Recommendations for College Road Trip Agenda (Atlanta, Kennesaw: dorms, job market, high schools)

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by vsmoove

What's a "segregated" school? Some of these HBCUs have more diversity than PWIs... and Emory has an excellent undergraduate program.

How do you figure that the HBCU's have "more diversity that PWIs"? Clark is still 92% black, and Spelman is 95% black- not exactly what I'd call "diverse".......

[cityrover]

Originally Posted by vsmoove

What's a "segregated" school? Some of these HBCUs have more diversity than PWIs... and Emory has an excellent undergraduate program.

A racially/ethnically oriented school is a segregated school. You can play with the words whichever way you want, the end result is the same. Its always funny when people from the north have this weird view on how things are down here.........

Emory is primary geared towards post graduate studies and research.

[Atlantasfinest]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

How do you figure that the HBCU's have "more diversity that PWIs"? Clark is still 92% black, and Spelman is 95% black- not exactly what I'd call "diverse".......

Racially these schools may not be as diverse but when it comes to socio-economic, cultural, international enrollment and general upbringing they are more diverse than most shcools in the USA.

[vsmoove]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

How do you figure that the HBCU's have "more diversity that PWIs"? Clark is still 92% black, and Spelman is 95% black- not exactly what I'd call "diverse".......

I went to a 94% white school... never heard them called "segregated"... and there was very little socio-economic or geographic diversity... mostly rich kids from NY and Mass... a place like Spelman has more geographic and socio-economic diversity...

[Atlantasfinest]

Good Point VSmoove...

Kovacs...

UGA is 88% White
Black - 6%
Asian - 5%
Hispanic - Less Than 1%

Is this very "Diverse" too you as well?

I think the OP's daughter would definitely fit in better at a Emory or Spelman over the small colleges in GA which have little to no racial or socio-economic-cultural-world-geographic diversity that the OP is looking for and the degrees and networking from these two schools is bar-none. Both Emory and Spelman are highly selective schools and If you take tours at both Universities especially during the academic school year (especially at Spelman around Homecoming) your daughter would be sold.

[Legs1357]

Originally Posted by cityrover

Emory is primary geared towards post graduate studies and research.

That's not true. While there are many pre-med, pre-law students there is also a top-ranked business school that sends many people out "into to the real world" every year. Most of my friends are not going to grad/professional school. And in terms of traditional research that people talk about, science-wise, far more graduates get a BA rather than a BS. In-depth research via the honors program is optional, and while people with a GPA of 3.5+ are invited to apply, doing the honors program with a GPA lower than that isn't out of the question.

To the OP, one of my very good friends is a twin--she went to Emory, and her twin went to Spelman. They clearly have different things to offer and appeal differently to different people but one thing I have been told is that some students choose to go to an HBC if they have previously gone to "all white" high schools, etc and want to try a new experience.

Another note on diversity: Emory is only 50% "white". 12% black, 4% hispanic (they also just launched a huge initiative to increase enrollment), I think 15% asian, and 20% other ethnicities. I think there's something like 120 countries represented by international students.

And to correct my previous post, Emory's undergrad population is now closer to 7000.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by Atlantasfinest

Good Point VSmoove...

Kovacs...

UGA is 88% White
Black - 6%
Asian - 5%
Hispanic - Less Than 1%

Is this very "Diverse" too you as well?

I never claimed that UGA is diverse- it's far from it. My point was that there's not a whole lot of "diversity" at the HCBU's as the poster I was responding to claimed. When that claim was questioned, it suddenly became "socio-economic, cultural, international enrollment and general upbringing" that we were talking about for diversity. If that's what this is about, I'd bet UGA is pretty "diverse" in that sense as well.

[StPaulEastSider]

Thanks to everyone for the responses. We really appreciate it. We will be making the trip in the fall, but we want to get the list narrowed down prior to then, because my daughter wants to start working on her applications/essays late summer.

I am thinking Emory/Oxford is not really a feasible option for my oldest daughter. The average ACT score of Emory/Oxford accepted applicants are nearly 10 points above my daughter's ACT score. [Thier average ACT was 33, my daughter scored a 23 on the spring test, she says she is going to re-take it in the fall, but making up 10 points is not realistic.] Also - only 27% of all applicants at Emory/Oxford are accepted. If she could get accepted at Emory, then that would be a great option, but it's really in a higher tier than the schools she is considering.

Spelman's admissions rate is only 36%, however it still looks more feasible, based on the ACT scores of incoming freshman. Their average score is actually a point or two below my daughter's scores. I suspect they look at the whole person more so than test scores.

I have learned elsewhere on the Atlanta C-D discussion board that the ACT is fairly regional-specific to the Midwest. Unfortunately, her advisers up her in Minnesota guided her into taking the ACT only. At this point, I don't think I am going to convince her of the need to take the SAT as well. I myself am not convinced she needs to also take the SAT. She's been working so hard to study to take the ACT and AP exams, I think that's plenty.

We will have to wait until July to get the results of the AP exams, but she feel fairly confident that she did well. And she just found up she was accepted into a two-week summer journalism workshop, held on the University of St. Thomas Campus, she will be staying in the dorms there. The application process was extensive, and competitive, so getting accepted into that program should look really good on her applications.

++++

Okay, I am trying to compare schools, and my googling pulled up a website called stateuniversity [dot] com... For what it's worth, according to that website:

Spelman College ranks 184th overall
University of St. Thomas ranks 207th overall
Agnes Scott College Ranks 382 overall [but is ranked 8th in the state of Georgia, same as St.Thomas #8 ranking in Minnesota, which is why I included it on this list]
Berry College ranks 453rd overall
Olgethrope University ranks 717 overall

We talked about Berry last night at the dinner table, my daughter questioned whether or not a rural school would offer the same opportunities for journalism majors, subjects to write stories about, as an urban school.

I see Berry in the same category as St. Ben's and Bethel University - two schools she was interested in early on and now she's all but rejected both schools, mostly due to their lack of a journalism department, but also because the schools, overall, are a bit on the conservative side. And St. Ben's is in a rural area.

Spelman looks to be the most comparable ACADEMCIALLY to her top pick here in Minnesota - the University of St. Thomas.... however, DEMOGRAPHICALLY, they are, of course, quite different, AND in terms of reputation, the University of St. Thomas is no slouch, but Spelman, as some one here noted, offers life-long networking opportunities - I've seen this in action amongst Spelman graduates I know of here in Minnesota.

Comparing Georgia colleges and universties to Minnesota colleges and universities has been interesting. Your schools are more selective, by far, than schools up here in Minnesota. I am guessing your schools get more applicants than Minnesota colleges and universities. i would have to dig into the data a little deeper to figure out why there is so much of a difference.

St. Thomas, for example, ranks 8th in the State of Minnesota which is comparable to Agnes Scott College, which ranks 8th in Georgia. However Agnes Scott has a much lower admissions rate [45%] compared to St. Thomas [80%]. I was thinking Agnes Scott's ACT scores were higher than St. Thomas' ACT scores, but I double-checked the numbers and they are roughly comparable, expect nearly all of St. Thomas' incoming freshman took the ACT, compared to less than 1/2 of Agnes Scott's incoming freshman. Perhaps the difference is mostly because St. Thomas has a significantly larger freshman class than Agnes Scott.

Spelman is interesting.... it's overall test scores are MUCH lower than many of the schools listed below Spellman in national rankings. Overall, I think Spelman may propel my daughter further than St. Thomas - but maybe not.

St. Thomas really has the edge in the area of Journalism, and they specifically sponsor and run a program to get minority high school students interested in Journalism... this is the same program my daughter was accepted into for a summer workshop on the St. Thomas campus next month, and working with that program as an adviser when she is a student at St. Thomas will also bode well for her desire to back up her Journalism degree with a Education degree/license.

St. Thomas' communications and journalism major also includes extensive coverage of modern media, an essential element for journalism majors in the 21st century.

At Spelman she would have to do a English major, and I don't know if that's enough to compete with St. Thomas' Communications & Journalism Major, and St. Thomas' education department is also extensive.

But we do need to make a trip to Atlanta in the fall regardless, so we will have her tour Spelman, Agnes Scott [I have a friend from Atlanta who graduated from Agnes Scott, she wants to personally take us on a tour of the school] and ??? at that time.

BTW, I totally agree a good college/universtiy education can be found at many state schools, but at this point, we have to find a school in Georgia which will woe her away from St. Thomas University, and I don't think any state schools will be able to accomplish that feat.

Truthfully, she's also winning me over into thinking St. Thomas may be her best option - her uncle, my brother, is an ala mater of St. Thomas, so there is some family pressure to send my daughter to that school. In the Twin Cities, St. Thomas Alumni go out of their way to give students from their ala mater extra consideration in the job market. That's what opened doors for my brother early in his career, and today he's doing VERY well for himself. This past fall he took an executive sales position with an insurance company and moved his family to Weston, Florida. [St. Thomas' most popular major is business.]

So I think my husband and I are losing the battle to get our daughter to consider a Georgia school, but we'll still have her visit at least a couple schools when we visit Atlanta in the fall.

Thank you everyone, for your generous help!

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by StPaulEastSider

Truthfully, she's also winning me over into thinking St. Thomas may be her best option - her uncle, my brother, is an ala mater of St. Thomas, so there is some family pressure to send my daughter to that school. In the Twin Cities, St. Thomas Alumni go out of their way to give students from their ala mater extra consideration in the job market. That's what opened doors for my brother early in his career, and today he's doing VERY well for himself. This past fall he took an executive sales position with an insurance company and moved his family to Weston, Florida. [St. Thomas' most popular major is business.]

Unless she's planning on staying in the Twin Cities after graduation, that's not really going to be all that helpful to her.

[StPaulEastSider]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Unless she's planning on staying in the Twin Cities after graduation, that's not really going to be all that helpful to her.

I know... it's a point I've been trying to make with her. But would Agnes Scott, Berry or any state school in Georgia give her an edge anywhere but Georgia?

Spellman is the only viable option which will give her far-reaching networking opportunities. But she is still concerned she will not be accepted by the other students at Spellman, I was just reading posts from this thread to her and she said to me "Did you tell them I'm so light skinned it's like caramel mixed with milk?" She fully embraces her black heritage, only sometimes she has to convince classmates that she actually is black.

Edit:

I just talked a little more with my daughter, showed her comments on this thread and my research. She agreed the far reaching opportunities with Spellman as her ala mater could be significant.

She's now interested in visiting Spellman and putting in an application. With an acceptance rate of 36%, it's still a long-shot, but she said she's willing to roll the dice and make a decision later - if she is given the opportunity to make that decision.

St. Thomas has an admissions rate of 80%, they are always looking to enroll more minority students, she has been in contact with their admissions department for a couple of years now, and has been on campus several times as part of their high school journalism program. Today her high school newspaper adviser told her she will likely be appointed the Editor of her school newspaper for the upcoming school year, based on the fact she was accepted into St. Thomas' summer journalism workshop. So she's fairly confident that application will work out for her. In addition, she says she hasn't completely ruled out submitting an application at Bethel University, also located in St. Paul.