Is Johns Hopkins a place for non pre-med students

[Anonymous]

My son is probably a social science kid (but likes math); hadn't thought about Hopkins much but just occurred to us we should visit. Anyone have impressions of it for non pre-med STEM kids.

[Anonymous]

It’s great but suffers from three things:

Terrible social scene

Not very appealing student body on an attraction basis

Terrible career services if you want to exit to mbb/gs/ms type jobs straight out of ug.

Jhu is one of the very few schools I’d pay sticker for as I do believe in the academic strength and mission but there are some Significant downsides to peer schools.

Jhu social science programs are great and has strong math dept.

[Anonymous]

It was known to my seniors as a place where “fun goes to die”. We toured it and did not care for it. Not a nice area although the campus is fairly separate, it just lacked that positive college energy for me. Students did in fact look miserable.

[Anonymous]

Econ and math faculty are both amazing. Can’t vouch for the student experience.

[Anonymous]

My social science kid is considering it for ED.

[Anonymous]

Econ? John Hopkins is fine, but it's not "amazing" -- it's a fairly middling department. It's a little bit better in math, but I wouldn't place it in the top math departments in the country.

For premed, JHU is top-notch and up there. For most other subjects, it's not where I'd send my kid.

[Anonymous]

The campus is not in good part of town at all. School would have to be top choice in field for me to consider. Although we will never face this decision with our DC. She is not STEM material at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was known to my seniors as a place where “fun goes to die”. We toured it and did not care for it. Not a nice area although the campus is fairly separate, it just lacked that positive college energy for me. Students did in fact look miserable.

I know a first year there and this seems accurate.

[Anonymous]

Sure. It’s a really good school with lots to offer non-science students.

[Anonymous]

I’m JHU class of 93. I was a social science (international relations) major. Nobody goes to Hopkins for the party scene, but like colleges everywhere there are parties to be found at least Thursday through the weekend. The premeds and the engineering students have a hard-core grind for four years from what I saw. Social science and humanities have much more varied college experiences. It’s an outstanding Poli sci/IR program, the writing seminars program has a pretty outstanding reputation too. Disagree with statements above that it’s in a bad part of town. Baltimore has plenty of tough neighborhoods but campus for undergrads is not one of them. Charles Village where most all students live is great and reasonably lively. And I developed a real fondness for Baltimore in my four years there. It’s definitely not a school for everyone, but I am a somewhat artsy liberal type and enjoyed my time there, had plenty of interesting friends, went to plenty of parties etc. And I do believe that the student life is much more thoughtfully handled now by the school than it was when I was there so certainly worth a look.

[Anonymous]

Really great for social sciences such as sociology, anthropology, etc. Amazing world-renowned faculty and smaller class sizes make it a great place to learn. Great placement in grad programs for sociology. Check out the Poverty and Inequality Research Lab with Dr. DeLuca. The campus itself is plenty safe.

[Anonymous]

JHU is quietly ~15th in cs/engineering and many of their grads become top performers at work. Their social life and self-esteem may suffer forever-becoming pornoholics, even molestors, binge eaters, loners, dateless, etc. Not saying causation, but correlation at least to some degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The campus is not in good part of town at all. School would have to be top choice in field for me to consider. Although we will never face this decision with our DC. She is not STEM material at all.

People who say this have never been to the undergraduate campus. Charles Village is perfectly fine and nearby Hampden is a lot of fun for shopping and restaurants. Remington is a newer hot spot. All of these are walking distance from campus. South of campus is Old Goucher which is seeing a resurgence of businesses and restaurants. We see tons of JHU students at the farmers market at Waverly on Saturday mornings. The Baltimore Museum of Art is practically on campus. It might not be the school for OP's kids but it isn't because the school is in a bad area.

[Anonymous]

JHU doesn't have a pipeline to finance consulting careers like the other top 25s. But if you child wants research, it's the best school for that.

[Anonymous]

Not everyone wants to work on Wall Street or finance.

The pre-occupation to work in money that doesn't actually produce anything or solve problems in our world never ceases to amaze me.