Engineering Grad School for an African American

<p>Ok, so i'm currently on track to graduate with a dual major Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics next year.
Here are my stats. I hope to go Graduate School for Aerospace Engineering.
GPA: 2.85
Math GPA: 3.00
Aero GPA: 2.80
Internships: 1 summer
EC: Played Rugby for 3 years at my university, Held positions in student Government e.t.c.
GRE: TBD</p>

<p>The thing is i had given up on Grad school because i had been told that you need a GPA of above a 3.00 to even be considered to lower/middle tier schools (and to obtain that i would need a 4.00 in all my remain semesters, which given their difficulty, is highly unlikely). However a lot of people (family and friends) are encouraging me to apply (even to top tier schools) because Black American males are in such short supply in the engineering industry that, despite my grades there is a very high chance that i would be strongly considered for a spot.
To me this seems too good to be true, i would greatly appreciate advice on what to do next.</p>