<p>I was wondering "what the deal is" with Johns Hopkins. My HS is college obsessed and sends usually half a dozen kids or more to Ivies each year and a dozen more to Top 20's, but no one I know of goes to Johns Hopkins. Maybe this is just my school, but I find it strange I never hear anything about it. For such a high ranked school it seems to be rather inconspicuous, any one else feel the same way?</p>
<p>its quite the opposite in my school..Hopkins is regarded very highly...I guess the area is a turnoff..Baltimore area is pretty rough</p>
<p>like iam said. hopkins is regarded highly where i am, but most people don't really want to go there because of the location. it's too rough for the people i'm around. hahahaha.</p>
<p>Hopkins is very highly regarded around here (I'm from Baltimore). I personally don't think the area around jhu is bad at all, i actually work right around there and i think its a great place. It is true, however, that walking in the wrong direction for a good 10 minutes can take you to parts of the city that you don't want to be in.</p>
<p>I heard it jokingly called Bulletmore, Murderland by one resident. It's a good school and I think of far worse areas to attend college however.</p>
<p>Baltimore is not so safe in general (and not so pretty), at least from what I've heard and seen, doesn't change the fact that it's a good school, but location is a very large deciding factor at least for me...I would NOT want to go to school in the backcountry or go to school in a ghetto, just me.</p>
<p>Taken from wikipedia regarding Baltimore crime stats..."CNN/Morgan Quitno "Most Dangerous City" Rankings (2007) ranks Baltimore as the 12th most dangerous American city.[11] Baltimore is second only to Detroit among cities with a population over 500,000.[12]"</p>
<p>That makes sense considering the people in my town would most likely be scared of a rough neighborhood like that, although UPenn and West Phillly are probably just as bad as Baltimore.</p>
<p>As i said, it has a very split personality. Most people are very impressed by the harbor area, its a very nice and safe place. However, crime rates in several areas are astronomically high. The public schools in Baltimore city have the 3rd worst graduation rate in the country, and it results in a heavy population living rough lives on the streets.</p>
<p>I go to school in Cleveland, which is also known for having some rough areas. However, the school is very campus oriented, so it is generally not an issue. I think my school is similar to JHU in this respect, so i wouldn't dismiss an excellent school until you visit it for yourself.</p>
<p>In my area (Michigan) students wanting to enter medicine usually had JHU on their list. So, I'm not sure why JHU goes undetected on your school's "college radar" but one thing to think about is that many students reject JHU's acceptance (as shown by their ~30% matriculation rate) so maybe people from your school have been accepted but just don't matriculate for various reasons.</p>
<p>Other than this, I think Baltimore isn't a horrible city. When I was accepted to JHU I went in with the preconceived notion that I was going to be going to be in a dangerous town. But in the end I found Baltimore very nice, the area around JHU is very safe and some of the nearby houses are amazingly beautiful. If you go a little further, you go towards the Inner Harbor which is also a great area. So, I didn't really encounter the dangerous Baltimore that had been so avidly described on CC, I think that some of these descriptions are written by people who have very little experience in an urban environment so their perceptions of places like Baltimore tend to be a bit more extreme.</p>
<p>My brother's going to JHU next year. The campus is absolutely beautiful, and they have really good academic programs, esp. Poli Sci, engineering and premed (they've got their own hospital...), and you can cross register at some musical institute in Baltimore. My parents weren't too thrilled at first about Baltimore, but having visited I can say that when you're on the JHU campus you're pretty isolated from Baltimore, and the parts around the campus aren't that bad. Also, the dorms look like they have mondo security, and that always helps :-P
In my experience, Hopkins has always been highly regarded. Everyone my brother tells has heard of the school and thinks highly of it...even if they do have the annoying habit of calling it John Hopkins instead of Johns Hopkins (yes, there is an s at the end of Johns. That was really some guy's name.)
In my opinion, Hopkins is an excellent school. I'd probably apply if my brother weren't going there...</p>
<p>It actually has a beautiful campus and is in a great area of Baltimore - Charles Village I think. </p>
<p>and here is a map of the campus and surrounding area I found:</p>
<p>I'd put it in the same realm as Penn really. It's in an urban center but a safe place for students.</p>
<p>As a JHU students, Charles Village is a very nice area, and becoming much nicer as time goes on. I'm actually from Philadelphia, and would say that Penn's West Phila is a worse neighborhood than Charles Village--not to say that Charles Village is perfect. </p>
<p>Also, the map Wealthofinformation posted is really old, as in Pre-2000. But it's cool because it's in 3D. The parking lot in the upper left is a brand new quad with a new admissions building and 2 research buildings. One (clark, on the north side) has been open for a while. The other 2 buildings will open this fall. Across the street, there is the new Charles Commons with nice housing and a new book store and a new dining hall. Also, there is a lot of new construction of high-end condos and apartments--it's becoming quite gentrified. </p>
<p>Here's a newer map; if you scroll down, you can click on the names of buildings/areas to see them: <a href="http://www.jhu.edu/%7Etour/map.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.jhu.edu/~tour/map.html</a></p>
<p>EDIT: the new quad is "Decker Quadrangle"</p>
<p>In terms of "what the deal is" with JHU, I think the sole fact that it's a) not an Ivy wrongfully hinders its nationwide reputation, and b) that it's seen as only a school for pre-meds and engineers, when in reality they have great programs across the board (including a top-notch creative writing program!)</p>
<p>I visited JHU and, with the exception of the campus dining area, was really excited by what I saw. Crime didn't bother me (considering I now attend a school in a reputedly "not good" neighborhood)-- you can always stay safe by avoiding walking alone, etc., but you can't make a college that's not right for you into a college that is, and you can't make a rural area an urban area.</p>
<p>Hopkins does not have a colorful image. That is a problem in addition to the location being a problem for many. People who want a top private school apply, but often decide to go elsewhere. As a student, I knew about it, and it was on my list, but U Chicago, Barnard, and Rice just sounded better-more interesting. Most people can't say much about Hopkins except that they are good in Lacrosse (and premed). People from the area nearly always prefer U Maryland College Park, for cost, location, and social reasons.</p>
<p>
[quote]
and you can cross register at some musical institute in Baltimore
[/quote]
The Peabody Institute, it's really good. </p>
<p>I would agree, as a Baltimorian, that the area around Hopkins is REALLY cute (definitely not the ghetto jonathan06!). But there are incidents of crime on campus, and while Baltimore is actually a charming city if you know where to look, many people applying from OOS don't know that.</p>
<p>The other problem with Hopkins cutthroat competition and very little support for undergrads from the bureaucracy. It's a sink or swim school, and I would imagine a lot of people who could get into Hopkins could also get in somewhere else very good that's less competitive, and many would chose that option. (That said, it is a fantastic school, and if one manages to survive their pre-med program with top grades, they are pretty much set for med school).</p>
<p>The history of JHU may play a role in this. I believe it was founded as the first university in the US structured on the European model with the emphasis on the graduate schools. Since that time it has always had a reputation as being first and foremost a great graduate school. Whether true or not lots of folks believe that the undergraduate program gets little attention and therefore do not recommend JHU to students applying at the undergrad level.</p>
<p>curious14, the emphasis wasn't even necessarily placed on graduate teaching but rather research--it is America's first (an arguably most prolific) research university.Also, there aren't many graduate students, compared to research universities of the same size. There are only a little over 1000 at the Homewood campus. However, the undergraduate education does not lag behind the graduates, and, because many of the professors 1) are well known in their field, 2) have attended the best schools in their field and 3) have done research with people from other schools in their field, I have seen undergraduates basically "willed in" to a graduate program of their choice. So while the research and graduate school can sometimes be a drag for students, the broad sway of Hopkins will usually work in one's benefit.</p>
<p>I don't disagree with coolguy, but the point is that there is an impression in some quarters that JHU has a research/graduate focus that works to the detriment of undergrads. This might explain why your HS does not encourage students to go there.</p>
<p>Weskid...In fact, Hopkins provides tremendous support for its undergrads, and a phenomenal education. Having educated children at Vassar, Cornell, and Hopkins, I can tell you that, among them, Hopkins is absolutely the most supportive and welcoming. My son chose Hopkins over Cornell, and is so thrilled with his experience, as demonstrated by his turning down an opportunity to transfer to Dartmouth at the end of freshman year.</p>
<p>Also, I don't know if "cut-throat" is a valid adjective. Hopkins is quite competitive, but if a student does his work, he will be better than fine. Believe me, there is plenty of time for lots of fun. My son is an active member of a fraternity, and an athlete, as well. While it is true that he had outstanding SAT scores, and came from an extremely competitive high school where he was used to demanding work, it has not been difficult for him to strike a nice balance between work and fun. If Hopkins were as "cut-throat" as rumors perpetuate, he would not be able to have the high GPA he has been maintaining, with his busy schedule. Please don't listen to rumors, and judge the information you get based on where it emanates.</p>
<p>OneMom...Isn't that interesting? To me, Barnard and Rice pale in comparison to Hopkins. As a New Yorker, Barnard always seemed so blah and boring to me. As for Rice, for me, it has only recently appeared on the horizon of outstanding schools to consider. I must admit, its location does not appeal to me. On the other hand, I love Baltimore. Oh, yes. It has its problems, which do make me worry. But, again, as a New Yorker, I have a perspective that is probably different from people from out-of-town. Even though our crime rate has dropped tremendously, we still have enough of it to keep us on our toes. I live in a beautiful, quiet, private area of the city, that rarely has crime, yet a few days ago, right around the corner from my house, a man dressed as a UPS delivery person "pushed-in" to a neighbor's home, when she opened her door to ostensibly accept a delivery package. She was severely hurt, but I won't go into details, here. A few days later, three men dressed as police officers, did the same thing in another quiet New York Neighborhood. Last year, a beloved grocer was shot to death by a band of teenaged robbers...three blocks from my home...again, in a very comfortable, "upscale" section of the city, leaving the neighborhood stunned and reeling.
The point is, that while Baltimore certainly has its problems, it keeps getting knocked for its bad, and not much of its good...which really is considerable. If you, or your child, is going to school in a city, with a city's problems there will always be a concern. But this goes for all cities...NY, Philly, Boston, New Haven, etc. There is really no safe haven, no panacea, although we all wish that this could be the case.
By the way...Hopkins respects its kids enough to provide phenomenal security. Other schools should look to them as a model.</p>