Black STEM pipelines from top U.S. institutions

Last update: Monday 5/19/18

In recent years substantial national attention has focused on the so-called lack of sufficient Black talent in the educational pipelines that lead to careers in information technology and other STEM fields. 



Thousands of talented Black men and women received degrees in STEM fields from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) up until the 1960s; since then far greater numbers have taken advantage of the expanded opportunities offered by non-HBCUs as result of the Supreme Court's desegregation decision (1954) and the subsequent Civil Rights legislation (1960s).

Recruiters who can't find enough Black tech talent are probably looking in the wrong places. Nowadays less than ten percent of Black students attend HBCUs. Therefore recruiters will find at least 90 percent of the most academically accomplished Black students at non-HBCUs, giving special attention to the nation's most affluent, highly rated universities that offer the most generous scholarships and other financial incentives. 

The following interactive table provides Fall 2014 enrollment, Carnegie classifications, degrees, and graduation rates from the U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS Website for Black students at 101 of the nation's most prestigious STEM colleges and universities. These institutions were identified by high SAT math scores for their incoming freshmen, specifically a 600 score for the lowest quartile. In other words, 75 percent of their freshmen scored at least 600. Readers should examine this data closely enough to note that Black students graduated at more or less the same 6-year rates as the other students at these elite institutions ... :-)