<p>Hi all, I'm a grade 12 student with offers from the schools listed above. I'm gonna study engineering, and most likely Electrical Engineering or Materials Science. My future career would probably be related to Renewable energy or the energy industry. So here's several questions for you guys (I will post the same thread in the other 2 forums.), thanks a lot for any valueable information from you! </p>
<p>1, Generally, I think CMU have a stronger EE program in comparison to the other 2, while I think JHU and Northwestern are more well-rounded schools. (feel free to refute any of these points I held), how do you think of the balance? Shall I go to an engineering school like CMU or a school maybe less competitive of my major but have a variety of options and different guys to get along with in my undergraduate years? </p>
<p>2, How's the energy research center of these three universities? I think most of the top-notched schools are having Energy research center or center for sustainable development,etc., how's the energy research center in your school? Is the center the leader of some specific field for example solar or wind (or I should ask what's the emphasis of research in the center)? Is the center having some very famous and impressive professors? and is it accessible to students? Especially undergraduate? </p>
<p>Thanks a lot for your response!</p>
<p>FMonarchC
2013/3/29</p>
<p>They’re all really good but honestly I’d look at CMU and JHU. CMU has an amazing engineering core that is probably better than hopkins in EE (don’t know for sure), however hopkins has really strong programs in similar areas that you could do a joint degree with to have a really strong degree.</p>
<p>In my honest (and a bit bias) opinion, I think JHU is the best bet since if you tend towards alomst anything other than EE, you’ll be in better shape at Hopkins. However, go to both accepted students days and see where you feel you fit in the best. Both schools are really good and you’ll do well coming out of either of them. So just see where you would be the happiest for 4 years</p>
<p>Thanks a lot AAustin, I personally lean to JHU as well, but just a bit worrying about the social scene of JHU. could you say something about it? It seemed that JHU is somehow too academic and rigorous? (Well, agian, feel free to refute any of these points!)</p>
<p>Thanks guys, any other opinion?</p>
<p>Hopkins’ social scene is far from what you would get at a state school, but from what I heard from my friends at CMU, CMU is too.</p>
<p>However, this does not mean it is nonexistent. You will almost always find a party or event to go to on the weekends and sometimes during the week (for example, one fraternity has a pong night every thursday). Hopkins is definitely a place where academics come first, but you will definitely have time to relax and have fun. Just don’t expect to be partying every day as if you were at a party school. The majority of those who party usually study hard during the week and then go out during the weekend. Due to our proximity to Loyola, Towson, and MICA, many students from other schools tend to come to party at Hopkins. So you’ll meet people from other school as well and can go there if you really want to go out on a day nothing is happening at Hopkins. Finally, we have some pretty good clubs down in Inner Harbor, such as Soundstage and Powerplant, that are easy to get to ($8 cab ride which is cheap if you go with friends).</p>
<p>Thanks for your response! Another question is, if Johns Hopkins is all about bio-med? I’m pretty concerned about the strength of other engineering majors. As I said, i’m gonna take EE, and I wonder if most engineering fields are still related to bio (e.g.EE’s still dealing with sensors in human body or so?) and researches and knowledge excluding “bio” are not the emphasis? Thanks!</p>
<p>Definitely not…I’m a testament to that…=). Mech E, Civil, and the other engineering majors are still awesome at Hopkins</p>
<p>Thanks Blah2009!
But I would appreciate some examples not related to Bio stuffs.
Another question is, I heard 40% JHUers are doing Pre-med (I don’t know whether its accurate), but I’m afraid that if people majoring in something other than bio, they become minorities some how… Anyway, feel free to refute any of my point! Thanks for your opinion!</p>
<p>Not all Bio-med and many employers know that. I’ll just give the most recent example I can think of. One of my friends has been told by the Navy recruiter for engineers that he will most likely be accepted into their program which pays him $10,000 while at school and then $125,000 a year immediately after graduation working as a Mech E in Washington DC. There are plenty of recruiters just like that on Hopkins for almost every Engineering major.
As for the school, you can research with a professor in any subject you are interested in, not just bio-med.</p>
<p>And no, not all pre-med are bio majors. For example, my roommate last year was a pre-med majoring in writing seminars. Also, 40% of students may come into Hopkins thinking they want to be Pre-med (don’t know the actual numbers), but it certainly doesn’t stay that way. International Studies, Economics, and many Engineering majors (e.g. EE, MechE, ChemBE) are very popular on campus and have a very strong community</p>
<p>FMonarch, I was on the fellowship committee at Stanford for graduate school (where Stanford decides to fund its top candidates). JHU’s undergraduate programs in mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and electrical engineering are very very well represented and respected by Stanford’s engineering graduate programs.</p>
<p>wow！that sounds really impressive！</p>
<p>Blah2009，hi! now that you were on the fellowship committee at Stanford, may I asked for a comparison? Among JHU, Northwestern and CMU, which one enjoyed the best reputation in EE in Stanford Graduate School? Could you just estimate a rank like JHU>CMU>NU… or so, I don’t need accurate statistics, just based on your impression !! Thanks a lot !</p>
<p>It was more of a discussion of, have you heard of this school’s program and the school’s professor writing the recommendation for the applicant. JHU would always receive a resounding yes on both accounts - which is a testament to its engineering prestige and rigor. CMU and JHU were definitely more well known than NU for EE (with the reverse being true for Materials engineering) - however, both played second fiddle to an applicant WITH good grades from MIT or Stanford (for obvious reasons). Note that this doesn’t necessarily mean one school is better than the other (hence why I’m hesitant to categorize the schools in tiers). The main point is JHU or CMU would definitely represent you well in grad school admissions.</p>