PWI vs HBCU

[WileECoyote06]

Ironically, the stigmas about HBCUs mirror the stigmas about blacks in society. You are inferior no matter what your academic credentials are. If you go to the University of Michigan, many white students believe that you're only there because of Affirmative Action. As you enter the workforce, many white employees think you're only there because of affirmative action.

In other words, absolutely nothing you do is going to impress all of the people, all of the time. You're only recourse is to go with what is best for you. In my college decision, even though I was accepted by Duke, Princeton, UNC, UF and other universities, I decided to attend an HBCU.

After researching the graduates of HBCU's I knew that whatever inspired those people to be great (MLK, Jesse Jackson, Wilma Rudolph, Pam Oliver, Eugene Kinckle Jones, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Kim Coles, Joe Torre, etc etc); I wanted that same inspiration, and I have never regretted my decision to attend North Carolina Central University.

While many of my high school counterparts (especially males) dropped out at UNC, or hated their experience at UVA, or partied themselves out of ECU; nearly all of us who chose to go to WSSU, NCCU, and A & T are successful with good careers and promising futures. Don't believe the inferior hype. From my high school circle, there is a captain in the army, a contractor, a UPS executive, and a college professor. From my college circle there are two teachers, two doctors, a computer analyst, a professor, a school administrator, and a top-level researcher.

Success is an external reaction to internal forces.

(sorry about the length, but I feel very strongly about this topic)

[AfroPoeticSista]

my sister(who attends Yale :roll: ) seems to hold dear the belief that i will not have the same professional advantages with an hbcu degree than if i attended Ohio State University(becuz OSU degree=instant job in the midwest). But I don't see the difference, because i've attended mostly white schools all of my life...if there IS a difference, i have a leg up so to speak
but i don't think there is a diffreence

[Slim GoodyN757]

I BELIEVE THAT MORE BLACKS SHOULD CONSIDER GOING TO HBCU'S BECAUSE THE EDUCATION YOU GET FROM IT WON'T BE ANY DIFFERENT FROM A PWI. IF YOU ARE FOCUSED ON ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS THEN YOU WILL GO A LONG WAY IN LIFE. NO COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY IS PERFECT , WHETHER IT IS A PWI OR HBCU BUT U GOT TO MAKE THE BEST OF IT. IVE ATTENDED MIXED SCHOOLS MY WHOLE LIFE BUT I CHOSE AN HBCU B/C I WANT TO HAVE THAT BLACK COLLEGE EXPERIENCE B/C WHEN I AM AROUND INTELLECTUAL AND GOAL ORIENTED BLACK PPL I AM PROUD TO BE ME AND IT MAKES ME FEEL THAT I CAN ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS. SO DON'T LET SOMEONE PUT DOWN THE SCHOOL OF YOUR DREAMS FROM THE PROBLEMS THAT THEY HAVE HAD B/C WHEN YOU GO THERE YOUR EXPERIENCE WILL BE TOTALLY DIFFERENT.

ALABAMA A&M University HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DEEliciouS]

I believe the choice is yours....if u wanna (and can afford) to go to a HBCU-then do it! :lol: I support HBCU's because i do think they are good for our people--most of them anyway. As you all can see i didnt necessarly (sp) get the chance to attend the HBCU i wanted and still want to go to (Howard...uuu know...lol), but im also happy at the school i am at. I know alot of people perceive PWI's as this boring old college-with so many white people and organizations for only them.WRONG! Well at VCU its wrong-i was so shocked when i came there-because thats the image i had perceived it of. White people at my school are more of a minority. I was so motivated to see so many black people educating themselves. ANd even though a HBCU will more than likely give you that "home" feeling-its all up to you. If i could turn back the hands of time-i wouldnt change me going to VCU because it has been such an eye-opening and fun experience i dont think i would have received anywhere else. There are a lot of distractions at VCU also....that can be a bad thing sometimes..lol. Well there goes my two cents....holla
8)

[onleeone04]

my mom was really concerned about me going to an HBCU mainly because i have been surrounded by white people my whole life. She thought i was going to have an extreme culture shock and just go crazy. I doubt that is going to happen because I am way more focused than she thinks. I finally talked her into the whole idea of letting me be around african-americans with the same mindset of me...EDUCATION!

[Mr.228]

i am leaving an HBCU and going to a PWI

1. education shouldnt be "tailored" to a specific race
2. there is no HBCU in this world that has its financial shyt together... and they all have trifling financial aid offices.. if i contact DUKE today about financial aid, i will get a response tomorrow.
3. lets be real...its sad to say...but a DUKE degree (in this white world) is more valued than a degree from lets say, Xavier or FAMU
4. the "black experience"..hmmm lets see.. fights at step shows, shootings at club.. yea ima miss those days...what i am sayin is that everything i did at an HBCU... i can also do at a PWI (chill on the yard wit black people, go to step shows, go to black parties, etc.)..white schools offer the same things as black schools do...they are greek orgs, and cultural clubs
5. dont get me wrong, i have plenty of respect for HBCUs, they are much more fun than PWI...but i guess its a matter of what u major in... it is known that HBCUs are better with the maths and sciences because the 2 are universal concepts... but in the englishes and liberal arts, they are not because they tend to lean more towards black culture (i.e. the african american literature classes, the AFAM history classes are good, but they are emphasized too heavily)...as an english major i need more..plus i can take AFAM at white schools too.
6. PS- u cant get minority scholarships at HBCUs lol
7. i am basing this on a lot of stuff... family members who have attend FAMU, CLARK, MOREHOUSE, AND VUU have had the same problems.
8. people forget that PWIs do have black faculty members and students.. some PWIs have more black people than black colleges do... so that whole thing about "wanting to be taught by black people" is absurd... there are black teachers at white schools believe it or not.

9. wit all this being said... anybody who goes to NCCU lemme know what it is like cuz ima prollly be chillin there erday


i value my experiences at xavier, but i realized to get where i wanna go in life, i need to step outside my boundaries for a minute... but pleez beleeve my children will be attending HBCUs

[usfkid03]

i say def. a PWI. for many reasons that the dude above said... here's what i think.

I go to the University of South Florida and I love it there, not just because it's a PWI, but it's a great school.

I have attended FAMU and the campus ceilings was caving in, the dorms are far from up to par, and the whole expreience was just kinda.... well i didn't like it.

Tallahassee is only fun if theres a party goin on, if not there aint **** to do.

I know 3 people who graduated from HBCU's within the last 2 years, they are all doing either telemarking or workign at somewhere like Walgreens with thousands of dollars in student loans... why?

It seems to me as if while I think we as black people should unite, there is no reason to continue to seperate ourself. It's 2004, not 1964. All this time people faught for us to intergrate and here we are talking about, "White people don't want them in their school so we're gonna go to an HBCU" well... if that was said a few decades ago blacks and whites would still be drinking from seperate water fountains.

And lastly... THERE IS NOTHIN WRONG WITH A "PWI". USF is a very good school. Tier-1 education. BIG EAST conference. All the same sororities/fraternities that an HBCU has, step shows ALL THE TIME, dances ALL THE TIME, concerts (i.e. Bruce Bruce, Bill Bellamy, Sommore, Ying Yang Twinz, Arnez J, Rated R, Tampa Tony ALL THE TIME, AND 1 Mixtape Tours, Lock-In's, Parties, Ybor City, and about 12,000 black folks + the about 30,000 other colored folk -- ALL THE TIME.

I say it's time to leave this safety net called HBCU and show whitey that we can make it in a "real school"