<p>The medical school is not at the same location as the undergrad. If I were you, I wouldn't make frequent trips to that part of Baltimore. I'm also unsure why you think Johns Hopkins Hospital will enhance your undergrad experience.</p>
<p>Isn't it true that the ultimate destination in my quest to become a doctor is at a hospital? Given the intense nature of competing for top residencies, what better tool could I possibly get than to develop truly gratifying relationships with world renown physicians in their field and find out what takes to get into a residency of my choice, what I need in order to become successful in my field of choice in medicine, etc...</p>
<p>It would certainly enhance my undergrad education knowing what is expected of me in the real world environment and what is expected of individuals who attend top medical schools and to get a feasible understanding of what sort of personality, charisma, and achievement it takes to land a job at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. (probably some ridiculous mind blowing accomplishment that neither you or I could comprehend)</p>
<p>I am familiar with the undergrad curriculum and premed opportunities at Hopkins. Indeed, there are great opportunities for research as an undergrad. It also is good to get some first hand exposure to medicine before embarking on your career so you know that it what you want to commit the next years of your life to. Having said that, I think the same issue that applies to Harvard undergrads also applies to Hopkins undergrads. The undergrad school attracts a lot of premeds who hope to attend Hopkins Medical School. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of a very talented Hopkins undergrad pool ends up attending medical school at Hopkins. They are competing against each other for spots at Hopkins Medical School. On the other hand, the undergrad program is very strong in placing students at top medical school besides Hopkins. It is a tough premed program (you can major in any field); however, if you do well, it is likely you will not only be able to attend medical school, but very likely one of the top medical schools in the country.</p>
<p>
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Isn't it true that the ultimate destination in my quest to become a doctor is at a hospital? Given the intense nature of competing for top residencies, what better tool could I possibly get than to develop truly gratifying relationships with world renown physicians in their field and find out what takes to get into a residency of my choice, what I need in order to become successful in my field of choice in medicine, etc...
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</p>
<p>Given your career aspirations, first worry about getting into medical school, any medical school. Thinking about residency as an undergrad is a great example of putting the cart before the horse.</p>
<p>I agree with shades_children. It is good to get some clinical exposure before applying to medical school to convince yourself this is what you really want to do. However, mapping out residencies is a waste of time at your stage. Get into medical school and then explore what you want to do. Many students change their minds about the clinical area that they want to go into after they have more first hand experience with what day to day life is like in that area. Inspiring mentors and role models also can play a significant role career choices, too.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Isn't it true that the ultimate destination in my quest to become a doctor is at a hospital?
[/quote]
... probably not, actually. Many doctors don't work in hospitals.</p>
<p>
[quote]
what better tool could I possibly get than to develop truly gratifying relationships with world renown physicians in their field and find out what takes to get into a residency of my choice
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... seriously, would this really top your list? I can name a dozen better ways.</p>
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neither you or I could comprehend
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They're not demigods. They're doctors.</p>
<p>I'm still not making a connection between brown nosing doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital and getting into a competitive residency 8 years down the line. If you're looking for mentors, great. There are good mentors not working at the #1 ranked hospital for the last 17 years.</p>
<p>I have to admit: I think JHU is very overrated as a premed school. It's a fantastic school with fantastic resources. But, I don't think it's better than Harvard or Cornell or Duke or any of its peer institutions at getting its kids into med schools.</p>
<p>I agree with Norcalguy. In fact, JHU may not be the ideal place for your prototypical above average to excellent student who wants to be a physician (such as people on CC). The undergraduate class is over-represented with ambitious premeds-it is not easy to distinguish yourself. I probably would choose to be around a lot of smart people that had other career interests rather than be surrounded by premeds all the time. Any of the other schools he mentioned are great as well as some state schools which also offer great research opportunities. One might have to talk with current premeds there to know for sure what the atmosphere is like at JHU now; however, historically, it is known to be competitive in the introductory courses to winnow down the number of eventual premeds. On the other hand, for an ambitious, self-directed student who is interested in pursuing genuine biomedical research (not just brown-nosing docs at the JHH), the opportunities are tremondous. The top student from my daughter's h.s. graduating class went there. He had already co-authored a ms. while working in a special program for talented h.s. students at NIH. He is heavily involved in neuroscience research (an area he identified and explored for himself in high school) while minoring in philosophy. He will probably end up applying for a M.D./Ph.D program. For him, Hopkins was a great match. For others I know, it was not the case.</p>
<p>I would like to add that Hopkins is working hard to change its premed stereotype. They are actively looking for good students who have other career interests. Still, the reputation of the medical school is still a draw for top students interested in medicine. I guess it cuts both ways as they want to continue to draw top premed students but also have to find ways to counterbalance the undergrad experience.</p>
<p>I wonder where the reputation comes from in the first place. Clearly, it's self-perpetuating. Because JHU is built as a great premed school, premeds tend to flock into it. The high percentage of premeds then helps augment its reputation as a premed school. My guess is that originally the reputation comes from the fact the med school and hospital are world-renowned in medicine. As I have already said in this thread, I think the strength of the medical school has minimal impact on your premed experience due to the fact medical schools (and affiliated hospitals) are usually nowhere near the undergrad campus. Even if they were, there's not much for an undergrad to do at the med school. If you want to do research, there is plenty of research going on on the undergrad campus of any research institution. Princeton undergrads certainly don't suffer from the lack of a Princeton medical school.</p>
<p>There is no premed major at Hopkins as is the case with most schools of its calibre;however, many students (perhaps 40% intially, and 25% finally) are premed. They major in many different fields but must take the premed courses that medical schools require for admission. Temima, I hope this clarifies that point. Sorry about any confusion.</p>
<p>I also think JHU is a great school, particularly for those who are NOT interested in medicine as a career. The resources of a great university are available to a fairly small student body. I have heard that there is strong interest in attracting students in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. Many of the depts. are top notch and given the relative over representation of students in the sciences and engineering, students can get a lot of interaction with faculty and small classes in these areas. </p>
<p>While there are a lot of opportunities for biomedical research at JHU, I do think students need to realize that getting into JH Medical School from there is difficult and that the high percentage of premeds in the class could color their undergrad experience. Obviously, as I pointed out, the choice may vary with the strength and career goals of a given student.</p>
<p>I think pmyen was talking about premed as a state of mind rather than a major. A premed English major has a different mentality from a normal English major.</p>
<p>temima-what courses are these kids taking at the med school? Seems like a lot of trouble to have to take a shuttle just to take a course.</p>
<p>"You really think Feinberg takes that many NU undergrads though? They already have 35 HPME's. How many Northwestern kids could they possibly have?"</p>
<p>I read a publication from Feinberg where they stated around 70 incoming undergrads are from NU (including HPME).</p>
<p>70 kids?! How big is their class?</p>
<p>169 in the class of 2011. This publication i mention is 3-4 years old, though.</p>
<p>41%? Goodness. My school is like 15%, and that feels very high already.</p>
<p>I know. I was very surprised when my advisor showed it to me.</p>
<p>"I read a publication from Feinberg where they stated around 70 incoming undergrads are from NU (including HPME)."</p>
<p>Ew.</p>