As of 2020, there were 101 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States. You can get a quality education at any of them, but which is the most prestigious of them all?
Howard University is known as the Harvard of HBCUs. It has the most selective admissions standards of any HBCU and the highest endowment, valued at nearly $800 million as of 2021. It also has the highest graduation rate of all coed HBCUs.
The Washington, D.C. school has produced many notable alumni, including Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Vice President Kamala Harris, and author Toni Morrison. Howard is ranked as the #1 HBCU in the nation by U.S. News.
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Why Is Howard University the Harvard of HBCUs?
Howard University is often referred to as the Harvard of HBCUs for several reasons. It has one of the lowest acceptance rates among the most well-known HBCUs. Its incoming student stats are the highest of any coed HBCU, as is its graduation rate.
Howard also has thousands of highly successful alumni, and not just the famous ones mentioned above. You’ll find Howard grads at the top level of every industry you can think of, including banking, finance, politics, education, healthcare, and the military, just to name a few.
Finally, Howard is one of the ten oldest HBCUs in America, so it has had literally centuries to build its storied reputation.
Howard University Has a Low Acceptance Rate
Howard University’s acceptance rate is only 35%. This puts it well below almost every other HBCU in the country, many of which are struggling to attract students and have raised their acceptance rates in response. In fact, many HBCUs now have open-admissions policies, meaning they accept 100% of their applicants.
Howard, on the only hand, only accepts about one out of every three students who apply, giving it a similar acceptance rate to schools like UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, and the University of Florida — all prestigious schools ranked in the top 30 by U.S. News.
Howard Has High Incoming Student Stats
Howard’s incoming student stats are quite a bit higher than most other HBCUs. Its SAT midrange is 1,100 to 1,300, and its ACT midrange is 21 to 26. That means the middle 50% of incoming students scored within those ranges.
Are those Harvard numbers? No, of course not. But they’re way above what the typical student scores on those tests. Remember, the average SAT score is about 1,050, and the average ACT score hovers around 21.
Howard Has a High Graduation Rate
Howard’s graduation rate of 64% is the highest of any coed HBCU. Only Spelman University in Atlanta, an all women’s college, has a higher graduation rate. Howard’s biggest rival, Morehouse College, another prestigious HBCU that is also in Atlanta and is the male counterpart to Spelman, has a graduation rate of 56%.
Once again, these numbers don’t exactly compare to Harvard, which graduates more than 95% of its students in six years or less. But considering that HBCUs such as Howard admit many more disadvantaged students, some of which end up having to drop out for reasons beyond their control, such as financial issues or a sick family member, the fact that Howard graduates close to two-thirds of its students is impressive.
Howard’s Alumni Are Successful
Howard’s alumni list reads like a who’s who of prominent black Americans, starting with the current vice president and including great Americans such as Thurgood Marshall and Toni Morrison.
But even its alumni whom the average person might not have heard of are impressive. If you run in business circles in the DC area or in a number of large cities across the South and along the Eastern Seaboard — cities such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Birmingham, Philadelphia, and Baltimore — you’ve no doubt run into many Howard graduates in high places.
Howard Is One of the Oldest HBCUs
Howard University was founded on March 2, 1867, making it one of the ten oldest HBCUs in America. The oldest HBCU, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, was founded in 1837. (To give you a point of comparison, Cheyney’s current graduation rate is 15%, a far cry from Howard.)
In its 150-year-plus history, Howard has built its reputation by educating a litany of leaders who’ve changed the course of history. Its DC location puts it in a position not only to funnel graduates into top jobs but also to give them the connections they need to rise in the political arena.
Two Other Elite HBCUs
While Howard is, in our opinion, the undisputed king of elite HBCUs, two other schools deserve an honorable mention. They are Morehouse College and Spelman College, both single-gender schools in Atlanta with stellar reputations.
Morehouse College
Morehouse College, a private, all-male, liberal arts college in Atlanta, is also a heavy hitter among HBCUs. Like its archrival Howard, Morehouse often draws comparisons to the Ivies and has even been called the Harvard of HBCUs.
Founded in 1867, the same year as Howard, Morehouse is one of the oldest HBCUs in the United States. Also like Howard, Morehouse College has produced an insanely impressive list of alumni. The most prominent one, of course, is Martin Luther King, Jr.
Other famous and successful Morehouse alums include filmmaker Spike Lee and actor Samuel L. Jackson. Morehouse alumni have also included several governors and congressmen, as well as notable writers, educators, and businessmen.
Morehouse sends an impressive number of students to top medical, law, business, and graduate schools. It ranks first among all HBCUs in the percentage of graduates who go on to receive Ph.D.s in physics.
Spelman College
Spelman College in Atlanta is another of the oldest and most prestigious HBCUs in the United States. The sister school to Morehouse College, Spelman was founded in 1881 by two white women from New England, Harriet E. Giles and Sophia B. Packard, in the basement of a Baptist church. A year later, John D. Rockefeller made a donation to the school, helping it move from its basement location to a permanent site with five buildings and nine acres of land.
Today, Spelman occupies a 26-acre campus in the historic district of Auburn Avenue. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center consortium, which includes Morehouse College and another HBCU, Clark Atlanta University. The school has an enrollment of about 2,100 students and ranks just outside the top 50 liberal arts colleges in U.S. News.
Spelman’s graduation rate of 75% is the highest of any HBCU in America.
