Selective colleges and universities recently notified their applicants whether or not they were accepted into the Class of 2016.
Harvard University accepted only 5.9 percent of all students who applied for admission this year. Of the 2,032 students who were accepted for admission to Harvard, 10.2 percent are African Americans.
At Williams College, the top-rated liberal arts institution in western Massachusetts, 16.7 percent of all applicants were accepted for admission. Of the 1,182 students accepted for admission, 163 are African Americans. Thus, African Americans make up nearly 14 percent of all students accepted for admission at Williams.
Sounds like some good news!
It would be even more useful to report comparative data from previous years. Then we can verify if progress is being made over time.
The Harvard numbers are probably misleading. As far as I know, they don’t disaggregate African Americans from Africans.
Whats the difference?
Comments from Dr. Hicks and Mr. Shabazz speaks to significant flaws in the distribution of data results from many colleges and universities in America. A larger issue of concern is the need to ensure more black boys and girls are receiving quality academic training, moral and spiritual development and leave home for college with a level of social consciousness that upon entering competitive institutionhs do not feel intimidated. If the black youth depart with a tool kit that has prepared them to go up against the best in the world and deliver what they are imbued with then black students – males and females – can attend with confidence any college or university in the world. Let’s focus more energy on what is not happening from Kindergarten through grade 12.
It means that fewer descendants of American slavery are securing seats in these top universities, as percentage of “black” students at these schools remains roughly the same.