%
International 6%</p></li>
</ol>

12

<p>The unis that feel more diverse are those that are less than 60% white.</p>

13

<p>I only know the statistics of my own school, but I'm surprised that the class of 2010 statistics on the school's website and the USNWR statistics are so different: 47% white for 2010 on the website and 66% white for USNWR. That's a huge difference, and I'm sure the same is true with many of the schools. Part of it is the fact that the college only takes students who self-report race; 12% of 2010 is reported as "unknown." I wonder where USNWR takes their numbers from.</p>

14

<p>There is very little diversity at any of the top universities--they're filled with nothing but super smart people. You'll find hardly any average or below average students at these schools. Very few people under 17 or over 25 either. Or poor people. If you are looking for diversity, top schools are not the place to find it. ;)</p>

15

<p>Well, you know how we all say our kids need to figure out what they really want in a school? For my son, one of the top issues is racial diversity and racial diversity that is experienced by the kids as groups who mix well. It's his criterion. I'm doing whatever research I can to help him understand what's out there.</p>

<p>Corranged - I would guess the info on UChicago's site is more current but can't say for sure.</p>

16

<p>aromom..... it sounds like your saying minorities aren't "super smart people".... and top schools do have lots of poor people.... cause they give nice financial aid. especially the new Harvard Plan for families with incomes 60,000 dollars or below, they get in free.</p>

17

<p>It's hard to tell by looking at the numbers, like UC Berkeley numbers for example, does that mean it's diverse or does it mean there are 2 main majority groups(caucasian, asian). How does one know if they mix well on campus, what proof? Unless it means by the absence of major race riot, like the 1990 downtown LA race riot between Korean/Black.</p>

18

<p>GAclass- You misinterpreted atomom. She was making a joke. She was talking about people in terms of their smarts, not their races.</p>

<p>Sarcasm... Whoosh over your head.</p>

19

<p>TRFA - I completely agree. Diverse is one thing, integrated is another. Mixing well on campus - we need to hear from enrolled students or their parents to know. And I suspect no one wants to "tell on" their school.</p>

20

<p>Atomom was talking about diversity in general, GA. She was saying, I believe, that colleges aren't very diverse at all given their relative lack of stupid people, kids, adults, very poor people, etc. All of this is true (yes, there are some very poor people in college, but not in the types of numbers that reflect the US or the world as a whole). Racial diversity is different than diversity in general.</p>