JHU or UMD College Park?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
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I got off the waitlist for Johns Hopkins and I was planning on going to UMD. I have 8 days to decide and I’m 50/50 on where I should. I’m a physics major and UMD is well ranked for physics.

Mostly my concerns about JHU are its reputation for a bad social life. I’m also afraid the rigor will make me extremely stressed out. Also, I really want to be involved in research as an undergrad and im concerned that the higher level of competition at Hopkins will make that more difficult for me than it would be at UMD. I love baltimore though.

On the other hand UMD is super fun, but the classes are much larger and its less competitive. I’m afraid that if I choose UMD I’m cheating myself of a greater academic challenge and an environment that would push me more. Like I’m concerned that if I choose UMD over JHU there is an opportunity cost of the critical thinking skills and study skills I could have had, had I gone to Hopkins.

I feel like my quality of life for the next 4 years would be worse at Hopkins, but there is also more to gain intellectually in the long run, or at least it seems like that.

On the other hand, at UMD I’m capable of getting a 4.0 if i try hard and there will be less competition for research. I also am in the Gemstones program. Whereas at Hopkins I’m afraid I might struggle a lot and get a really low GPA. I’m not really sure if grad schools will factor in that Hopkins is more difficult than UMD for admissions if I get a lower GPA there rather than a high one at UMD.

In terms of cost, UMD would be 17k and JHU would be probably around 45k for me. I havent worked out with my parents how much they are willing to cover for hopkins and how much i would have to take out in loans. If its over 50k of loans for the four years, I won’t go to JHU, but idk if >50k loans is even worth it.

I plan on going to grad school and I’m not really concerned with how this decision will affect my future income.

Any Hopkins or UMD student please share your experience with either school!!!

I’m sooooo unsure of where to go

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don’t assume you’ll necessarily get a 4.0 at UMD - I know tons of smart friends that just did ok there. Personally, I had a blast at Hopkins (went out quite a bit to clubs/bars) - if you study smart and have friends who are motivated and smart (not hard at Hopkins), you’ll do great.

I turned down a full ride bannerker key scholar with gemstone at UMD to go to Hopkins - ended up at Stanford for grad school on a full ride. Every single one of my friends is at a great grad school (harvard,stanford,princeton, mit, etc etc) as well or are at great jobs (McKinsey consulting, Goldman Sachs, D.E. Shaw, Morgan Stanley Investment Banking, barclays, google, etc) . I’m glad I chose Hopkins and have not looked back. Don’t be afraid of the challenge.

Tons of people at Hopkins do well without having to study to the point that they can’t have fun (see these athletes in rigorous majors for instance):

http://hub.jhu.edu/gazette/2013/november/this-month-sports-john-arena

http://hub.jhu.edu/gazette/2012/september/the-art-of-reception

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=7289.0

You don’t have to sacrifice social life at all.

I would go with Hopkins. If you do average at UMD, you’ll have a lot more options limited in terms of job opportunities and grad school. Rigor at Hopkins is given credit.

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Congratulations for getting off the waitlist! :stuck_out_tongue: You really have some great choices. Even though it’s mature of you to be willing to give up four years of happiness for long-term benefits, I feel like you should pick a school that you’ll be happy at. Because you can’t predict whether, at the end of your four years, Hopkins’ reputation really will raise you to greatness or whether UMD’s reputation will hold you back. But I feel like if you’re stressed and unhappy, it will be harder to achieve the kind of passion and excitement for your studies that you seem to want.

To address your concerns:

You really have to think about what your idea of a “good social life” is, what is adequate, and what is simply unacceptable. Personally, I don’t need a lot of free time for leisure to be content, and I don’t need a lot of things to have a good social life. There are very many clubs, sports, etc. that you can get involved with. As for night life, I’m content just hanging out and talking in friends’ rooms. I know people who are content with the abundance of frat parties, and those who’ve befriended upperclassmen and get access to their parties. And if you’re willing to find and go to bars and clubs, that might be another place for you to go. Personally, I feel like I have more of a social life here than I did at high school, and Blah2009 is right in that I don’t have to study to the point where I can’t have fun.

I do have to work hard for my grades, and the rigor does cause a lot of stress. I don’t know how applicable that will be to you, since the Physics department also has a B.A. option; you may get more liberty to take more electives, to get a broader education, or fewer credits, if that is something you’re interested in. But we’re not all like the people in those articles for sure, and even those of us that do well have to face some struggle and lose a little sleep in the process. And often, even if the stress doesn’t affect you personally, it will affect the people around you, so you’ll still be affected by that kind of mindset.

I don’t think that there’s any lack of research opportunities at Hopkins, and I’ve never heard of there being any type of competition for getting involved with research. Many students here do research, and haven’t had trouble getting it.

I understand this concern, because a huge part of why I chose Hopkins was that I wanted a challenge. And it sounds nice to say that you value becoming a critical thinker and learn “for the sake of learning.” But it doesn’t always feel nice when you actually get there, especially when you realize that you didn’t actually want that. I think that the key thing to think about is how much you value free time. I personally get bored and depressed when I have too little to do; I choose stress over unstructured time any day. But if you’re the kind of person who really values free time to cultivate things and explore, and if you need it to stay grounded, then you may not find that at Hopkins. P.S. No college will give you study skills, lol. I still don’t know what I’m doing in some of my classes, haha. @-)

I think this is a really big thing to consider. Then again, my parents did intentionally pick Hopkins over cheaper schools.

I will say that it is hard to be here if you have an inferiority complex or low self-esteem. But I’ve met a lot of nice people who are really smart and motivated, like Blah2009, said, and also passionate about what they’re studying. Overall, I do feel challenged, and stressed, but I enjoy the challenges and take the stress in stride. I would recommend that people come here, but when I asked my two friends just now what advice they’d give, they said, “Tell her (?) not to come here.” Instantly. Before I even gave them any details. So people have different experiences…

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Thank you both for your feedback its been sooooo helpful. I am definitely someone who is happier with less free time, having too much time can make me feel unmotivated and bored, so in that way I like the stress and competition at Hopkins.

Also, @OnMyWay2013 what exactly did you mean it’s hard for people with an inferiority complex? I’m the type of person who is more motivated when I’m in classes with people who are smarter or more hard working than me. Additionally, in terms of social life would you say there are a lot of parties on the weekends? I know sports aren’t as huge as JHU as at some schools, but is Greek life prevalent in terms of nightlife?

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I think onmyway is referring to people who get insecure when they meet someone smarter which is not the case in your situation. You might thrive off of that. It was great to be pushed at college for me - i felt truly challenged by my peers and absolutely loved it. pushed in the sense that they did well academically (in different majors and not in my classes, even), which motivated me to do well too. we fed off of each others energies and truly supported on another.

Night life is widespread, tons of weekend parties with towson and loyola girls visiting the Hopkins frats. Also, lots of bars and nightclubs in fed hill and fells point

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JHU is one of the best schools in the world, I wouldn’t turn that down for UMD

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Unless you’re a CoMplEtE PAArtTY AnIMaAL, the social life at Johns Hopkins is just fine, but in comparison with UMD, it certainly has greater name recognition around the world. Go for Hopkins.

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@onerepublic96 Psst, you’re bumping really old threads…

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@OnMyWay2013 haha I know sorry sorry B-)