@Lindagaf , yes, I remember the days as a UC Berkeley freshman laughing at that “University of Spoiled Children” put-down whenever we would play USC. (Guess it made us feel better about our clearly inferior athletic teams at the time–Go Bears!) But let’s face it, as @aquapt detailed, none of the highly rated/regarded schools @HKimPOSSIBLE is considering has a critical mass of low-income students, not even Grinnell which is best at 6.3% and certainly not USC at 4.9%. So the wealth gap will be noticeable at any of these finalist schools. (More on that later.)
As for whether HKim cares about the racial makeup, that’s up to him to decide. I simply offer my perspective as someone who, like him, grew up in the midwest with KA immigrant parents and attended a predominantly white HS. I definitely grew and benefit from going to school in Berkeley, CA, where the racial diversity was strong (before the devastation of Prop 209). I was able to take Asian American Studies from Ron Takaki, a world-class historian and best-seller, and Michael Omi, a leading sociological theorist on race, and Elaine Kim, who forged Asian American literary criticism and mentored Viet Nguyen (my classmate and now USC professor of English and Pulitzer Prize winner for his brilliant work of fiction, The Sympathizer.) Being able to walk into that Wheeler Hall Intro to Asian American Studies class my freshman year in an room full of 200 other Asians blew my mind! At the time, like HKim, I did not think race was central to my identity and I felt comfortably assimilated among whites. But the experience of learning with, among and from other people of color from all walks of life in college and graduate school transformed me in a very positive way–in ways I had no way of appreciating before leaving my hermetically-sealed, racially homogeneous prior existence.
Race still matters in higher education because racial inequality persists in a variety of forms, subtle and not-so-subtle. It still matters because race is not simply a matter of internal self-identification, but also one of external ascription by institutions and society at large. As Cornel West has noted, while race may be a “social construction,” it doesn’t make the difficulty of hailing a cab in NY any less “real.” In Lexington, as HKim disclosed, his Johnson scholar cohort was racially cognizable. It is exactly this hypervisible, fishbowl-like existence that SOC find it difficult to shake at PWI’s and cities that are 80+% white. Beyond the negative external ascription aspect of race, on the positive side, I truly believe that learning and complex problem solving benefit from diversity, as economist Scott Page’s work on “the diversity bonus” has demonstrated. See https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/scottepage/home/the-diversity-bonus/
In other words, socio-economic diversity is not only important as an atmospheric or liberal ideal, but as a methodological approach to solving our world’s most intractable problems.
In closing, maybe I undersold USC in my earlier post, as its student population is a clear strength. On the wealth disparity front, USC students know that there are many students who are very wealthy and lead very different lives. But for my D19 and S19, they have a wonderful time at school spending very little money. This is the part I wanted to ask HKim about: What are your hobbies and what do you like to do for fun? These questions are important to consider the social fit and prospects for forging your friend group at your selected college. Do you like dance/hip hop by chance? If so, there is a “Freshman Dance-off” at USC where people with no dance experience to a lot of it can get involved Fall of their first-year in the annual competition sponsored by the KASA, open to all students. It’s very welcoming, a great workout, where students forge close bonds. My D19 loves hip hop dance, and this was a key, free activity that formed her main social group. My S19 loves sports. The Lyons Center and other fitness centers that are free. You can play all kinds of refereed intramural team sports that cost only $25/semester or $40/year. Across from the freshman quad, you can attend basketball games for free (with many free t-shirt giveaways), and a range of PAC-12 games at no charge as a student. The only charge is for the football games ($200 for 6 games). There are lots of activities by one’s college and major that provide additional opportunities for socializing and professional development. There is not enough time to do all the campus has to offer, most of it free.
Whew. Sorry to go off on all that, but I wanted to provide a fuller context for my prior comments, esp. about my observations about racial dynamics at W & L/Lexington and why they may be relevant. Regardless, as long as you go in with your eyes open, HKim, I’m sure you will make a wise decision and you WILL SUCCEED WHEREVER YOU CHOOSE TO GO. Thanks for sharing such a fun ride on the “Reject Train” to Success!