I was wondering what the social scene and school spirit (sports) is like at Hopkins. I definitely want to rush. What is greek life like? The only thing holding me back is that I wouldn’t have enough fun at Hopkins and the work is too hard and there is too much of it. I wouldn’t be pre med (prob econ). Can anyone talk about the econ dept? Thanks
The frat scene is very active on campus, with a large number of students choosing to pledge. What is great about Greek life on campus is that it is pretty inclusive, even of non-members. My roommate pledged a sorority for example and took me to all of her date parties/mixers and there were all so fun! Frats/sororities host a number of events during the semester from barbecues in their backyards and mixers at fun dance clubs in fells point to volunteer activities around the city. IMO, Greek life at Hopkins offers a great way to meet ppl and keep an active social life.
The social scene at JHU is very work hard play hard. That being said, there were many weekends, I could take off to explore Baltimore and neighboring DC. There were also several nights I binged watched Netflix with friends (hah). Ultimately, there is a great mix of serious study and social life! Hope this helps
Students go into DC very often, you have a commuter train, MARC, that goes from Baltimore Penn Station to DC Penn Station for about $8. You can also take Amtrak or of course find a friend with a car. Baltimore Also has a lot to offer from shopping to sight seeing that many students end up staying local on the weekends.
School spirit 20 years ago wasn’t as strong as it is now. Today, school spirit has a major presence on campus, mostly because Hopkins lacrosse joined the Big Ten conference, many stores and restaurants opened up on campus, and it helps that Hopkins becoming a top 10 school. Overall though the school is doing a better job offering opportunities to get involved on campus and helping students establish a better work life balance.
In turns of competitiveness, Hopkins has a reputation for being a challenging place. That reputation is both true and false. It is true that Hopkins offers a very challenging and rewarding curriculum, and it is also true that students are very ambitious and want to succeed. However, from my experience, students are also collaborative and no one actually sabotoges other students. I majored in econ and IS and can say that problem sets are very collaborative and preparing for tests is also often done in groups. As a side note, it was really cool to take classes with professors who worked in the IMF, World Bank, private sector, etc… Many had very high positions.
Hope this helps!
In terms of the game today, it’s midterms period for a lot of students, myself included, which may account for the numbers. I know the game later this month (April 15) will be huge because it’s alumni weekend! I went last year and it was such a fun experience!
Thanks @ugcllg . As an econ major, do many grads go straight to wall street? I know recruiting isn’t as big as a school like Harvard/Yale/Princeton, but are there still a lot of opportunities?
Also how much work would you say econ majors have? Is it more/less than others?
Hmm, I’d say as one of the top schools Hopkins grads are pretty sought after, but probably not as much as a Harvard grad. I have friends in the major who interned at GS, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, etc… If you are proactive about the internship and job search and indicate this early to career services, than you can absolutely land on wall street after graduation. These firms also come to campus pretty frequently during the semester. Another heavily recruited job on campus is consulting, many students go into this field as well. I personally spent my internships at various law firms as I was prepping for grad school. You might want to consider pairing your econ major with the finance minor (don’t know it’s exact title)
I found the econ classes at Hopkins to be very challenging! Intermediate micro and macro are particularly challenging. But hey, if u want the edge up in the job place, you have to challenge yourself!