<p>Hey everyone, I recently got my college letters in and the results were:</p>
<p>Dartmouth: Waitlisted
Tufts: Waitlisted
Yale: Denied
UVM: Accepted into honors college
Johns Hopkins: Accepted</p>
<p>Both UVM and Johns Hopkins would cost me roughly the same, so thats a non factor. I'm interested in pre-med (and potentially med school), but have thought about focusing academically on 3d modeling/engineering in case I decide to go a different direction (maybe software design for the medical industry?). </p>
<p>Anyways, I can't decide which school to attend. I'm interested in being around intelligent people (high school really sucked for me in that regard), but I don't want to be in a hyper competitive environment. UVM has a better surrounding, the honors college dorms are amazing, and I know they have good programs, but I can't see myself being happy there if the majority of the student body lives up to the hippy stoner stereotype. </p>
<p>Basically I'd love to hear from students at either school (particularly honors college/science oriented students). </p>
<p>Hopkins premed is super competitive to the point of being cut throat is the rep they have. In order to get into med school, you need to get through their gatekeepers and they do gate keep with the tough grades and competitiveness. If you have a very strong background and skills, both of those in the maths and sciences, it may be a go for you, but I know a lot of good, strong students cut at JHU. To try engineering and premed is only for those who are truly up there and willing to work very hard. This is not a relaxed environment but a gauntlet when it comes to the fields you are contemplating. You won’t get a better grounding in the materials anywhere, but you don’t get the grades, and your med school plans are gone which happens a lot there.</p>
<p>Hmm. I do have a strong science background. I guess I’m really looking for a good reason NOT to go to UVM. My absolute #1 imperative is to be in a school with smart and thoughtful people, and if UVM’s party school/rich wanna-be hippy reputation holds true that would be a problem for me.</p>
<p>If your number one criteria is to be in an environment where it’s cool to be smart, cool to pursue academic interests, and where everyone else around you is a hard-working, intelligent student JHU should be the obvious choice. </p>
<p>what a pair of schools to have to choose from! Scylla and Charybdis. I’m not a supporter of transferring, let alone choosing a school with transferring in the back of your mind. But sometimes it works out for people. In your case, I’m going to recommend going to UVT and seeing if in the first year you can find a cache of intelligent peers who aren’t intoxicated very often. I’m betting that you can, of course. But if you cannot you can spend some time over the holidays hunting down a school to which to transfer that is not JHU. Transferring usually takes a lot of research, but there are 3500 colleges out there. You’ll find one to which you can transfer when and how you want to. What’s most important during the first year is keeping that GPA at med school levels. No year is more important to the GPA than first year. It sets the bar or pooches the punt.</p>
<p>Your other option is to take a gap year. Tell UVT you want to enroll but you also want a gap year. Put down your deposit. Then plan to do something worthwhile with your time, including researching alternatives to UVT that you can apply to in the fall. Many people do this. I would urge most males to do this to give themselves time to explore who they are and what they want out of life, to see other parts of the country or county and learn how people live, to hold down a job and balance a “checkbook,” etc. There is no rule that says you must enter college the august or January after graduating from high school.</p>
<p>I did grad school at JHU but can only speak from what I saw and from my friends who were undergrads. </p>
<p>JHU is pretty hard on the undergrads and it really depends on what major you do for grades. Going to JHU for undergrad doesn’t get you “in” anywhere near the med school, so please keep that in mind. It might help though when you apply to the local med schools in your state (you’d be different and have attended a top 15-20 school).</p>
<p>If you definitely want to do pre-med, there is a scenario where getting a 3.9 at UVM and getting a good MCAT score is better than getting a 3.0 at JHU with an equal or lesser MCAT score. Every school in the country comes with a ton of premeds and then the vast majority change out for a variety of legitimate reasons. JHU is no different and plenty of kids perform badly real quickly to dash the MD dreams. But it’s going to be a battle wherever you go - no school is going to compensate for how you perform. I am personally glad I didn’t go to JHU for undergrad, but that’s easy for me to say and I didn’t want an MD.</p>
<p>Given the same pricing, you probably should consider going to the school that is clearly better in terms of branding and prestige - it makes it easier to get internships/jobs if you find out 2-3 yrs from now that being a physician isn’t actually what you want to do (it’s OK to change your mind).</p>
<p>So OP, you say you want to be around intelligent people? At University of Vermont, 50% of enrolled students scored between a 540-640 on the SAT Critical Reading, and 540-650 on the SAT Math. At Johns Hopkins, 50% of enrolled students scored between a 640-740 on the SAT CR and 670-770 on the SAT Math. </p>
<p>Of the 40% of enrolled students reporting their class rank to UVM, only 33% were in the top 10% of their high school class. At Johns Hopkins, where 31% of students reported their class rank (these low percentages are not uncommon at Northeastern privates), 83% of students were in the top 10% of their class. </p>
<p>You can choose to draw conclusions from these numbers or not.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice, it’s really helpful. I think I’ll revisit Johns Hopkins and see the vibe I get, I was sooo sick when I visited for the first time. The competitive aspect scares me a bit, but at the same time I feel like it could be exciting to be part of such a focused community. We shall see!</p>
<p>When you say pre-med do you mean major in Biology or the like? or you are taking another discipline and take required science classes for med school? You could attend JHU with an easier major and As those science courses while still be able to attend MD school.</p>
<p>you should go to jhu and actually ask people that go there or went there. JHU is actually pretty chill nowadays. Far and away you will find the people spouting JHU is competitive/cutthroat for premed or college did not go there for undergrad and likely never had it as a choice.</p>
<p>You’re also comparing apples and oranges here…=). One is a renowned private that will challenge you, while the other is your run of the mill state school where you will have to work harder to get challenged</p>
<p>Enjoy Baltimore! Start watching The Wire so you can appreciate the landmarks and culture. I never realized that I lived just 4 blocks north of Bodie’s corner.</p>