DD accepted to both, leaning premed but not sure. Thoughts? She is thinking that she might have a better opportunity to shadow a doctor at JHU but I am not sure how she arrived at that idea. I’m concerned about the quality of education and student life. We love Columbia’s common core, which it seems to us has to result in a wonderfully broad education no matter what, and living in NYC is an education all by itself. Of course JHU is ranked highly, but I just haven’t been able to get a sense of its personality or what distinguishes it from any other top school. Would really appreciate any insights or opinions. Cross-posting this on the Hopkins site.
I worked in a lab with many people who did Hopkins’ undergrad or masters. They said it was a very stressful environment and was not situated in as nice of a city, which led to confinement to the bubble.
Premed at Columbia is taxing but not impossible. Our intro bio course is ostensibly the hardest in the nation, but it’s very well run and constructed. In my conversations with our premed advisors (who have sat in on med school adcom meetings), i was told that doctor shadowing is not that important for admissions committees, as it’s passive instead of active. Clinical volunteering is more important and there are many opportunities available to Columbia students, at NY Presbyterian, St. Lukes, and so forth. There are also many research opportunities available to CU students.
I would advise her to visit both and decide on atmosphere. I freely admit that Columbia is stressful, but I got a very unfavorable impression from the graduate students in the lab I worked in of JHU’s stress levels.
Thank you, ecouter11–that is very helpful.
My cousin went to Columbia for undergrad, now she’s at Hopkins Medical school. She hates the city. I am an undergrad biophysics major. I also abhor the city. If I had a brain, I would have applied to a few more schools like Columbia or MIT. Coming to Hopkins was a bad choice.
Shhsvri is bitter because didn’t actually get into Hopkins.