<p>I know that Johns Hopkins is very lenient on allowing undergraduates to start doing research at their institutions, hospital and medical school as early as freshman year.</p>
<p>I have heard from a Neuroscience Hopkins alumnus that it is very hard to work in a lab of Solomon Snyder who had founded the neuroscience department at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine... And if you work in his lab and get a good recommendation letter, you are almost a shoo in to Hopkins and Harvard med schools.</p>
<p>In fact, I took a look at the profiles of his former lab members who are all currently directors, CEOs and professors at hopkins, harvard and other top medical schools , and pharmaceutical companies.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that plenty of people get into JHU and Harvard without working with Snyder. Maybe you can take a shot at that as well.</p>
<p>All of your posts have been directed towards finding some backdoor to becoming a Johns Hopkins trained neurosurgeon. I hate to break it to you: but it depends more on your ability and work ethic than on riding the coattails of a famous name or finding a super secret early admission feeder program.</p>
<p>This question is probably better suited for the jh forum. Also, I assure you that working in his lab does not guarantee you a spot at jh anymore than working with paul farmer or Eric kandel gaurantees a spot at harvard or Columbia respectively. The sooner that you get the fact that there is NO EASY PATH into jh the happier you will be!</p>
<p>Tangent to this specific thread but it is related to medicine related research:</p>
<p>DS is likely doing some research in Maine this coming summer. I only heard it is related to medicine but do not know any details. Does anybody know any medicine related research center in that nice summer destination?</p>
<p>From a parent’s perspective, I would rather he goes there instead of where JHU is at. (a safety concern on a daily life.) But DS has never had any inspiration on being in any super hot specialty, ROAD or ortho, etc. He just wants to be a competent doctor in any field, likely with the exception of FP. (His current goal is IM. He once said being a neurologist seems “nice”)</p>
<p>I’m probably going to spend the summer in Chicago. I would get bored very quickly without a nearby BIG city :)</p>
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<p>OMG, there is nothing that bad about “where JHU is at”. Big cities are much safer today than what you remember. Your son would probably be in more danger in Maine from TICKS :(</p>
<p>Baltimore can’t be all that bad, right? RIGHT? </p>
<p>Live in a nice area, take the shuttle to campus, and leave at the end of the day. But JHMI does get my vote for scariest area immediately surrounding a campus.</p>
<p>LOL, right! By “JHMI” do you mean Homewood or the Hospital downtown? Hey, JHMI includes Howard County General which is in the middle of a suburban wonderland. But you are right about there being ways to avoid any area you don’t find “appealing”. There is even a Metro station right there in the hospital complex. So you could use that to go downtown.</p>
<p>Regarding the locations, our family (especially the parents, not the student) may be somewhat over-sensitive to this safety issue.</p>
<p>What is Portland in Maine like? Nothing like the city with the same name on the other coast: Portland Oregon? I have always been amused by the fact that, at the airport, I often see two destinations called Portland: Portland OR and Portland ME. (I am quite familiar with Portland Oregon but know nothing about Portland in Maine. The only thing I know about Maine is that L.L. Bean, from which we can mail-order winter coat/gears, is there.)</p>
<p>lol this is a question of the chicken and the egg and which came first. In other words, were the people that got into his lab smart to begin with or were they dumb and became geniuses under his supervision and instruction? I highly doubt the latter. Thus, the former has to be true. The only way you know if you’re smart enough is to apply. SO JUST APPLY. If you don’t get in, then you’re prolly not cut out for it and you can live with that fact and eventually take time to accept it lol</p>
<p>while you’re right, working in a good lab does not automatically make one a good scientist, it is wrong to imply that a mentor cannot play a huge role in developing one’s skills and thinking.</p>
<p>And yes neuroyale, having a recommendation from a world-renowned scientist saying “this kid is the smartest kid i’ve ever seen” is going to go a long way, but in a lab that consistently turns out brilliant people (while turning out probably far more not so brilliant people), it’s going to be very hard to get a letter that says “this kid is the smartest kid i’ve ever seen.” Where it gets really tricky is (and unanswerable), which letter is better, a nobel laureate’s warm but not stellar recommendation, or a lesser known professor at your still incredibly well known school writing you a glowing, intensely positive recommendation?</p>