<p>Just wanted to post to say that we recently visited JHU with our daughter (a junior) and we had a great time. She's a great student/serious dancer and is strongly leaning towards International Studies. Her "short list" had been Columbia, Georgetown and U of Chicago. We were going to be in Baltimore over spring break so I suggested a look at JHU and she <em>loved</em> it -- was very impressed by the academics, thought the Woodrow Wilson scholarship was a fantastic idea and just had a great day from top to bottom. I'm a scientist and have many colleagues at the medical school but had heard great things about the undergraduate program and played my hunch -- very glad that I did.</p>
<p>So thanks to the current students who took the time to answer her many questions and the adcom staff that did such a great job with presenting the university!</p>
<p>Since the visit was sort of on-the-fly we didn't get a chance to fully explore the dance options and the tour guide didn't have any personal experience. </p>
<p>My girl is a classically trained (heavily Balanchine) ballet dancer and continuing her training is very important to her. This is actually becoming an issue in her college choices, she is more than willing to go outside the college for her dance classes but this concern does weight her list towards Columbia or U of Chicago.</p>
<p>We'll keep digging for Baltimore/JHU possibilities -- she took an instant liking to the place.</p>
<p>Its great to hear that your daughter is considering both U of Chicago and Hopkins. I loved Hopkins during my visit: the extraordinary research opportunities, the Georgian campus, the staff's professionalism etc. </p>
<p>I originally considered Columbia and Georgetown but took them off my list. Columbia seems exciting both in itself and with New York City, however with 23,000 students it seems easy to get lost as an undergraduate. New York City can be exorbitantly expensive. Georgetown has a fantastic School of Foreign Service but it left me cold with its impersonal institutionalism. Also the SFS leaves little flexibility unlike Hopkins.</p>
<p>You didn't mention Georgetown in your second posting so I'm not sure whether or not your daughter is still considering it.</p>
<p>Were you able to visit Chicago for either its information session or open house days? I live in Amsterdam and have not been able to visit the school. I would really like to bounce some ideas around about Chicago vs. Hopkins so please let me know if you have some perspective.</p>
<p>Aron20 -- first and most importantly, congratulations on your success with the admissions process, you have some great choices. From my perspective (having graduated from Berkeley 20+ years ago) I don't think you will make a "wrong" choice going with either UChicago or JHU.</p>
<p>My daughter is still considering Georgetown (and is also a little concerned about "flexibility" at SFS) -- but my current guess is that her top 3 ranking list will turn out to be some mix of Columbia - Chicago - JHU. We live outside NYC, she adores Manhattan and continuing her dance will be a no-brainer at Columbia (plus her dad went there and loved it) so it is a fair bet for her.</p>
<p>JHU vs Chicago is a very interesting comparison. Putting dance aside, I am quite sure that my daughter is leaning towards U of C (will be applying EA). The attractions for her are the Core curriculum, the urban locale and the student body. I think it is hard to recommend U of C to anyone unless they are very invested in the Core -- it does lend a certain "feel" to the education there. One of her main frustrations with high school at present is that she does not feel that many of her classmates have a true intellectual drive -- the somewhat eclectic, intellectual student body at U of C was a huge positive for her. This is in no way meant to suggest that the student body at JHU is not intellectual (we were there for a day, let's be serious) -- but the students at U of C are rather self-selected and unique. And frankly, I can imagine that this can be a negative as well as a positive. All that I know is that my daughter felt an immediate kinship with the students and adored the give-and-take in the classes she sampled. Finally, she likes the urban campus feel -- Chicago is a great place, but the campus is outside the downtown, so she doesn't have to deal with the city if she doesn't want to.</p>
<p>Having visited both, there are some real similarities -- especially the "small" undergraduate school in the midst of a great research university feel. Truly the best of both worlds, I think. And your education will be stellar at either, period. I would be equally happy with either if my daughter was deciding between the two -- but then again, I just want her to get a great education and have a great time doing it, just like I did.</p>
<p>I'm not artisticly minded and this may not make any sense but have you guys looked into peabody? I don't know if you can study dance there but maybe it's possible. It's a Hopkins school. Again forgive me if I'm wrong but I'm an ignoramous when it comes to the performing arts.</p>
<p>jct_ucb: not to hijack JHU thread. My daughter is a also a serious ballet dancer. She prefers larger schools in an urban setting. She most likely will be going to Tufts. She fell in love it when she visited it. It has a good dance program, and one of the best IR program. On the facebook, she has already met 10 admitted dancers. Boston is also close enought that she'll be able to take some ballet classes at some local studios. My daughter is not going to be a professional dancer, but it has played a major part in her college selection. Dance is like breathing to her. You may want to look into Tufts too.</p>
<p>Yes, I don't mean to hijack this either, but I'm a ballet dancer and IR major at Tufts myself. Any questions, let me know.</p>
<p>As a sidenote, I do believe the top IR programs at the undergrad level are Tufts, Gtown and JHU. Your daughter can really not go wrong with any of those schools.</p>
<p>I was admitted to all three four years ago. For me, the lack of flexibility at Gtown's SFS school was also an issue. It was the first one to be striked off the list for that reason.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. We are still a couple of years away from the process, but it's heartening to hear that my D is not the only one out there looking for schools where she can dance, but not as a major.</p>
<p>scorp --</p>
<p>The Peabody Conservatory has no dance; the Peabody Prep has a dance division. I don't believe the Prep can offer classes for credit.</p>
<p>Just wanted to thank folks for the advice re: dance opportunities. </p>
<p>My daughter has definitely added Tufts to the list, as it turns out, one of the girls who she used to dance with at her current studio is at Tufts and quite happy.</p>
<p>Still having difficulty figuring out how to keep up her ballet at JHU (unfortunate since she <strong>really</strong> liked it there), but we will keep digging.</p>