This is my question. I hear all kind of people lauding the HBCU experience and seem utterly enraptured with the idea that they will be able to spend the four years of their undergraduate experience with people who share their same ethnic background. 1st question: Is this at all representative of real life? From my personal experience I have found that we, or at least in the upwardly socio-economic realm that you high achieving and socially conscious African-American (predominantly) hope to take part in, live in a white world. How will an HBCU where you will be surrounded by people like you and taught be professors like you be at all representative of real life? Or at least the one you hope to be living?
My 2nd question involves personal and academic preference. I have been accepted into a number of Universities and can go anywhere I want. So what would make me want to attend a HBCU rather than a more traditional Ivy League school or one of its equivalents when my goals is to become as educated as possible and subsequently be the most qualified for any future position or work that I would like to pursue. Furthermore, how diverse can an HBCU be and how much can you learn about other cultures/environments when you are surrounded my only one megaculture?
I think HBCU's are great...wonderful....and if you can afford to go to one, thats even better. I wanted to go to Howard-but my funds wont allow me to do so at the moment, so i had to go with plan B, a PWI. I have bragged about VCU plenty of times, and yes in some classes you are simply a number (especially as a fresh), but after your first, and towards your second year, this isnt the case. I dont know at other PWI's but just about all (except onez i got beef w/) the black people i walk past, we acknowledge each other-i mean there is no reason to hate if i dont even know u.Plus i can see, really, where my money is going to. VCU builds a new state of the art dorm EVERY year!! I was lucky enough to move into one of the newest dorms this semester. In addition to the dorms, we are always expanding, renovating, and making our campus bigger. There is only one building on campus that needs some serious help, but they are tearing that down and renovating it for next school year.I have plenty of friends who go to HBCU's and im not knocking them at all, but i just feel that i am getting MY money's worth. Shhiiit, we even got a d@mn club on campus (Shouts out to the HyperLink)! I be damned if im payin $20,000+ a year and dont have AC, or one microwave in my dorm-and ONE caf....yea right. :???lus this a NATIONALLY recognized University, so I shouldnt have too many problems finding a decent job.
It really all depends on where your at, HBCU or PWI, Because everything at every school is different.
The name on your diploma has little to do with your success in the job market. It is what you know and who you know. So, if you went to Harvard and know nothing and know none the alumni, chances are you won't have a chance when it comes to being considered for jobs.
On the other hand, if you're intelligent and have taken the chances to put yourself in front of alumni or other prominent visitors, you will be extremely successful when it comes to entering the job market. Harvard has a great name when it comes to the professional world. However, Howard has a great name as well. When your alums are well regarded throughout the professional world for their accomplishments, you will have a much better chance than someone who comes from an institution that is less highly regarded.
There are two other classifications as well. Those are the people who know everyone and know absolutely nothing (G. W. Bush). Then there are the people who know everything but don't know anyone. As you can see, the former has an advantage over the latter any day.
When you decide what school you are interested in attending, make sure the institution allows you to put yourself in front of prominent people. I can say that Howard definitely gave me that chance (Ossie Davis, Johnny Cochran, David Dinkins, Debbie Allen; all people I met while at Howard). Make sure that the new dorm at your PWI also comes with a chance to meet people like that and network. The names of the University means less than the names of the people you've had the opportunity to interact with. Just my '06 cents.
I think HBCU's are great...wonderful....and if you can afford to go to one, thats even better. I wanted to go to Howard-but my funds wont allow me to do so at the moment, so i had to go with plan B, a PWI. I have bragged about VCU plenty of times, and yes in some classes you are simply a number (especially as a fresh), but after your first, and towards your second year, this isnt the case. I dont know at other PWI's but just about all (except onez i got beef w/) the black people i walk past, we acknowledge each other-i mean there is no reason to hate if i dont even know u.Plus i can see, really, where my money is going to. VCU builds a new state of the art dorm EVERY year!! I was lucky enough to move into one of the newest dorms this semester. In addition to the dorms, we are always expanding, renovating, and making our campus bigger. There is only one building on campus that needs some serious help, but they are tearing that down and renovating it for next school year.I have plenty of friends who go to HBCU's and im not knocking them at all, but i just feel that i am getting MY money's worth. Shhiiit, we even got a d@mn club on campus (Shouts out to the HyperLink)! I be damned if im payin $20,000+ a year and dont have AC, or one microwave in my dorm-and ONE caf....yea right. :???lus this a NATIONALLY recognized University, so I shouldnt have too many problems finding a decent job.
It really all depends on where your at, HBCU or PWI, Because everything at every school is different.
The name on your diploma has little to do with your success in the job market. It is what you know and who you know. So, if you went to Harvard and know nothing and know none the alumni, chances are you won't have a chance when it comes to being considered for jobs.
On the other hand, if you're intelligent and have taken the chances to put yourself in front of alumni or other prominent visitors, you will be extremely successful when it comes to entering the job market. Harvard has a great name when it comes to the professional world. However, Howard has a great name as well. When your alums are well regarded throughout the professional world for their accomplishments, you will have a much better chance than someone who comes from an institution that is less highly regarded.
There are two other classifications as well. Those are the people who know everyone and know absolutely nothing (G. W. Bush). Then there are the people who know everything but don't know anyone. As you can see, the former has an advantage over the latter any day.
When you decide what school you are interested in attending, make sure the institution allows you to put yourself in front of prominent people. I can say that Howard definitely gave me that chance (Ossie Davis, Johnny Cochran, David Dinkins, Debbie Allen; all people I met while at Howard). Make sure that the new dorm at your PWI also comes with a chance to meet people like that and network. The names of the University means less than the names of the people you've had the opportunity to interact with. Just my '06 cents.
Cosigns, and don't forget Toni Morrison,Roberta Flack, Wendy Raquel Robinson, P.Diddy, Marlon Wayans, Phylicia Rashad, Omar Tyree, Lynn Whitfieeld, Stokely Carmichael, and don't even get me started on all of the celebrity alumni from my school as well as others, I was on the UNCF website today and I saw people on there I didn't even know went to HBCU's like Yolanda Adams, Common, Toni Braxton, Erykah Badu(just to name a few)
Are you people really that dumb? Do you really think that a name doesnt matter? If you go to Harvard and meet none of the alumni and make no connections, you still have the name. People will hire you becuase you went to Harvard. I think that you people are trying to justify your feeble education at the HBCU by saying that the other people who went to far superior schools dont have an obvious and evident advantage.
And by citing successful minority ENTERTAINERS that graduated from HBCUs does not help solidify your point. You dont need a college education to make jokes, sing, or do sitcoms. Especially not sitcoms.
You're obviously the **** because these employers aren't gonna do anything but use you until you're not of any service to them. If they only care about where you got your degree from, they are just looking at you as their valuable asset ;what you can do for them and how much money you'll put in their pockets.
This discussion has been done, but okay, here goes.... Any employer that looks at school name over qualifications of the individual isn't fit to be hiring employees. Some people don't attend ivy league schools by choice. For instance, i turned down Yale to go to Morehouse. I know plenty of Ivy Leaguers that don't keep the jobs they get because even though they're plenty book smart, they lack common sense. This also explains why so many of them get hit by cars after failing to look both ways before crossing.
As someone who's actually had to make a hiring choice, I can tell you right now that the name of their school matters much less than you would think. For instance, we were filling a position last summer, and it came down to two applicants (both about to be seniors in college). One was attending UConn, while the other attended a smaller state school nearby. If school name mattered, I would've chosen the UConn student. However, after interviewing both, I knew that the other student was a much better fit for the position, and would serve our company well. As a result, it's been a year, he's still with us, and I think he's one of the best people we've hired to date.
Oh, and it may not take a college education to tell jokes or sing, but what about win the Nobel Peace Prize?
^^^ cosign
Wow, you are the most ignorant person I've ever had the intense displeasure of discoursing with. I feel like just being on the same server as you has **** a few thousand of my neurons.
everytime i tell some one that i am about to attend an hbcu they get all crazy and ask i why i want to go there? why do u want to be stuck with all black people? why do want to subject yourself to a school that is not up to date with dorms, computers etc. blah blah blah
all i can say is that my ancestors, excuse me our ancestors black and whites fought for the chance for us to read and write. if they could see us today they would turn in their grave. these hbcus were the first to open their doors and educate us, so what the hell is the point in knocking them?
i too turned down the option to go to a PWI for the simple fact that i dont want to be in a school where the population of black people is like 5%. that tells me that they really dont want me there, i just a number filling their quota so they wont get in trouble for not extending a hand to us. some of my most important teacher was black and went to black schools he opened my mind to things ididnt even know about and encouraged me to go to an hbcu.i also had a black teacher from yale and she made us feel dumb and acted like she was too good to teach us and answer our questions.
to those who black people are all the same, please take a tour of Howard University. last year i spent like a week there with my homie while i was still trying to decide if i wanted to apply, even if that wasnt my choice i full respect the school and its achievments. there are a million types of black people and it was beautiful to see.
we need to support more hbcus before (god forbid) they begin to close down and then we will will be in a sh*t hole.
i really think that the people who are so opposed to black schools really need to read this book by Cater G. Woodson called "The Miseducation of the Negro" if u need it email me and i will send u copy because it is that serious.
This HBCU vs. PWI debate is pointless, instead of wondering why someone would go to one or the other we should be supporting and encouraging each other as young, college african-american students because for the most part we are rare.
Aside from that everyone should realize that not all HBCU and PWIs are alike, if you see one you don't see them all.
I go to a PWI and you can go into the student union and there will be a DJ, greeks stepping, black people mingling, we have just as many programs and parties as the local HBCUs, in fact the students from local HBCUs come to our campus to participate in our activies and parties. Just because you go to a HBCU doens't mean it will be a tight knit family, I know tons of people at HBCUs, at Hampton in particular I hear people complain all the time about how they don't like the atmosphere or the people, the same can go for a PWI. While I have been in plenty of classes with 100+ students, I've never been just a number, the instructors in these classes actually know my name. My chemistry teacher had a class of over 250, and believe it or not she took the time to learn everyones name in the class...
PWIs have the positives AND negatives as do HBCUs, I can see why someone would go to a HBCU sometimes I wish I did, I may even go to one for grad. school. What it comes down to is personal choice which should be respected...
I be damned if im payin $20,000+ a year and dont have AC, or one microwave in my dorm-and ONE caf....yea right. :???
lus this a NATIONALLY recognized University, so I shouldnt have too many problems finding a decent job.
It really all depends on where your at, HBCU or PWI, Because everything at every school is different. 
