<p>in terms of safety :)</p>
<p>I know both schools are around not very favorable areas of their respective cities, but I was wondering if some people who live around/near there or maybe even current students can give me insight as to the locations of these two schools and whether it poses any problems to students. </p>
<p>thank you! :D</p>
<p>Your "knowledge" is not accurate.</p>
<p>Yes, Baltimore is properly characterized as a high crime city. but crime does not occur uniformly across the city. Rather, the crime rate is very high in certain sections of the city where drugs, gangs, and poverty are out of control. The typical murder victim is an 18 year old black male gang member who gets shot by a competing gang. This type of activity is not at all characteristic of the area surrounding the Homewood campus. The is no reason for Hopkins students to venture into the bad neighborhoods--there is nothing there you would want to see or do.</p>
<p>The beautiful campus at Homewood is probably the safest place in the city. In fact, Readers Digest rates JHU as the safest campus in the country. The areas surrounding Homewood are also relatively safe. Charles Village, to the east (and the neighborhood into which Hopkins' residential housing and other ancillary activities push into) is a nice, mixed neighborhood of students, faculty, young professionals, and working class people. It not not a drug invested, gang dominated area. The area is patrolled by Hopkins security in addition to Baltimore police. What crime does occur there is mostly carried out by people from outside the neighborhood. Reasonable safety precautions keep this in check.</p>
<p>The neighborhoods to the north--Gilford, Canteberry-Tuscany, Roland Park--are very nice, safe, residential areas. The neighborhood to the west--Hamden--is a funky mix of commercial and middle class residential areas--a good, safe urban neighborhood.</p>
<p>The neighborhood to the south--Remington--is a bit more sketchy than the other areas I've mentioned but it its by no means a high crime area in the city. It is a working class residential area--mostly row homes--with a higher minority population than the other adjacent neighborhoods but mostly owner-occupied. There is a lot of pride in Remington and the neighbors work hard to control crime--but it is more of a problem there than the other areas. Incidentally, there is little reason for Hopkins students to be walking in Remington at night except to go the OttoBar (a fun music venue) or the Paper Moon ( a late-night dinner) but if you go with a group it is safe enough. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that Hopkins is in an urban environment which means than you need to develop some street smarts (e.g., don't make yourself an easy target by strolling around the neighborhood alone at 3 a.m.). But there is no reason to be unduly fearful. the neighborhoods are not unreasonably dangerous. Check out the crime reports. There are more crime victims among Brown students than Hopkins students--yet Brown has a reputation of being in a safe neighborhood. </p>
<p>By the way, I am far less familiar with Chicago but, from my limited observations, Hyde Park is also not a dangerous place (a nice place, actually), although neighborhoods immediately adjacent to it appear to be bad. I once made the mistake of going to the University by way of the elevated train from the Loop. When I got off the train--I had to walk through very scary areas to get to the campus--but I did it with my life intact. The next time I took a taxi.</p>
<p>I'll chime in on Chicago, because the comparison was brought up.</p>
<p>FWIW, I visited Hopkins about 3-4 years ago and walked around Homewood a little bit. I didn't think of it as any different from other urban places I know, and while I see how it could be a little more intimidating to somebody not used to cities, I thought it matched up to college students well enough.</p>
<p>First, I should point out that the University of Chicago is on the South Side of Chicago, and the term "South Side" is often used (mostly by North Siders) as a stand-in for "blighted neighborhood with lots of homeless people wandering around" when in reality there are tons of South Side neighborhoods, some I feel comfortable in and some I don't, and there are tons of North Side neighborhoods, too, some I feel comfortable in and some I don't.</p>
<p>Racially and socioeconomically, Hyde Park (where the University is) is a bit of an island to its immediate neighborhooods of Woodlawn and Washington Park/ Englewood. Hyde Park sounds small, but in reality it's pretty big (about 10 blocks north/south and 10 blocks east/west). When bonanza got off the El, I'm assuming he or she either got off the 63rd/Cottage Grove Green Line, which is in Woodlawn, or got off the Garfield stop at the Red Line in Englewood, for which there is a bus. He or she did not take the 6 bus, which goes from State Street and stops directly in Hyde Park, by the Museum of Science and Industry.</p>
<p>As far as general safety is concerned, it's a good idea to keep an eye out. The U of C (and I'm sure Hopkins, too) provides lots of shuttles and escorts so that you don't have to feel unsafe. And while a lot of U of C students feel safe enough to wander around late at night, the services are there for them.</p>
<p>The one way in which Hyde Park is either booming (or lacking, depending on how you look at it) is in college-geared retail. Lots of people complain that there are 5 different places to buy books, about 8 different places to buy coffee, but 0 places to buy pants. Hyde Park residents, to the ire of the University, has this wildly independent, sometimes hippie-ish, and anti-development nature. For me, I'd rather have my eclectic and independent little neighborhood than my Gap and my J.Crew. At home I live near one of the world's best shopping malls, for crying out loud. I've had enough Gap and J. Crew to last me a lifetime.</p>
<p>I'm FROM Chicago and attend Hopkins.</p>
<p>I'd say they're pretty comparable, actually. The campus itself is very safe for each, but too far off-campus and it gets pretty sketchy. muggings aren't uncommon at either place.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins Homewood Campus was ranked #1 in terms of campus safety according to Reader's Digest Magazine.</p>
<p>The administration has invested tremendous amounts of resources on improving campus safety. That ranges from hiring an independent security contract company to do patrols, to having bike patrollers visibly on literally every street corner, to security guards on segways, to state of the art high tech control cameras and 140 blue lights.</p>
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<p>The American Planning Association (APA) has named Charles Village as one of 10 "Great Neighborhoods in America" for 2008. Charles Village btw is the general area surrounding Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>Charles</a> Village named a top 10 neighborhood - News & Features</p>
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<p>Baltimore planned to invest $1 billion dollars on revitalizing the area just south of Charles Village</p>
<p>"The City of Baltimore has proposed a $1-billion plan to revitalize Charles North, the neighborhood north of Penn Station. </p>
<p>Within Charles North, the district just south of Charles Village, there are a number of arts venues frequented by students, such as the Charles Theatre and The Hexagon."</p>
<p>Charles</a> North set for revitalization - News & Features</p>
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<p>The City of Baltimore along with Hopkins and the EBDI has invested $2 billion dollars on renewal of Baltimore's East side, the area surrounding Johns Hopkins medical campus.</p>