As I entered my senior year of high school, I was excited to start applying to colleges. I was already dreaming of dorm life and couldn't wait to see what it would be like to "be on my own." I didn't have a long list of qualities I wanted in a college but I did know one thing: I didn't want to go to an HBCU.
That wasn't a typo. Before I went to college, I was anti-HBCU. I believed every stereotype that surrounded them. Every school I attended prior to college had a 99.9% Black student population and I thought I needed diversity or what I thought would be diversity. I had a vision in my head of my multicolored friends sitting in the cafeteria talking and laughing. I didn't think I would find diversity at an HBCU.
Well, as the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20.
Thank to the internet and MARTA, I have been able to visit the HBCUs in my city and interact with HBCU students across the country. When I hear these students talk about the history and culture of their schools, I feel a sense of longing. When I visited the AUC, I felt like I was home. The students didn't care if I went to GSU. They just wanted to have a good time. I didn't feel like a brown dot getting lost in a multicolored sea. I was around my people.
Don't get me wrong, my experiences at GSU have mostly been positive but I feel like I would have excelled had I matriculated in more close knit environment. Yes, State has a lot of resources but they are general resources. One size fits all.
This post might come off as a bit idealistic to some but I don't care. I've been thinking about taking classes at Clark or Spelman for a change of scenery, so I might be able to test my theory. Until then, we'll just have to wait and see.
What do you think? Did you choose the right college? Are there things you would change?
