<p>Tuition will be about the same.
I really like where Baltimore is located. (near DC, Pittsburgh, Manhattan)</p>
<p>but WashU offered me this really great medical fellowship over the summer to research at the med school as an undergrad.</p>
<p>I've heard people say that JHU is the WashU of the east, while WashU is JHU of the midwest.</p>
<p>I know WashU has this sort of work hard/play hard attitude and very nurturing and comfortable...but is Johns Hopkins the same way?</p>
<p>Do the professors have the same sort of...accessibility at JHU as they do at WashU?</p>
<p>I'll most likely major in Cognitive Science at JHU, Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology at WashU (essentially Cognitive Science).</p>
<p>P.S. If any current student at Johns Hopkins is willing to host me for an overnight stay April 8th (JHU is all out of volunteers, and I'd really like to experience that sort of...intimate look of a college)...could you please PM me? I'm a gal.</p>
<p>I think you've correctly identified the fact that students interested in medical careers are in great numbers and are well served at either of Wash U or Johns Hopkins. </p>
<p>I think you may need to work on your geography a bit. Baltimore is about 180 miles from NYC and about 3-3.5 hours from NYC depending on when you go into Manhattan and traffic (although only a bit over 2 hours via Amtrak). Pittsburgh is even farther (250+ miles and over 4 hour drive). DC, however, is probably less than an hour, again depending on what time of day you want to go and traffic. </p>
<p>As for the location of Wash U and Johns Hopkins, IMO, the campus beauty advantage would go to Wash U. Nice, prosperous, nearly suburban scene vs Johns Hopkins which is located in close proximity to downtown Baltimore and has a much more urban neighborhood and all that goes with that. Some folks like that, some folks don't.</p>
<p>Hawkette- I was listing off cities that were at least in that proximity to Baltimore. Because St. Louis is sort of its own island...the closest thing that comes to being a remotely interesting city is Chicago, which is a 5-6 hour drive from St. Louis.</p>
<p>True about St. Louis and I doubt you'll be heading out to the Windy City on many weekends or at least I hope not. Anyway, I don't know your familiarity with these schools and the distances/travel time and just didn't want you to decide on a college thinking it was close to NYC or Pittsburgh because it is not. </p>
<p>Out of curiosity, how important is the city in your decision and its proximity to other major cities? I am often surprised at how much weight students assign to such considerations when, in reality, the great majority of college students rarely go far from their own campus. I could see looking closely at St. Louis and Baltimore (and maybe the somewhat close DC), but how much do you really plan to travel once you're a college student?</p>
<p>Hawkette, that was another thing I was considering: how often I'd actually "go out" once in college. Because what I hear from current JHU students is that work can sometimes be quite overwhelming. And while WashUers also have a great amount of work to do, they find the time to enjoy the city (they also tell me that St. Louis is enough for the time available to spend outside of campus).</p>
<p>I guess it's not a huge difference when you look at it in a very unbiased mind, but since I'm actually from Chicago, I have a slight tendency to want to be around cities that are a little out of my region. To be able to be close to the east coast for 4 years is I guess a little bit appealing to me.</p>
<p>It's probably the connection between Baltimore and DC that intrigues me more than just Baltimore itself. Haha. It's kind of like...St. Louis and Baltimore are kind of similar (I might give the tip off to St. Louis though, as WashU is closer to a really nice suburban area), but when you tack on DC with just a $7-one hour-train ride away...I guess...why settle for one city, when you can have two?</p>
<p>I agree with you about DC. If the choice you were posing were between Wash U and Georgetown, I might be more emphatic about the benefits of the city. DC is great! </p>
<p>But I'll also disclose that I don't like Baltimore much. I find it too industrial in certain parts, too dirty in certain parts, and too unsafe in certain parts (including in areas not far from JHU). The Baltimore suburbs of places like Ruxton or Towson are nice (like NorthShore Chicago), but they're pretty far and disconnected from Hopkins. By contrast, Wash U has nearby areas like Clayton and Ladue while the bad areas of St. Louis are much further away from the campus.</p>
<p>Jalexis, My S (from S. CAL) is choosing between UC Berkeley, Wash U, and JHU. He has visited all three. He is leaning toward JHU for many of the same reasons you discuss. He wants a change in scenery (out of LA), a city atmosphere with lots to do close by, and a real campus feel. JHU offered all three. The tour and informational session was great, but it was his overnight visit that sealed the deal (i think)... He had a great time and saw firsthand that despite rumors to the contrary, JHU does have a very active social scene. (My S is pre-med, but still likes to party). For him to feel the same way about Wash U, he will need to return to the school again and look more closely at the surrounding area and social scene. He wasn't excited the first go around. I think that you are on the right track in requesting an overnight stay with a student. It will help you to decide what "feels" best. Both are excellent choices. Good luck.</p>
<p>I'd go with Wash U.
it is one of those 'new ivies' and it's academics are super.
St. Louis, on the other hand, has its fair share of problems, but I don't think you would really notice it if you went.</p>
<p>Either college is going to fulfill your academic needs with a superlative education and all kinds of opportunities for research. But you're from the Midwest and JHU gives you a chance to live in another region of the country and you really like what you've experienced there. Whether you have time for it or not, DC is only a train ride from Baltimore and at some point you'll be able to shoot up there and maybe visit some friends. It's a plus. I think that it's great that you like Washu a lot (S1 loves it there), but it's a bit too close to home and you're happy with JHU and Baltimore, so I think that's why you're leaning toward it and it will turn out to be the right decision for you. </p>
<p>At the same time, though, I just want to say that for my son, at the time that we did our pre-application visits, Hawkette's comments in post #2 were entirely on the money. </p>
<p>FYI: Under the trickle down theory of excellence for UG, the two universities are closely matched for medicine. JHU has the number 2 ranked medical school in the country. WashU is number 3. (USNWR 2009 edition on Graduate Schools.) </p>
<p>I have a solution for you. Why not go to JHU for undergrad and try to get to the medical school at WashU or vice versa? I know it is not easy, but set it as a goal. That way, you won't regret anything.</p>
Either college is going to fulfill your academic needs with a superlative education and all kinds of opportunities for research. But you're from the Midwest and JHU gives you a chance to live in another region of the country and you really like what you've experienced there. Whether you have time for it or not, DC is only a train ride from Baltimore and at some point you'll be able to shoot up there and maybe visit some friends. It's a plus. I think that it's great that you like Washu a lot (S1 loves it there), but it's a bit too close to home and you're happy with JHU and Baltimore, so I think that's why you're leaning toward it and it will turn out to be the right decision for you.</p>
<p>At the same time, though, I just want to say that for my son, at the time that we did our pre-application visits, Hawkette's comments in post #2 were entirely on the money.</p>
<p>FYI: Under the trickle down theory of excellence for UG, the two universities are closely matched for medicine. JHU has the number 2 ranked medical school in the country. WashU is number 3. (USNWR 2009 edition on Graduate Schools.)</p>
<p>not jhu. -unless you wan tto marry a dr.!- i visited it and was shocked at the lack of college enviroment around it. The restaurant my parents and i ate at that night had bars on the windows and looked as if it hadnt been cleaned in many, many years. There didn't seem many college hang-out places around at all- Frankly, I was terrified for my safety. To give you an idea, the head of campus security they just hired was previously head of the secret service!</p>
<p>also heard that b/c jhu is such a popular medical destination, even the upper-level classes are huge adn really impersonal, and that students have only talked to their prof outside the classroom maybe 4 max.</p>
<p>So if you haven't visited Baltimore, I really really urge you to if your seriously considering jhu. It may sound swinging and cool, but its really, really, really rundown and just plain ugly, with a really high crime rate</p>
<p>The area around JHU has been really spruced up (the schools bought up a whole lot of the area around the campus), and while much of good ol B'More is really run down, there are also some really great areas (and many that are pretty, too!). I've always been sad that I don't have access to a place like Fells Point as a college student, for instance, and the harbor area in general is great.</p>