Campus visit JHU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google John’s Hopkins safe and start reading

North campus is relatively safe. It's not actually in the bad part of Baltimore like the med campus. But you absolutely can never assume you are safe and stay away from young kids (10+) in the fall doing gang initiations. I'd give the same advice to anyone on a city campus - NYC, Chicago, Boston, DC, etc.

I'm the person above who lives near Hopkins and this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard..

Agree Hopkins alum and current Roland Park resident. The area around Homewood campus is safer than most urban campuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a recent grad. They loved their Hopkins experience and thrived but it absolutely is intense and your kid needs to be self-motivated and self-advocating from day 1. Safety was a non-issue on the campus, otherwise it was like any big city. Go HOP!

Intense in what way? Is it because it's fast paced that the classes cover 1 year worth of material in three months? Or is it intense due to culture, for example, kids spending a lot of time studying in library? Or both?

PP poser with recent grad. Intense as in there is no hand holding and you need to be 100% on top fo things. Classes seemed to move fast and it was on the student to catch up. My kid was a recruited athlete so that added to the intensity, but they managed to play 4 years plus graduate from the 3+1 program with a Masters. So a lot of the intensity was self-imposed, but honestly it's what my kid wanted.

Thanks! Being a recruited athlete certainly adds a lot of stress. Perhaps this is an individual case not to be generalized?

Agree, but I stand by the intensity regarding no hand holding and it's on your student to navigate. Advising is practically non-existent as is anything remotely student services support. My kid is a unique individual, their sibling phoned it in a small state school....which was perfect for them. Know your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a recent grad. They loved their Hopkins experience and thrived but it absolutely is intense and your kid needs to be self-motivated and self-advocating from day 1. Safety was a non-issue on the campus, otherwise it was like any big city. Go HOP!

Intense in what way? Is it because it's fast paced that the classes cover 1 year worth of material in three months? Or is it intense due to culture, for example, kids spending a lot of time studying in library? Or both?

PP poser with recent grad. Intense as in there is no hand holding and you need to be 100% on top fo things. Classes seemed to move fast and it was on the student to catch up. My kid was a recruited athlete so that added to the intensity, but they managed to play 4 years plus graduate from the 3+1 program with a Masters. So a lot of the intensity was self-imposed, but honestly it's what my kid wanted.

Thanks! Being a recruited athlete certainly adds a lot of stress. Perhaps this is an individual case not to be generalized?

I went there for grad school and the undergrads certainly seemed intense compared to my undergrad. I think the high percentage of pre-meds is part of it. The demographics might play a role too. At the time it seemed to have a higher percentage of international students than my undergrad school. I don't know if that's still true.

[Anonymous]

We visited and seriously considered hopkins. Kid wanted medium size school, in/near a city, with a campus. School also had great academic fit (kid wanted IR). School is well funded and built a new student center. School offered ed1 and ed2 and is accessible via amtrak. BUT... the social scene is apparently very limited. We did a lot of digging on this topic. A small core group and athletes go out but most others do not. Also, the campus is lovely and feels very safe, but the surrounding area is super sketchy. We live in a city so we are used to crime, homeless, etc but there isn't much beyond campus (limited food, coffee shops, etc), and venturing a few blocks off campus, the area looks pretty bad. I personally liked hopkins and think its great for the right kid. My kid doesnt mind intense academics, but wanted a more social school. Ended up at penn and is happy. Philly also has issues but there is so much more to do there vs Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

My DC has had a good experience with their advisor especially when adding a minor. Professors seem approachable and offer office hours for extra help. There are also free tutors available for extra help. I guess it's not necessarily hand holding, but there are tons of resources and people who are there to help DC succeed

[Anonymous]

We went for the info session and tour. DC is interested in humanities and every tour guide was stem so it was hard to get a sense of non stem amd non premed life. So much talk about stem research etc but no chatter about humanities and social sciences even though info session person said a third of kids pursue those areas. Guides talked about free tutors, free laundry and a new student center. Didnt have much to say about the on and off campus social life. Our guide told us they study a lot and liked to crochet. Student guides were nice but nerdy and reinforced the hopkins stereotype. My DC couldn't really see themselves there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s an intense environment that I wouldn’t want my kid to be in but if your kid thrives in that kind of environment…

That intense environment is pervasive — nary a classroom is empty when class is not in session. Just room after room of grinders, grinding. DC took it off the list.

This comes up very often as a negative for certain elite schools. I'm not sure what the arguments is unless it's for an easy A. I want my scientists, doctors, and engineers to have actually worked hard in a competitive environment and risen to the top.

Agree. Nothing wrong with hard work and hours of studying per week. I went to an ivy and was like that back in 96-2000. Spouse JHU. Same.

Yes, if you went to an Ivy, it is true that your kid has a much better admit chance applying ED1 or ED2 at Hopkins. It and its ED1, ED2 partner, Chicago, should not be in the top 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went for the info session and tour. DC is interested in humanities and every tour guide was stem so it was hard to get a sense of non stem amd non premed life. So much talk about stem research etc but no chatter about humanities and social sciences even though info session person said a third of kids pursue those areas. Guides talked about free tutors, free laundry and a new student center. Didnt have much to say about the on and off campus social life. Our guide told us they study a lot and liked to crochet. Student guides were nice but nerdy and reinforced the hopkins stereotype. My DC couldn't really see themselves there.

Unfortunately, the social and active kids tend to not be tour guides. The best way to get a good feel for the school is to contact a current student and spend the day with them

[Anonymous]

Some poster said the average gpa at jhu is 3.8. Could anyone post a link to this information?

[Anonymous]

Family member has significant experience with Baltimore. Says fearful in Baltimore; feels safer in Philly & in DC.

JHU is a great school with respect to academics (undergraduate & graduate).

[Anonymous]

Hopkins alum here -- as a school it's an awesome education.

It is massively let down by:

1. location. if Hopkins was in a bucolic new England setting, or west coast, or outdoorsy beautiful place, or top 6 city it would be much more lusted after...instead it is where it is...

2. culture and physical attractiveness of the student body.

it's stressful, it's tough, and it's not fun. and no this isn't a racial thing, compare the asian kids that go to ucla or stanford to jhu or any other strong west coast school vs jhu...there are no abg's for example at jhu.

3. career services/exit options -- jhu is not in hypsm nor the penn/duke/chicago/nw tier from what i've seen in my peer group.

in government for example, jhu graduates a lot of people who end up becoming great staff but rarely the principal.

for how top tier the education is, jhu is not as common as other t20's in the best banking/law/consulting shops.

So outside of medicine/health care, even though JHU has excellent educational programs, the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a recent grad. They loved their Hopkins experience and thrived but it absolutely is intense and your kid needs to be self-motivated and self-advocating from day 1. Safety was a non-issue on the campus, otherwise it was like any big city. Go HOP!

Intense in what way? Is it because it's fast paced that the classes cover 1 year worth of material in three months? Or is it intense due to culture, for example, kids spending a lot of time studying in library? Or both?

All of the above and grading is tough.

JHU has hard grading but doesn't have the benefit of receiving the Princeton brand for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s an intense environment that I wouldn’t want my kid to be in but if your kid thrives in that kind of environment…

That intense environment is pervasive — nary a classroom is empty when class is not in session. Just room after room of grinders, grinding. DC took it off the list.

This comes up very often as a negative for certain elite schools. I'm not sure what the arguments is unless it's for an easy A. I want my scientists, doctors, and engineers to have actually worked hard in a competitive environment and risen to the top.

unfortunately society doesn't reward that.

jhu is a school that should be Switzerland, Germany, or asia.

it doesn't fit in with the culture of America and what gets rewarded in America, so it's easy to get disillusioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
2. culture and physical attractiveness of the student body.

it's stressful, it's tough, and it's not fun. and no this isn't a racial thing, compare the asian kids that go to ucla or stanford to jhu or any other strong west coast school vs jhu...there are no abg's for example at jhu.

Appalling. Any serious school doesn't have many abgs. MIT? Princeton? Penn? Wellesley? Cornell?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
So outside of medicine/health care, even though JHU has excellent educational programs, the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

What about these people?: https://www.jhu.edu/about/notable-alumni/