By the end of my sophomore year of highschool, I knew that I wanted to go to an HBCU, but I had to figure out which one it was going to be. If someone tried to tell me four years ago that I would be attending Hampton University, I probably would not have believed them. Being from Birmingham, AL, when it came to HBCUs, I never heard much about Hampton. I mostly heard about schools like Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, Tuskegee University, Miles College, Spelman College, and the other HU, Howard University. I actually started looking at Hampton because I was searching for the rank of my number one choice at the time, Alcorn University, amongst other HBCUs. I found this site that had all of the schools ranked and after seeing Alcorn’s rank, something told me to just keep scrolling through the list, and that is when I stumbled across Hampton University. It caught my attention because it was the only school towards the top of the list that I didn’t really know anything about. Being totally honest, Hampton got added to my list under false pretenses; based on the information I read, I somehow thought that I would be able to get a scholarship without sending my ACT score. As someone who had at that point taken the ACT about seven or eight times and couldn’t score higher than a twenty-one, that was very appealing to me. Of course, later on, I came to the realization that that was only for admission and not for scholarships, but I kept it on the list because I had done so much research on Hampton at this point that I could imagine it as a real option. Then the start of my senior year came and I was down to my final list of schools: Alcorn State University, Hampton University, Tuskegee University, North Carolina A&T University, Claflin University, and Dillard University. By November, I had pretty much decided that I wanted to go to Hampton University. There were two things that, for me, really set Hampton apart from all of the other HBCUs.
- The Atmosphere
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Although there are many negative things said about Hampton University, there was one thing that stuck out to me when doing research on Hampton. I kept seeing things about Hampton being a place for go-getters and people who strive for success. This meant a lot to me because one of the things I was most excited about when it came to college was being surrounded by like minded people. I wanted to be around people who strive for excellence and make me want to do better and do great things. I also wanted to be in a place that effectively prepares you for the professional world, and provides the necessary experience to be successful, which Hampton is. I also liked the fact that the majority of the class sizes were small because I find that I have an easier time paying attention and learning in an intimate class setting. When researching Hampton, I found that it was a place that could help hone my skills so that I may be prepared for my future upon graduation.
- The Campus
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Although there are many negative things said about Hampton University, there was one thing that stuck out to me when doing research on Hampton. I kept seeing things about Hampton being a place for go-getters and people who strive for success. This meant a lot to me because one of the things I was most excited about when it came to college was being surrounded by like minded people. I wanted to be around people who strive for excellence and make me want to do better and do great things. I also wanted to be in a place that effectively prepares you for the professional world, and provides the necessary experience to be successful, which Hampton is. I also liked the fact that the majority of the class sizes were small because I find that I have an easier time paying attention and learning in an intimate class setting. When researching Hampton, I found that it was a place that could help hone my skills so that I may be prepared for my future upon graduation.