Going to an HBCU was my only aspiration. I'm from Nashville, TN by way of Atlanta, GA so I grew up between the Atlanta colleges and universities and Tennessee State, Meharry, and Fisk. We went to every classic every step show every everything when I was growing up and I couldn't see myself not a part of that when the time came. Plus, I was always in majority white schools from K-12 so I was ready to be with my people.
I spent the summer before my 12th grade year visting HBCU's everywhere. I fell in love with Howard. I knew I was going there because I got a shcolarship. Well, a few days before move-in my mom called to find out the directions to the particular dorm I would be in because we had not gotten anything in the mail. To our surprise
Howard had no record of me ever applying, let alone receiving a scholarship. All was not lost because my mother took the liberty of sending in an application to Fisk U. behind my back. That turned out to be the best thing she could have done because the accepted me and I got a scholarship and I got a couple of grants from the state so my refund was always fat. Two weeks after the semester started at Fisk, I got an award letter from Howard showing my scholarship and all, but I was so in love with Fisk that I turned them down and I never looked back.
HBCU's don't vary much in the "Good" and "BAD" categories. Plus if you do choose an HBCU, you'll come to find that the "BAD" turns into unforgetable memories that you and your classmates and possibly future sorors can sit around and laugh about for years.
As for the last qestions posed. Follow the advice of some of the other posts. especially RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH.
In closing know this: when you go to an HBCU (especially Fisk
) you are among some of the smartest minds in the world and they all happen to be black!