<p>Hey all, I’m an African-American male from Philly and am seriously considering Lafayette (it’s the only reason I have yet to confirm a full fees, rooming, and tuition package I got from Howard). What is the campus like? Is the Associate of Black Collegians quite active on campus? What are the race relations like?</p>
<p>what do you think howard is like?</p>
<p>Not too great of a school. In fact, it was last on my list of schools and I’m just looking for a way to legitimize applying elsewhere that is most likely to give me even a comparable package (Lafayette doesn’t give loans to anyone whose family income is under $50k)</p>
<p>With that said, I’m not too thrilled with the homogeneity of Howard’s 96% African-American student body, nor the Universities’ history of anti-Semitism and homophobia on campus…</p>
<p>@dc2013:
Howard might be the opposite of Lafayette. Lots and lots of Caucasian people.
You can see the race distribution in the class profile here:
[Entering</a> Class Profile About Lafayette College](<a href=“http://www.lafayette.edu/about/lafayette-at-a-glance/entering-class-profile/]Entering”>http://www.lafayette.edu/about/lafayette-at-a-glance/entering-class-profile/)</p>
<p>I know ABC has a bunch of events each semester and a full month of celebration for Black History Month. I don’t usually go out at all, so I’m not sure how many, and what kind of events they are.</p>
<p>What exactly do you mean by “what is the campus like?”</p>
<p>I think it also depends upon your major. I’m a junior studying mechanical engineering. I spend most of my time with the people in my major, if I spend time with people at all. There are about 45-50 students in my year, doing mech engineering. Except for me (international student from nepal), and two other international students (one from india, and one from pakistan), every one else is caucasian. It doesn’t bother me at all, because there doesn’t seem anything wrong with it. People don’t treat me differently, I’m friends with these people. We do our work together…that’s it. </p>
<p>There are other campus organizations that promote cultural exchange. Organization of Intercultural Development (OID) is a big one, there’s Association of Black Collegians, LACSA (latin american), International Students Association, etc. I do feel the college is pushing for more cultural integration, based on the events that I see happening. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what else to tell you. I hope this helped.</p>
<p>dc2013- I think you understand howard very well. </p>
<p>lafeyette would probably be a great fit all around for you, if you are more concerned about growing as a person and less concerned about race. if you want an LAC were everything revolves around race and stuff like that go to swathmore or macalster. if you want to go someplace where most people really do not care about that stuff try lafeyette or muhlenberg.</p>
<p>@sixstringsrocker: I suppose my question revolves more around race relations on campus. I go to a high school that is diverse on paper (30% Black, 30% Asian, 30% White) but where friendships are made up largely of homogenous people. I hope college won’t be as cliquey and racially divided but some things I read on the College ******* review seemed to indicate that most people’s social circles mainly include people of their race.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how the numbers show up in terms of diversity at Lafayette and how much they reflect.
I think people here do tend to be in their own crowd to an extent, but that’s more due to the circumstances. For example, international students come to campus about 3-4 days before everyone else for a separate orientation. This results in them being more comfortable with each other, and they tend to stick together. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t friends with the rest of the campus, it’s just that they have more friends who are in the same boat. Same with the posse program kids, the athletes…they spend most of their time with each other. For me, there aren’t many people of my ‘race’ on campus. And even the ones who are, they aren’t my closest friends. </p>
<p>you make your own boundaries. It’s up to you, is what I’m saying.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you visit campus and see how you feel. I would try to shadow a student for a day (you can sit in on classes and meet a number of students) and perhaps ask to meet with someone involved in the Association of Black Collegians at Lafayette. This could help to give you a fuller picture of how things are at Lafayette. Best of luck with your decision.</p>