Howard University

The undergraduate experience other than the social life here is horrible. The school overall is bad and you can make no excuses for it. After one semester I transferred out, along with six acquaintances I met during my attendance. The school fails on all levels. Especially with the professors and you can see by the other comments on this site the how the Professors have failed. Students should have more to say about their school than “You might get joaned on”, “Or wear some fly gear.” These are good observations about the things that happen on campus and are also things that the professors fail to correct. I personal wanted to attend the “Mecca of Black Intelligence” to find what it was advertising. However all I found was a piss poor faculty, who are either wash-outs from other universities or haven’t published any material since grad school. Many of the professors failed to show up during the first week of classes, and took vacations during the middle of the semester. A lot their offices were unpleasant and unorganized with cobwebs everywhere. I’ve witness this from a handful of professors in the one semester I attended. I did meet and have a few good ones, but many of them are bad. A college professor has high moral obligations to the university, to their community, and to their students. This means the message to the students should you are here to learn and rise your level of education not just for a job, but as benefactor to society. The attitude of many of the students here is “I have a nice outfit on so I’ll be successful,” and this is not what academia is about. This goes for many of the students however there are a few students who are there for intellectual reasons and usually like me and my acquaintances end up transferring out because of the nonsense.

Howard needs to come up with a contingency plan to elevate the school out of its slumber neglect. It needs to restructure many of their departments and hire some new promising professors who plan to make change. If the spirit of the institution would change, the minor things on campus (like broken windows, doors and holes in the walls) would be tolerable and the students would not care about the worthless material on the backs and appreciate the material going into their heads. I’ve read all the comments here and no one said “Howard prepared me for Grad school.” Or something like, “the black experience at Howard was great not only because I partied but because it expanded my consciousness helping me to better thinker or whatever.”

The school is also expensive and you’ll see your dollars go right into the funding for the medical, business and law school. I toured the campus a year before I transferred in and I notice a hole and the bathroom wall in the Arts and Sciences building, a year and a half later the hole is still there. In my courses most of the exams where fill in the blank and multiple choice. I did not take any exams that allowed me to demonstrate my ability to analyze and think critically. If you want to see Black Intelligence go to another university and involve yourself in their Black studies department. Take my advice if you plan to get any kind of intellectual stimulation in your college career DO NOT GO HERE!!!

1st Year Male -- Class 2008

Social Life: A+, Innovation: D-

ATTENTION:
PLEASE DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ATTENTION:
PLEASE DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the Fall of 2004, I came in as a freshman to Howard. Even though I knew about the ROUGH neighborhood since I'm from the Baltimore area, I still was surprised by it:

homeless ppl walking up to you on GA Ave
trash, liquor bottles, debris everywhere
etc- picture the "roughest" part of any major city
I had never lived in the city so this was all a big shock to me.
I came to Howard expecting a FULL tuition & fees scholarship from CEACS (Coll of Engr) so I could study civil engineering. Within my first week, I was notified by CEACS that somehow my name was MISSING from the list of scholarship recipients & that I would have to wait for them to find some money or borrow $ from another source within the university. I was SHOCKED to say the less!!!!

Here, I came to THIS school because I was given a scholarship & then when I get there THEY DON'T HAVE IT!!!

Even though I had a huge run around from one building to another during my 1st week about this scholarship situation that I didn't even have a chance to enjoy the "Orientation" activities at Crampton Auditorium with all of the other freshman.

Nonetheless, I decided to stay because this WAS the school that I "wanted" to go to most of senior yr in high school... therefore, I switched to the School of B (Business) since that was the strongest program on the whole campus.

THE ONLY "GOOD THING": SCHOOL OF B
Even though the School of B was very organized, had good teachers for Business Orientation, had corporate reps at the bldg every week, placed us in teams for group projects, & to be "adopted" by a Fortune 500 company....

IT STILL WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH:

-ADMINISTRATION PROBLEMS!!!!!!!
(they'll lose you'll stuff, send you from 1 line to another, do things the old & long way, no one knows what they're doing, rude, don't care about you)

-project building dorm- Drew Hall
(no AC, old rundown bldg, blends in w/ the slum neighborhood, dirty communal bathrooms, HOT & STICKY, etc)

-unsafe neighborhood
(feel like a "prisoner"- restricted to only the campus since it's in the hood)
-math teacher(Sitarman- College Algebra II) who didn't speak english & struggled to talk over the loud fans so I had to go to math tutoring everyday to do my work & teach myself the work

-math teacher (Bayne- Applied Calculus) who doesn't care for students:

on the 1st day he said: "What, ya'll couldn't get switched out of my class? Didn't ya'll hear about me? Well, this class has about...45 ppl about 2-3 will have As, 3-6 Bs, 15 Cs, & the rest Ds & Fs"

-computer system (Internet) ALWAYS down
-OLD run down facilities, esp the library
none of the copiers work, old books & copmuters
-BAD cafeteria food
(you'll be sick (constapation, diarrhea) every other day: chicken sausage?)
-ALL they talk about is "The History of Howard"
I'm tired of hearing about the "legacy" & it's past
What is it doing today?
"GOOD THINGS" ABOUT THE SCHOOL:

-VERY SOCIAL
lots of ppl from across the country & world
lots of off-campus parties, but don't go to too many & flunk out 1st semester (it has happened)
-alot of "opportunties" in DC area (jobs,concerts, etc)
However, because of all the problems at HU, I'm now at UMBC (a tech school) only 30 mins from my home outside of Baltimore & I'm satisfied (new dorms w/ AC, good food, new buildings,diveristy- Asians, Whites, Indians, Blacks, Latinos)...much better than HU

BE SMART, JUST SAY NO
ATTENTION:
PLEASE DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ATTENTION:
PLEASE DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1st Year Male -- Class 2008

Social Life: A+, Individual Value: F

Do not go here if you plan on persuing a career in film...now that i think about it, do not go here if you plan on doing anything other than buisness. The dorms are terrible compared to the other schools ive been to. The people here are closed minded and care only about how they look. It's all about making money to this administration and that is why i am leaving to go to Penn State next year.

Do not listen to the BS about the MECCA. This college is called the Mecca, the hilltop, and the capstone of black intellegence..they got one thing right however, the campus is on a giant hill.

They accept more people than they can house, so get ready to be pissed off when you realize you dont have housing.Contact me if you wish, id love to get into specifics on weither or not you should go to Howard.

1st Year Male -- Class 2009

Scholastic Success: B+, Education Quality: F