<p>Thanks to Andrew for providing such excellent information about Johns Hopkins and also to help dispell so many of those old myths. I do want to add / update a bit of the information provided on this thread:</p>
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<li><p>First, it is great to get information from current students about JHU but do always remember it is just one person's opinion. My suggestion is to try to get as many opinions as possible, while also making your own conclusions. (Visiting campus would make that as easy as possible.) Use the current JHU students on CC as well as the student bloggers (<a href="http://apply.jhu.edu/hi/blogs/blogs.html%5B/url%5D">http://apply.jhu.edu/hi/blogs/blogs.html</a>) as you will get a wide range of perspectives from a wide range of different students who are having different experiences. And just a note on the bloggers -- they are not told what to write and aside from any vulgarities, they are not edited by Admissions for content.</p></li>
<li><p>Second, CC is a great place to have current students answer your questions, but I also recommend the JHU Forums where 20+ current students checking daily to answer questions about all aspects of Hopkins life: <a href="http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums%5B/url%5D">http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums</a>. And once again, these answers are not edited or censored.</p></li>
<li><p>As far as merit scholarships, the best link to check out is: <a href="http://apply.jhu.edu/finaid/scholarships.html%5B/url%5D">http://apply.jhu.edu/finaid/scholarships.html</a>. The Hodson Trust is the primary merit scholarship and is offered to only about 80 admitted students each year. It is highly competitive and is based on a comprehensive evaluation of the complete application. It is awarded to the 80 students who the Admissions Committee determines are the most noteworthy, the most outstanding, and the most unique or a truly amazing group of admitted students. Engineering students can get the Hodson Trust, but they are also eligible for the Westgate scholarship which is only offered to Engineers. See the site I linked above for further details.</p></li>
<li><p>Housing is greatly improving. The opening of Charles Commons this past fall allowed for upperclass housing for the first time ever. And the University has a mission to continue to provide additional upperclass housing for juniors and seniors who want it. The goal is to be able to provide enough University housing for all students who want it -- freshman and sophomore will continue to be required to live on-campus. Check out the Hopkins Cribs for further details on housing: <a href="http://apply.jhu.edu/hi/360/cribs.html%5B/url%5D">http://apply.jhu.edu/hi/360/cribs.html</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>Johns Hopkins has absolutely no plans to grow the undergraduate population. In fact, since we have over-enrolled the class the last two years, the plan is to under-admit this year by a bit so we do not go past our enrollment goal of 1205 freshmen.</p></li>
<li><p>The best statement that can be said about social life at JHU is it will be what you want it to be. If you want to be a good student and have an active social life you will have that chance. If you want to be part of the greek system you will have that chance. If you want to study all the time, you can do that (but personally I think you will be missing out on a lot of the things that make JHU great). Hopkins is no longer the place where FUN comes to die. There are many, many, many students who have an amazing social life while also maintaining success in their classes. Andrew provides one point-of-view -- check out the message boards and blogs to see that almost everyone agrees that the myth of poor social life at Hopkins is ridiculous.</p></li>
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