Johns Hopkins University Classes

Colleges and Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
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I am applying ED to JHU and I feel like I have a high chance of getting accepted. I am applying to the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences under Biology Major.

I was wondering what the biology, chemistry, and lab classes are like. Are the teachers kind, smart? Do they try to get to know the students? and most importantly, how many students per class?

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  1. How are the professors? (kind, smart, etc) Some professors are nice. Others are...not so nice. Some try to get to know the students others don't. I've found that most professors (if not all) will not put in nearly as much effort to get to know you as a high school teacher would. They assume that you are an adult and if you want to form a relationship with them, you will put in the effort. I've never met a professor (in any department) who was not intelligent. Sometimes they'll be forced to teach a class that isn't their specialty and their lack of expertise will show, but that's relatively uncommon and only happens at the lower level.

All of this can be said for any school of Hopkins’ relative size and calibre.

  1. Class sizes. The lower level classes are generally large (100-400 people). A lot of these classes have lots of TAs and smaller recitation sections to alleviate the large lecture size. The upper level classes are smaller (<50).
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On the subject of professors getting to know students: When I was at Hopkins, the Organic Chemistry Lab professor (D’Souza) would learn all ~270 students names within a week or two of class starting. She could call students out by name whom she hadn’t even interacted with. Totally blew my mind.

4

The intro biology and chemistry courses are fairly large(above 100 students). They only have lecture and don’t have designated TA sections. Most of the homework is online.

Labs are supervised by one professor and TAs supervise groups of around 20 students. Your TA will really be the deciding factor in how well you like the class. I’ve had good and bad TAs and they definitely changed how I viewed the class. These same TAs are the ones who participate in the help sessions that the lecture classes run.

Professors are extremely intelligent. Although they may not be teaching their preferred subject, they still are very proficient. And even if some are a bit prickly at times, they ultimately want to help you succeed, but only if you put the effort in.