(jazz music)
- Hi, my name is Cori Grainger.
I'm a junior at Johns Hopkins University studying
Medicine, Science, Humanities and Spanish,
but I also have a lot of interest in Computer Science
so I spend a lot of time in that outside of the classroom.
In addition, I'm a member of
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
And we are a service organization,
so a lot of my time also goes there.
(jazz music)
- So I'm gonna walk you guys
through my typical Wednesday.
So on Wednesdays I have class starting at 11 a.m.
Tomorrow it so happens that I have an exam,
and then another exam, and then a presentation,
and another presentation.
But, if I didn't have exams and presentations
I would be going to class pretty much back-to-back,
and then this week is our Delta Week,
so we have events every night.
My event will be a dance class, a multicultural dance class.
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- [Interviewer] So what is academic culture like
at Johns Hopkins?
- I would say it's pretty competitive.
- Um hm.
- So for example, taking an intermediate programming class,
we had this one really big project
and I was stuck on one part,
and I just wanted to see somebody's blueprint.
And I asked one of my classmates, I was like,
"Hey, can I check out how you decided
to go about this problem?"
And she's like, "That's against the Integrity Code!"
And I'm like, "Okay, nevermind," but I don't know.
I would say overall it's pretty competitive,
but there's definitely a lot of support all around campus,
through resources offered by the university,
and then offered by smaller organizations on campus,
like the Office of Multicultural Affairs or OMA for short.
- So tell me about your major.
- So I'm a Medicine, Science and Humanities
and Spanish double major.
So Medicine, Science and Humanities is all one major.
- Okay.
- And most people are usually like,
"Wait, say it again" (laughs).
- I was gonna-- - So for short,
Yeah for short, we just call it MSH.
Basically, it's a pretty interdisciplinary major,
I've always wanted to become fluent
in at least one language,
and since I started off with Spanish in high school,
that's what I continued with,
so now I'm finishing out that major.
- What are the course requirements
for the Medicine, Science, Humanities major?
- So there are a few introductory courses
just into the major,
and so what the major really focuses on
looking at medicine from a historical perspective.
Well not only medicine, but also the innovation
of new science and technologies as well.
- [Interviewer] Okay.
But there are a lot of really interesting classes
that kind of combine,.
For example death in the future,
or the history of some random really mysterious diseases.
- So what drew you to Medicine, Science, Humanities?
- I'm not really fond of Medicine,
but it comes with the major.
But I really like history, and especially science.
And specifically Computer Science,
which is what I study on my own here at Hopkins.
And what my internship experiences
and my future hopefully will hold.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
(slow electronic music)
- So legend has it that if you step on it
before it's your [time to graduate,
you won't be graduating on time.
So everyone just walks around it.
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- [Interviewer] So what do you do outside of class?
- I spend a lot of my time doing things with my sorority,
which is Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated,
We're a service organization,
so we host a lot of events on campus.
They focus around service,
either to students or in the community,
the greater Baltimore community,
So we have five programmatic thrusts of our organization
that we try to follow when creating events.
So for example one thrusts is physical and mental health,
and so for our Delta week event this week,
my event will be a dance class,
a multicultural dance class,
for students to come out and learn about
different origins of dance and learn some choreography,
have a good time, eat some food.
- [Interviewer] So this Sunday
you spoke at a women's leadership brunch.
Tell me a little bit about that.
What does that program look like?
- So each year the Mu Psi chapter,
which is the Johns Hopkins chapter of Delta,
hosts an annual leadership brunch,
just to recognize women
who are doing really cool things in the community
or just in general in their personal lives as well.
And this year, we did something really cool
that we've never done before,
which is to give out awards.
So we had submissions for different types of artwork
or creative works where people just describe
what that means.
So whether it's like a song or poem or a photo shoot
or a creative album cover or something like that.
It was a really good experience,
just to share my story and also to let people
who I don't often come in contact with
kinda open up to me and know who I am.
- [Interviewer] So you were featured
in a documentary called "Step."
Could you tell me a little bit about that?
- Yeah, so during my senior year in high school,
Amanda Lipitz, who's the director of the movie
just kinda approached us
because she wanted to tell a positive story about Baltimore.
It was during the time of the uprising
that happened because of Freddie Gray's death.
We were presented with the opportunity to make something
great and show people that there are really cool things,
really good positive things
in kids coming out of Baltimore City.
We all just jumped on it
and it just grew a lot more than any of us expected.
It got into Sundance and then Fox Searchlight bought it
and it won multiple awards
and we were all just kinda taken aback
because again you don't really see your accomplishments
as something so great,
but we hear about how people have been inspired
by your story or they see you
and the struggles that you're persevered through
and now they feel that they can do it again
or for themselves.
It's a really cool experience.
- [Interviewer] That's pretty cool.
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- [Interviewer] So what would you say has surprised you
the most about Johns Hopkins?
- I don't know.
I came in expecting it to be almost impossible,
As far as academics, but I've found a lot of support,
not only in the organization and resources around campus.
But also finding friends,
finding my niche and a community that supports me.
Also, I'm really impressed by how many efforts there are
around campus to give back to the community,
especially as somebody from Baltimore.
- So what advice would you give high schoolers
or even students younger than high school
who are thinking about applying to schools
like Hopkins or other schools?
- I would absolutely say don't count yourself out.
Personally, I wasn't even going to apply to Hopkins
because I'm like,
"It's John Hopkins,
"what do they want with me?"
- It's a good thing you applied though.
- Yeah it's a great thing I applied
because I'm here on a full ride.
I don't have any student loans
and that was something that was really important to me
coming into college.
I would definitely say don't count yourself out.
Really explore your options and shoot for the stars.
Let other people tell you no,
like don't ruin the opportunity for yourself.
I definitely would recommend, getting on campus physically.
I personally don't think it's enough
to see pictures or videos or just to talk to people
because you're gonna be here in the flesh,
so you should wanna know how it feels.
But that's not always possible,
and so I would say the next best option is really,
like finding people who are there
and getting acquainted with them.
There are pretty much Facebook groups for everything
you could possible want in the world.
So I'm sure there's one for prospective
students of any university.
Also, make sure to find out if the university
is offering any kind of opportunity
for you to come to campus
and spend the weekend or spend the night.
So here at Hopkins, we have an event called Sohop.
And basically prospective students just come
and stay overnight and they get to shadow
a current student and it's free.
It's free to attend.
It's for accepted students.
A precursor to Sohop is Discovery Days,
which is meant for underrepresented students
like minority students on campus,
so you kinda get to have a feel for what life is like
with the people who look like you.
- Because you all are the minority on campus.
And then the next day you get to have fun with everybody.
So definitely do your research
about what kinds of resources you need.
And be honest with yourself,
about what you are able to accomplish
and what you're willing to work hard for.
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