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Kid Catches Flak for Choosing an HBCU

#21
Sorry, but this seems like a complete non-story. He's not the first, nor will he be the last to turn down a prestigious school for a less prestigious one. Example: My sister turned down an acceptance to Duke University (fairly prestigious and also rather expensive) for a state school, UF. She has her doctorate now and just bought a house at age 25. I'd say she did all right.

It's his choice and if he feels better attending FAMU, then so be it. I really don't see the need for a 2 page news article on him. Catching flak on Facebook? Really? This is news?


P.S. As far as the FSU/FAMU College of Engineering being the best in the state, I'd say he's wrong by a long shot. UF COE ranks highest in the state at #30 nationally, while the FSU/FAMU COE ranks #102 nationally. The UCF COE also ranks higher than FSU/FAMU. I know its hard to give much credence to rankings, but it's the only way I can make the argument objectively (as a UF Alumnus). Source: Invalid Link Removed
 
#25
Dr. Cheese's first post says it all. He found the experience of attending a majority-white school to be "isolating". On the level that we're talking about here, there are plenty of 18-19 year-olds who aren't ready for that experience, let alone a 16-year-old. I know I sure as hell wasn't ready for something like that at 16.
I think its a smart decision by this kid to go where he feels he will be more comfortable in this initial stage. If that's a JuCo or Community College, so be it. He's going to be doing a lot of growing over the next few years, and if he's the whizkid that he seems to be, this will certainly not be his last stop.
 
#26
The name on the degree does count when you go to interview for jobs.
Two applicants with equal qualifications except for the name on the degree who both interview well (cannot overstate how important that is) the person doing the hiring will cover his own butt by choosing the one from the prestige school. "How was I supposed to know he'd be a washout? He graduated Harvard!"
At a certain level the education is all about what effort you put into it, but that rarely comes through all that well in an interview.
 
#27
iamlowsound said:
It doesn't matter where you do your undergrad.
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It sure does for engineering.

My previous employer recruits at only about a half dozen colleges - and if you don't go to one of them, your odds are drastically lower of getting a job there.

iamlowsound said:
It maters once you get to the graduate level. Also, if the kid is so smart, why isn't he going to MIT for engineering.
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Or CalTech, or Georgia Tech, or Michigan, or dozens and dozens of others schools with much more respected engineering programs.
 
#28
I'm of two minds on this. It's good to think beyond the 4 years in a way. Graduating from an Ivy League (or similar) school for undergraduate opens up a lot of doors, depending on what you want to do after school. I think a lot of people discount this. But, I can understand not wanting to be miserable for 4 years, if that's what he thinks will happen.

I caught some flak for turning down Harvard, and I went to Yale. I was pragmatic in the schools I applied to because I do think where you get a degree serves as a "signal" for your intelligence (accurate or not), but then chose based upon which one felt best.
 
#29
aborgman said:
It sure does for engineering.

My previous employer recruits at only about a half dozen colleges - and if you don't go to one of them, your odds are drastically lower of getting a job there.



Or CalTech, or Georgia Tech, or Michigan, or dozens and dozens of others schools with much more respected engineering programs.
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Actually, you are correct when it comes to engineering. Most other programs it doesn't.

lowsound
 
#30
SoComSurfing said:
Dr. Cheese's first post says it all. He found the experience of attending a majority-white school to be "isolating". On the level that we're talking about here, there are plenty of 18-19 year-olds who aren't ready for that experience, let alone a 16-year-old. I know I sure as hell wasn't ready for something like that at 16.
I think its a smart decision by this kid to go where he feels he will be more comfortable in this initial stage. If that's a JuCo or Community College, so be it. He's going to be doing a lot of growing over the next few years, and if he's the whizkid that he seems to be, this will certainly not be his last stop.
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Frankly, I think a large research oriented school, like one I attended can be alienating for students of all backgrounds, not just African Americans. Still being at a big school with a tiny black student body (a big chunk of which were athletes) in the Deep South did present me with some pretty tough challenges.
 
#32
sloasdaylight said:
Non-story that caught attention cause he is black and chose to go to a HBCU instead of Harvard.
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I suspect there is a story here or else it would not have gotten 30+ posts. Given the images we see of 16 year old black boys in most media, the fact this kid was accepted at Harvard is newsworthy. The fact that he chose a traditionally black school when he had the option of attending the nation's most prestigious university is also significant, but not as much as the initial headline makes it appear to be.
 
#33
Dr. Cheese said:
I suspect there is a story here or else it would not have gotten 30+ posts. Given the images we see of 16 year old black boys in most media, the fact this kid was accepted at Harvard is newsworthy. The fact that he chose a traditionally black school when he had the option of attending the nation's most prestigious university is also significant, but not as much as the initial headline makes it appear to be.
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Two members of my Step team in High School turned down offers to Yale and MIT. One went to Notre Damn and the other went to Morehouse and no one made a story about them. My point is that things like this happen all the time and writing a story about it is like writing a story about one raindrop being different than another imo.
 
#34
Dr. Cheese said:
I suspect there is a story here or else it would not have gotten 30+ posts. Given the images we see of 16 year old black boys in most media, the fact this kid was accepted at Harvard is newsworthy.
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Actually, no it's not. It's just another person that put their mind to it and accomplished something. If anything it's just a success story that he did it at such an early age. It'd be just as successful if he were white, Asian, Mexican etc. etc. etc.
The fact that he chose a traditionally black school when he had the option of attending the nation's most prestigious university is also significant, but not as much as the initial headline makes it appear to be.
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That's the only significance to the story, and again, I say so what. He choose a school based on his criteria to hopefully set himself up for the most success, fun and betterment that he can have. I'm pretty sure every college bound student does exactly that.

I'm not trying to down play this, but I think we're making it MUCH bigger than it really is. Is it an astounding feat? Certainly! Is it more astounding simply because he is black? IMO, no.
 
#36
sloasdaylight said:
Two members of my Step team in High School turned down offers to Yale and MIT. One went to Notre Damn and the other went to Morehouse and no one made a story about them. My point is that things like this happen all the time and writing a story about it is like writing a story about one raindrop being different than another imo.
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Did they leave school two years early?
 
#37
Ray Salamon said:
Actually, no it's not. It's just another person that put their mind to it and accomplished something. If anything it's just a success story that he did it at such an early age. It'd be just as successful if he were white, Asian, Mexican etc. etc. etc.

That's the only significance to the story, and again, I say so what. He choose a school based on his criteria to hopefully set himself up for the most success, fun and betterment that he can have. I'm pretty sure every college bound student does exactly that.

I'm not trying to down play this, but I think we're making it MUCH bigger than it really is. Is it an astounding feat? Certainly! Is it more astounding simply because he is black? IMO, no.
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This, exactly. When I chose to go to UF, not only had I known a lot of people who went there before me and were probably going with me, but when I was on campus there I felt like I was at a home away from home if you will. Great environment, night life, etc etc etc. It's the same for this kid, except he decided to go to a HBCU instead of Harvard or UM or OSU or Oregon or what have you.
 
#38
Ray Salamon said:
Actually, no it's not. It's just another person that put their mind to it and accomplished something. If anything it's just a success story that he did it at such an early age. It'd be just as successful if he were white, Asian, Mexican etc. etc. etc.

That's the only significance to the story, and again, I say so what. He choose a school based on his criteria to hopefully set himself up for the most success, fun and betterment that he can have. I'm pretty sure every college bound student does exactly that.

I'm not trying to down play this, but I think we're making it MUCH bigger than it really is. Is it an astounding feat? Certainly! Is it more astounding simply because he is black? IMO, no.
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It's not a huge story, but it is positive, and as I said earlier, given the multiplicity of negative stories and images of young black men, I'm very happy to make a big deal about what this kid has done.:)
 
#39
Dr. Cheese said:
Did they leave school two years early?
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I don't see how that has anything to do with them picking HBCUs over other more prestigious universities.

The kid's brilliant, I'm not saying he isn't, and never will; to graduate at 16 and get invites from Harvard is an amazing achievement. Him picking what university he wants to go to is a personal choice that, to me, is completely separate from his age.
 
#40
Dr. Cheese said:
It's not a huge story, but it is positive, and as I said earlier, given the multiplicity of negative stories and images of young black men, I'm very happy to make a big deal about what this kid has done.:)
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Gotcha! In that light, it makes sense. Any success story like this is worthy of being seen. Maybe I'm just not in touch with current happenings / reality enough to see that the race part of it matters.
 

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