Anonymous
02/02/2026 18:38
Subject: Re:Are campuses like Penn or Johns Hopkins actually unsafe and ugly? Or...
I first saw JHU when I took my Praxis exams there. I thought the campus was beautiful. I am from Baltimore and went to Loyola right up the road. The areas between the campuses is gorgeous. Think Cleveland Park meets Wesley Weights. Beautiful old homes, tree lined streets, Sherwood Gardens. JHU is nowhere near the rundown parts of the city.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 17:04
Subject: Are campuses like Penn or Johns Hopkins actually unsafe and ugly? Or...
I attended UPenn after growing up in a midwest city, and I absolutely loved it all... Philly, the environment, the architecture. Yes, it's gritty at times but it's also so real. It was an amazing experience for me. In fact, toured recently with my child and was struck again by how perfect a campus it is close to everything yet with a central Walk and Green. I think it started my love of all things urban / city culture.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 16:31
Subject: Are campuses like Penn or Johns Hopkins actually unsafe and ugly? Or...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:JHU isn’t ugly. Have you been to campus? It’s quite nice and the surrounding neighborhood isn’t bad. They’ll drive kids wherever they want to go in Baltimore. That said, Baltimore itself isn’t super safe.
I worked for JHU for 3 years, as well as pursuing graduate studies there (ultimately transferred elsewhere). I am from Baltimore originally.
- up to 2016, Baltimore was improving each year and attracting new residents as well as retaining folks. Then the Freddy Grey riots triggered a reversal of that trend.
- the city sued the 6 Baltimore police officers; the city lost. Then the officers and the police union sued Baltimore, and won.
- the rank and file police responded, by questioning why they should risk anything to serve a city government willing to sue officers? Policing decreased dramatically and crime skyrocketed.
- the city council exacerbated the situation by ordering draconian restraints on police. They made the murder/crime rate worse still.
- the situation deteriorated so badly the Governor had to intervene by sending Maryland state highway patrol police into Baltimore city, with orders to do basic law enforcement in the city.
The JHU main campus is Homewood, bordering Charles Village and Hampden. They have improved some, over the last 5 years. I consider them generally safe, if your child has basic “street smarts.”
The neighborhood surrounding the main JHU hospital is a war-zone. You’ll be warned not to cross the campus perimeter unescorted by armed campus police, and not to stop at red lights in that neighborhood (just slow, then go through).
YMMV.
You are a moron. My spouse works at Hopkins hospital. It is far from a war zone (one would think that would be obvious given that thousands of people work at the hospital and thosamds more are patients). Yes, it is in a worse part of town than undergrad, but he does not need an armed guard to walk the campus, day or night and people obey traffic lights.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 15:11
Subject: Are campuses like Penn or Johns Hopkins actually unsafe and ugly? Or...
Anonymous wrote:JHU isn’t ugly. Have you been to campus? It’s quite nice and the surrounding neighborhood isn’t bad. They’ll drive kids wherever they want to go in Baltimore. That said, Baltimore itself isn’t super safe.
I worked for JHU for 3 years, as well as pursuing graduate studies there (ultimately transferred elsewhere). I am from Baltimore originally.
- up to 2016, Baltimore was improving each year and attracting new residents as well as retaining folks. Then the Freddy Grey riots triggered a reversal of that trend.
- the city sued the 6 Baltimore police officers; the city lost. Then the officers and the police union sued Baltimore, and won.
- the rank and file police responded, by questioning why they should risk anything to serve a city government willing to sue officers? Policing decreased dramatically and crime skyrocketed.
- the city council exacerbated the situation by ordering draconian restraints on police. They made the murder/crime rate worse still.
- the situation deteriorated so badly the Governor had to intervene by sending Maryland state highway patrol police into Baltimore city, with orders to do basic law enforcement in the city.
The JHU main campus is Homewood, bordering Charles Village and Hampden. They have improved some, over the last 5 years. I consider them generally safe, if your child has basic “street smarts.”
The neighborhood surrounding the main JHU hospital is a war-zone. You’ll be warned not to cross the campus perimeter unescorted by armed campus police, and not to stop at red lights in that neighborhood (just slow, then go through).
YMMV.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 15:11
Subject: Re:Are campuses like Penn or Johns Hopkins actually unsafe and ugly? Or...
chillAnonymous wrote:Past two posts above sound like a 15 year old "gangster." Do not engage.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 14:53
Subject: Are campuses like Penn or Johns Hopkins actually unsafe and ugly? Or...
Anonymous wrote:Or do some people just think they are because they are not in idyllic settings? We're from a major city and our DD is used to seeing homeless, dirty scaffoldings, etc but she has never actually come close to a potential robbery or sexual assault. Do Penn and JHU just don't look that pretty? Or are they actually unsafe and ugly compared to an average "nice" college campus?
Who says Penn is ugly? The campus struck me as a quintessential college campus
Anonymous
02/02/2026 13:24
Subject: Re:Are campuses like Penn or Johns Hopkins actually unsafe and ugly? Or...
Past two posts above sound like a 15 year old "gangster." Do not engage.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 13:22
Subject: Are campuses like Penn or Johns Hopkins actually unsafe and ugly? Or...
idk about safety but i walked alone in the middle of campus once at 1 am and it was chill