<p>Not based off of prestige, but based off of quality of research and faculty at both schools, which school is better for undergraduates who want to do physics/astrophysics/astronomy, and engineering. I have a friend who is starting to look at colleges, and I recommended JHU to her but she would like to see other people's opinions. Please do not comment if all you know about these universities are their medical schools, thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Also, her post-grad plans are to attend a top graduate school for physics (like harvard or jhu) and to become a researcher.</p>
<p>Once she gets into both we can have this discussion </p>
<p>I may be a little biased, but I think hopkins is more known for engineering than harvard is. Not too sure about physics/astronomy</p>
<p>Please feel free to correct me about the above statement if you are more informed</p>
<p>The NRC and US News both rank programs in these fields. If they are to be believed, and are both relevant tof undergraduate programs, then it would appear Hopkins is stronger in engineering (esp. biomedical), Harvard is stronger in physics, and they are very close in astronomy. If she cannot make up her mind about a major, and the net cost is about the same, I’d recommend Harvard just for the location and atmosphere. </p>
<p>From the point of view of faculty prominence, Harvard is considered significantly better than Johns Hopkins in physics and probably astronomy as well. Harvard has an engineering program, but I don’t think it’s considered particularly strong–their strength is much more in the basic sciences. </p>
<p>If she is planning to attend physics grad school, why the engineering? </p>
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<p>Yes, that seems odd as well. It might make sense if the student wants to major in physics, but take a few engineering courses of interest as electives, but majoring in engineering to go on to a physics PhD program makes less sense than majoring in physics.</p>
<p>Honestly, it likely doesn’t matter much for physics and and astronomy. Both universities’ departments are well-ranked in those fields, and they’re not far enough apart rankings-wise to make a significant difference. So she should make that decision based on other factors.</p>
<p>For engineering, perhaps JHU, but that depends. JHU has a wider range of engineering programs and a larger faculty and research environment in that area. But in the areas that Harvard does have engineering (electrical and mechanical), their programs are well-reputed. And honestly, since she’s not choosing a graduate school but rather an undergrad, I would say it probably doesn’t matter here either unless she’s really interested in an engineering major that Harvard doesn’t have. Harvard’s engineering and applied science scholars are doing research in a variety of areas; that, plus its proximity to MIT, means that she can get excellent research experience at either university.</p>
<p>I do not, however, know about the more personal/detailed factors - like how easy it is for undergraduates to get in research labs at either school or how much contact they have with actual PIs (as opposed to grad students and postdocs) they have at either. Both are major research universities and I am pretty sure they are relatively similar in those respects; there’s also probably more variation from lab to to lab than there is between the institutions.</p>
<p>But the summary version is: Your friend can go to either, have a phenomenal education, and get into a top-tier graduate school. Which one she goes to will probably not make a significant difference.</p>
<p>I agree with most of the above posters, especially since this is about undergrad. Of course Harvard has better name recognition, but if we’re solely looking at the education you will receive at both schools, they are about equal.</p>
<p>“So she should make that decision based on other factors.”</p>
<p>Primary being - getting into either or both.</p>
<p>I I guess this is a hypothetical situation, or if money for apps is a big deal. Either way it is an interesting question.</p>