Northwestern vs JHU

<p>hey i was recently accepted to both colleges
i want to eventually become a doctor someday so i'll be studying premed with a major in biological sciences or maybe economics.
my question is; which school is better for premed? i know jhu is better know for premed but i hear it's really cutthroat because every smart guy there is premed. on the other hand, nu offers good premed and has a nice social scene.
also, which school is more prestigious (i know it sounds shallow but it's really important to me, please)</p>

<p>JHU is definitely not cut-throat. Pre-Med at both schools is probably equally cut-throat. Don’t let anyone on this board convince you otherwise (because 80% of them haven’t even stepped foot on Hopkins’ campus). </p>

<p>The social scene, however, is different. At NU, the greek scene is very big, and there are frat-parties often. If Greek is not really your thing, you might opt for Hopkins which has only half as many participants in the Greek Life.</p>

<p>The campuses are different too. Hopkins is very traditional college with big quads, grassy area, and uniform red-brick-and-white-marble-georgian, while NU is more ecletic with everything from the beautiful gothic dorms to the ugly brutalist part of the library, and not as many stereotypical Hopkins’-esque quads. </p>

<p>Food at either school is nothing to brag about. Hopkins’ undergrad pop is a little smaller than NU’s undergrad pop, which might be a plus or minus for you depending on what size school you want.</p>

<p>In terms of prestige, a pre-medical education at JHU is unrivaled. Maybe if you studied journalism, NU would get you more “WoWs”, but for pre-med, JHU is definitely the more prestigious of the two. </p>

<p>I am also aware that there are more research options at JHU than at NU. More than 80% (statistically) of the Hopkins undergrad pop completes at least one research endeavor during the time that they are undergrads. Hopkins also awards research money every year to select students with good research ideas, with each award totaling around $3k, not to mention the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Award of $10k for independent research. </p>

<p>In terms of faculty caliber and renown, they are probably on equal footing, though the medical school access to Hopkins is definitely unparalleled. </p>

<p>Overall however, these are two very superb universities. You can’t go wrong with either.</p>

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<p>I’m not familiar with JHU, but I’d like to point out that NU has a lot of research opportunities available to students as well:</p>

<p>[Undergraduate</a> Research Grants, Northwestern University](<a href=“Office of Undergraduate Research |”>Office of Undergraduate Research |)
[Funds</a> for Undergraduate Research, Honors, Awards, & Fellowships, Undergraduate Students, WCAS, Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/advising/honors/funding/index.html]Funds”>http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/advising/honors/funding/index.html)</p>

<p>“Better known for premed.” Ughhh. Sorry. Hear this over and over again. Why does this misconception refuse to die. Fallacy of determining pre-med school based on affiliated med school. Totally, totally disconnected issues. Mistake made by legions of HS students applying to college. Personally, I’d work hard to avoid ANY campus where pre-meds dominate if I were pre-med (as indeed I once was). </p>

<p>Forget the “better” question. Neither of these schools is “better” in and of itself for pre-professional preparation of any kind. Go to the place where you think you’ll better enjoy these next four years.</p>

<p>ok so i have concluded that northwestern premed is not that much different from johns hopkins premed. the real question is; how are the medical school placement percentages of both schools? do students from northwestern get into similar medical schools as students from johns hopkins?</p>

<p>For academic prestige, the USNWR Peer Review is the best indicator where Hopkins is slightly over Northwestern. However, I would like to point out that a 0.2 or 0.3 difference (whatever it is right now) in peer review usually just means that people view the schools similarly.</p>

<p>seriously, go visit. They are so similar on paper, but in person, they are very very different.</p>