Hey y’all, you might remember me from my previous posts, and I want to give you guys an insight on how my first year at Hopkins is going!
I’m currently taking 18 credits (7 courses), but I think I’ll have to drop one because of a new time conflict. My coolest class is probably Freshman Experience in Applied Mathematics, where I was paired with another freshman to work with an applied math professor. My hardest class is definitely Honors Linear Algebra – proofs really come back to bite you in the ass… but I’ve met a lot of cool people in that class and even have a study group
Class is hard, but as someone that’s not doing premed and is mainly focused on math stuff (physics/AMS/CS major), I’m not in any weed out classes and all of the professors I’ve met have been really cool - the Physics lab professor, Reid Mumford, is a really cool dude and gives the class a good vibe.
I’ve also joined an abundance of clubs… I’m in JHEC (entertainers club) where I’ve learned how to dance with fire (poi, staffs, hula hoops, etc) though I’m not very good yet… everyone there is really cool and it’s a great way for me to relieve stress. I’m also in ISH, the Indigenous students club, and that’s been cool - I’m really excited to learn more about my culture. I plan to run for SGA (student council) and auditioned for KPM (kpop dance group) so that’ll be fun, and I’ve also joined oSTEM (‘the gay science club’) and I think I vibe really well with the people there.
On the topic of friends: everything is going really well! I’ve met a lot of people and have barely noticed Hopkins’ cutthroat stereotype in action, everyone is really cool and willing to help if you need it. I have a friend group I made online when I got accepted to Hopkins, and I’m developing another friend group that is kinda centered around JHEC.
Also, even though my classes can be hard, Hopkins is good at offering support - TA office hours, professor office hours, PILOT (a program where a leader gives you problems related to what you’re learning in class & gives you a ton of extra help), and many other options I still haven’t looked into. I think the counseling office is also now doing online counseling sessions, so that’s exciting. There’s still some flaws in how they’re dealing with things, which is why I want to join SGA - I want to have my voice heard and help make Hopkins an even better place for students.
Good luck your first year and thanks for sharing! D21 will apply ED and is very interested in Physics but we will see how that plays out. She will attend the HOME Virtual program next month so I’m hoping she will get more insight from students who currently attend.
After visiting 10 colleges on the east coast with her high school and friends it was the ONLY one she immediately fell in love with. Moved to #1 on her list. I was concerned about the location based on what I’ve heard and read but she doesn’t seem to mind and since I’ve never visited nor will be the student I have to take her word.
The location was a big concern for my parents too, but I surprisingly feel really safe here. Hopkins has security guards stationed all around campus and at places off campus that students tend to go to (i.e our barnes and noble), so I try to always have at least one security officer in my line of sight when I’m walking alone. I still wouldn’t walk around alone at night, but I don’t think I would do that at any college campus no matter how safe they claim to be. It is kinda nerve-racking going to the parts of Baltimore further from Hopkins, but I always go with at least one other person and stay very alert in areas I don’t know well. Good luck to your daughter, our physics department is very small (about 20 new undergrads per year), so if she gets in she’ll be able to have a closer relationship with her professors than at bigger schools, and she’ll have a bunch of research opportunities - if she hasn’t looked into the research APL is doing, I would highly recommend reading about it! They do a lot of projects with NASA.
Hopkins is online for the fall, though a small cohort of freshmen are able to live in dorms due to circumstances at home that would’ve made online learning particularly difficult for them. I’m very lucky and was able to kinda dive straight into adulthood and move into an apartment in Baltimore, where I’m definitely still working on figuring things out.
