This discussion was created from comments split from: Nervous Jitters from CA mom.
How did your student find jhu to be? Was it tough to get good grades? Did s/he get a job from on campus recruiting?
(Current student)
Academically speaking JHU is a high pressure environment. However this pressure is as much self imposed as it is external. Just about every student was at the top of their high school class - and many have prestigious post-graduation plans - so there’s a general pressure to do well. Professors also aren’t lenient with grading which only adds to the pressure - you can’t just be an “ok” student to do well in a class.
Despite this pressure Hopkins does not have a “cutthroat” environment. Students operate on a “we’re all in this together” mentality and often work in groups to study or work on difficult problem sets. This is most common in the engineering school where professors generally encourage collaboration on problem sets. The school also offers resources such as PILOT , Learning Den, Study Consultants, various help rooms, etc to help students academically.
The average GPA is somewhere around a 3.1-3.3 (working off of this greek life report http://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/FSL/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2015/07/Grade-Report-Spring-2015.pdf). I’ve found that if you’re willing to put in the effort getting As is doable, however that varies from person to person. I know students who are able to maintain a 3.7+ while fulfilling demanding on campus roles, playing varsity sports, and/or maintaining an active social life. Others struggle to maintain a 3.0 with little to no extracurriculars. It really depends on the student.
I don’t have any hard data for this, but I’ve found the campus career office to be pretty good. I personally have gotten internship interviews through career services events and Handshake job listings. Hopkins students tend to be self motivated though and I know many who’ve found internships and jobs without the career center.