{"id":1478,"date":"2021-02-10T19:52:21","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T19:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/?p=1478"},"modified":"2021-02-13T20:34:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T20:34:25","slug":"difference-between-an-hbcu-and-a-predominantly-wi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/difference-between-an-hbcu-and-a-predominantly-wi\/","title":{"rendered":"The Difference Between an HBCU and a Predominantly WI"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I see myself At Prairie View A&M, my college experience is now complete. Even though UTA was pretty diverse as far as Texas goes, I still considered it a predominantly white institution (PWI).
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by Jayla Jones<\/a> <\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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My college experience has been very \u2026 different. I\u2019ve attended three schools, had two changes to my major, and garnered one hell of a learning experience.<\/p>\n

My first stop after graduating from high school in 2017 was the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA).<\/p>\n

I want to note that as a senior in high school, I didn\u2019t take my college search seriously. I was applying to colleges I knew I wouldn\u2019t be accepted to. I\u2019m talking the supersmart, probably need a 9.0 GPA and $200,000 in the bank to even fill out an application type of colleges.<\/p>\n

It was all for fun, as the fantasy of moving across the country and being on my own clouded my judgment. What\u2019s ironic is that I ended up enrolling in UTA because my immediate family members were moving to Dallas and I wanted to be close to them.<\/p>\n

When I got to campus, my very first decision was to join the school newspaper, The Shorthorn<\/em>, as a sportswriter. I\u2019d written for my high school newspaper, but only as a feature and opinion writer, so this was a new avenue I was trying to explore.<\/p>\n

I initially joined because I had a love for writing, I liked sports and I needed to get involved on campus. Little did I know I was setting the stage for my future career and college experience.<\/p>\n

My time at The Shorthorn<\/em> was fantastic. I got to experience the dynamic of an authentic newsroom and be part of a group whose focus was to make me a better writer and reporter. I covered men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball and volleyball, and I was comfortable. I felt like I\u2019d found my tribe.<\/p>\n

However, I didn\u2019t have that same feeling whenever I left the newsroom and went to class or back to my dorm. Anytime I was away from the newspaper, I was suffering. I felt out of place and alone and decided that if this was how the \u201cbest four years of my life\u201d was going to be, then I couldn\u2019t wait till it was over.<\/p>\n

Although UTA was pretty diverse as far as Texas goes, I still considered it a predominantly white institution (PWI). It was hard to find more than a handful of people who looked like me. It was hard to feel like I belonged there.<\/p>\n

And honestly? I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

No matter how much I loved writing for The Shorthorn<\/em>, I knew that if I was miserable anytime I wasn\u2019t covering a game, then this wasn\u2019t the right school for me. Not to mention, it was crazy expensive for an out-of-state student. A special thank you to my Uncle Sean for paying the rest of my tuition that semester.<\/p>\n

Long story short, that semester ended up being the only one I spent on UTA\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

I finished out the second half of my freshman year at Tarrant County College (TCC), a community college that was larger than some traditional college campuses. I took weekend classes that allowed me to get some of my core credits out of the way before I could make my next move. Nothing special happened on that campus, although it did teach me a lot about responsibility and discipline.<\/p>\n

Imagine getting up for an 8 a.m. class \u2026 on a Saturday. Then having attendance responsible for 40% of your grade. It wasn\u2019t fun, but I got through it.<\/p>\n

At the start of my sophomore year, I had transferred to the one and only Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU).<\/p>\n

My approach was the same. I joined the newspaper, I wrote about sports, covered volleyball and basketball, and I was learning a lot from my peers.<\/p>\n