<p>According to the rumors that Hopkins has almost no school spirit and little social life I am not sure if I fit in. Can anyone share his/her opinion about that? I know that Hopkins officially claims that these rumors are not true, but...</p>
<p>Do a search of old CC threads, or check out the Hopkins Forums (<a href="http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums%5B/url%5D">http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums</a>) ... this topic has been discussed over and over and over and over again.</p>
<p>Also, come visit - that will allow you to make your own conclusions.</p>
<p>I want to echo what Daniel said. Again, our admissions staff doesn't lie, I can vouch for that as I am NOT an employee of the University, just a regular student, and indeed the rumors are untrue. Hopkins won't ever make Playboy's Top 20 list but do you really want us to? This is a school full of smart, ambitious and serious people, but I assure you we have plenty of fun (it just is mostly on weekends). I'd say the typical student's weekend runs Thursday-Saturday and we go out to a variety of places (I'm in a fraternity so I spend a lot of time there) but all-in-all there is a level of maturity about the social life that largely keeps things from getting out of hand. It doesn't make you "uncool" to stay in or just have coffee with some friends, like it might have in High School. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Oh and I agree 100% with Daniel about coming to visit. Hopefully you will get someone you connect with and they will show you a good time. If you know someone here already, even better sometimes!</p>
<p>My freshman year was phenomenal. Everything I heard about the social life here turned out to be entirely the opposite from the truth. My social life found me, actually; this entire year I didn't have to move a finger in order to have a fun time with friends and meet new people.</p>
<p>Becoming engaged in a sport, pledging a fraternity, and participating in clubs (Hopkins Energy Action Team, Habitat for Humanity), all came naturally to me. I didn't have to seek any of those things out.</p>
<p>From what I've heard directly from Juniors and Seniors, it seems that social life within each class has gotten progressively better over the past few years. Whether that can be attributed to fraternities moving into nicer homes (fraternity parties are usually the largest source for weekend events), developments like Charles Commons and the Village Lofts (the university knocked down some crappy buildings in the neighbourhood and replaced them with a beautiful dormitory and a nice apartment complex with retail vendors like Chiptle and Cold Stone), things are definitely changing for the better.</p>
<p>I loved my freshman year, and know at least half of my freshman class (500 people) by acquaintance. Whatever rumor you hear no longer holds true, and is old news.</p>
<p>I agree with Jimp. My first year was quite the experience. No matter where you go, or what people say, your first year is however you make of it. Some people stay in all study all day and others go out and are the most social people I've seen. At least for myself, I think I found a good balance between academics, extracurriculars and a social life. </p>
<p>To put it simply, I work hard and play hard. Its what you make of it. The area surrounding the Hopkins campus is improving lately meaning that finding things to do will be much easier, although I always found something to do here. As far as spirit, you have to check out a la crosse game.</p>
<p>I'm a senior and I agree whole-heartedly that JHU has done a lot to improve campus life -- not to say that my life sucked as a Freshman.</p>
<p>I am also in a Fraternity, which is awesome. There is plenty to do other than attend fraternities too. There are bars and private parties all the time.</p>
<p>Outside of drinking, there's plenty to do on campus. Baltimore is also an interesting, quirky, and romantic city to explore from what I've heard. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to go to that many places, but most of the places that I've been advised to go to were excellent.</p>
<p>Of course, the best part is the people you meet. You're sure to find awesome people and new best friends at Hopkins, I don't know anyone who hasn't found a fit.</p>