<p>Hopkins stands out in fields as diverse as International Relations, English/Creative Writing, and Computer Science. You want to be asking whether, apart from its reputation in medicine, it’s a good fit for you compared to other excellent schools. You can get good pre-med preparation at scores of colleges and universities.</p>
<p>In the Maryland-Delaware-Virginia area, the 3 most prestigious private, national universities are Hopkins, Georgetown and The University of Pennsylvania. Of these 3, Hopkins is academically the strongest in science and engineering research. In fact, Hopkins spends more on research than any other school in the country (about $1.5 billion per year). It’s where, historically, the modern American research university began in the late 1800’s.</p>
<p>The JHU campus is beautiful. However, I think most college students would agree, Baltimore is not as desirable a college town as Washington DC or Philadelphia (or Boston, NYC, San Francisco, the Twin Cities, Chicago …). It’s oddly provincial as major cities go, with a high crime rate. And not very much to interest college students in Homewood and other immediately surrounding neighborhoods (though of course you have the whole JHU campus to entertain you.)</p>