Booklist Review

These books are written for African American students who are interested in attending a college that will meet their social and educational requirements as well as their academic and financial needs. Written for student use, these guides may be beneficial to parents and advisers who are counseling students. The Black Student's Guide to Colleges is a detailed listing of more than 200 of the nation's top schools that are predominately white. Introductory chapters on application, scholarship, and stress allow the black student to gain an understanding of the struggles and support available on these campuses. The 500-to 1,000-word college profiles focus "on five major areas: 1) academics, 2) support services, 3) black student organizations, 4) social life, and 5) the overall climate." The information for each profile was gathered through interviews and surveys of black students and documentation supplied by the college. The text has more breadth of evaluation for the black student on a predominately white campus than other works such as The Black Student's Guide to College Success (1993). The comparison between black undergraduates and all undergraduates, and faculty and black faculty, are worthy of note. The Black Student's Guide to Scholarships is informative. Details on federal financial aid, terms used, and other sources of information come before the "Guide to Scholarships." Each entry gives eligibility, amount available, and a contact address. Indexes by institution, discipline, and state follow. An inconsistency in the arrangement of college names between the two books is confusing. In Guide to Colleges, schools are arranged alphabetically. In Guide to Scholarship, schools that begin "University of . . ." are arranged under the place. Each book can stand on its own merits. They both would be practical in high-school, academic, and public libraries and counseling centers where African American students are searching for information in their pursuit of education.