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It's about the worst area you can go in the United States
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it is an excellent school in a pretty bad area
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My son goes to JHU and does not find the area troubling at all.
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People often have very different opinions on the quality of the neighborhoods surrounding JHU. There may be two reasons for this.</p>
<p>First, JHU has multiple campuses in Baltimore. The medical campus in East Baltimore (with the schools of medicine, nursing, and public health) is generally considered to be in a bad neighborhood. However, this is not a factor for most undergraduates. Undergraduates attend the schools of Arts & Science and Engineering at the Homewood campus in central Baltimore, which is much nicer.</p>
<p>Second, Baltimore tends to have sharply-divided neighborhoods. There are several very different neighborhoods near the Homewood campus, and your impressions will depend on which one you visit. I have not been there in several years, so this could be out of date, but the general pattern relative to the Homewood campus used to be:</p>
<p>North: Roland Park, wealthy
East: Charles Village, students and middle class
West: Hampden, working class
South: Remington, poor</p>
<p>The JHU Homewood campus is obviously located in an urban environment, but it's not realistic to compare it with, say, the Yale or UChicago campuses.</p>
<p>It's about the worst area you can go in the United States, except maybe some poverty-stricken Indian Reservations in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>Ignore the troll; see for yourself.
Or check out </p>
<p><a href="http://www.guilfordnews.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.guilfordnews.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.tuscanycanterbury.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.tuscanycanterbury.org/</a>
<a href="http://www.wymanparkcommunity.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.wymanparkcommunity.org/</a></p>
<p>These are all neighborhoods that border the Homewood campus. </p>
<p>The bottom line: some of the nearby neighborhoods are very nice; others are acceptable; some you should avoid.</p>
<p>Bottom Line: It's every terrible thing you could imagine in New York City or Los Angeles, without a strong police department like the NYPD or LAPD to help enforce laws. Sure other schools are in bad areas as well, but Hopkins kids getting the ***** kicked out of them in the neighborhood, especially granted grad students I have known(med school) said they knew a few fellow students who got the crap kicked out of them, and they weren't just wandering around late at night by themselves either. Don't believe that "working class" bull - I'm not saying avoid Hopkins, I would say for you to go there, but just be aware of it.</p>
<p>Back to the discussion, going to an undergrad highly known film school is the best bet. The training and contacts to the industry are phenomenal. The second best way to get in is go to a top undergrad school, Ivies and other top school alums in the film industry really look out for each other. They have a big presence too - the OC is produced by a Brown alum, Grey's anatomy by a Dartmouth alumnus, and Ivy grads are all over the top agencies for example. Being valedictorian at Scranton will provide none of the above benefits. I'd honestly rather have a 2.0 at Brown than a 4.0 at Scranton if i wanted to go into film. I do have friends in film who went to lesser schools, and there is no doubt that they have struggled more than the ones with stronger networks.</p>
<p>TheMK99 is talking about the JHU Med School campus ("grad students I have known(med school)") so take Corbett's statement above into account ("The medical campus in East Baltimore (with the schools of medicine, nursing, and public health) is generally considered to be in a bad neighborhood.").</p>
<p>The JHU Homewood undergrad campus, where the OP would be located, is not "in a bad area", as Corbett points out.</p>