<p>Hello! I'm a current high school senior graduating in June, and although college applications are now out of the picture, I'm facing the hardest part: making a decision! </p>
<p>-I have been accepted into both Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University.
-I'm pursuing a major in biological sciences/possibly take the premed route
-I seek to attend graduate school after college</p>
<p>Both universities seem to have high clout, great academic programs, and beautiful campuses. Any suggestions or advice on which to attend? Thanks!</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins would be the better option from what I’ve heard, but there’s always the location factor. Personally, I like the location of JHU better.</p>
<p>There’s truth in the stereotype. Premed heavy Hopkins will be a more stressful environment. DC is a much better undergrad city than Balt. I’d personally head to Georgetown.</p>
<p>Have you guys attended JHU? Where is this cut-throat stuff from? It is all hearsay and rumors perpetuated by JHU’s competitors. For pre-med, no body has a better system than JHU.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I believe that. I’m pretty deep into the med school process and have talked to countless people about placement and how to get into a top med school. Without a doubt it comes down to research, GPA, and MCAT. And the most important part of undergraduate research is how much your professor is willing to support your application. The notion of a school being “great for pre-med” is simply a myth with no data to back it up. Overall quality is important, yes, but there just is no such thing as a better pre-med amongst the top level schools (except schools that coddle you such as Princeton and Amherst; there might be an edge there because of access to profs).</p>
<p>^^^ it doesn’t matter whether a school is “known” for pre-med. To get into med school, all that matters are grades, MCAT scores and some medically-related ECs as a distant third. Vast MAJORITY of med school students went to ordinary universities and colleges without any special pre-med cred.</p>
<p>Besides, Georgetown has a medical school. You think it’s going to offer inferior pre-med preparation?</p>
<p>Some of you guys are saying premed programs are indistinguishable from school to school. Do you have data to back up these claims? I’ve found past data showing pretty poor med school placement on georgetown’s part (anyone in georgetown pre-health advising would have access to this) - i will dig this up in the meantime. Premed programs are not created equally. Hopkins’ GPA is actually weighted pretty heavily relative to other private school peers and obviously versus other general schools. See Berkeley’s Boalt Law school admissions guide in which they weight GPAs differently from select undergrads (and this is law school, you can’t get more undergrad reputation dilution that a pure meritocrtic LSAT + GPA process). Saying so without a basis for stats doe snot help. 15 year old rumors saying a school is cut throat spread by uninformed posters also do not help. If the school was really cut throat, why does it have such a high alumni giving percentage (top 5 in the country). Must be because students hated the school right? Glad some of these idiot posters aren’t making your decision, OP.</p>
<p>“Medical schools recognize the rigor of Johns Hopkins. In 2008, Hopkins applicants who were accepted to medical school had an average cumulative GPA of 3.55 and science GPA of 3.48 while the corresponding national figures were 3.66 and 3.60 respectively.” </p>
<p>There is allowance for a lowered GPA and a lower MCAT as well:</p>
<p>• Applicants experience success with a range of MCATs. The average MCAT score of accepted applicants for 2008 was 30.6. For most allopathic (M.D.) schools, an average MCAT score is 31-32; at the most competitive medical schools (Hopkins, Harvard), however, the average MCAT is 37-38.</p>
<p>Before a uninformed random poster says these stats are bad or not impressive, show me a school that does better for the same GPA. I have access to Cornell’s, Georgetown’s, Princeton’s, and Stanford’s pre-med med school placement rates. They do not do as well.</p>
<p>Compare these statistics to MIT applicants (a school known to be just as rigorous if not more than JHU based on the lack of grade inflation):</p>
<p>It might be apples to oranges, as we don’t have access to student’s research and volunteer records, but MIT pre-med applicants need a noticeably higher GPA and MCAT. If you look at the schools accepting the MIT applicants, it’s clear they aren’t giving too much leeway in GPA versus Hopkins, for instance.</p>
<p>If you consider Georgetown a better personal fit, or if it would cost much less to attend, then choose Georgetown. If they are about equal for you on those grounds, I’d give the edge to Hopkins for its much stronger biology department *. But go visit both schools to be sure you feel comfortable with your choice. The JHU campus is beautiful; however, the surrounding neighborhoods are not as consistently nice as the ones around Georgetown. If you’re concerned about JHU’s reputation for being competitive for pre-meds, then ask about this on your visit. Talk to current students. </p>
<ul>
<li>Biology is not my field. I base this opinion on comparisons of:
<ol>
<li>the faculty web pages (the number of faculty, their research interests, and where they got their PhDs) </li>
<li>the course descriptions</li>
<li>graduate biology department rankings (USNWR, NRC)</li>
<li>levels of research funding</li>
</ol></li>
</ul>
<p>Thank you so much for all of your inputs. I’ll be taking everything into consideration, and I’ll be visiting both campuses again in the next week. I hope I make the decision that suits me well! Thanks again for all of your thoughtful and helpful responses.</p>
<p>JHU is a more rigorous environment, and has a stronger science/pre-med program in general. However, they are very competitive and cutthroat.</p>
<p>If you are concerned about options for medical schools, Georgetown might be a good choice? Georgetown is a Jesuit school, and as such, has connections with all the other Jesuit schools in the US. If you applied to a Jesuit medical school, they would see that you had your undergraduate degree from Georgetown, one of the best Jesuit schools in the nation-- believe me, this does matter. I go to a Jesuit school currently, and their medical school has come down and has said that if you applied to another Jesuit medical school, that they would be looking at your application more closely. It all depends on your preference, I’d say visit and see what you like.</p>
<p>^You’re an undergrad at Creighton. Please tell me how you’re qualified to say the above statement considering you don’t attend either school. Infact, please cite a current or recent student that is quoted as saying JHU is cut throat. Or get one on here to state this. Otherwise, stop spouting BS.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman in highschool thinking ahead in college. I want to go to a really good one, like John Hopkins, Georgetown, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. … that is if I get accepted. How did you get accepted? To both?? </p>
<p>I’m an average student in school who gets A’s and B’s with a GPA of 3.7. I don’t take any after school clubs or anything. </p>
<p>What does it take to get into those universities? How well do I have to do in my academics? What was your SAT score? Did you get all A’s? What was your GPA? What percent in the top were you in your school? Were you valedictorian, or the top 5? Did you take any after school activities in school, like band? I heard you have to take some clubs, be in the top 5% in your grade, get 1500-1600 in SATs, and a 4.0 GPA.</p>
<p>I just want some advice on what to do at this age to be qualified enough to get into those universities and what it takes to get into them, or how to stand out in the pool of other applicants. Please just give me some advice on that and what you did to get in and how you stood out in the pool of applicants.</p>
<p>beautyangel50 has not posted since April 2012. It would be better to start your own thread rather than hijack an old one. Better yet, use the search function to look for old admissions results threads that contain hundreds of pages of exactly the information you’re asking about. </p>
<p>In the meantime, be aware that there is no “magic formula” to admissions, and looking for one is foolish. Students with top grades, excellent test scores, and amazing extracurriculars are routinely rejected at highly selective universities. As a freshman, you should focus primarily on taking the most difficult classes available (and doing well in them) and getting involved with a few extracurricular activities that interest you.</p>