Johns Hopkins or Georgetown?

Hi everyone,

I’m a high school senior currently facing a very difficult decision. I am choosing between Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University. I intend to major in political science and hope to attend law school after undergrad. Here are my major takeaways from each school:

Johns Hopkins: Traditionally known as a premed school, Hopkins also has a very strong humanities core, and while their prelaw community is relatively small they are very successful at placing people into top law schools. The city of Baltimore is not as enticing as D.C. but Hopkins’ prestigious top 10 ranking and reputation provides strong job opportunities/networking potential. Additionally, the campus is very beautiful. My main worries are the reputation of Hopkins being a “no fun” all intensity environment and the potentially smaller opportunities for a humanities student at Hopkins compared to Georgetown. I was very impressed by the highly motivated student body and the overall presentation of SOHOP.

Georgetown: Georgetown is situated on a beautiful campus in an affluent neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and its strong connections to The Hill provide for great internship opportunities. I found the student body to be very “polished” and confident (and unusually attractive.) Prelaw seems to be a very common path at Georgetown. With the dominant basketball program and vibrant social scene, Georgetown seems like more of a “fun” school. The school fosters a very warm environment, and GAAP weekend was also a very impressive program. My primary concerns are that I felt like a better fit amongst the Hopkins student body/admitted students and that the abundance of prelaw/gov students at Gegroetown may lead to more competition for resources that would be more readily available at Hopkins.

Sorry if this post is a bit rambly. I’d appreciate any insight from current/former JHU and GU students, and the CC community at large. I have tremendous respect for both institutions.

Reading your post, it seems as if you prefer Georgetown.

“Dominant basketball program”? Didn’t Georgetown just fire their coach, John Thompson III, and hire Patrick Ewing? :))

Great choices. You pretty much summed it up very well, but if you feel the fit is better at JH, then go there.

@northeast99
Georgetown

If you want political science and then you want to go to law school this is a no-brainer. Georgetown! Excellent pre-law, and one of the best political science programs in the country.

Go where you feel the fit level is better.

JHU’s very slight edge in overall rep is probably offset by Georgetown’s Poli Sci/DC edge. So I’d concentrate on fit – which feels more like home? – and cost.

Just out of curiosity, which did you choose and what do you think so far? I’m a senior facing a similar decision with similar concerns. Thanks!

@jackp34 The original poster has not logged onto CC since April, 2017