Tufts vs. Georgetown vs. Hopkins

<p>I'm trying to decide between these two schools. I think I might major in a hard science and follow a pre-med track, but my dad wants me to be a dentist (which is what he's doing). Here is what I think about the three schools</p>

<p>Georgetown- Located is a great area, in a great city, good academics, I'm unsure about the strength of the pre-med program, prestigious. Has a second year admittance to medical school.</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins- Highest US News rank, great in sciences, but very competitive which might lead me to have a lower gpa than at georgetown. Not located in a great area</p>

<p>Tufts- good pre-med, but has the lowest prestige among the three. Closest to home, my dad has connections to dental school and is a graduate of the dental school. Has second year admit program to dental and medical schools. </p>

<p>Comments?</p>

<p>
[quote]
Johns Hopkins- Highest US News rank, great in sciences, but very competitive which might lead me to have a lower gpa than at georgetown. Not located in a great area

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Baltimore's not a great area? I've never been to DC, but I've lived in and around Medford for 10 years, and let me tell you, the place should have "jerks only" signs scattered about the city limits. </p>

<p>If grades are harder to come by at Hopkins, wouldn't it stand to reason that you'd learn more? If you get a B on a paper at Hopkins instead of an A at Georgetown, wouldn't you be more inclined to study more and get an A next time, writing a far superior paper to any you would have written at Georgetown? If the professors give you a B for [x] level of knowledge, doesn't that show that they have [y] much more to teach you than do professors who give you an A for [x] level of knowledge?</p>

<p>I say, go Hopkins!</p>

<p>I'm also interested in doing some classical music, and Tufts has as new music building and good program</p>

<p>Milkmagn,
I think you are making a mistake using the USNWR rankings as any kind of guide in evaluating these colleges. Here’s why. The single biggest element of the rankings is the subjective Peer Assessment rating. Many folks, including many academics, have grave misgivings about the meaning and the value of this opinion survey. Furthermore, it is highly likely that a college’s graduate programs play a large role in determining the reputation of an institution. I would say that this is very much the case with Johns Hopkins which receives a high PA score while both Tufts and Georgetown, which are renown for their undergraduate teaching strength, are IMO heavily underrated for what they offer undergraduate students. </p>

<p>Perhaps a better way to measure is to look at the USNWR rankings ex-PA scores. When you do this, you actually discover for the last two years, their USNWR rankings would have been:</p>

<p>2007 </p>

<p>20 Tufts
21 Georgetown
22 Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>2008 </p>

<p>19 Johns Hopkins
21 Tufts
21 Georgetown</p>

<p>In other words, ex-PA there is virtually no difference in their USNWR ranks. Please don’t use the USNWR ranks, with or without PA as the deciding factors. Even the editors of that magazine would tell you that these rankings connote a precision in rankings that was unintended. The fact is that great students attend each of these colleges, most students have good experiences at these colleges and there are many, many students from each of these colleges that go on to medical school. The undergraduate college choice among JHU, Tufts, and Georgetown is not going to determine your success in med school applications-you are and what you achieve as a student and what you score on your MCAT. </p>

<p>I implore you to ignore the USNWR rankings (use those as a starting point in the college admissions process, not a deciding factor) and choose the school that you like best and where you think you will have the greatest personal undergraduate experience.</p>

<p>MILKMAGN, did you not notice Hopkin's affiliation with Peabody Conservatory? That's a pretty peachy place to study music.</p>

<p>If you want sciences, JHU is for you.</p>

<p>there is no difference in difficulty of classes between the three schools- BUT the JHU pre-med program may be more intense and yes is more well known. </p>

<p>and yes baltimore is kinda a crummy area- the campus is nice but the city is pretty crime ridden- like many cities around the world so idk if its actually a problem wen ur at JHU</p>

<p>
[quote]
MILKMAGN, did you not notice Hopkin's affiliation with Peabody Conservatory? That's a pretty peachy place to study music.

[/quote]

yes I did, but I am not enrolling as a student in the conservatory</p>

<p>I just think maybe Johns Hopkins would be too stressful for me, especially for pre-med</p>