Timothy L. Fields, senior associate dean of admissions at Emory University, and Shereem Herndon-Brown, founder and chief education officer of Strategic Admissions Advice, share their insights into the college admissions process and speak with LJ about their book, The Black Family’s Guide to College Admissions: A Conversation about Education, Parenting, and Race (Johns Hopkins University Press).

What led you to write this book?

From our over 50 years of combined experience in the college admissions profession, we noticed that no book spoke directly to the college-educated, Black middle and upper classes. There are plenty of books and resources for first-generation students, but most popular admissions best sellers and guidebooks are written by white men. We want to have a voice in the canon and speak to our friends and family who are now making educational choices for their children.

Tell us about your backgrounds and how you decided to work on this project together.

We met at the National Association of College Admissions Counselors in 2013. We stayed in touch as two writers (we both have self-published books) who are Black men in the admissions profession. We decided to work together on this because we have different educational backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Tim has worked on the recruitment, admission, and access side of the profession, and Shereem has more years of experience as a college counselor who helps students with their applications. Together, our application to admission experiences make for a rich book.

Describe some of the challenges that Black students face as they navigate the admissions process.

The most glaring challenge is just the information gap that exists. Most of the information that Black students and families have comes from a third party and not someone within the home. Given that many of the school counselors in this country are white, many Black families don’t have someone helping them with this process that shares their lived experiences, and this can lead to a disconnect between the counselor and the family.

Another challenge that Black families have is this internal conversation that takes place in many households on whether to attend a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) or a predominantly white institution (PWI). While both are great institutions that have proven track records of success, they present different experiences. These are conversations that other races usually don’t have to tackle as they think about the college admission process.

What are some of the questions that Black students and families should be asking as they consider their college options?

Black families need to understand that being proactive in the process—starting earlier than junior year—often leads to more choices, hence college admissions success.

They need to ask their school counselors:

• Do we use SCOIR or Naviance? [college search and application platforms] When can I have access to it to see historical admissions data?

• How many students, historically, have gone to HBCUs vs. PWIs?

• What classes should my child take in middle and high school in order to best prepare them to be a competitive candidate at top schools?

The cost of college can be a huge burden for families. What kinds of challenges do Black students face in regard to financial aid, scholarships, and financing college in general?

College costs are exorbitant and need to be addressed with children early. What is our budget? What will be the return on investment? Black families especially need to understand that college costs should not put the family in further financial debt. Given that few Black families have generational wealth, cost and a minimal amount of loans need to be the primary factor when choosing a school.

One of the chapters in your book focuses on the differences that Black women and Black men encounter in the admissions process. Can you share a bit about this topic?

The chapter explains much of it, but historically, Black girls have done better academically in secondary school and apply to “better” colleges than Black boys. Given their academic achievements and strong involvement in their schools and communities, they are often competing against the top students in the world [including each other] for coveted admissions spots. Black boys are not applying to selective colleges en masse, which makes them “unicorns.” Because of this, to achieve gender and racial balance, selective schools try to recruit more highly intelligent and motivated Black men to their campuses.

What is one thing that you wish you had known when you were first applying to colleges?

We both had very narrow views of where we should go and why. In a sense, we did not understand our choices. Now that we preach that all Black students should consider both PWIs and HBCUs, we better understand that we, too, had an array of options to consider.

What is one thing that you’d like librarians to take away from your book?

This book is a resource that librarians need to steer Black students and families to and encourage educators of all colors to read and try to understand. College admissions is complicated, and we have produced a resource that we hope will simplify it.