Howard University....safe to go to school? (Washington: crimes, houses)

[rachellillie]

I am considering applying to Howard, but feel it may not be in a safe area, or I may not feel safe going to school there. Does anyone know how the dorms look in the inside, or the campus in general? I don't want to make a bad choice. Let me know. Thanks!

[dullnboring]

The area around Howard University is known as Shaw and it is a rough around the edges neighborhood. It is one of those neighborhoods in transition where decrepit rowhouses are being bought up by yuppies for 800K, but also where it's not out of the ordinary to be accosted for money from homeless people or to see drug dealers out in the open. It's moving more in the yuppie direction than it is the opposite direction although it's not so far into this process as other DC neighborhoods. Howard is an urban school. While there is a defined campus, parts of it, and it's student body bleed into the surrounding neighborhoods so it's not as campus-centric as schools like UVA or other large state schools or private schools. It's not really isolated from the surrounding community as much as other schools. I've only been on the campus once, never in the dorms, and it seemed nice enough. Nothing spectacular, but nothing that bad either. I definitely recommend a visit though prior to making any sort of commitment, which I'd recommend for any school you're considering.

[rachellillie]

Thanks for the comments and advice dullnboring i plan to visit Howard in the spring.I'll let' cha know how that go's.

[lucasclark]

Howard U is a great school. My daughter attends Howard. Hampton University is also great. My son attends Hampton.

You will find that most of the students are upper income students, from all across the country...many attended private high schools, or live in suburban neighborhoods. They desire Howard University because of the great education, legacy, and the unwavering commitment to improving our community and country.

I highly recommend you take a look. My daughter catches the shuttle to metro, she is all over the city...probably more than I wish...and hangs out at a club called Love.

The campus is tight knit...she hangs out on the "yard" and overall is having the perfect college experience. By the way - she had a 4.3 high School GPA from a competitive college in Florida...and now has a 3.8 GPA at Howard....

The list of graduates is quite impressive. I highly recommend an HBCU for some many reasons.

[cyko]

people get robbed alot and people sellin drugs...its not that violent though

[CHIP72]

Speaking as a white person who grew up in suburbia, the Howard University area is located in a fairly rough area of town, though as was noted above areas not far from the campus are improving. Its setting reminds me quite a bit of Temple University in Philadelphia, though Temple is a larger school. I suspect that the campus itself is safe and Howard University maintains a strong security presence (don't know that for sure however). One significant positive about the Howard University neighborhood (called Shaw, as noted above) is that it is near a couple of Metro stations, Shaw/Howard University and U Street/Cardozo, both of which are on the Green and Yellow Lines. My personal recommendation if you are concerned about safety is to use the U Street/Cardozo station, rather than the station named after the university. U Street/Cardozo station is partially located along the booming U Street corridor; that corridor has redeveloped significantly near the western entrance/exit to the station (Howard is located closer to the eastern end). By contrast, Shaw/Howard University station is near a few particularly rough neighborhoods just south of the station. The university is also located along Georgia Avenue, one of the primary north/south commercial streets in DC, and has extensive bus service (Metrobus Routes 70, 71, and 79) between the school, downtown (to the south), and Silver Spring (to the north). There are probably other high frequency bus routes near the school, but I'm not as familiar with them (I live in downtown Silver Spring so I'm familiar with the bus routes that go there).

One other note, not this is helpful or anything or would be of interest unless you are a baseball and/or football fan, but Griffith Stadium, the old home stadium/ballpark for the Washington Redskins (football) and Washington Senators (baseball), was located where Howard University Hospital now stands, at Georgia Avenue and W Street NW.

[RedShrek]

I'll throw in my .02 cents as a Howard Univ alumni.

The area around HU was pretty much considered 'Hood' but that has been changing due to gentrification and business development along the Georgia avenue corridor. I went to school there for 4 years and I never had anything happen to me because I was very mindful of the crowds I hung out with and I had pretty good situational awareness. If you take normal security precautions, you should be fine. Now, my opinion on the quality of the school? That is something else and besides, you didn't ask about that. Good luck!

[lucasclark]

I would encourage you to look at the security issues with any school. Some universities in very upper income neighborhoods may have high incidence of on campus rape, drug- alcohol overdose theft, meth use. Do your homework if you are really concerned about safety. Don't judge a school by the surrounding area.

[14thandYou]

It's OK to admit that Howard isn't located in an ideal setting. I don't know of any particular college campuses that have a particularly high rate of rapes on campus, or that have an abnormally high rate of drug/alcohol abuse--that, in particular, is a trait likely to be exhibited on pretty much every college campus. Although the above poster is correct in that it's important to remain alert regardless of what campus you are on or near, all campus settings are not created equal, and Howard is located in an inner-city urban setting in a neighborhood not traditionally known to be among the safest in the city.

Having said that, I live only a few block away from Howard, and by and large the area is not that dangerous. The area is in the process of gentrifying, although DC is a block-to-block city. Be aware, take ordinary precautions (don't venture out alone at night, etc.) and you should be fine--although mine and your idea of a "safe" neighborhood may vary significantly.

[Shadb]

Im a freshman at Howard so if u have any other questions feel free to ask. Overall the surrounding area is not bad at all. If you have common sense you will be fine. Most of the crimes happen at night around 2 or 3am when u shouldn't even be outside.