<p>hey. i'm currently an undergrad at hopkins, and thought i'd start a thread for current hopkins students to answer (or attempt to answer) any questions that prospective students have, since the college admissions decisions are all coming in now. (my friend who is a senior just got her decision today; she's accepted! yay! :).)<br>
i'm guessing you probably have a lot more questions now that you have a more definite list of colleges to pick from - at least, i did when i was at this stage of the college application process.<br>
so, yeah. for those of you who have been accepted, congrats! are you going to be visiting soon?</p>
<p>so...being a student at hopkins, i guess you can give me some real answer, instead of just "rumors" about hopkins. is the whole "Cutthroat" business and extreme competition at hopkins true? how are the professors? how involved with the students are they?</p>
<p>social life, as many details about social life as possible please...</p>
<p>Take advantage of orientation and explore the frat parties because they will be awesome in the beginning of the year. If you plan on drinking and can get your hands on an ID now I would advise it because they are kinda hard to find nowadays. Eventually the frats will get old, but if you are resourceful there is usually something to do.</p>
<p>re cutthroat business + competition: it really depends on the individual, i think. most of my friends don't think it's cutthroat, although there are some that do. (then again i have friends that love this school, and friends who are seriously thinking of transferring out.) one of my friends is throwing a DiffEq party at the moment, haha. some people say that grading is tough, but that also depends on the kind of background you have. i have a friend who topped Orgo last semester (combination of brains and hard work i think), and a friend who's getting a 2.something gpa. if you have a good bunch of friends, you will most likely not go wrong, because they'll be there to support you and help you with homework, etc. the general atmosphere can get kinda depressing, but that makes it all the more important for you to find a group of friends who will really stick by you. </p>
<p>re professors: some don't care, and some really really do. personally, the majority of my professors have been really nice and always willing to help/talk during office hours (but of course you have to take the initiative to see them during office hours and get to know them! if you just attend lectures like a robot and do nothing more than walk into a lecture theatre, sit there for an hour, and then walk out of it - then it's hard for anyone to help you, i think. although, i was kinda doing that for one of my classes, and the professor still bothered to talk to me when he handed back our midterm papers!) opportunities for working in labs & doing research etc abound here; sometimes it's just a simple matter of emailing a professor and telling him you're interested. so that is really great too. and my TAs have been great too, on the whole. they're usually more than willing to help you or talk to you, etc. ("usually" being the keyword, since i can think of at least one TA who wasn't that great, but oh well.)</p>
<p>re social life: pro-JHU people say "your social life is what you make of it, it is up to YOU to take advantage of all that JHU has to offer you, and it IS possible to have a good social life if you really seek it out." anti-JHU people say "yeah, but compared to other colleges, it's a lot harder to seek out a good social life at JHU even though a good social life is technically possible" semi-pro-semi-anti-JHU people also come up with the answer "hey, you chose to come to hopkins, you should've known there's no social life here, so suck it up! at least your JHU degree will ensure future career success! it's not THAT bad!"
in a way this really depends on what you want as an individual; what you want out of your college experience, and what sort of social life you want. some people are very content having small groups of friends, living together and studying together, and don't feel the need to party aggressively etc. others feel like their social life is only complete with a lot of activities like partying drinking frequent shopping etc etc.</p>
<p>i don't know whether other current students will agree with me, but anyway, it will be good to hear other opinions from them if they read this. :)</p>
<p>o0o...wow thanks alot for that explanation, sangria. its true that yours is one opionion out of many, but i appreciate the fact that you tried to give your answer from many different points of view, not just yours. I agree that it really depends on the individual, there really is no one specific answer to what a whole entire university of thousands of people is like. THANK YOU, and also, thanks for mentioning that research opportunities are abundant at hopkins :) i really appreciate your effort as well as your time
(i wasnt sure if anyone was going to thank you for your answers, some people tend to just worry about themselves and forget about other people's efforts-so i took the initiative to thank you)</p>
<p>it actually sounds like high school...in a way. there's competition, sometimes there isnt. some teachers are butts, some arent, etc. can you say that?</p>
<p>im perfectly happy just going out and watching a movie every now and then or playing a good video game or so. are there other things to do in town besides party? any local bowling alleys or malls and what not? small local theaters?</p>
<p>haha. or i could just have nguyent over here take me out and get some pho!</p>
<p>awesome! i agree social life is what you make of it. I'm pretty sure no one is going to JHU because they think its a #1 party school.</p>
<p>i like to have a mix of work and play. </p>
<p>How hard is to switch majors? i posted it on another thread i created but since this is a Q&A session w/ a current undergrad, i figure i'd throw it at u (not literally :))</p>
<p>i'm thinking maybe switching from comp engineering to BME or Biomolecular engineering or maybe dropping engineering altogether and going to biochemistry. i really didnt plan on medical field but now i'm serious considering a change. wuts ur take?</p>
<p>oh dawgquelle, my mom's accountant's daughter (and I'm my own grandpa) is going to JHU right now. From what the accountant told me, her daughter switched from Neuroscience to BME her first day there -textbooks and all since she had already purchased them.</p>
<p>wow thats amazing and great to hear. im glad i ordered my hopkins sweatshirt.. :)</p>
<p>hmm this social life thing is getting me thinking. aside from drunk parties and such, is it easy to make new friends? i try to talk to new people and all, it's just that i'm not as outgoing as i should be. i can't just walk into a room and all of a sudden everyone there i my friend. so what i'm wondering is.. in general do people at jhu take the initiative to talk to and try to befriend new people? will it be impossible for me to make friends since i'm not super outgoing?</p>
<p>JHU - Better as a Undergrad, Grad school or both? </p>
<p>Hey.... i was just wondering.... id JHU better as an UG or G school? I've read on some forums that the Grad programs are better and that less attention is given to ug's as compared to other top schools? Ne comment? Sangria?</p>
<p>soymilk, if u really want some REAL pho (not the ones that taste like vomit) then the closest place is my house, ahha my mommys pho is better than most stores, if not, we'd have to drive at least 45 minutes bro. but ur always welcome, and if i must, i shall make some for you myself- of course...it'll be my first time and u'll be my first victim :)</p>
<p>spiked soymilke: "it actually sounds like high school...in a way. there's competition, sometimes there isnt. some teachers are butts, some arent, etc. can you say that?"
umm... not really. i'd say that academically, it can be very strenuous. some people cope with it a lot better because they're accustomed to working very very hard etc. some people take a lot of time to get adjusted (if they ever do). either way, there is a lot of work involved if you're doing the hard sciences. basically i'd say that jhu is a lot more intense than high school, generally. (and if you're from a very intense high school, then, well, jhu's intense too.)</p>
<p>there are local malls etc, and some quaint places to shop and eat, but transportation can be a bit of a problem/hassle, esp. if the place you want to go to isn't within a 1 mile radius of campus. parking isn't that easy to come by, cabs are an option if you're willing to spend the $$$, walking is generally a very bad idea (not that safe) - but recently they've started having weekend shuttles to inner harbor, so that's a real improvement i think. </p>
<p>dawgquelle: "How hard is to switch majors?" "i'm thinking maybe switching from comp engineering to BME or Biomolecular engineering or maybe dropping engineering altogether and going to biochemistry. i really didnt plan on medical field but now i'm serious considering a change. wuts ur take?"</p>
<p>generally, easy to switch into anything except BME. you'd need to apply to switch into it for your sophomore year; the application's due somewhere during your freshman second semester. hmm i recently got an email from the administration about this, but can't remember where i filed it... i'll post it up here if i eventually find it, but that's the gist of how things work anyway. everyone not BME is technically called a "pre-major" during their freshman year, anyway. so there is a lot of flexibility (excepting the BME major). i haven't heard of any instance like the one spiked soymilk cites (about someone switching into BME her first day there); generally that doesn't happen to my knowledge. </p>
<p>charmedone: "aside from drunk parties and such, is it easy to make new friends?"</p>
<p>it's really easy to make new friends during your first semester at hopkins i think. after that it might get a bit harder, since things stop being pass/fail, people start working harder, the weather gets less cheery, and people's social circles have more or less formed more definitely. it's not impossible to make good friends after your first semester, though - just harder. </p>
<p>collegedevil: "JHU - Better as a Undergrad, Grad school or both?"
well, JHU's grad programs (esp the sciences) are very good. when people say less attention is given to undergrads at JHU, it really depends on how you look at it. because undergrads at JHU have a lot of opportunities to take grad-level courses, or upperclassmen+grad-students courses - and even work on projects with grad students. 3 of the courses i'm in at the moment have grad students in them. i really like learning with grad students; they bring a lot of different (and more mature/well-informed) perspectives to things.<br>
that said, there are some aspects of JHU's undergrad program that could be a lot better, as compared to other schools' undergrad programs. but this also -really- depends on what you study at JHU. the econ department here isn't very good (understatement). comopared to other top 25 schools, there really isn't much attention given to undergrads taking econ courses. some non-science departments are very underfunded (IMHO). the BMEs have a LOT of attention given to them, though - they are really the cream of the school in many ways, and treated as such :) for the disciplines that aren't given as much attention (they are usually non-science disciplines, but -not all- non-science disciplines - for example, political science is pretty good here, i think), it is really up to you to carve out opportunities for yourself (like seek out professors and ask them whether you can do a research project etc, since in some departments like the sociology department, they don't officially offer research opportunities).<br>
another example: my friend who is an italian major complains that the opportunity to take grad-school classes doesn't really apply to him, because those classes are usually too difficult for him (such that he doesn't see himself attempting them until he becomes a senior).</p>
<p>so, it doesn't really help to classify JHU as "better at undergrad" or "better at grad", etc. it really depends on what you want to study and focus on. also, the general advice to wouldbe pre-meds is that it would be good to consider other schools if you want to go to med school, especially if you are BME and pre-med. JHU undergrad life sciences majors are good at getting you into a good grad school, but not necessarily a good med school (or even a med school, at that). many BMEs say that BME is not very helpful for med school admissions, but extremely helpful for grad school admissions. so that's another thing to think about. also, there are some wouldbe pre-meds who don't even end up applying to med school, because they've dropped out of the game somewhere during the JHU undergrad years (i.e. decided the pre-med courses at JHU were too tough / not for them / etc).</p>
<p>sangria, do you know anyone who plays a sport at jhu, particularly cross country or track? would i have enough time to do this and still keep up with my studies, with a major in mech. engineering?</p>
<p>Sangria, further to my earlier post, JHU professors seem to have a reputation of focussing more on Grad students than undergrad. How far is this true? Do undergrads get the same attention as in other top schools? What about the Biomolecular Engg program? Do professors in the BioMol Engg program focus on students as much as in the BME? I couldn't get BME....</p>
<p>sangria, thanks for the feedback. do you know of any pre-med SUCCESS stories? what kind of opportunities does jhu offer for pre-meds? any majors to recommend (i like neuroscience, public health, and biophysics so far)?</p>
<p>and about the transfer into BME, crazy but true! however, i do imagine it must be a rare case (maybe her counselor helped her?) but she is an incredible gal, in my eyes. :)</p>
<p>have fun at JHU you guys!! I hope everyone the best!</p>
<p>THANK YOU very much for spending the time with us</p>
<p>Sangria: How many people drop out of the program or transfer? in what year, generally? and where do they transfer?
What is percentage of girls?</p>