I recently was admitted off the waitlist for Pomona. I’m extremely grateful to be in this position but it also presents a difficult choice. If anyone could give their opinion about both schools, I would really appreciate your suggestions!
Intended major: some combination of Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Linguistics, Philosophy
Pomona: Diversity; intimate feel and culture with the student body and professors while having resources/research of the large school (Claremont consortium); small classes and priority for undergrads; very good location/vibes and laid back (higher quality of life); strong academics in neuroscience, math etc; high endowment per student.
JHU: More recognition everywhere? (I might not want to stay on the west coast to work. personally, I don’t care about prestige but it is what some people consider); stronger alumni network; however the location is a minus, I really didn’t like Baltimore that much when I visited; a larger school with more opportunities and more qualified faculty (not sure how accessible they are considering profs are spread thin over their research and grad, postdoc students)? cut-throat from quite a few people I talked to? have one of the best natural language processing research center and a center for leadership education where I can do stuff like entrepreneurship. (I’m not sure whether I need to learn business or management as an undergrad; I can always learn this later)
Both schools cost about the same. So this is not a differentiating factor. I’m planning to do grad school and go into something in artificial intelligence, or work as a consultant in the field. Not quite sure. I think it’s important to note I’m Canadian so I might come to Toronto to do AI stuff at the Vectors Institute since Canada really wants to develop their tech industry.
Again I’m not 100% sure of my understandings; these are simply what I heard from talking to students, parents etc. I really value everyones opinion, and if any AOs wants to chime in that would be awesome.
Thanks again!
We’re somewhat biased. The tippy top students at my daughter’s boarding school go to Pomona and JHU is more for top students. It’s just amusing to me how quick we are to dis another school based on our school’s history. But you can’t go wrong at either. Growing up in Baltimore JHU was the epitome of smart. So go where you feel you can do your best work. It goes by fast.
(recent Hopkins alumni)
I’m just going to address some of the points you made. I come off quite pro-Hopkins here (which I generally am) but that’s more due to the points you’ve made than due to the schools themselves. You should do very well at both schools and there’s not really a wrong choice here. I am curious as to what you’re planning to study since you mention a few different departments here.
My comments:
Re Pomona
- Diversity
This is probably true, but Hopkins is also a relatively diverse place. The most recent freshman class has more Asian / Pacific Islander students than White students and the school itself is pretty balanced in terms of gender (51% female / 49% male). Students come from all walks of life with extremely diverse backgrounds, identities, and interests.
- intimate feel and culture with the student body and professors while having resources/research of the large school (Claremont consortium)
This is probably true though I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Hopkins has a much wider breadth of resources and connections.
- small classes and priority for undergrads
Pomona has a 8:1 faculty to undergrad ratio, Hopkins has a 10:1 ratio. The only "large" classes at Hopkins tend to be the lower level courses - most upper levels are quite small. Hopkins undergrads never compete with Grad students for seats - mixed grad/undergrad courses do exist, but they are coded under different sections and each section has a specific number of seats reserved such that undergrads only compete with other undergrads (for seats) and likewise for grad students. This also helps professors curve the course differently between undergrad and grad sections.
- very good location/vibes and laid back
Pasedina is definitely a quieter, more laid back area than Baltimore, but Pomona is going to be a tough school. Don't think that you'll be hanging out on the beach all that much.
- strong academics in neuroscience, math etc
Hopkins has among the best neuroscience and applied math programs in the world.
- High endowment per student
I'm not sure how endowments work or are allocated, but keep in mind that having a large endowment per student doesn't necessarily mean that more money is being spent per student. That money could be used for research, programming, building development, etc.
Re Hopkins
1 More recognition everywhere
The Hopkins “name brand” is better recognized nationally and intentionally than Pomona (who only West coast people and select others will know). Speaking as a California native I hadn’t heard of Pomona until I started applying to colleges whereas Hopkins (at least the hospital) was pretty well known.
2 Stronger alumni network
Our alumni network is huge and extremely diverse. I don’t know how it compares to that of Pomona but I would guess ours is more generally useful since Hopkins is such a large school and grads tend to spread out (as opposed to Pomona where I imagine most grads stay in California).
- Location
Baltimore is definitely an acquired taste and definitely very different from Pasedina. Baltimore is a big city with a lot of things to do and close to other big cities (1 hr from DC, 2 hrs from Philadelphia, and 4 hrs from New York City). There are also a lot of government jobs / government contractor jobs and research jobs in the area as well as great volunteer opportunities.
- Hopkins is a larger school with more opportunities
Hopkins is a large university that is extremely focused on research. Undergraduates (from all disciplines) are strongly encouraged to work in research labs and some majors (like Biology and Neuroscience) have a research requirement as part of the curriculum. Professors are generally used to this environment and are open to taking on undergraduate research assistants and Hopkins as an institution is putting together programs to make research even more open and accessible. Beyond research, Hopkins is very close to the DC-metro area which means there are a lot of job and internship opportunities at places like NASA, the NIH, senators offices, government contractors, think tanks, etc. Hopkins is also very close to New York City and Philadelphia and is relatively close to a major train station and airport. Furthermore, Baltimore is a great city for volunteer opportunities and activism and there are several student groups that will allow you to get involved in local volunteering, activism, etc.
- Hopkins faculty is more qualified?
I'm not sure if this is entirely true from an teaching standpoint. However, Hopkisn faculty are some of the best researchers in the world. You will be learning whatever it is you choose to learn from the people who made major discoveries in that field.
- Cut-throat?
Hopkins is not cut-throat. It is certainly competitive, but students are extremely collaborative and work under a "we're all in this together" mentality.
- Natural Language Processing center
Yes, Hopkins has arguably the best programs for Artificial Intelligence and NLP. Our CS faculty include Jared Eisner and Phillip Kohen who are both leaders in the field of NLP and Machine Translation. If that's the kind of field you want to go into, Hopkins is a great place to be - especially if you want to do research / go to grad school for NLP related things.
- Center for Leadership Education
Yes, Hopkins has a Center for Leadership Education which houses programs in Entrepreneurship and Management, Business, Finance, etc. I've only ever heard good things about this program.
I’m planning to study cs. With double major or minor in one of lingustics, philosophy or cog sci @saif235
In that case I would go with Hopkins. At the end of the day, Hopkins has one of the best Natural Language Processing centers in the world and you will have the opportunity to learn from people who have literally redefined the field. Beyond that, at Hopkins you will have the opportunity to take a much more holistic set of Computer Science courses than you would at Pomona. Pomona’s CS offerings are pretty standard. They do have upper level courses in AI, ML, and NLP, but most of their upper level course center around Computer Systems (Operating Systems, Databases, Networks) with one or two software / UI courses thrown in. Hopkins, on the other hand, has all the standard courses (AI, 3 separate ML classes, NLP, and all the systems classes) as well as courses in things like Machine Translation (taught by a guy who helped write Google Translate), Computational Genomics (taught by leaders in the field), Human Computer Interaction, Robotics, Blockchains, and Cryptography. At Hopkins you also have the opportunity to take graduate courses (if you have the requisite background) which greatly increase the opportunities for motivated students. Hopkins’ CS department is also growing rapidly and they’re adding new faculty and courses every semester.
Pomona CS course offerings: http://catalog.pomona.edu/preview_entity.php?catoid=24&ent_oid=1388&returnto=4880
Hopkins CS Course offerings: (fall) https://www.cs.jhu.edu/fall18/ (spring) https://www.cs.jhu.edu/spring18/index.html
From what I can see, Hopkins will provide you a much more holistic computer science education and, from what I can see, Hopkins’ curriculum will make it easier for you to complete a double major if you choose to do so (of course whether or not you should double major is a completely different issue). If I were in your shoes, I would go with Hopkins.
One thing to note is that Hopkins doesn’t have a linguistics major, but you can do a cog-sci double major and concentrate in linguistics or do a linguistics minor.