Howard University

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Nursing
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: Biracial: African-American & Mexican-American Straight Female

Summary

I do volunteer work around D.C in my free time. Other than that, it’s mostly sports and athletics but none associated with Howard.

Background

Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Biracial: African-American & Mexican-American
Sexual Orientation: Straight

High School Experience: Private high school in Los Angeles, CA with a graduating class of 172 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Nursing
Minor: None

Extracurricular Activities: I do volunteer work around D.C in my free time. Other than that, it’s mostly sports and athletics but none associated with Howard.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience? In what ways?
Tennis did because I played in high school. The reason I came to Howard was to play sports, but right before I came I had knee surgery and wasn’t able to play anymore. Tennis put Howard on my college radar. Doing sports and staying active helps me maintain a healthy body while being a college student.

Academic Experience

Can you describe the weekly coursework for your Nursing major?
It’s a lot of textbook readings. They’re not mandatory per se, but to do well in the courses, that’s what you do. We also have practice quizzes. The major grades are the exams, including tests and the final exam. There are also standardized tests that affect our grades but don’t really enhance them. For most of our courses in Nursing school, starting from junior year through senior year, we have ATI standardized tests. If you fail the first attempt, you get 5% off your final cumulative grade for the class. If you fail the second attempt, you get 10% off. If you pass your first attempt, it doesn’t affect your grade.
Is there anything you think the Nursing department does especially well or poorly academically?
Especially well, they try to make sure we are on top of all our requirements to graduate and continue in nursing school. Especially poorly, the organization of classes and the rooms we take our tests in. A couple of times we’ve been scheduled for a room that doesn’t have enough computers for us to all take the exam at the same time.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
It’s extremely collaborative, especially because we have communication tools like GroupMe that allow large groups of people to communicate with each other. It’s more the students that make it collaborative. Because of the disorganization [within the department], we all come together and help each other out to make sure we’re on top of everything.
How has going to an HBCU impacted your ?
I went to PWIs my entire academic career before coming to college, so going to an HBCU after experiencing PWIs made me feel more comfortable in my classroom. I was able to express myself and speak about the experiences of African-Americans. In general, being at an HBCU made me feel more confident and willing to speak openly in class.
How accessible are the professors in your department?
They aren’t as accessible as I wish they were. Because our Nursing building is under construction, they don’t have any office buildings. This will be temporary, but I remember for my first two years and for my general education courses, they were always accessible because they still had a building.
Why did you choose your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I chose Nursing because as a child I was hospitalized a lot. I had open-heart surgery, which from that point on led to many difficulties and complications as you get older. I was in the hospital a lot and I bonded with the nurses everywhere I went. It’s something I always knew I wanted to do.

Reasons to Attend

1) The student body. The amicability is something I’ll never experience again.
2) Surrounding yourself by Black people is something that’s very important if you haven’t experienced it. It’s not something you’ll experience every day, and you won’t have that opportunity again.
3) When it comes to connections and networking, Howard is a great place to further your education, career, and build relationships for the future.
4) Although the administration is disorganized, the education we get is very good for the most part.
5) If you get through the disorganization at Howard, you learn so many life lessons and how to navigate the world and get things done by yourself. It’s like throwing you into the deep end when you get here.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) The disorganization can be discouraging a lot of the time.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: College Hall North (CHN) with one roommate.
Sophomore: College Hall South (CHS) with the same roommate.
Junior: West Plaza Towers in a single with two suitemates.
What was your favorite living situation?
My freshman and sophomore year with my roommate because we got along well and are both Nursing majors, so we studied together a lot. I like having my own room now, but had a couple run-ins with my suitemates sharing a bathroom and kitchen.
How was transitioning from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in terms of location?
That was probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done while coming to college. Because of the weather, as someone from L.A. who isn’t used to buying real winter clothes, I ended up getting really sick and hospitalized twice.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
You constantly see campus police driving, so you feel comfortable. I’ve never had any personal experiences of feeling unsafe. I have had friends that have been robbed or mugged, but it’s more so what times you go out at night and the precautions you take to stay safe.

Social Opportunities

What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you participate in at Howard?
I like going to parties. I also like going to the local or Howard events, which may be spoken word poetry, plays, musicals, or athletic events. Half of these are on campus, and half are at locations close to campus. There are also house parties around campus. They also have club events, and of course studying and exercising.
What nights of the week do you regularly do things? Who hosts the events?
My freshman and sophomore year I went out a lot, probably Thursday-Saturday, and I sprinkled in some Wednesdays. Now that I’ve gotten into the upper-division and real Nursing school, I go out maybe every other Friday or Saturday. Most of the time a group of guys who have a house [host these parties]. If not, it’ll be Greek life.
How happy are you with the weekend options at Howard? Is there anything you would change if you could?
I’m extremely content with the weekend options, especially because I don’t have the time to do it that much anymore. I enjoy every weekend, and if I want to party I can because there is always something to do.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
During Accepted Student Day. My other close friends are other Nursing majors.
To what extent do people of different sexual orientations mix socially?
It’s very common to see gay people, both male and female, and people who don’t identify in a particular gender. You don’t see many extravagantly gay men, but you can clearly recognize the gay or lesbian females on campus. Though I’m not one of them, from what I see there’s no type of intolerance or bias toward people of any sexual orientation. That’s something I love about Howard.
How would you describe the student body?
Everyone treats you like family. It’s rare you run into someone that doesn’t know you who has a nasty attitude towards you. People are very amicable, nice, and helpful. My first year I didn’t know where a class was, and I had multiple people walk me all the way to class while they were late to theirs, just to help me as a freshman.
How has going to an HBCU impacted your social experience?
For someone who has never experienced gong to a Black school or college, it helps you understand the many African-American cultures. It basically connects you more to your roots and gives you more information about where you came from while not keeping you excluded from the rest of the world because the campus is so small. You not only get the education and history of Black culture, but you’re also able to implement it and act on it in the real world with the other cultures around.
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
They actually mix a lot. Before and after all my friends crossed, I still hang out with the same people even though they hang out with each other a lot. You’ll see them in pairs or groups a lot of time. They’re not exclusive, they will talk to other people whether you’re in Greek life or not. To me, it’s almost the same as before. The only difference is more often than not the only difference is you’ll see them with other sorority or fraternity members.
Do you feel more so like you’re more so a resident of Washington D.C than a student at your school?
No, because I have been out in the D.C. area and the first thing a lot of people see is race. You know you’re at or around Howard when you look around and see predominantly African-American people. You kind of know you ventured off campus when you see people from other ethnicities.
How do you the size of Howard? How has it impacted your experience? [Howard has about 6,300 undergraduate students.]
I consider it a smaller size because there are less than 9,000 undergraduates. That’s what attracted me to Howard. I knew that a big school with a huge campus and a lot of people would be more distracting to me than a moderately sized or smaller school. That also makes each grade closer in friendship, and usually you don’t walk around and meet someone from your grade that you’ve never seen before. That familiarity enhances the social aspect of Howard. It’s not overwhelming or scary when you first come onto campus. It makes you less intimidated by the college.

Careers

Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
The only two alumni I know that graduated from nursing both showed me the two internships I applied to. I got into both.
Have you learned any computer programs or computer languages that will be helpful professionally?
Excel, but that’s because of a general education class required for Nursing. I learned how to chart, which helps with nursing because documentation is a big part of it.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, how easy is the office to work with?
I’m not on financial aid, but for some reason my account was set up for financial aid. When I went to go fix it, dealing with the office was extremely difficult. In the past year they’ve improved it. Not all the way to perfection, but it has improved a little bit.