I hope it is ok to still post an HBCU comment on this thread. Can anyone speak to the experience of being a Black student who attends a PWI high school and lives in a PW neighborhood attending an HBCU? What was that experience like? Any difficulties adjusting? Making friends, etc?
Also, which HBCU’s engineering department is the best funded? Best facilities, etc.? Which HBCU is best funded overall?
I can’t answer but I’ll note that FSU and Florida A&M share an engineering college.
I can speak as the parent of a student who started off as an Computer Engineering major who still got his degree in the College of Engineering and Architecture at his HBCU (in Computer Science) and whose program was tailored for STEM students. My kids also grew up in a diverse (but still majority PW neighborhood and high school where the higher level AP classes definitely put them in the minority).
1st things 1st. A good number of HBCUs (Think Morehouse, Spelman, FAMU, XULA, etc.) do not have their own engineering programs and actually have Dual Degree programs where the student will go to the HBCU for 3 years before going to another school for the Engineering portion of their educations (At Morehouse when I was there in the 90’s most students went to Georgia Tech for the Engineering portion of their degrees).
There are some HBCUs that do have their own Engineering departments (Think Howard, NCAT, Morgan St., and Tuskegee) and my kid looked at them all and attended one of the schools mentioned above and had friends majoring in all of the major Engineering disciplines and a good amount of them had similar academic backgrounds of growing up in predominantly white K-12 ecosystems. The 4 schools mentioned above have accredited engineering departments that produce a large percentage of African-American engineers year after year and are highly thought of by employers and graduate schools. NCAT had the largest engineering department when we were looking back in 2019 and although we were satisfied with all of the resources that we saw at the HBCUs my kid researched, Georgia Tech was just in a class by itself with its world class resources.
My student had some issues adjusting to the “HBCU” experience, but it was not due to the change to a majority Black school environment, but being an introvert in a new environment. Academically, my student still did very well and had great opportunities (a great internship at a top 20 PWI school for Engineering and Technology, along with a very well paying internship with a private company), but it definitely took a couple of years to adjust socially (1st year was all remote due to Covid-19 pandemic). My student never fit in to the social aspect of his HBCU when it came to the party life, Homecoming activities, and dating, but he graduated 2 weeks ago still happy with his overall experience and certain that his now alma mater’s motto Veritas et Utilitas (Truth and Service) will always be an important part of how he lives. My older kid (Graduated from the same HBCU with a non-engineering STEM degree) made many life long friends and had the time of her life growing up under similar circumstances.
My suggestion to all prospective students is to try and visit the campuses and make your own assessment. You can succeed going the PWI route or the HBCU route, but look for the route that works best for you and good luck.
I know it’s been a while since I visited this thread. But I’ve read on other threads on other forums about a back and forth issue between FAMU and FSU over their joint engineering program. Do you know how, if at all, that plays out as far as student experience?
Could you call either school and ask to speak with a student ambassador in engineering?
I didn’t know a person could do that. I will try it. Thank you for the suggestion.
Call admissions at each - and ask for an ambassador in engineering.
Obviously at FAMU your odds of getting an AA student are greater.
You could call engineering too - and say you have a prospective student, is there anyone to talk to - but I’d start with admissions. And if you can make a trip there, you can make an academic appointment.
Bottom line - you can tell them you want to speak to a person in x program and of x ethnicity - and they should be able to match you up - if not perfectly, at least with someone.
Good luck.
Join the FAMU-FSU Engineering Ambassadors Network (EAN) | FAMU-FSU
The joint engineering division is not on either campus, so students do need to make a short commute for any classes on the joint engineering division campus.
However, it does present an arbitrage opportunity in that a prospective engineering student can apply to both and see which offers a cheaper price after scholarships.