Howard University

The college world seems so inviting; parties, friends, and new found freedom. It seems to be a fresh start at life. While the charm of college freedom is calling, it’s important to understand the basics of college to understand what school is best for you. Let’s use HBCU’s poster child, Howard, as an example.

Howard University is a historically black university that offers programs in arts and sciences, communications, business, dentistry, engineering, medicine, social work, law, education, and divinity. My personal interests lie in neuropsychology, thus I would pursue a bachelor’s in psychology and then enter the neuropsychology graduate program after my first four years. What’s interesting about Howard is how they purposely keep their educational studies separated, so each student has a personalized experience with their field of interest.

This separation includes different tuition and educational paths for students based on which programs they purse, i.e. medical students that are graduates have a higher tuition for medical school. Tuition at Howard was hard to identify in terms of differing in-state or out of state, as well as part time or full time, but their website states the cost of attendance is around $32,155. Seems a little pricey, right? Well fortunately, Howard offers 75% need met for students. To break that down, students will subtract their expected family contribution (EFC) from the total cost of attendance, and the remaining total will be covered by the school’s need met (look at scholarships and financial aid for more info).

After analyzing the programs offered and the affordability of the school comes the application process. Writing essays, getting letters of recommendation, and gathering transcripts seems like a drag, yet Howard makes it easy as it’s one of many schools that accepts Common Application (see college tab for further info). Using Common App, all common college requirements are filed in one system and the system can be used to send the same application to any college that accepts Common App. While they can be sent to any college, be aware that you still have to pay for each application fee. While Common App is used at Howard, a part of their application process is applying to the specific college within the university, that caters to your major or minor. The most common majors at Howard are business and marketing, thus when it comes to applying for college, incoming undergrads will apply not only with common app, but also to the college of business as well. Any specific college at the university has it’s eligibility list, so be sure to check you meet requirements to join the program you desire.

HBCU’s such as Howard are known largely for their homecomings and Greek life. Howard has 275 extracurricular activities to be involved with ranging from religious organizations to sororities and frats. The predominantly black student body upholds the HBCU status and allows for lots of political involvement and engaging community activities. Famous Alum of the school include Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and actress Taraji P. Henson. The products of this university are individuals who have attainable goals and proper resources to pursue their dreams and aspirations.