Why does JHU have so low name recognition / lay prestige?

[Anonymous]

As a JHU alum it's frustrating when lesser schools get more recognition from the general public. DD is applying to schools buy it seems her friends think schools like Michigan and USC are "better" even though JHU is infinitely harder to get into and has a much higher quality applicant pool.

[Anonymous]

Because it's in a crappy area. I think it's a great school, but JHU and Baltimore need to work on cleaning that mess up.

[Anonymous]

Are you worried about what teenagers think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's in a crappy area. I think it's a great school, but JHU and Baltimore need to work on cleaning that mess up.

Yale is in a crappy area. No one thinks Yale is crappy based on New Haven.

[Anonymous]

Because the undergrad experience and atmosphere at JHU sucks.

—PhD from JHU who heard a lot from talked the undergraduates I TA’d.

[Anonymous]

I think JHU has a great brand among intellectual people. What it’s missing is sports. Lacrosse doesn’t have the same wide recognition as football or basketball.

[Anonymous]

^ Who heard a lot from and talked with…

[Anonymous]

People want different things out of college, OP. You just have to do what works for your family. See a previous thread on name recognition of SLACs (there is none).

[Anonymous]

JHU is known as a med school and a grad school in general. It's not frequently even mentioned for undergrad.

[Anonymous]

It’s #9 nationally. Who cares if the rabble don’t know that? Anyone important will know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because the undergrad experience and atmosphere at JHU sucks.

—PhD from JHU who heard a lot from talked the undergraduates I TA’d.

+1 I taught at Hopkins and at UofC. Both are schools where students work hard. My U of C students seemed so much more curious and interested in the material. JHU seemed like such a pre-professional grind.

[Anonymous]

I was at hopkins for medical training. some of my fellow trainees were from hopkins, and the rest were (mostly) from other top tier universities.

I suspect the reason hopkins undergrad doesn’t have the best reputation is because it sounds like a toxic, intense, competitive slog, with no opportunities for fun. I’m sure that this is not true across the board, but that was the “word on the street.” I worked really hard during undergrad, but those hopkins kids took it to a whole new level.

I actually really loved Baltimore, but wouldn’t advise my kids to apply there because if they went then they’d probably have a nervous breakdown (purely hypothetical, as my kids are not smart enough to bother applying to hopkins!

[Anonymous]

I sometimes watch those YouTube videos where high school kids talk about colleges, and I disagree strongly with a lot of things they say. if an adult doesn't understand that Johns Hopkins is a top-notch university, they're just ignorant about higher education. Let the kids in her high school think poorly of it, they won't apply and that will only help her chances!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you worried about what teenagers think?

Seriously. Kids get ideas about college quality from the Gilmore girls.

[Anonymous]

Lack of marketing.
They should bring people from Tulane.