<p>My daughter is very seriously thinking about applying early to JHU as it is the #1 on her list. She felt in love with the school when we visited it in March. She is interested in neuroscience/pre-med. I am interested in better understanding what the student life is outside of classroom /study as I want to be sure the school is a good fit for her. She takes her study and research seriously but she is also a very social, engaged, lively person, heavily into school spirit type of things. I am not particularly looking for parties and such, but want to ensure there are students there who don't spend their time studying all day as she is not one who will be happy spending all day in the library or her dorm room studying. I am wondering if JHU is the right environment for her type of personality. If any JHU students or parents of JHU students can comment on your experience, I would very much appreciate it. I checked out the Hopkins Interactive forum that AdmissionsDaniel pointed out in other posts, but I want to get additional perspectives here. Thanks again</p>
<p>All the myths are precisely that, myths. Any student will tell you that there is a very active social scene. There is plenty of life outside of campus. Students frequently go into Towson and Baltimore over the weekends and during the week, there are bound to be parties. So to answer your question, your daughter will not be spending 12 hours/day studying and doing work, and she will have a social life.</p>
<p>sometimes my housemates and i grill stuff in our backyard and hang out and drink beer, its pretty awesome</p>
<p>The short answer is that there is a tremendous amount of non-academic activities ranging from the arts, political action, religious and ethnic groups, special interests, greek life, etc. There really is no excuse for students not to have fun, and to be engaged in social and other activities outside of the classroom and libraries. Most students at Hopkins live well balanced lives (although sleep may have to take a back seat). Yes, it is true that you will find some students (thankfully, a minority) who are overly compulsive and study all the time. Some of these students virtually live on the lowest level (D-level) of the MSE library. But, if your daughter is not that type–she will have no difficulty finding other students who want a more balanced life. </p>
<p>I can attest that both of my kids who went to Hopkins had no problem finding parties and other social activities.</p>
<p>On bonanza’s comment, sleep takes a back seat for me, but only because I have trouble sleeping. I never struggled to make time for sleep. Unless you are killing yourself with 25 credits, all of which are science/engineering courses, there’s no reason you should be pulling all-nighters.</p>
<p>Thanks to you all who posted reply to my query. I appreciate it. I now feel a lot more comfortable if she indeed decides to apply ED to JHU. Thanks again for all of your help.</p>