I agree with your post, it really comes down to what's best for you. I know White people who went to Ivy League schools who haven't had a decent paying job in almost ten years. So the school isn't really the deciding factor in determining your potential success, but it can open some doors....it can look good to potential colleagues/employers and it can have an affect. In the end, it's up to you.

To may way of thinking, education is an objective thing (although that can change depending on what you're studying) I don't care who my classmates are, who my professors are, or where the school is located my concerns are more along the lines of: "What is the value in what you're teaching me?" How can I use this later in life?

In keeping with this theory of objectivity, let me give you some insight into how I selected my Undergraduate school and how I selected my Graduate school.

FYI: I was planning on being an Engineering Major, but I was also interested in Computer Science, Finance & Accounting.

The following two things were absolute requirements, didn't have it I wasn't going.

#1. School had to provide the majors I was interested in
#2. School had to be ranked in the top 50 (E.g. Tier 1) overall and in the top 30 for my major(s).
#3. The school needed to have a good reputation in the industry, merely saying you went to that school needed to carry some weight.
#4. Equipment, being a engineering major I wanted to work with cutting edge stuff. I also wanted professors that were movers and shakers in the industry and were still active from a research standpoint. I didn't want a school with sub-par equipment and professors who weren't doing much of anything.

FWIW, I didn't neccessarily rank equipment by school or rank professor's research projects. BUT, if the professors were involved in developing technology for other corporations and the school made an effort to have the best equipment it could get
it's hands on. That was enough to meet the req.

#5. Business School: What kinda jobs did these folks have in industry? The idea was that I wanted to learn finance from someone who has/could work in the NYC financial district, not somone who has a degree and no real world experience.

Ok, so if a school met these reqs...I knew that I could get involved in research..maybe even grab a patent or two before I graduated. I also gave schools bonus points based on the level of ownership that students had in their patents and what not. Since the professors were involved in research that meant that they were players no?

I know the business folks knew their stuff, and could be depended on to provide real world insight. I also knew that I could meet some illustrious alumni, that the alumni gave back to the school (a sure sign that they appreciate the education they got) The school had a reputation, I'd get to work with top notch equipment and it was one of the top schools in the country.


Next Set of Reqs:

-Avg. SAT Scores
-Avg. Salaries of Students upon Graduation
-What % of students have jobs after Graduation
-What companies actively recruit on campus
-Internship and Co-Op opportunities
-Athletics, doesn't have to be a top program...but I need to be able to compete against the best as well as having a good coach.
-Location: Had to be the North East (Which to me is DC to Boston) BUT, I wanted to be no farther away then 60-70 miles from a Major city..for future job, internship and entertainment concerns. However, I didn't want to go to school IN a major city.

After that I kinda evaluated each school on the basis of:

Do I want to go there? Just a gut emotional Rank....

Ok, the list:

Colgate
Syracuse
Princeton
Lehigh U.
MIT
Harvard
Carnegie Mellon
Yale
Georgetown
Villanova (Kinda an * school, #1 Regional college..and wasn't included in the national rankings)

Ok, MIT looks like a bomb shelter and I really don't like Boston...Harvard..again Boston...and I dunno...didn't like the Vibes..too elitist for my tastes.

Yale, too close to family......the point of college is to get away and expand your Horizons not live near a bunch of your relatives.

Carnegie Mellon - Too far away from the Boston - DC corridor.

Georgetown - I'm not a big fan of DC...wanted a more suburban setting

Villanova - Catholic School, I don't like schools with any sort of Ideology be it religious, gender, or race. I think the point of college is to spend 4 years with people who are very different from you, have different perspectives, ideologies, experiences and lives.

So we were down to Princeton, Lehigh, Syracuse and Colgate. Princeton and Lehigh were better schools...so it was down to them. In the end, I picked Lehigh because I just well...liked it...and it they had an outstanding track coach...and I felt his style would fit in with me. There were some other academic opps as well...and the fact that Lehigh does well in the inventor thing or whatever every year at the smithsonian. (Better then princeton

Right now, I'm doing it all over again for an MBA with the added factor of cost. No where close to being done with my evaluation though. BUT, again I gotta go with the top schools...both in terms of the connections I'll make and so I can see a big enough boost in my income to make it worth it financially. I know a tech recruiter, easily one of the best around...and he gave me his opinion of MBAs, which I've found is shared by a lot of his peers. "MBAs don't mean much, unless it's from an Ivy, MIT, Stanford, Berkely, Duke, or the Universities or Rochester or Chicago" School is expensive, how can I justify spending money on 1 school if another gives me more value?

In any event, ya'll can curse at me all you want. BUT, just in pure education value...I don't think HBCUs are as good. Nor do I think just having Black professors and classmates makes up for it. I don't think you won't be prepared for the real world in an HBCU, or that you can be lazy, or anything like that. I just think that the so called "white schools" are better schools...it's not about race. Just because it's Black doesn't make it better..or worse excuse it for not being as good. No HBCU has convinced me that I should get my MBA there instead of Harvard or Columbia...that's why they aren't on my list.

I think HBCUs need to raise the level of play to make them on par with those schools.

As for graduation rates, all the Black kids I want to school with graduated within 5 years...the ones that didn't...didn't graduate from Lehigh because they transferred to another school. I think 20% isnt' correct in terms of graduation rates from non HBCUs....so I'm going to check on that myself.


Lata,


M2