Are students happy at JHU?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
21

<p>Widely quoted article that sums up the negative case on Hopkins.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.jhu.edu/%7Ejhumag/0603web/expect.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.jhu.edu/~jhumag/0603web/expect.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>And the report of a recent jhu study of undergraduate life</p>

<p><a href="http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/reports/cue/chapter5.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/reports/cue/chapter5.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The recommendations from the report. Anyone know how many were implemented?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/reports/cue/chapter6.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/reports/cue/chapter6.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Hopkins's 88% 6 year graduation rate is certainly respectable, but lower than all the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Chicago, Georgetown, Rice, Wash U...</p>

<p>The reputation may be exaggerated, but pardon one for wondering whether there might be some fire under all that smoke?</p>

22

<p>The articles are dated back almost four years, but I'm sure some of those problems still exist. </p>

<p>"lacking a sense of community" not really what I perceived when visiting and speaking with others. Is this still an issue?</p>

23

<p>Are you serious to detest that fact that Hopkins isn't mostly premed? By subject volume, yes, Hopkins is mostly premed.</p>

24

<p>The reports say that the fragmented campus and the unusual MTW schedules of many classes lead to a lack of community. Apparently most faculty and many students are only on campus a few days a week. So these students do not look on the campus as the center of their social lives, and spend most of their time elsewhere. </p>

<p>The reports suggested changing the class schedules to bind students and faculty to the campus most of the week, with the hopes that the campus would remain central to the students 7 days per week. Not much they can do about the fragmented campus itself.</p>

<p>Anyone know whether the class schedules changed?</p>

25

<p>I have heard that for the spring semester, they are switching to MWF.</p>

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<p>I'm a parent and visited JHU this past weekend. I took my son (writing sems) and 3 friends (Computer engineer, chem engineer, and another writing sems) out o a restaurant. Unless they are putting on a good front all seemed quite happy. JHU has been great for my son but as I have pointed out before, he's part of the "other" Hopkins <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=273875&highlight=hopkins%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=273875&highlight=hopkins&lt;/a>
For my son the campus is the center of his social activity (student run Witness Theater had no empty seats this weekend). His fiction professor stayed on for 20 minutes after class to continue their argument over the meaning of a Henry James story.
Again I'm sure there are unhappy students as well so applicants have decide on what school is the best fit for them and should visit and sit in on classes before they make their decision.</p>

27

<p>Unhappy students are those who can't manage their time and end up stressing out before exams.</p>

28

<p>^^Agreed. The unhappy students I know are the most frazzled, and are the ones who never do what they should be doing when they should be doing it.</p>

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<p>So "afan's" post got me thinking ...
The CUE Report (Commission on Undergraduate Education) report came out just as I began working at Hopkins. The report is more than 4 years old now and I've got to say a lot, A LOT, has changed. </p>

<p>The report highlighted a lot of issues that University needed to face, and as I took a look through the report again I was stunned to see how much has really changed in the last four years. Speak to any current senior or recent grad and they will probably echo the same. And then speak to anyone who hasn't been back to Hopkins in let's say five years and they will notice A TON OF CHANGES.</p>

<p>I think that is one the reasons that the Myths About Hopkins get to me so much ... because they are based on an old view of the school. So many people just believe things never change and never improve, and just continue to state the same old myths. Come visit and see the place for yourself!!!</p>

<p>Finally, just a cursory overview of the CUE Report Recommendations and you can see the changes:</p>

<p>Recommendation 1: DONE. Both Krieger and Whiting Schools have re-organized and created senior level positions that focus on solely on the undergraduate academic experience and coordination between the two schools. </p>

<p>Recommendation 2: DONE. I have the full list of DOUS (Director of Undergraduate Studies) on my desk.</p>

<p>Recommendation 3: ON-GOING: There have been many review teams created to look at all aspects of the academic structure -- from changing the MTW schedule, to adjusting Intersession policies, to looking at the covered-grade policy. This is happening on both the macro and micro levels at Hopkins, and our new Provost has dove right in.</p>

<p>Recommendation 5: PARTIALLY DONE. More Freshman seminars. But they can continue to do more.</p>

<p>Recommendation 6: DONE. More excellence in teaching recognition, and much more coordination and engagement of the faculty on the Homewood campus. </p>

<p>Recommendation 8: ?. Not sure if we are done here, but every year now everyone gets a copy of the Academic Integrity guide. </p>

<p>Recommendation 10: IN-PROGRESS. Brand new study abroad office created this semester, new staff hired, and definitive goals set to provide abroad access to undergraduates.</p>

<p>Recommendation 14: DONE. New technologies are being used by all advising offices, especially the Career Center. Their messages are definitely more accessible and out-there now. </p>

<p>Recommendation 16: DONE. Positions created and have become quite active.</p>

<p>Recommendation 17: DONE. The Career Center staff may have been the most active over the past four years in advancing their programs. </p>

<p>Recommendation 21: IN PROGRESS. Our diversity numbers and programs continue to improve each year ... not to mention the grand success of the Baltimore Scholars program. </p>

<p>Recommendation 27: IN PROGRESS. Major residential life changes. Charles Commons. Upperclass housing for the first time. All freshmen live together. Faculty in residence. </p>

<p>Recommendation 28: IN PROGRESS: Charles Commons!</p>

<p>Recommendation 29: Partially DONE: All freshmen living together. </p>

<p>Recommendation 33: DONE. All new dining services. New food vendor.</p>

<p>Recommendation 34: DONE. Just look at all the changes on St. Paul's street. From Charles Commons, to Chipotle, to the Lofts, to Cold Stone ... etc.</p>

<p>(The ones I skipped I didn't know the answer off-hand. I am researching this more and hope to have a longer blog post at a later date.)</p>

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<p>Very helpful post AD. Hats off to JHU for doing the study, making the report public, and acting on it. Sounds like people put off by the reputation should take another look.</p>

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<p>I'm actually not a student at Hopkins, but I do feel like I have a dog in this fight, being a student at Chicago, which was brought up on this thread.</p>

<p>(Full disclosure: Hopkins' writing seminars program, plus the whole "we're just here because we like to work" feel of the school appealed to me when I visited the school 3-4 years ago, before the changes).</p>

<p>It's important to point out that students who are unhappy at a school tend to be unhappy people. I know many an unhappy person at Harvard, Duke, Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale etc. though I must say that I do not think the school is causing their unhappiness. Rather, they are going through a difficult time in their lives and they are choosing not to get support, either psychologically, academically, or socially.</p>

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<p>Well stated "unalove". I would not though over-generalize that unhappy students at a specific school are unhappy because that is just their personality. There could be many other reasons too ... </p>

<p>... one of which is that the student made THE WRONG choice in what school to attend. Many "unhappy" students that I have met throughout my years at any number of universities including those you mention are not having a positive experience because the school they chose did not FIT what they wanted. </p>

<p>Personally, I did not choose the right university to attend and I was quite displeased during my four years, so much I even considered transferring. (No I didn't go to Hopkins.) Though at the time I blamed the school for my frustrations, in hindsight it is clear that I chose a school that did not match my personal academic style. Students really need to do a concrete self-analysis when searching for the right college, and not get hung up on reputations, myths, or tricky marketing. I should have taken more time back in the day to really think about what I wanted to get out of college, and match those characteristics to schools that better fit me.</p>