I live on the west coast and about the only time I hear about JHU is when it is in reference to medicine. In fact, people I know say, “they even offer engineering? I thought they were only medicine!”
So, for the more worldly population, how prestigious is John Hopkins University, outside of medicine? It is considered a “elite” school, and “average” school, or a “safety” school?
Thanks!
Its considered a elite top 20 school, just not top 3 like it is in medicine. A school with a 10% acceptance rate is a safety for no one.
(Current student)
Assuming you’re asking about “prestige” as opposed to actual quality, Hopkins doesn’t have as big of a brand on the west coast. However it’s very well known in the east and southeast. It’s similar to how schools like Tufts, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, and many other good schools in the east and south are generally unheard of on the west (at least in my experience).
HOWEVER basic “word on the street” prestige doesn’t matter very much - if at all. What matters is the school’s reputation with graduate schools, employers, med schools, etc. And I can garuntee you that any grad school, employer, and med school worth their salt will know about Hopkins. How these institutions see Hopkins depends on your program and what you’re applying for. (A BME employer may consider Hopkins elite whereas a CS employer may consider Hopkins above average and so on)
In terms of actual quality there’s no debating that Hopkins is an elite institution. It’s currently ranked tenth overall and 21st in engineering by US News and has top ranked programs in everything from Biomedical Engineering, neuroscience, and public health to history, international studies, and political science. It had a great research culture and undergrads have the opportunity to contribute to cutting edge research in just about every field (not just STEM).
All in all Hopkins is an elite institution with a healthy amount of prestige throughout the country (and the world).
The US news overall engineering undergraduate ranking for Hopkins seems to be 14th]…although apparently the ranking is based purely on peer assessment.
I used the graduate rankings
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings
Rankings are subjective enough that grad school rankings tend to be good enough indicators of the corresponding undergraduate program’s effectiveness. And they tend to be easier to find on us news.
I agree with the above posters. It is considered pretty prestigious in academia and especially in the Northeast. However, its reputation does not extend as much to the south or Midwest. In addition, if you leave the culture of highly-educated people, you’ll find that academic prestige doesn’t weigh nearly as much as regional recognition. For example, if you’re applying for a job in, say, Indiana, there’s a good chance they’d hire an IU grad over a Hopkins grad despite the former being less “prestigious” just because everyone went there went to IU, their parents went there, they have lots of good memories of the athletic events that they can talk about, etc.