Included as well is a handy section subtitled, "Financing Your Education," Wilson breaks down the differences and advantages of Pell grants, Perkins loans, college work-study grants -- and more. She then goes on to list numerous organizations that give scholarships to minority students, with contact names and numbers to boot.
The college reference section stops just short of physically delivering the student to the campus. A wealth of information teems this portion of the manual, as Wilson provides among other things: the total number of African American students at each college, its academic offerings, the African American student organizations, prominent African American alumni, the average SAT score of incoming freshman, and the health services available to students. She then renders a meaty synopsis for each institution, complete with the school's mission along with testimonies from current students.
This woman has done her homework.
Backing up her 100 college selections are depositions from African Americans who have achieved success in a variety of fields on how their college choice contributed to their achievements.
Wilson deserves much praise for the comprehensive and thorough manual she has assembled. The former advice columnist for college women at Glamour magazine couldn't have done more if she got 1,000 buses and took every Black student on a cross-country college tour herself. Every college hopeful, parent, and guidance counselor should own a copy.
Jamilah Evelyn is a staff writer for Black Issues in Higher Education and a recent graduate of Howard University.
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