<p>I was lucky and got into both Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt. I got a pretty good offer from both, but I'm having a hard time deciding on where to go.</p>
<p>Both schools have a great premed program, but my family knows a few people with kids that went to JHU, and they were either miserable (some wanted to drop out) or thought that they should've had more fun in college. Vanderbilt, on the other hand, seems enjoyable, but almost too easy (over 50% double major, and many include a minor with that double major). Some people have told me to goto Vanderbilt for undergrad and save Johns Hopkins for graduate, but I have no way of knowing if I will get into JHU for med school. Even if it's only undergrad, it still looks really good to have gone to Johns Hopkins if I become a doctor.</p>
<p>I like the prestige of JHU, but Vandy isn't bad at all. In addition I only got $23,000 from JHU while I received $50,000 from Vanderbilt. I really don't want to strain my family with money problems, so the >$25,000 final cost difference between the two is a bit of an issue.</p>
<p>Although it's not a huge factor, I like the area JHU is located way better than Nashville (Vanderbilt). I live near Vanderbilt, and I really want to break away from old stereotypes, my family, etc.</p>
<p>Overall, from my research I like Johns Hopkins better, but money is something I can't really ignore. My family tells me not to worry about it too much, and have also reminded me that they'd willingly shell out the money somehow if I got off one of the schools I was waitlisted at (Duke, WUSTL, UPenn, and UMich).</p>
<p>My D and I also are Nashvillians and when she was a sophomore in high school she adamantly stated that she would never want to go to college so close to home. Fast forward to now, and she is a senior who was admitted to WashU, Rice, Baylor, Furman Alabama, UVA, William and Mary, Wake Forest and Vanderbilt.
After many visits to campus she finally fell in love with Vanderbilt and when she is on campus she feels like she is really quite far away from home.
If you have that great a scholarship to Vanderbilt and have grad school plans, its a no brainer to choose Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>“Vanderbilt, on the other hand, seems enjoyable, but almost too easy (over 50% double major, and many include a minor with that double major).”</p>
<p>This a a pretty big misconception. I think it is “easy” to get B-'s and cruise through a double major or minor, etc. However to assume Vandy is easy because of many double majors doesn’t make a lot of sense.</p>
<p>The primary reason you see so many people double major, minor, etc. Is the ease with which it is done in terms of ciriculum, not class work. Classes that count for AXLE (general liberal arts requirement) can also be counted towards majors and minors. In fact you should consider this an advantage. Any student who majors in Molecular cellular biology will be, by default, one extra chemistry class away from a minor. Most pre med students choose to take Medicinal Chemistry to fill this requirement.</p>
<p>If you are truly worried about Vandy being too easy, you can always transfer to engineering and do Biomedical Engineering. If that is too easy for you, then perhaps you’re right. haha</p>
<p>Good luck with you’re decision. It’s an important one.</p>
<p>I had to make the same decision myself. My offers from two were pretty close, with Vandy being a bit higher. I really liked Vandy’s relaxed atmosphere. Not everyone here is pre-med. I don’t think I could deal with an entire campus of spastic pre-meds like myself! JHU is known to have a more competitive, cut throat atmosphere. I feel like we are all willing to work together and help our classmates here. I understand wanting to be far from home though. In the end, they are both great schools and I don’t think you’ll lose either way.</p>
<p>Both excellent schools, but in this case I would say Vanderbilt hands down. I think the difference in cost to you is dispositive. Save some bucks for med school and later. You’ll need it.
In addition, however, I think most kids enjoy the overall college experience more at Vandy because, as you and others have said, JHU is just more intense and even cutthroat. Finally, I do not accept your notion that “Even if it’s only undergrad, it still looks really good to have gone to Johns Hopkins if I become a doctor.” People will care what sort of med and post-grad training you have had, not where you went undergrad.</p>
<p>Sympathetic to you wanting to change locations for college…not unusual at all. However, as a mother of a senior at Duke and an incoming freshman at Vandy, you should compare the admitted class to Vandy to that of Hopkins/Duke this year. I don’t think you will see much difference, although Duke gets more applicants still. All three schools are basically educating highly motivated people your age. I am a big believer in learning from your peers for four years, and part of that is learning from other interesting people with passions and self direction and organization skills. All three schools have some excellent social life options and some stereotypes that have bits of truth and bits of unfairness in them.
My son at Duke has learned tons from his friendship circle…arguably…as much as from his classroom experience. I don’t buy that Vandy is easier academically than Duke at all, not anymore…but I also don’t think kids at Hopkins have no fun and are tense and overly competitive…all the schools you name are full of overachievers. The settings of these schools are what are wildly different at this point. </p>
<p>Debt for undergrad is to be avoided in order to buck up for the incredible costs of med school later…but again, everyone would understand your reluctance to go to school close to home if that bugs you. </p>
<p>You can make you social life sing at any school you are admitted to attend. You simply have to weigh money vs. location at this point.</p>
<p>If I weren’t from the Nashville area, I’d probably say Vanderbilt hands-down, but I’ve lived in this region all my life. To be frank, I’m going to say that I’m sick of this place, and one of my main concerns is getting stuck here–forever. Many people from my high school attend Vanderbilt and never leave this area, and I’m afraid of the same thing happening to me if I don’t get out now. In addition, my mom keeps saying that if I attend Vanderbilt, she’s going to be visiting me every week. -_-‘’'</p>
<p>To be fair, however, I don’t think I’d hate Vanderbilt. I’m sure that if I choose Vandy, that I’ll have fun and make a ton of friends. At the same time, I’m not sure if the social atmosphere is the best for me. I’m naturally competitive and I often thrive at “cutthroat” places such as Johns Hopkins, but then again, it could be overwhelming.</p>
<p>When I was applying to colleges Vanderbilt was my so-called “fall back” school because it loves kids from my schools. Because of my want to leave this place, when I got into JHU I immediately ruled out Vanderbilt…until I saw the financial aid from Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>My parents subtly push both schools at me. They like the program at JHU, but are afraid of it being too hard for me. In addition, I know college will put a strain on their wallets (only my first year is guaranteed 100% without debt).</p>
<p>Baltimore is another side of America…sounds like that is where your heart is. I don’t believe it is really more cut-throat…that is a stereotype. Hopkins has great English students, great IR students, good liberal arts, a nice tight campus with greatly enhanced security in recent years and the coastal location is also a plus even if you do have to be much more vigilant in the city for safety reasons. </p>
<p>sounds like money is your hang up now in a recession. If so, consider things like being an RA at Hopkins where significant amt of savings might take place on room and board…</p>
<p>my only advice, is don’t choose your college based on stereotypes. Vandy students are not superficial spoiled rich kids, Duke students are not crass people obsessed with sports, Hopkins kids are not all premeds with no sense of fun. Each of these schools is engaged in producing well prepared premeds with success. In a sort of reverse of stereotypes, at schools like Duke it has been my experience that students are less like grinds and can learn fairly quickly…so they do have time to also enjoy their friends and some fresh air and fun…</p>
<p>if money is a real concern, you can have fun at Vanderbilt and learn tons…or you can take action to contribute more by working at Hopkins.</p>
<p>Ah, I was in a somewhat similar situation the past week (acceptances from both vandy and jhu, with 55k in aid from vandy and 48k from jhu, and intended primal major as biosci [though not so much for premed, looking to become a wildlife biologist of sorts]).</p>
<p>Ended up choosing vandy because of the aid and the more relaxed atmosphere. I’m a fairly noncompetitive person and probably wouldn’t like it much at jhu, and nashville is already a completely different atmosphere from where I currently live (Phoenix, AZ, lol) so I suppose I have that additional motivation.</p>
<p>Also, I hear a good med school isn’t particularly difficult to get into, and you relearn all the same material anyway, so I’m not sure that that should factor into your decisions as much. The next four years are what college for the most part determines (errr, if you don’t have much debt, that is – oh speaking of which, you wouldn’t want to accrue very much debt before grad school, would you? Seems imprudent…), and you very well may have a better shot at med school if you attend the “less prestigious” pre-med undergrad and perform relatively better there than you would have otherwise.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt’s medical school received over 5,000 applications last year for 105 spots and although it’s not Johns Hopkins, its in the top 15 medical schools in the country. You call that easy to get into?</p>
<p>Moodrets: Oh man, I’m extremely jealous. You got a slightly better offer from Vandy and a way better offer from JHU. Like GCN2 and hope4freeride, however, I have doubts about you statement on it being easy to be admitted into a good med school. Finally, my parents are supportive enough to pay for undergrad, but I’m on my own for grad school. It’d be a strain to pay for JHU, but it wouldn’t be impossible for my family to come up with the money. Nevertheless, unless my family were like billionaires, I would feel guilty for costing so much no matter what.</p>
<p>The prestige of Vanderbilt vs Hopkins will have no effect when applying to med/grad school. They are both comparable. The difference in research opportunities is probably very minimal as well. Class are hard enough here where a perfect semester is incredibly uncommon. It seems at the end of the day your decision is based on your gut instinct and where you “fit”. Fit is really important. This will dictate your comfort on campus and how well you work. You need to enjoy college to do well.</p>
<p>I’m not really sure what my gut says. One minute I’m dead set on Johns Hopkins, the next moment I’m almost ready to pack my bags for Vandy, and it just keeps flipping around like that.</p>
<p>I had a similar concern when I was choosing between Vandy and WashU (I ended up choosing Vandy because of better finaid). If you are concerned about getting into med school- don’t be. Neither school will close any doors for you or give you any special advantage. Here is a statistic I received from Vandy:</p>
<p>“Our over-all acceptance rate of any student with any background who applies for admission to medical school is just over 70% which should be compared to the national acceptance rate which is under 50%. More importantly, students who graduate with at least a B+ cumulative average (the average gpa of our graduates) and an MCAT score of 30-31 (the average score of all VU applicants) are accepted at a rate of just over 85%.”</p>
<p>I LOVED WashU, and even though the debt I would acquire there wasn’t huge (probably around 25k), I would rather go into med school debt-free. Save your money, I think you’d end up enjoying Vanderbilt. And, you can make a study group with me, which is a perk in itself (lol I’m playing around, I’m not conceited).</p>