<p>well hi,
Im a highschool senior who's making his final choices between colleges.</p>
<p>I'll be straight and say that one thing that's keeping me from choosing Hopkins right away is the fact that according to what im hearing, it's near impossible to maintain a high gpa at Hopkins unless you are a genious or give up your life....
Plus I heard that the grade deflation doesn't help either.</p>
<p>I'm planning on majoring in bio (but NOT premed) so I'd imagine that it's even more cut throat than many of the other majors.</p>
<p>My other choice is University of Pittsburgh, where maintaining higher GPA should be relatively easier, and I need decent gpa because I am planning on going on to grad school.</p>
<p>obviously I don't planning on screwing around. I am willing to work very hard,
but if it is really THAT much cut throat vicious, I dunno if I really want that...
unlike in highschool, it's gonna be full of people who are just as smart or probably smarter than I, and someone has to fall victim to the grade curve...</p>
<p>any Hopkins undergrads out there want to tell me about your experiences?
I asked a friend of mine who's at hopkins, and he told me that while Freshman year isn't that terribly difficult, he cant say sure about the following years.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>If you are willing to work hard and you have good time management skills there is no reason why you wouldn’t be able to maintain a fairly high GPA. I am currently a Junior at Hopkins and I’ve found that after the initial adjustment period Hopkins is actually easier than my high school. (While I realize most students probably don’t think college is easier than high school, but that really is the case for me.) I credit everything to time management. You’ll only be in class for about 15-18 hours a week (even with labs) so that will give you plenty of time to study and do you work without having to give up your social life. I’m personally a Humanities and Social Sciences double major and I’m still able to balance a very active social life with lots of extracurriculars and still take advantage of Baltimore. I also personally have a number of Natural Sciences friends that are going to grad school or med school next year that maintain GPAs between 3.7s and 3.9s, do research, are in sororities/fraternities, and are involved in other activities. There are lots of students out there like that, they are just the students that have learned to relax and not put off their studying. Yeah, there might be some kids here that spend all their time studying that have higher GPAs than that, but most people are satisfied with like a 3.8, no matter what school you come from.</p>
<p>Baltimore88,</p>
<p>By saying the following GPA, you are talking about overall GPA ?</p>
<p>Quote:</p>
<p>“maintain GPAs between 3.7s and 3.9s …but most people are satisfied with like a 3.8”</p>
<p>I’ve always wondered… how do so many people have like 3.5 and higher gpa if grading according to the curve only allows so many A’s and B’s???</p>
<p>^ the curve really only applied to gigantic pre-med classes, and even then, it’s curved to around a B- or a B so that 50% and up can get either a B or an A. In other classes like Humanities, Social Sciences, and upper level sciences with fewer students, there is little to no curve, and you get the grade you work hard for :)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be worried about JHU and the workload - it’s no different there than anywhere else. GL!</p>
<p>really??? I heard that JHU gets it so much harder than many other colleges…</p>
<p>First, even though you are not pre-med, by majoring in bio, you will be taking all of the courses required for pre-med students also. Pre-med isn’t a “program”, neither is it a major, it’s simply taking a year of chem, physics, bio, math, orgo, which YOU will have to take as a bio major- so keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Yes, there are people who can hold 2 jobs, be in a frat/sorority, volunteer, and still maintain a 3.9, but there aren’t a lot of them. Many people at Hopkins are exceptionally brilliant, but there aren’t THAT many (like some people make it sound like). As far as “Hopkins’ workload being the same as everywhere else…” well, as a senior, I strongly disagree with this. I cannot imagine every single school in the nation having the same workload as Hopkins, if they did, then Hopkins won’t be as respected as it is. </p>
<p>BUT with all of that in mind, it is not impossible to maintain a decent GPA at Hopkins, it WILL require a significant amount of work (especially if you’re a natural sciences/engineering major) and much less significant party time as you would find at other colleges. Honestly, if you come into Hopkins being afraid of the workload, you may want to go with U Pitt. I’m not trying to discourage you, and Hopkins is a fine institution that I believe will make you a better person when you graduate, but it is a lot of work.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you from my own, and friends’ experiences, just don’t take 4 classes in a single department! Especially hard sciences. I am taking 4 math courses this semester (and an economics course) and I have a friend taking 4 computer science courses (and two others) and we both agree it was stupid. We’re hoping for high GPA’s (at least 3.8) but I’ll warn you: it’s nonstop programming in his case or proof-writing in my case and you’ll want to do something else. Similarly, don’t take 4 heavy humanities courses unless you really love reading and writing because the papers will kill you.</p>
<p>As long as you take a balanced schedule with courses that balance each other out, the work is much more manageable. No, not everyone will have a 3.5 GPA but as long as you put the work in and take a manageable schedule, you shouldn’t have trouble maintaining a 3.3 (which is above average here).</p>
<p>My son just completed his first year at JHU. He’s an engineer and is no where near a 4.0.
He truely loves HOPKINS and is learning much more than he ever had imagined. Grades are important, but not as important as truely learning the concepts. Hopkins technical
undergraduates are highly sought after in the workforce ( regardless of their GPA). If you
like to drink life “from a fire hose” then Hopkins is for you…GO HOP…IN PETRO WE TRUST!!!</p>
<p>“IN PETRO WE TRUST!!!”
Touche, BluejayDad, touche. Hopefully Gvoz will work his magic Sunday against UVa.</p>