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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We’re a Banneker family. If you go to school events there is a whole lot of emphasis on getting into college and this annoying celebration of scholarships awarded which makes little sense when (1) you start to see university scholarships as discounts rather than cash and (2) realize you can only send your kid to one university at a time.

They have an emphasis on “everybody getting into (and presumably going to) college.” I think that this is a great aspiration for a school where every student has demonstrated an interest in working hard regardless of academic ability.

We’re a Banneker family. If you go to school events there is a whole lot of emphasis on getting into college and this annoying celebration of scholarships awarded which makes little sense when (1) you start to see university scholarships as discounts rather than cash and (2) realize you can only send your kid to one university at a time.

One of the ways they meet this aspiration is by sending kids to HBCUs. These are also great for the affinities of many students and in many ways the affinities of Banneker itself (it feels like a little HBCU almost). If you see the requirements for these schools and their SAT averages, they are not very demanding.

Alabama A&M requires an 1130 for their HONORS program and a 990 for regular admission. Coppin State’s average is 950. “Top” HBCUs don’t have much higher requirements. Spelman has a 1200 SAT average, Morehouse, 1060. These universities want students from schools with cultures like Banneker, and recent news has shown smaller HBCUs are looking for students where they can get them. When these are the requirements, students have little incentive to try to score higher.

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It makes me legitimately angry when a school tries to steer kids to a very bad nearly for profit private HBCU over a state school because of “scholarships.” DC has this problem less than some places because of the lack of an in state flagship school, but still, watching kids celebrate a scholarship covering 5% cost of attendance at a school with a 20% 4 year grad rate and being encouraged to do so by the high school is gross. [/quote]

I don't know much about Hampton specifically, but if you are not black you may not understand the appeal and benefit of HBCUs for high achieving black students. There are very good reasons that many Banneker students decided to attend HBCUs. And even the very best, most well respect HBCUs have lower average SAT scores than top non-HBCU schools.

Going to a school like Howard, Spelman, or Morehouse not only offers a strong academic opportunity (these schools tend to attract excellent professors because of their history and reputations, and attracting exception black students from all over the country) but there is a social and networking component it is hard to beat. The alumni networks of these schools run deep and are incredibly loyal, and the benefits start from the moment you graduate until you die. Because so many students at these schools come from similar backgrounds with similar cultural touchstones, morals, and values, the friendships people make at these schools are often lifelong and devoted in a way that is rare in this day and age.

There can be elements of this experience at other schools with large black populations. I went to a state flagship with multiple black sororities and frats, for instance, and I think that experience sort of approximates an HBCU environment in a more diverse school. I would like to even say there are advantages to going to a school with more racial diversity because it better prepares you for the workplace, but I actually don't know if that's true -- my peers who are HBCU grads don't seem to have any problem acclimating to diverse workplaces, and seem to carry a level of confidence in themselves that I think can be rare for black professionals, especially early in their careers. There is something incredibly empowering about being in a place where black excellence is celebrated in every corner of the institution, where your professors are mostly black, where the expectation is that every black students has the potential to do great things in their chosen field and there are no questions of anyone being less than or a charity case simply because they are black. I think that experience changes you.

Banneker seems to be offering an experience akin to that at the high school level, and it does not surprise me that many of their graduates head to HBCUs (or to schools like mine with large and active black student associations). There is power in numbers.

If that means caring a bit less about a tippy top SAT score because you can get into one of these schools with a 1250 SAT, so be it. I absolutely think some of these students just remove themselves from the rat race for Ivies or top SLACs or even many of the elite public programs, which would require much more impressive scores, because they would rather have the kind of experience I just described. So why devote time and energy on getting a higher SAT, when you could spend it on refining your writing ability, pursuing a sport or other extra-curricular more seriously, doing an internship, etc. All of which will matter much more in an HBCU or similar environment, where what you do matters more than how you scored on a test that most black people believe was developed to perpetuate discrimination against black students at elite academic institutions.[/quote]

Thank you for saying this. I tried sharing a similar sentiment earlier but had tech issues. Coincidentally, I attended Hampton and had to leave because of familial issues, not because I was underprepared or didn't have the grades. I was on the dean's list when I left in my sophomore year. I continued my education as a self-funded student at another HBCU and eventually earned a doctorate from an R1 institution, basically arriving at the same spot as a lot of folks from other undergraduate institutions.

I'd also offer that state schools are not a panacea for all students either, even with funding. I had a former student who received a full-ride scholarship to a flagship state school who had to leave because they couldn't afford the expense of actually living away from home. Things like lab fees, food costs when the cafe is closed and other factors contribute to folks leaving both HBCUs and PWIs, but HBCUs tend to have larger numbers of students with certain complex needs, but don't have large endowments and such to support these students. Also, looking at four year completion is difficult. People change majors, add minors and all kinds of other things that change their matriculation time. I don't think that's a terrible thing. It does mean that there has to be better advising. I will say that is usually an institutional issue, one that I have intimate familiarity with as a current HBCU professor and parent. [/quote]

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