ABSTRACT
The conceptually clustered matrix captures the various comments made by the student respondents regarding matriculation at their respective institutions and the preparation this process has provided them for life beyond academe. Getting involved is one of the most important aspects about college. The students agreed that their most positive experiences were those related to their involvement on campus. Several factors seem to influence the educational gains that students of color receive from their college experiences, such as student characteristics, college environments, efforts toward involvement, and racial status. The higher education setting becomes a training ground for these students not only for academic development, but also for social development. These very skills of maintaining healthy liaisons with fellow nonminority peers and faculty members, while concomitantly maintaining a healthy identity and sense of self, are prerequisite skills needed for successful matriculation in the world beyond the ivy tower.
