How to know a college is safe for POC

Anonymous
I would reach out to either the admissions office or the appropriate black-student affinity group to try to set up a one-on-one Zoom with a current black student. My DD made a somewhat similar request to certain LAC admissions offices last cycle, and most were very accommodating. Sometimes colleges also have a list of student ambassadors on their website to answer questions about the school. For example, here's Dartmouth's: https://admissions.dartmouth.edu/visit/connect
Anonymous
22 is really bad. I’d go somewhere else. Unless you are in a really niche ethnic group, it makes no sense to silo yourself from a community.
Anonymous
OP, if he is interested in a particular school, he should see if it has a Black Student Union or students of color/BIPOC group. Another indicator is an institutional office of diversity, equity and inclusion - sometimes called office of inclusive excellence.

Good luck!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:22 is really bad. I’d go somewhere else. Unless you are in a really niche ethnic group, it makes no sense to silo yourself from a community.


out of how many though?
Anonymous
In my opinion SLACs and many schools in the NE are not diverse enough. He needs to look at schools like Duke, USC,
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:22 is really bad. I’d go somewhere else. Unless you are in a really niche ethnic group, it makes no sense to silo yourself from a community.

There’s going to be a ton of wandering eyes. People here want to normalize black students as an anomaly in higher ed, so it doesn’t bother them how your kid may be treated. We sadly don’t have many choices left for higher ed with strong black communities.
Anonymous
SLACs don’t attract a large black population in general.
Anonymous
Go to a university. It sucks but that’s where you find strength in numbers.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:SLACs don’t attract a large black population in general.

It is pretty substantial to go from 70/400 per class to 20/400. Op should seriously consider letting their child go into that kind of environment.
Anonymous
Emory
Anonymous
OP: If you're interested in Pomona, my POC (not black) DD is there. I wouldn't be worried about affirmative racism or ostracization. Pomona is as diverse as elite colleges get. But the extent to which black students feel comfortable there is another matter, and one on which I'm not qualified to opine. I will, however, note that the 5C consortium is a great social network expander. My DD really does socialize a lot with students from the other colleges, not just Pomona. Similarly, if you're worried about the black student population at Pomona, keep in in mind that there's a larger community of black students in the 5Cs.

Anyhow, here are some resources on your concern:
Black @ Pomona College: Q&A Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=932Q-SLJPSc

Black @ Pomona College: Q&A Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94i5J4vkcH0

Pomona Black Student Union: https://claremont.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/pomonabsu
https://www.instagram.com/pomonabsu/

5C resources for black students:
https://www.associatedstudentsofclaremontmckennacollege.org/black-student-resources
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:22 is really bad. I’d go somewhere else. Unless you are in a really niche ethnic group, it makes no sense to silo yourself from a community.

There’s going to be a ton of wandering eyes. People here want to normalize black students as an anomaly in higher ed, so it doesn’t bother them how your kid may be treated. We sadly don’t have many choices left for higher ed with strong black communities.


These tiny private schools are unheard of outside of upper class circles, which already doesn’t have a large black population in general. I would focus my efforts on the high quality schools in the south east and the Ivies. Think Emory, Vanderbilt, Duke, UGA, UNC, and UVA. The only person I know who went to an SLAC went for sports.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:22 is really bad. I’d go somewhere else. Unless you are in a really niche ethnic group, it makes no sense to silo yourself from a community.

There’s going to be a ton of wandering eyes. People here want to normalize black students as an anomaly in higher ed, so it doesn’t bother them how your kid may be treated. We sadly don’t have many choices left for higher ed with strong black communities.


These tiny private schools are unheard of outside of upper class circles, which already doesn’t have a large black population in general. I would focus my efforts on the high quality schools in the south east and the Ivies. Think Emory, Vanderbilt, Duke, UGA, UNC, and UVA. The only person I know who went to an SLAC went for sports.

Prior to AA ban, Pomona was the most diverse college in the country. It literally DID attract people outside the upper class circles. This has scaled back directly post AA
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:OP, there was a long thread some time ago that might be of interest, but I can't seem to find it. It was by a mom who was looking for her daughter for schools with comparatively larger % of black students. I'll see if I can find it but google so far is failing me.

One school that comes to mind for a kid with high stats is Northwestern. Class of 2024 15.4% black https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2024/september/introducing-the-northwestern-class-of-2028/

PP. I think I found the thread I had in mind: "Where to go from here (Black student)" https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1225225.page

We are a black family whose daughter has elite-level stats (1590 SAT, 4.0, yadayada). She will not be entering a college with a low single digit black population-it just won't happen. We are looking for colleges where there is a strong black community and a non HBCU, since she is already applying to Howard and Spelman. Any suggestions?


A bit to wade through, but there might be some helpful suggestions among the 18 pages.
Anonymous
My DC was in similar situation…top grades, SAT etc from a similar type school. I went to SLAC and hated it but stuck it out bc of FA. Fortunately DC had more options. Unfortunately most top schools are severely lacking with regard to Black students. And while HBCUs are great and welcoming, that is not what DC wanted. Ultimately chose a large school with great merit scholarship opportunity. Still not the balance of AA students they were hoping for but feels their cohort of students are similar academically and attending football games, intramurals etc has been a great outlet and there is always something going on, unlike some of the smaller choices. And while they would like to join a Greek organization, as for the AA ones they feel out of place but the ‘white’ ones they also have no interest in joining because they do not want to be the token black person, harsh but true.
Also feel these are cases where Affirmative Action would help in addition to first generation students.
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