<p>What you like or dislike about any of these schools. Please don't leave anything out.</p>
<p>Lafayette College
Ursinus College
Muhlenberg College
Franklin & Marshall College
Seton Hall University
Arcadia University
West Chester University
Saint Joseph's University in PA
Millersville University</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Oh, I see (said the blind man). I was expecting a list of HBC’s, ie colleges with “African Americans only” (which is not 100% anyway), but now I guess you are interested in opinions of these colleges but you only want to hear from African Americans. Another wasted click.</p>
<p>You’ll get more responses by posting this in the Parents Forum, and by having a title that says something like “Would like info about African American’s experiences at these universities.”</p>
<p>Since not too many black students go to those colleges, I suggest also posting a similar thread in college search and selection and college life.</p>
<p>I’m black, and only know one black person who went to any of the colleges that you list. A friend’s niece attended St. Joseph, graduating several years ago. The niece had needed a small, nurturing college because she was a troubled young woman with a spotty academic record and major family problems. That she was able to graduate from college reflects well on the university. That’s all I know, however, about her experience.</p>
<p>I’ve copied this thread, and posted it in the African American students forum, which is in specialty college admissions topics, part of our college admissions forum.</p>
<p>You’ll get more responses on the parents’ board or by posting on the schools’ boards. But even if you specify that you want comments from black students/parents, you’re likely to get a lot of well-meaning posts, of dubious accuracy, from white posters insisting insisting that black students at school X are happy and would be fully intergrated into the school but for the fact that they self-segregate. </p>
<p>I have not even investigated most of the schools on OP’s list, but D1 (now a soph) considered F&M, but ultimately found it to be too small and too white. When D1 was applying, the black enrollment at F&M was less than 3% - - not much worse than a number of other schools, but with an overall enrollment of 2000 that meant only 60 black students on campus. D1 felt this was too small of a pool for her to count on making friends w/ students who shared interestsl, some of whom were also black. We dropped Muhlenberg from D2’s list for similar reasons (2500 students about 2% black = 50 black students on campus).</p>
<p>For us, the numbers were often enough of a reason to say “no thanks.” Neither of my Ds - - both of whom have attended predomintely white schoools and have diverse circles of friends - - felt she could be comfortable at a school with such a small black population. And that’s without even factoring the dating issue (of the 50 black students a M’berg, for example, no more than 16-20 are male, and since most students date in-race, those are terrible odd for a hetero black girl).</p>
<p>I would not send my kid to an isolated college that has only a handful of black students. As a black person who grew up in such surroundings, I think it’s hard for students of any race to go to a college where they are in the overwhelming minority and there aren’t many people of their race in the nearby community.</p>
<p>It’s very hard to have to be the spokesperson for your entire race when, for instance, discussions of racial issues happen in college courses and dorm rooms. It also is a big pain to even get one’s hair cut or styled or to get suitable make-up in a place where there aren’t many black people. It also can be hard to find romantic partners, particularly for black women, who are viewed by people of other races as being less appealing romantic partners than are black males.</p>
<p>Thank you NSM; I should have added that isolated locale was also a factor for us.</p>
<p>I didnt know northstarmom was black!!! and I completely understand your post, I’ve gone through this all through hs!!!</p>
<p>You must be from PA.</p>
<p>Well Ursinus I read sucks really bad when it comes to social life…
I’ve read reviews from about 6 students who were attending and most of them hated it.</p>
<p>I definetly expected a list of HBCU’s hehe. that’s a good idea though. Many parent’s would definetly like to hear about those schools. :)</p>
<p>I spoke to a friend whose cousin is at Ursinus and loves it; he received a generous “scholarship” - - I’m not sure whether that was need-based aid or merit money. Perhaps the $$ has something to do with his loving it.</p>
<p>Roblan, were the reviews you read from black students?</p>
<p>Thanks for the response everyone, I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>I can tell you about Seton Hall.</p>
<p>Black students I know tend to have a miserable experience. It’s a Catholic university and knowing the experience that I have with Catholics (I’m Catholic), they tend to be very socially conservative. The older administration at Seton Hall seem to live in the past, if you know what I mean. If you are doing the Nursing program there and are black, don’t expect to prosper…</p>
<p>But no matter what, I personally believe that any person of any color can succeed in any school if he pushes him/her self…</p>
<p>…just work twice as hard. :D</p>
<p>I read the reviews from this site</p>
<p>student reviews.com/PA/UC<em>comments.html?page=3&type=&d</em>school=Ursinus%20College</p>
<p>remove the space between student and review
there are 3 pages btw</p>
<p>Wow, the OP’s list shook me up. My D has applied to some of them. She didn’t apply to any HBCU’s. She’s biracial and has always attened 97%+ white public schools without any problems. It’s funny, both her teachers and classmates thought she was something other than black until I showed up in class one day. They thought she was either from the Phillipines or India. </p>
<p>But she has applied and been admitted to four schools with low black pops. She’s waiting on additional schools to make their decisions but they are either just as bad in black student pop or if they have better black numbers they are super reaches so she is unlikely to get in.</p>
<p>From that list, she has been accepted to Ursinus and Muhleberg. But she’s also been accepted to Penn State-University Park and Dickinson. Of the four schools, only Ursinus has a black student pop higher than 5%. Muhlenberg is the lowest at 2.2%.</p>
<p>My D felt very comfortable on her visit to Muhlenberg. I don’t think it’s a racist or unfriendly place. In fact, I think it leans decidely liberal. We visited in January and the windows in the dorms were still filled with Obama signs. We didn’t see one McCain sign.</p>
<p>Liberals can be racist. People could vote for Obama and still be racist because often times people who have racist feelings make exceptions for certain individuals. I know this first hand as many of my friends are pretty racist.</p>
<p>Plainsman,</p>
<p>I seen alot of your post. We live about 25 minutes from Muhlenberg. My daughter was accepted there too as well as Ursinus. She’s leading towards Muhlenberg. So far she got into 9 out of 10 schools. Waiting for three more from the list. I can’t wait till this is over. Good luck.</p>
<p>^^^
Hello firstyearmom1: My D is also leaning toward Muhlenberg over Ursinus. We live about 15 minutes from Muhlenberg, if that long. But neither school has said anything about financial aid. Not yet. She was admitted to Dickinson last Friday and they informed us about financial aid at the same time, which is the right way to do it, in my book. My D is waiting on seven schools, all of which should notify her in the next 8 days. So far she’s 4 for 4, but the next seven are all reaches. </p>
<p>Good luck to you and your daughter, too.</p>