White men in NPHC

[shinerbock]

Did you get a scholarship to the school or have a lot of friends there or something? I'm just always interested in what leads white folks to black schools.

[susan314]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Did you get a scholarship to the school or have a lot of friends there or something? I'm just always interested in what leads white folks to black schools.

I know your question wasn't directed at me, but...

Howard University was on my list of prospective graduate schools. At one point, I wanted to move to the Washington DC area and was evaluating schools in DC that offered my program of interest.

I ultimately didn't apply (to Howard or any other DC area school), because my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer...I decided to stay close to home. However, I would have readily attended Howard - if I had been admitted, of course, and if it seemed like the best fit out of the schools in the area that would have offered me admission.

I didn't even really think too much about the fact that it was a historically black college - I was evaluating it based on its location, the fact that it offered the right program, and that I felt like I could get a good education there. Actually, the historically black aspect of it didn't cross my mind at all, until other people pointed it out to me.

[shinerbock]

I think at a lot of black colleges, the grad schools are often more mixed than the undergraduate population. I know a lot of people that applied to HBCU's as fallbacks for law school. From the sound of it, some of those grad programs are fairly evenly split along racial lines.

Its less mysterious when its based on locale or other connections. I just am interested in white folks from like California who up and decide to go to Howard. Of course, I'm also interested in people from like NY who end up at NM State without a scholarship or other connections. People just sometimes seem random with their college selections.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Of course, I'm also interested in people from like NY who end up at NM State without a scholarship or other connections. People just sometimes seem random with their college selections.

Sometimes that's the point - if you really didn't enjoy high school or your hometown and 80% of the populace goes to a certain school, you may want to get as far away from that as possible.

[shinerbock]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Sometimes that's the point - if you really didn't enjoy high school or your hometown and 80% of the populace goes to a certain school, you may want to get as far away from that as possible.

Well, if you're from SoCal and you go to NYU or UF or LSU, thats not that confusing. But if you're from Orange Co. and you go to Georgia Southern or Oswego St., its a little weird.

[DSTRen13]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Well, if you're from SoCal and you go to NYU or UF or LSU, thats not that confusing. But if you're from Orange Co. and you go to Georgia Southern or Oswego St., its a little weird.

My brother is at GA Southern, which is definitely not a bad school, but also not most well-known in the state, and whenever he mentions out-of-state friends, I do wonder about that. But I guess if I wanted go out of state and couldn't get in to the top schools, why not? Sometimes you just want to leave. (Although, honestly, I think I'd go to somewhere with a beach or some sort of attractions, not Statesboro ... )

[shinerbock]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

My brother is at GA Southern, which is definitely not a bad school, but also not most well-known in the state, and whenever he mentions out-of-state friends, I do wonder about that. But I guess if I wanted go out of state and couldn't get in to the top schools, why not? Sometimes you just want to leave. (Although, honestly, I think I'd go to somewhere with a beach or some sort of attractions, not Statesboro ... )

Yeah, I think it probably boils down to them visiting and just feeling that it is the right place, but it makes one wonder.

[Educatingblue]

We have several members in or around the grad chapter who are not African-American. I think the best thing would be to keep an open-mind about the culture and doing new things.

Try not to act like you don't belong. I was at a step show a few months back and saw a caucasian soror who got out there and did her thing, so I guess it really depends on the individual and how comfortable they are with the situation.

[Sugar08]

Originally Posted by Educatingblue

Try not to act like you don't belong. I was at a step show a few months back and saw a caucasian soror who got out there and did her thing, so I guess it really depends on the individual and how comfortable they are with the situation.

I really agree with that. At HU, I can remember three very well-known and popular nonblack male students ... one asian, two white. I'm pretty sure most everyone liked them because they were a) comfortable around black people and b) comfortable in their own skin (i.e. not acting stereotypically "black").

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Well, if you're from SoCal and you go to NYU or UF or LSU, thats not that confusing. But if you're from Orange Co. and you go to Georgia Southern or Oswego St., its a little weird.

Or at least is makes you wonder what the connection to the college was. I too think it's interesting when people go to colleges where they will be an extreme racial or ethnic minority (Cool interesting, not freak show interesting). With PWIs (which I'm guessing is Predominantly White Institution, right?), sometimes you might imagine that people go because it's the big state school or it's public and cheap. Often when you talk about HBCs, the tradition that attracts someone has got to be different than that, since often they are smaller, private, and maybe not so cheap, and especially for undergraduate school, I am curious about the particular elements that drew someone in.

[Ilaria Ame]

have you considered multicultural organizations? i know that at my school, which is mixed, i was interested in joining a sorority, but i'm not "white" enough for mainstream, "black" enough for divine nine, or "latina" enough for a latin org. then i found Lambda Psi Delta Sorority Incorporated, which is multicultural, and haven't looked back! it's been great and i would highly reccomend checking out what your campus has to offer. or even do your research and found a chapter if there aren't any. that's what we're doing!

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Sometimes that's the point - if you really didn't enjoy high school or your hometown and 80% of the populace goes to a certain school, you may want to get as far away from that as possible.

YES.

When I was in HS all I wanted to do was get as far away as possible and out from under my parents wings (I'm an only child). I considered Catholic U in DC even but decided I'd had enough of Catholic schools. I ended up in St Louis.

[JonInKC]

Originally Posted by SmartBlondeGPhB

YES.

When I was in HS all I wanted to do was get as far away as possible and out from under my parents wings (I'm an only child). I considered Catholic U in DC even but decided I'd had enough of Catholic schools. I ended up in St Louis.

So you moved to probably the most catholic area of missouri. I love it.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

I think at a lot of black colleges, the grad schools are often more mixed than the undergraduate population.

That's the case for 99% of the HBCUs that have graduate programs. But the mixture doesn't come from whites as much as from "Asian" groups.

[starang21]

there's this asian AKA up in indianapolis, i think.


if i wasn't bethrothed to chaos.....i'd drink her bathwater.