Recent Experience with Hopkins BME Undergrad

[Anonymous]

typo BME Design Lab

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:typo BME Design Lab

It sounds like there aren't enough BME Design Lab openings for everyone who wants one, so not everyone will be able to participate in this.

[Anonymous]

First and second year stem classes are curved to a B, B- or B+. You got top kids probably all 4.0 in HS. Half are going to get B or below and probably only 25% are going to get an A. Grading in upper more specialized classes will get easier. It’s just the “weed” out classes. Kids have to accept that some aren’t “special” “top” anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First and second year stem classes are curved to a B, B- or B+. You got top kids probably all 4.0 in HS. Half are going to get B or below and probably only 25% are going to get an A. Grading in upper more specialized classes will get easier. It’s just the “weed” out classes. Kids have to accept that some aren’t “special” “top” anymore.

How current is your information? Because PP says that GPAs are above a 3.8, which is inconsistent with curving to a B.

[Anonymous]

I have a current senior BME at JHU (who also has 3 premed roommates). Absolutely loves JHU! Tons of study groups within BME and sounds like the kids are very supportive of one another. Is having a blast in Baltimore (sometimes I feel like too much). Not sure of her GPA, but she was never really a kid who stressed much. No problem getting research after freshman year and then an internship the next summer. Already has a job for after graduation. If your kid is someone who enjoys working with others, they will find their people at JHU. Of course there will always be outliers like a PP friend who is studying 12/day, but that has not been my DDs experience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First and second year stem classes are curved to a B, B- or B+. You got top kids probably all 4.0 in HS. Half are going to get B or below and probably only 25% are going to get an A. Grading in upper more specialized classes will get easier. It’s just the “weed” out classes. Kids have to accept that some aren’t “special” “top” anymore.

How current is your information? Because PP says that GPAs are above a 3.8, which is inconsistent with curving to a B.

Could be a mom having a DC waitlisted at JHU. Ignore her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First and second year stem classes are curved to a B, B- or B+. You got top kids probably all 4.0 in HS. Half are going to get B or below and probably only 25% are going to get an A. Grading in upper more specialized classes will get easier. It’s just the “weed” out classes. Kids have to accept that some aren’t “special” “top” anymore.

How current is your information? Because PP says that GPAs are above a 3.8, which is inconsistent with curving to a B.

Who knows. Maybe it’s 3.8 for the whole school and 3.4 for specific programs. Why don’t you ask on JHU subreddit, the kids will tell you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:typo BME Design Lab

It sounds like there aren't enough BME Design Lab openings for everyone who wants one, so not everyone will be able to participate in this.

False. As part of the major, everyone has a design team lab course and team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First and second year stem classes are curved to a B, B- or B+. You got top kids probably all 4.0 in HS. Half are going to get B or below and probably only 25% are going to get an A. Grading in upper more specialized classes will get easier. It’s just the “weed” out classes. Kids have to accept that some aren’t “special” “top” anymore.

How current is your information? Because PP says that GPAs are above a 3.8, which is inconsistent with curving to a B.

Who knows. Maybe it’s 3.8 for the whole school and 3.4 for specific programs. Why don’t you ask on JHU subreddit, the kids will tell you

BME is very inflated now. A minimum of 3.7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First and second year stem classes are curved to a B, B- or B+. You got top kids probably all 4.0 in HS. Half are going to get B or below and probably only 25% are going to get an A. Grading in upper more specialized classes will get easier. It’s just the “weed” out classes. Kids have to accept that some aren’t “special” “top” anymore.

How current is your information? Because PP says that GPAs are above a 3.8, which is inconsistent with curving to a B.

Who knows. Maybe it’s 3.8 for the whole school and 3.4 for specific programs. Why don’t you ask on JHU subreddit, the kids will tell you

If you look at the link above, engineering fraternities have an average gpa of 3.82.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First and second year stem classes are curved to a B, B- or B+. You got top kids probably all 4.0 in HS. Half are going to get B or below and probably only 25% are going to get an A. Grading in upper more specialized classes will get easier. It’s just the “weed” out classes. Kids have to accept that some aren’t “special” “top” anymore.

How current is your information? Because PP says that GPAs are above a 3.8, which is inconsistent with curving to a B.

Could be a mom having a DC waitlisted at JHU. Ignore her.

I suspect this as well. Dumb way to sabotage.

[Anonymous]

https://www.reddit.com/r/jhu/s/dpjJrWIUy9

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard from a parent of JHU freshman that it’s brutal. I think they were BME, but switched majors already and still struggling. The average class gpa is 3.4 and the kid despite going to all office hours, using all available tutoring, studying 12/day still can barely get a B in the hardest classes. The grade deflation is real.

I'm sorry, but this is really unlikely. Perhaps you got wrong info from your friend, PP, but it's hard to believe a BME admit is going to struggle to that degree in a less demanding major, even a STEM major. And no, the grade deflation is not that bad at JHU these days.

There are some admits who struggle because they came to a selective college very unprepared, for whatever reason. However, the BME program is quite selective and they tend to screen applicants pretty well. I really doubt your friend's kid was a BME major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from a parent of JHU freshman that it’s brutal. I think they were BME, but switched majors already and still struggling. The average class gpa is 3.4 and the kid despite going to all office hours, using all available tutoring, studying 12/day still can barely get a B in the hardest classes. The grade deflation is real.

OP - this is what I feared. My DC is currently at the top of their class at a school where you can get regular As as long as you put in the effort. I think they are likely to get stressed out in this type of environment.

Only you and your student can evaluate this. How naturally interested are they in academics and do they actually enjoy their science and math courses? Enough so that they would read about science or math on their own outside of class, because they find that kind of extra engagement fun and rewarding? Has your DC found their school classes too easy and wished for more? How hard was the SAT for them? Did they have to get tutoring and grind repeatedly to get a competitive score, or did they self study a little bit and took it once and was done? The kids at Hopkins tend to be kind and collaborative, but the material is not supposed to be straightforward. Some students thrive on this type of challenge and in that case, they are happy and it is a great fit. Some just want easy As and so they can have decent stats for medical school/law school for less effort, and in that case Hopkins is probably not a great fit. But you could probably say the same about other universities that are strong in STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First and second year stem classes are curved to a B, B- or B+. You got top kids probably all 4.0 in HS. Half are going to get B or below and probably only 25% are going to get an A. Grading in upper more specialized classes will get easier. It’s just the “weed” out classes. Kids have to accept that some aren’t “special” “top” anymore.

How current is your information? Because PP says that GPAs are above a 3.8, which is inconsistent with curving to a B.

Could be a mom having a DC waitlisted at JHU. Ignore her.

I suspect this as well. Dumb way to sabotage.

+1

Hopkins waitlist doesn't move much. Spreading misinformation wouldn't really help her DC.