<p>these are two schools of similar caliber
which is better for premed?</p>
<p>I always thought JHU was better. Northwestern is a very good school, but I think JHU is more well-known.</p>
<p>But regardless…I think either could offer a great education, so you should probably look at the specifics of each school and see which one is a better fit for you.</p>
<p>yea i think jhu is more well known internationally for its outstanding medical school. undergrad, however, is probably similar in terms of academic quality</p>
<p>academic quality will be about the same overall, maybe, but each school will have specific strengths (like english, history, art history, bio, physics, writing, bme, etc at hopkins vs economics etc. at nu). </p>
<p>resources will differ… you will have more access to med school resources at hopkins than at nu and any other school thanks to cross-registration, med tutorials (clinical practicum, clinical research, bench research…ex do anything from bench research in neurology to shadowing neurologists, neurosurgeons, plastic surgeons obgyns, etc…to be honest im not sure if this is a huge positive because i don’t know if other schools have this or not), research opps in general, etc and the fact that there is a free shuttle to the med campus(es) and hopkins medicine is HUGE with at least 2 giant med centers.</p>
<p>isnt it too late for you to be choosing between the two? and i think you mentioned already enrolling at nu? be happy with your choice and make the best of it. nu is the harvard of the west or something right?</p>
<p>I think that, in general, no one is significantly better than the other. They’re both excellent schools or “top 10” in the US. For business, NU is slightly better. For engineering, they’re pretty even. For social sciences, they’re even. For physical science, they’re almost even but with a slight advantage to JHU. For premed, JHU has the upperhand. But you can’t go wrong with either school.</p>
<p>As a pre-med in college is ultra critical that you do five things (among others) to likely gain admission to medical school:
- Keep your GPA as close to 4.0 as possible (and definitely above 3.6).
- Get at least a 30 on your MCAT (higher if possible, obviously).
- Do some sort of “research”
- Do some sort of “community service”
- Do something medically related other than just simply shadowing doctors.</p>
<p>Regarding 1 and 2, you’ll be fine at either institution. Just work hard. You’re more likely to do better academically if you are at a school where you’re the “most comfortable.” </p>
<p>Regarding 3, both JHU and NU offer research opportunities for undergrads. Undergrads are more likely to do bench research, and NU and JHU have plenty of biological sciences research going on. It’s not necessarily about the name of the faculty whom you’re working with, but rather the likelihood of gettting published.</p>
<p>Regarding 4, get involved in clubs on campus. Both have student groups that do community outreach and service.</p>
<p>Regarding 5, perhaps get EMT training, or become ACLS certified and run clinics to teach other students. Or go on a medical mission to say, Guatemala.</p>
<p>Again, GPA and MCAT are the most important factors and really focus on your studies if you want to go to medical school! (but don’t forget 3, 4, and 5).</p>
<p>PLEASE dont aim for 30. going to a top school, you should aim for 33+ (top 10% nationally)</p>
<p>oh, and i wanted to add: dont be a premed drone. sure, cover all your bases with research and clinical exp., high gpa and mcat, but also do the random fun interesting things you like to do and pursue them with vigor. go and try new things as well. not only will you be happier with your pre med/ college experience because you took risks, do cool stuff, and meet new people, etc…you also make your application a little more personal/“you”/unique.</p>
<p>I just wanted to add my own opinion in as well. Northwestern and JHU are both very good schools, however, like <em>idk</em> said, each school has their own strong points. I believe that JHU is the stronger school in regards to anything related to the medical field and its Medical school currently ranks number two. So if your looking to go into the medical field I would go for JHU (that is if you feel you can get in).</p>
<p>Go to Northwestern! JHU is too cut throat for pre med.</p>
<p>confusedboy, do you even go to JHU? In my experience JHU’s “cutthroat” rep is obsolete and greatly exaggerated. People are nice to each other, and there’s a lot of collaboration studying for exams, etc. I seriously doubt that it’s more competitive than Northwestern or any other top school.</p>
<p>Go to whichever school you prefer, pre-med rep aside. You’ll do better where you are happier. Top students from either school should have their pick of good med schools.</p>
<p>thanks for all the great advice guys. the thing i was wondering; are hopkins students at an advantage to other students when applying to med school? generally hopkins premed students have more exposure and chances to be involved in the medical field through their medical school. is this a factor in med school admissions?</p>
<p>
No.</p>
<p>Hopkins has no measurable advantage over any of the other top schools for medical school placement.</p>
<p>Is there some kind of magical Hopkins Med glow that will give a boost to an otherwise mediocre app? No.</p>
<p>There are tons of opportunities to get involved with the medical field at Hopkins but they only help if you take advantage of them. Northwestern has a respected med school as well and I would assume they have similar opportunities. Either school is what you make of it.</p>
<p>I’m currently a freshman at Hopkins and I also had to decide between Hopkins and Northwestern back around April. </p>
<p>If you’re aiming to go pre-med I must say that Hopkins has unparalleled facilities and research opportunities on their medical school campus and at the hospital that you can’t get anywhere else, such as working in labs or shadowing doctors.</p>
<p>You should also apply for the Woodrow Wilson Research Fellowship as it will provide you with a large sum of money to conduct research in literally whatever you want. I think that research is a large part of a pre-med student’s life, so this would be a great opportunity to really delve into what you’re interested.</p>
<p>
Did Northwestern ban undergrads from its hospital?</p>
<p>i don’t think so…what I meant was the connections at hospitals and facilities are unlike anywhere else, not that Northwestern doesn’t allow students to work in labs or shadow doctors. :P</p>
<p>"Did Northwestern ban undergrads from its hospital? "</p>
<p>no but hopkins has better and larger facilties, plus a free shuttle that leaves at least every 30 min during the week and every 15 minutes at certain times during the morning. and there is a lot of activity between the undergrad and the school of medicine, school of public health, and the hospital… i doubt the same is true for nw because the two campuses are not close at all…how do nu students usually get there? or am i overestimating how far the two are?</p>
<p>honestly, size and resources do not compare at all. lets leave medical funding out of the discussion because that’s not a fair fight…but facilities are fair game imo! hopkins bayview campus alone is probably bigger than northwestern’s med campus. check it out yourself:
[Prentice</a> Women’s Hospital: A Grand Hopening](<a href=“http://justinbraem.com/projects/grandhopening/reach-us.html]Prentice”>Prentice Women’s Hospital: A Grand Hopening)
JHH campus (note this doesnt include science + tech park buildings and the new clinical towers and new buildings that will be finished in 2 years): [Johns</a> Hopkins Hospital Campus Map](<a href=“Our Locations | Johns Hopkins Medicine”>Our Locations | Johns Hopkins Medicine)
JH Bayview: <a href=“Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center | Johns Hopkins Medicine”>Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center | Johns Hopkins Medicine;
<p>the shuttle to bayview leaves every 20 minutes most of the time. the only exception is that it leaves every 30 min during lunch hours. bayview is pretty big…big enough to have its own internal shuttle system and one to jhh. plus there are tons of research and clinical ops there. the neurosurgeon i shadow works at both campuses (as do faculty from many departments at the school of med and jhh). plus the nih and nida have research buildings there so again there are plenty of medical ops.</p>
<p>
I guess I’m supposed to be impressed – yet I’m not. Let’s face it, hospital size and quality are of relatively little importance in medical admissions. As long as there are enough spots to go around, either university would work perfectly fine for applicants. Admissions officers do not pull out USNWR ranking of hospitals when evaluating medical experience.</p>
<p>I think you would agree that it is not all about location. After all, Emory’s location literally next door to the CDC and near the American Cancer Society arguably trumps anything going on in Baltimore. Would you recommend Emory over Hopkins for pre-med? </p>
<p>Keep in mind that Northwestern has fewer pre-meds than Hopkins, both in raw numbers and especially per capita. Northwestern’s hospital is certainly large enough for plenty of opportunities. Even if that were not the case, it’s in Chicago. There are plenty of hospitals to be found. (Also note that, despite Northwestern having fewer pre-meds, it has 150% as many alumni in medical residency programs as Hopkins.)</p>
<p>On a final note, I’ll point out that Dartmouth has as good a medical school placement rate as Hopkins, and it’s in rural New Hampshire.</p>
<p>Definitely check out Northwestern’s HPME program, which is very highly regarded and extremely competitive to get into. It is a combined BA/MD program: [HPME</a> introduction](<a href=“http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/AWOME/HPME/index.html]HPME”>http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/AWOME/HPME/index.html).</p>