[Aggie D.]

Besides the college or university you attended what other schools did you seriously consider when making the decision to go to college?  Why? 

I really wanted to go to college out-of-state.   I knew I wanted to attend an HBCU but within driving distance from home, which for me was five hours or less.  I've always been impressed with the history of the AUC but it was not a match for me, nothing about going to college in South Carolina was appealing, and I did not know much about Tennessee.  That pretty much left V-A and the DC metro area.  Hampton, Howard, and Virginia State were the other institutions I seriously considered.  However family tradition, the heavy N.C. A & T influence that goes with being from Greensboro, and a full scholarship sealed the deal for me to head to Aggieland.         

[90Aggie]

I sent my SATs to NCA&T, College of Charleston, Coker College, and Fayetteville State.  The Ron McNair influence steered me toward A&T; I had some girlfriends that were applying to FSU; I visited Coker during my senior year and the guy I was dating was a student there; CoC, I don't even know why.  In my heart, I wanted to go to Fisk, but I knew I had no way of getting there.  Financial difficulties during my freshman year almost had me transferring to Winthrop, but things worked out so that I was able to stay at A&T. Looking back on that whole picking a college experience, I really needed some guidance. 

[Que82]

Deja Vu.

Tuskegee

[DRUMMA1]

Howard, Hampton, and Morehouse.

Attending an in-state HBCU was out of the question for me because I wanted to do something different than what all of my other classmates from E. E. Smith High School were doing and I wanted to get far away from home as possible.  I did a lot of research on all 4 schools my senior year, including my major, job placement among graduating seniors, department reputation, cost, marching band scholarships, athletics, and campus life.  After I weighed everything out, I chose Jackson State University.  I still wonder, at times, what would have happened had I gone to either one of those other universities.  I have a lot of former classmates who went on to attend those 3 institutions and they loved it.  

[Nomenclature]

Northern Illinois
University of Illinois

[Platinum_Sound]

1. South Carolina State

2. Coastal Carolina

3. NCCU (when I was young and stupid  ) just kidding

4. Benedict (they offered me a music scholarship)

[Aggie D.]

Howard, Hampton, and Morehouse.

Attending an in-state HBCU was out of the question for me because I wanted to do something different than what all of my other classmates from E. E. Smith High School were doing and I wanted to get far away from home as possible.  I did a lot of research on all 4 schools my senior year, including my major, job placement among graduating seniors, department reputation, cost, marching band scholarships, athletics, and campus life.  After I weighed everything out, I chose Jackson State University.  I still wonder, at times, what would have happened had I gone to either one of those other universities.  I have a lot of former classmates who went on to attend those 3 institutions and they loved it.  

Well being from North Carolina and attending Jackson State sure sounds different to me.  Bethune~Cookman, Clark~Atlanta, Fisk, FAMU, Hampton, Howard, Morehouse, South Carolina State, Spellman, Tennessee State, and Xavier are a few of the out-of-state HBCUs I remember students tossing around back when I was a high school student in North Carolina but Jackson State was just not on anyones radar.  Good for you.  I can relate to your desire to want to go somewhere different.  Just curious, were there a lot of students from North Carolina at JSU? 

[DRUMMA1]

Howard, Hampton, and Morehouse.

Attending an in-state HBCU was out of the question for me because I wanted to do something different than what all of my other classmates from E. E. Smith High School were doing and I wanted to get far away from home as possible.  I did a lot of research on all 4 schools my senior year, including my major, job placement among graduating seniors, department reputation, cost, marching band scholarships, athletics, and campus life.  After I weighed everything out, I chose Jackson State University.  I still wonder, at times, what would have happened had I gone to either one of those other universities.  I have a lot of former classmates who went on to attend those 3 institutions and they loved it.  

Well being from North Carolina and attending Jackson State sure sounds different to me.  Bethune~Cookman, Clark~Atlanta, Fisk, FAMU, Hampton, Howard, Morehouse, South Carolina State, Spellman, Tennessee State, and Xavier are a few of the out-of-state HBCUs I remember students tossing around back when I was a high school student in North Carolina but Jackson State was just not on anyones radar.  Good for you.  I can relate to your desire to want to go somewhere different.  Just curious, were there a lot of students from North Carolina at JSU?  

My freshman year alone, I met 10 students from North Carolina.  One of the star basketball players was from Elizabeth City.  I remember in 2003 when we were picking up our baggage at the airport in Indy for the CCC, one of the football players noticed my UNC shirt and hat and asked me if I was from NC.  I told him I was from Fayetteville and he told me that he had graduated from Winston-Salem Carver HS.  Real cool dude who introduced me to his frat brothers (Ques) and looked out for me.  One of my best friends my freshman year was from Greenville and actually transferred from NCA&T.  Surprisingly, there were quite a few students back then who were from the Carolinas, DMV, and Miami.  Now, its even more.  I ran into a lady in the library last week who was wearing a UNC shirt.  I told her I liked her shirt and if she was from the crib.  She said that she is from Raleigh, got her masters at Fayetteville State, and is currently a Ph.d candidate here.  The department that I do work study in requires that we process a lot of letters for incoming and transfer students.  There are a lot of students who are coming to JSU this fall from Charlotte and Raleigh for some reason but even more who are coming from the upper east coast.  When you look at our athletic rosters, you'll notice that we have a lot of athletes from NJ, NY, Philly, Baltimore, etc.

Jackson State really was not on too many people's radar my senior year.  One of the drummajors and myself were the only ones going while everyone else was heading to Howard, Hampton, all the NC HBCUs and PWCs, and the AUC.  Since I graduated, more students from E. E. Smith High have ventured to the deep south to Tuskegee, AAMU, Xavier, PV, Southern, Grambling, Florida A&M, and Bethune-Cookman.  One of the head drummajors at BCU graduated after I did.  I was a very popular student at E. E. Smith and a lot of students figured that if I could do well far away from home at JSU, they could too.  The culture and climate deep south is very different from back home in NC but the HBCU feel of support and authenticity is still there.

[quenccu82]

Western Carolina - Try to get far away from home as I could.
Livingston
ECSU

[Aggie D.]

Howard, Hampton, and Morehouse.

Attending an in-state HBCU was out of the question for me because I wanted to do something different than what all of my other classmates from E. E. Smith High School were doing and I wanted to get far away from home as possible.  I did a lot of research on all 4 schools my senior year, including my major, job placement among graduating seniors, department reputation, cost, marching band scholarships, athletics, and campus life.  After I weighed everything out, I chose Jackson State University.  I still wonder, at times, what would have happened had I gone to either one of those other universities.  I have a lot of former classmates who went on to attend those 3 institutions and they loved it.  

Well being from North Carolina and attending Jackson State sure sounds different to me.  Bethune~Cookman, Clark~Atlanta, Fisk, FAMU, Hampton, Howard, Morehouse, South Carolina State, Spellman, Tennessee State, and Xavier are a few of the out-of-state HBCUs I remember students tossing around back when I was a high school student in North Carolina but Jackson State was just not on anyones radar.  Good for you.  I can relate to your desire to want to go somewhere different.  Just curious, were there a lot of students from North Carolina at JSU?  

My freshman year alone, I met 10 students from North Carolina.  One of the star basketball players was from Elizabeth City.  I remember in 2003 when we were picking up our baggage at the airport in Indy for the CCC, one of the football players noticed my UNC shirt and hat and asked me if I was from NC.  I told him I was from Fayetteville and he told me that he had graduated from Winston-Salem Carver HS.  Real cool dude who introduced me to his frat brothers (Ques) and looked out for me.  One of my best friends my freshman year was from Greenville and actually transferred from NCA&T. Surprising, there were quite a few students back then who were from the Carolinas, DMV, and Miami.  Now, its even more.  I ran into a lady in the library last week who was wearing a UNC shirt.  I told her I liked her shirt and if she was from the crib.  She said that she is from Raleigh, got her masters at Fayetteville State, and is currently a Ph.d candidate here.  The department that I do work study in requires that we process a lot of letters for incoming and transfer students.  There are a lot of students who are coming to JSU this fall from Charlotte and Raleigh for some reason but even more who are coming from the upper east coast.  When you look at our athletic rosters, you'll notice that we have a lot of athletes from NJ, NY, Philly, Baltimore, etc.

Jackson State really was not on too many people's radar my senior year.  One of the drummajors and myself were the only ones going while everyone else was heading to Howard, Hampton, all the NC HBCUs and PWCs, and the AUC.  Since I graduated, more students from E. E. Smith High have ventured to the deep south to Tuskegee, AAMU, Xavier, PV, Southern, Grambling, Florida A&M, and Bethune-Cookman.  One of the head drummajors at BCU graduated after I did.  I was a very popular student at E. E. Smith and a lot of students figured that if I could do well far away from home at JSU, they could too.  The culture and climate deep south is very different from back home in NC but the HBCU feel of support and authenticity is still there.

Cool.  I am not surprised at students coming from the East Coast to the South to go to school.  Most of T's out-of-state students were from Virginia on up.  However, I do not remember meeting too many students from the deep South while in school.  There were of course students from South Carolina and Georgia and a few from Texas but not to many pass Atlanta.  I'm sure the culture down there is different.  I remember visiting Southern for the first time while in college.  In a casual conversation I started representing the South to students from Central State and Lincoln.  Cats from Baton Rouge were like, "Where you from?", I was like North Carolina, and they all threw their arms up saying, "That ain't the South, that's East Coast".  I was thinking, word, North Carolina is very much the South to me.   

[eagle pride]

Pembroke, UNCW, WSSU and St. Aug.

[DRUMMA1]

Cats from Baton Rouge were like, "Where you from?", I was like North Carolina, and they all threw their arms up saying, "That ain't the South, that's East Coast".  I was thinking, word, North Carolina is very much the South to me.    

 Trust me when I say that I see where they are coming from.  The culture in NC and VA is totally different from the deep south.  The music, food, jargon, way of life, pace, and level of progression is like night and day.  I met an old head (Sonic Boom) who was from Chicago and came to JSU in 1996.  She graduated in 2000 then went on the receive an engineering degree from A&T in 2002.  She even notices the difference in quality of life and culture between the 2 regions.  NC may not be "east coast" to the extent of NYC and Boston but the state definitely has more in common with those areas (economically, socially, politically, urban culture, jargon) than MS, GA, LA, and AL.

[Bison 4 Life]

Morehouse

[aggiegrad2009]

Howard: Just because it was Howard and the DC factor.....

FAMU:Liked the vibe of FAMU, good school, but of course my people thought it was way too far....

Tuskegee: Went to summer camp there, LOVED the school, BUT the town it was in and that HEAT, was the draw back for me....

Univ of South Carolina: $$$$$/attended numerous camps/functions/knew alot of people that had either went and/or was going.....

Clemson: Even though I KNOW I had NO intentions of going to school up in those woods   application was free, scholarships were rolling in, but other than that it was a thanks but no thanks your letter goes in the pile on the corner of my dresser...

Tenn State---I can't remember exactly why I applied but I remember hearing or seeing something about them as it pertained to the Atlanta Classic and figured I'd look into the school....

SCSU-Being from SC all of my friends were going to State so I marked them off the list. I basically applied just for the hell of it.

Winthrop: Applied just to be applying....
JCSU(Still don't recall applying there BUT they sent me a nice scholarship packet  )

[y04185]

In high school Appalachian State, Western Carolina, Davidson, Howard, and Grahm Junior College a broadcasting school in Boston that has now gone on to college heaven.

When I did go to college it was The University of Texas at Austin.