November 12, 2024

Erin, an academically accomplished high school senior (GPA 4.5; ACT 33) attending the Kennesaw Mountain High School Academy of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Magnet Program has earned leadership and community service hours as a high school intern with our foundation. Erin’s most recent responsibility was serving as a researcher on this project. Erin, who has aspirations of attending medical school, shares her perspective regarding what she learned through her research.

Prior to researching graduate school and medical school pathways through HBCUs, I had little preexisting knowledge of such HBCU pathways, specifically into medical school. When Mr. Wynn asked me to research these pathways. I believed that even if such pathways existed, they would be either out of reach for the majority of students, or scarce to find. Through my research, I have found myself to be wrong on both accounts. I was astonished to learn how successful HBCUs are in creating such pathways and how accessible they are to students who want to plan pathways into graduate school, medical school, dental school, optometry school, veterinary school, or nursing school. I am confident that such pathways also exist for law school, but that was outside of my research focus. The purpose of these pathways and partnerships is to rid students of socioeconomic barriers that prevent them from pursuing higher education and to provide assurance that if they commit themselves to doing the work to meet the admissions criteria for their desired program that they will be assured of the opportunity to fulfill their dreams.

HBCUs have partnerships with graduate schools within and outside of the United States. Several even have partnerships with Ivy League schools. These partnerships can come in the form of early assurance or dual degree programs. Early assurance for a premed student would mean that a student would get to apply to medical school early so that a medical school would be able to offer them an early decision and a guaranteed spot. For some programs, you can choose whether or not to take the MCAT. This is a great opportunity because applying to medical school is very expensive and filled with stress and uncertainty with such low medical school admissions rates. Applicants can spend thousands of dollars in transportation expenses traveling to medical schools for in-person interviews, MCAT study tools and preparation fees, exam fees, and so much more without any guarantee of being accepted into medical school. I learned that many early assurance programs invite students to all-expenses paid summer programs where they can receive a stipend, attend MCAT preparation classes, and gain research experience. 

Dual degree programs allow students a guaranteed pathway to receiving an undergraduate and graduate degree, or undergraduate and medical degree. Many such programs are not only guaranteed, but take less time and cost less money than would otherwise be required. For me personally, being assured of the institution where I will earn my undergraduate degree and the institution where I will earn my graduate degree or attend medical school prior to graduating from high school allows me to plan both my long term career goals and short term academic, leadership, and community service goals.

Many HBCUs are not only amazing in the sheer number of partnerships they have developed, but the reverence with which they are referred to is nonpareil and featured on the websites of their partner institutions. Take for instance, Jumoke Dumont’s article, “50 Years of Medicine: The Brown-Tougaloo Partnership,” which describes the Brown University-Tougaloo College partnership.

“For 154 years, Tougaloo College, a historically black college (HBC) in Jackson, Mississippi, has played a leading role in the education of Black scientists and health professionals in the South and beyond. 

The private liberal arts college is among the top US schools for the number of graduates with doctoral degrees in STEM fields, and its alums form 40 percent of Mississippi’s African American physicians and dentists.

Brown became an active partner in this tradition in 1976 when it established the Early Identification Program in Medicine for Tougaloo (EIP). An expansion of the historic Brown University-Tougaloo Partnership (BTP), the EIP identifies Tougaloo undergrads for early acceptance to Brown’s MD program. 

The EIP in Medicine for Tougaloo is one of the BTP’s longest-standing active programs. It has produced two generations of physicians — MDs who are leaders in their fields and the communities they serve.”

During my research, I discovered that one HBCU had partnerships with 16 graduate schools (Xavier University of Louisiana), thereby providing 16 different pathways to early assurance and dual degree programs. My research for this project dispelled any preexisting notions I previously held regarding the quality of education or scope of opportunities offered at HBCUs. I left the project with a much deeper understanding of how committed HBCUs are to not only the success of their students, but in creating leaders like Vice President, and presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who has already had a global impact. These schools work hard to ensure that after their students receive their undergraduate degree, they have the best opportunities for continuing their education into graduate school, medical school, law school, or beyond. 

I hope that you will learn from reading this book, what I have learned— why HBCUs have such a rich and long history of producing Black professionals in virtually every career field from education to medicine and from the arts to STEM. The amount of support and tools HBCUs provide to help students pursue their educational and career aspirations is such an important feature of HBCUs. Based on indisputable outcome data, their strategies are arguably more effective for African American success than those of other highly selective schools.

Erin N.
Kennesaw Mountain High School Class of 2025
Academy of Mathematics, Science, and Technology