<p>overally, is JHU more prestigious than WashU?</p>
<p>Haha, are you sure you came to the right forum to ask that? I wouldn't be surprised if there was bias in subsequent responses.</p>
<p>Oh, and in my opinion, the answer is YES; by a long shot.</p>
<p>Are you still trying to decide where to go? I thought the deadline to send in decisions was May 1st? Since you've asked this question on a bunch of forums, I just wanted to comment on what someone else posted:</p>
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<p>WashU has a fabulous, high ranked political science department and a strong economics dept. WashU has just hired some top name economics professors with the goal of becoming a top 10 econ. dept. WashU also has the Olin business school where you can cross major or transfer into if you find a passion in the business side of economics.</p>
<p>JHU, on the other hand, has a top International Relations department if that is an area of interest for you.</p>
<p>The two schools are both known for their top notch medical schools and pre-med programs. However, I believe that JHU's reputation and "prestige" is more linked to it's medical school than is WashU's reputation. When most people think of JHU, they think of medicine. (The non-pre med kids at JHU have a facebook group named "Yes, I go to JHU and NO I AM NOT PRE-MED!) WashU on the other hand with its law school, business school, school of architecture...etc has a broader reputation.</p>
<p>The two schools also have very different "vibes". Many find JHU to have a fairly intense, competitve atmosphere. WashU has a more cooperative, non-cut throat environment and a friendly mid-western attitude.
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<p>I agree with almost everything nervous1 said. A couple of points: [ul]
[<em>]First, prestige shouldn't matter when you're picking a college - finding a fit and choosing a place where you feel comfortable is far more important. WashU is a good fit for some people while Hopkins works better for others. When you're picking between two schools like these, I seriously doubt that any employer/grad school is going to not consider you because your school wasn't "prestigious enough"
[</em>]Both schools have very strong reputations in the medical area, but also have strong programs outside of medicine. Even though Hopkins reptation tends to be in the sciences, we have a lot of other really strong undergrad programs as well - Writing Seminars (2nd ranked creative writing program), French (one of the top 4), History, etc. If you're looking at International Relations, Hopkins' program is considered one of the best in the country. On the other hand, if you want to do a business major, as of now, one doesn't exist at Hopkins, and WashU is probably a better choice. (I'm sure WashU has other great programs - I'm just not familiar with them, so I can't really comment)
[li]Finally, I agree that WashU and Hopkins have different atmospheres, but not necessarily in the way that nervous1 said. There are tons of rumors and myths that Hopkins is this horrible cut-throat place where people will destroy textbooks and sabotage your work to make you fail. I had heard these when I applied (and was kinda apprehensive about attending), but my campus visit completely changed my opinion. I seriously doubt many (if any) current students would describe Hopkins as cutthroat. Perhaps it was 30 years ago, perhaps that's what our reputation is (stemming for some book published in the 80s), but in reality, I think most people here realize that you can't do well in school without working with other people, whether its doing homework, studying for tests or just reviewing material. Sure there's competition - you're going to find some at any top school - but I would characterize it was friendly competition. Everyone works together to do well on exams - it's not like I want to see you fail so that I can get a good grade. I think the same holds at any top college[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>One last piece of advice that I got when choosing between colleges and that I continue to give to anyone who asks me to compare two top colleges: Both of your choices are great schools - just go visit and see where you feel more comfortable.Academics and financial issues aside, you're also going to be living on or near campus for the next four years, so where do you feel like you'd want to spend the next 4 years of your life?</p>
<p>Wash U has a negative reputation amongst highly selective schools primarily because they have 'acheived' their 'status' based on gaming the system and not because of the quality of the education they offer. WashU is not a bad school, but overall it's similar to a top public or mid-tier private school and no more.</p>
<p>On the other hand, top schools that have earned their place in academic include schools like Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>Yes. In terms of prestige especially in the sciences, JHU has enormous prestige. Everybody respectable person who cares about scientific research or knows things about the medical field, easily knows about JHU.</p>
<p>Oh great, another one of those "College X vs. College Y" threads...</p>
<p>One also has to consider size. I think WUSTL has around 6,000 undergrads while Hopkins is about 4,800.</p>