Johns Hopkins vs. William & Mary

Hi, I am trying to make a decision on which college I should attend, and I am struggling a lot with the decision. I want to major in Archaeology for sure and possibly also major in Biology. A am very split right now between Johns Hopkins and William & Mary. I went to both schools’ revisit days, both are similar in size, and both would cost about the same for me. Any advice? May 1st is fast approaching and I am at a loss for what to do!

I can’t tell you too much about their archaeology programs. I think they are both strong in biology.

Johns Hopkins is rated higher in USNews if that matters. Although they are similar size, my impression is Hopkins has comparatively more focus on graduate study vs undergraduate study. If you look at the web site Niche, under Academics, you can see that W&M professors receive consistently higher ratings from students for being passionate, engaging, approachable, helpful, and putting in lots of effort.

They are both good choices. Good luck.

Both great school. You can achieve your goals at either. I agree that William and Mary has more of an undergrad teaching focus. They are in very different locations. Where do you feel more comfortable, Williamsburg or Baltimore? For me, anyway, that would be an important factor if my two choices were so different physically. Good luck!

I do not know anything about JHU, but I can attest that W&M has really helpful professors.

I am forever grateful to the professor in Calc II. He tirelessly gave me more than his office hours every day for 6 weeks to let me catch up Calc I knowledge to get an A in Calc II. I have never took Calculus before and for whatever stupid reason, I took a summer Calc II course in W&M and I was just a visiting student.

They’re both great so I dont think you cant go wrong with either. Idk too much about W&M but Ik that you will be surrounded by research opportunities if you go to JHU. If that’s something you want to do, I’d def look into it, especially in archaeology and bio. JHU is also known for its bio programs and you can get a lot of great connections there. They’re both good however, so I think it should come down to which one you feel better at.

The overall feel of each of these campuses is very different. JHU is in a very urban area while W&M is in a smaller city environment. I also have a friend who works as an archeologist in Williamsburg so there are obviously job opportunities in the area. Both are excellent schools, so consider fit while choosing. Baltimore is not for everyone, though my D goes to school in Baltimore and loves it. She is a city girl. Yours is a very positive dilemma to have; you can’t go wrong.