Johns Hopkins vs. Berkeley

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Both Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University have approximately equal ‘amount’ of pros and cons. I made a Pro vs. Con list to help me decide which one to go to.</p>

<li>Berkeley
(+) International level institution
(+) Bigger school, more opportunity
(+) The tuition is better than JHU
(+) Large Korean Society
(+) My mom and my aunt promotes Berkeley over JHU.
(+) More prestige in Asia
(+) California!! Beautiful city / weather!
(+) Extereme Liberal
(+) My sister goes there!
(+) Heard that it’s harder to get into than JHU… :slight_smile: it makes me feel special…</li>
</ol>

<p>(-) Cut-throat to death
(-) Seven unit core curriculum BOO
(-) famous for grade deflation
(-) Writing requirement of SAT writing 680</p>

<li>Johns Hopkins University
(+) International level institution
(+) Smaller UG size, maybe I can get more attention/ interaction with the professors.
(+) Open Curriculum.
(+) A very good university in general.
(+) Favorable Female:Male ratio!!
(+) Dunno, it being private makes it seem more… ‘elite’ or ‘unique’.
(+) My gut says to go to JHU.
(+) Liberal
(+) Never been to the east before! The idea of moving away seems cool.</li>
</ol>

<p>(-) Much more expensive than UC Berkeley.
(-) Less school spirit.
(-) Smaller Korean Association Group? </p>

<p>Another note on Johns Hopkins:
Since my stats aren’t great, my application probably went to the ‘maybe’ pile.
Which means, some admissions officer fought to put me in the ‘admitted’ pile.
I think that’s pretty cool - someone arguing for me…
to give me a chance to go to this great institution.</p>

<p>That maybe true for Berkeley too, dunno…
I think I’m just leaning towards JHU a little bit.</p>

<p>But I still like Berkeley too!</p>

<p>The list of things I look for in college are:

  • Open Curriculum, if possible
  • Beautiful Campus
  • Active Student Body
  • Small Class Size
  • Liberal please
  • Some degree of prestige
  • Korean Society would be nice
  • Nice students</p>

<p>I am planning to major in International relations, economics, statistics, mathematics, or biology…
I know. Completely random… but I don’t know what I want to do with my life yet.
I’m too young to decide!</p>

<p>I still have three university decisions left.
But I think I’ll be rejected by all three: Cornell, UPenn, and Brown. </p>

<p>So where should I go?</p>

<p>Hows Berkeley/ JHU in
*Economics
*Mathematics/ Statistics
*International Relations
*Biology</p>

<p>Your help is appreciated.</p>

2

<p>JHU is superb for IR.</p>

3

<p>Have you visited JHU and Berkeley?<br>
Are finances a concern?</p>

4

<p>I live in Canada so I wasn’t able to visit either of them :frowning:
but from what my sister says, Berkeley is pretty cold - and I think I prefer warm weather.</p>

<p>Finances - cheaper the better, but my parents told me that they’ll support me regardless what decision I make.</p>

5

<p>Both JHU and Berkeley are strong academically in the disciplines you’re considering, and both (from what I hear about JHU) are competitive environments.</p>

<p>I’m biased towards Berkeley…for you it’s cheaper and if you like your sister, she can give you good insight to the workings of Berkeley. Berkeley is in a sense, a less risky choice for you…but, if you want to set your own path and not follow in the foot steps of your big sister, JHU would be a great choice.</p>

<p>Baltimore climate is cooler than Berkeley’s during the winter.</p>

<p>Somehow, I don’t think my comments have helped you. :)</p>

6

<p>

I think you just answered your own question. :D</p>

7

<p>How much more money is JHU than Berkeley for you?
Will you have to take out loans for the difference?</p>

8

<p>@IBclass06
I’m afraid my gut might be wrong lol…
Should I follow my instinct?? <em>sigh</em></p>

<p>@UCBChemEGrad
JHU is $53,000 per year whereas UCB is about $38,000 per year.
Although my parents are paying for the entire cost, I feel guilty about putting so much strain on them.
That’s why I’m thinking about Berkeley… </p>

<p>and I heard that internationally Berkeley is stronger than JHU.
I’m a little afraid that I might get lost among the 22,000 undergrads!!</p>

<p>and I’m not a very good writer, and I don’t meet the writing requirement (680 Writing SAT, I have 660)… I dread taking that writing course :frowning:
Also I heard that the core 7 units are awfully hard.</p>

<p>besides that, I like berkeley… :(</p>

9

<p>definitely factor finances into this decision. They are both phenomenal schools. My opinion, however, would direct you towards JHU. In my view, the size of the undergrad pop. is key as Berkeley has a huge number of students, while JHU only has 1,200 per year, which helps afford the intimateness of LACs in a large research powerhouse. (a total undergrad pop of around or under 5000)</p>

<p>Also, JHU will tend to be more geographically diverse as 80-90% of Berkeley will be from California, while JHU is a private school, meaning students come from anywhere and any place. </p>

<p>International Relations is definitely stronger at Hopkins than Berkeley, especially factoring in that Washington D.C. is a 45 minute $7 train ride away from JHU and is easily accessible even on a daily basis from Baltimore. The JHU campus is wonderfully compact, uniform, and beautiful too. </p>

<p>definitely consider these two wisely. IMO, JHU would be more optimal than Berkeley, though both would accord based on what type of school you want.</p>

10

<p>umm…Berkeley is cold? It’s 72 degrees out now. And it doesn’t snow here. Way nicer weather than D.C. All the programs you listed are excellent at Cal.</p>

<p>However, I can’t imagine planning on attending UCB without a visit. It is an incredible school but definitely a lifestyle. The coursework is very difficult as you mentioned.</p>

11

<p>Should I persuade my mom to maybe let me miss a day of school (friday) so I can visit Cal? I know I can’t go to Baltimore… Argh</p>

<p>and yeah, I like fine arts too and the fact the JHU students get free visits to art museums is pretty cool.
And I’ve never been to DC so it must be pretty exciting to visit there…
ahhhh I can’t make up my mind!!</p>

<p>+I live in Victoria, B.C., and it;s ALWAYS RAINING IN HERE I HATE RAIN!!!
Which location has less… rainy days?</p>

12

<p>Um. also, the TOTAL tuition for Berkeley for Out-of-state is somewhat like $46k.</p>

<p>In that case, JHU and Berkeley are not too far off in terms of tuition.</p>

13

<p>@Hope2getrice
What? really?
I thought the tuition was around 30K and the housing around 10K…</p>

<p>where did the extra 6K comefrom? T__T</p>

14

<p>nicorobin90,</p>

<p>a national art musuem, the Baltimore Museum of Art, is located RIGHT ON the Johns Hopkins University Campus. Also, If you like Music, the Peabody Conservatory, arguably the 3rd most prestigious Music School in the nation after Julliard and the other one I can’t remember, is a PART of the Johns Hopkins University with plenty of free concerts on campus, and access to some of the best music professors for free (with audition) or with discounted prices (if failed audition…lol). Also, all JHU students get access to take Fine Arts classes at the Maryland Institute College for Arts (MICA), which is a pretty famous art school, with the JHU tuition.</p>

<p>The Baltimore Collegetown shuttle affords you the opportunity to travel to most of the other colleges in Baltimore for free so that you can take classes for credit that may not be offered at JHU.</p>

<p>Also, JHU has its own free shuttle so you can do interning/research at the Medical School, go downtown, hit the mall, go to inner harbor, learn at Peabody, etc.</p>

15

<p>@Hope2getrice</p>

<p>Thanks so much.
I think your advice made my mind up 70%.</p>

<p>I love <em>fine arts</em> and choral music… If JHU can offer me better chance to improve (without majoring in it) I think I’m leaning towards JHU.</p>

16

<p>nicorobin90,</p>

<p><a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/general.asp?id=26[/url]”>http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/general.asp?id=26&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>go to the bottom where there’s a chart.</p>

<p>Students living on campus will spend $26,586</p>

<p>and then in stars, non-resident students pay an additional $20, 607 for tuition. Aka, you.</p>

<p>lol. The $53k for JHU includes all the things listed in that chart as well. </p>

<p>So you are comparing around $47k to $53k.</p>

17

<p>I’m actually at Johns Hopkins as I type this! (I’m working on a research paper thingy hehehe).</p>

<p>The campus is beautiful, although Baltimore can get pretty cold. The dorms are amazing and you can tell that they have a lot of money. I think I would like it here if I had to go (but alas, I didn’t apply). I’m also involved with some stuff at Peabody and the facilities there are superb as well. If I hadn’t gotten into Yale EA, I would have definitely strongly considered Hopkins. My friends who attend now love it and I think you will too :).</p>

18

<p>Of the three ivies you have left,</p>

<p>JHU is roughly even with Cornell and UPenn for Math and Bio (with JHU having the upper hand in research of course), all three being slightly better than Brown for Bio.
For Econ, UPenn is slighty better than Cornell who is equal to JHU and Brown.
For International Relations, there is really no competition. It’s JHU>>>>>UPenn>Brown=Cornell (around there…I just know that the JHU IR program is very well acclaimed while the other three…aren’t. lol)</p>

<p>In terms of school spirit, go to a JHU lacrosse game. There’s plenty plenty of spirit there and the undergrad life has been getting better with every single year. Also, 25% of JHU is made up of Asians, of which, I know Koreans are a large section. I know it’s nothing like Berkeley’s stunning majority Asian, but it is a very large percentage, even for schools of this caliber.</p>

<p>For undergrad, JHU would afford you more attention than Cornell, Penn, and Berkeley, while Brown is more LAC-like than even JHU. </p>

<p>I’m glad to hear this is all helping. Pick the school you want to go to! All of these schools are phenomenal.</p>

19

<p>^ Yes, I figured as an international student, costs would be similar so I was a bit surprised when nicrobin mentioned Berkeley as significantly cheaper.</p>

<p>Does your sister like Berkeley? Would she recommend you go there? You have a great resource/insight with your sister…utilize her experience…do you want a similar experience? If the answer is no, go to JHU. </p>

<p>Weather sounds like a factor to you. Berkeley is much more temperate. Here are the differences:
[Climatology</a> Comparison for Culver City, CA (90232) - weather.com](<a href=“http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/compare/90232?sfld1=Berkeley,%20CA&sfld2=Baltimore/Martin%20Arpt,%20MD,%20US&clocid1=USCA0087&clocid2=USMD0021]Climatology”>http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/compare/90232?sfld1=Berkeley,%20CA&sfld2=Baltimore/Martin%20Arpt,%20MD,%20US&clocid1=USCA0087&clocid2=USMD0021)</p>

20

<p>@Hope2getrice
Wow now I know I shouldn’t believe everything that people say :frowning:
My mom kept telling me that Hopkins lacked school spirit and Berkeley was the school to go…
I wonder why she favors Berkeley so much?</p>

<p>@UCBChemgrad
Thanks so much for the site! I’ve never taken geologe & never been to US, so that helped a lot lol…</p>

<p>my sister is an English major and she doesn’t like Berkeley very much :-l
she hasn’t found someone who she really likes yet…
but she does speak very highly of the school programs and such.</p>

<p>How did you find the Core Curriculum? (7 classes that you have to take?)
Can I take them on a pass/fail basis?</p>