<p>Hello everyone! I'm a sophomore in high school and I'm looking at colleges right now. The three universities above are the ones that crossed my mind for "high - reach" schools. May I hear some opinions about these three universities in terms of; (keep in mind, I plan on majoring in Neuroscience!</p>
<p>*prestige
*location
*financial aid
*social life
*academic life
*expenses
*job opportunities</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your help!!</p>
<p>anyone?!?!</p>
<p>I guess I'll bite... (Keep in mind I'm a Californian - somewhat limited knowledge)</p>
<p>Overall prestige: Duke > Johns Hopkins = Vanderbilt
Biosciences prestige: Johns Hopkins > Duke > Vanderbilt</p>
<p>Location: Johns Hopkins > Vanderbilt > Duke
Social Life: Duke = Vanderbilt > Johns Hopkins
Academic Life: Duke = Vanderbilt > Johns Hopkins (JHU is tougher IMO)
Job Opportunities: Duke = Johns Hopkins = Vanderbilt</p>
<p>I generally agree with what UCBChemEGrad has posted except for location. Maybe he likes Baltimore or doesn't like Durham and I suspect he has never been to Nashville. IMO, Vanderbilt wins this comparison by a mile. Nashville is a great town. If you're talking just about campus beauty, I would say that both Duke and Vandy have gorgeous campuses. I am not a fan of JHU's campus and Baltimore as a city and think that the JHU area can be dangerous. </p>
<p>I understand the grouping of these three colleges because of the interest in neuroscience, but I will quickly add that Hopkins is the odd one out. Duke and Vanderbilt have a lot of similarities and both offer a pretty different undergraduate environment (both in the classroom and outside the classroom) than what you're going to find at Hopkins. If you visit each school and interact with the students and/or talk to alumni, I think you will pick up on this pretty quickly.</p>
<p>I think undergraduate neuroscience programs are evolving pretty rapidly, and what is true today may not be so true by the time you start college. (You are in 10th grade, correct?) If I am not mistaken, the neuroscience program at Vanderbilt is a multi-disciplinary program, involving professors from a variety of departments and research programs, including some at the Vanderbilt Medical Center. Those neuroscience students interested in artificial intelligence also interact a bit with computer scientists in the engineering school. I don't know how this compares with Duke or JHU; my point is that there might be significant differences in how the three universities offer the subject to undergraduates.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, my son has found professors at Vanderbilt to be very accessible and encouraging. He has been doing research since first semester of freshman year. I have to agree with hawkette that Vanderbilt's location in Nashville works very well for the student body. The area around campus is safe and full of restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores, etc. Downtown is a mile and a half away. The campus is beautiful, and a lot of entertainment is offered on the campus grounds.</p>
<p>My first reaction to your post, however, was this: given the acceptance rate of the three schools, you should probably apply to all three. The decision might be made for you. Of the three, I believe Vanderbilt offers the most really big merit awards, if that is a consideration when the time comes.</p>
<p>
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Maybe he likes Baltimore
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</p>
<p>To quote Dr. Chilton from The Silence of the Lambs: "Will you be in Baltimore overnight?...Because it can be quite a fun town, if you have the right guide." :)</p>
<p>That's not exactly a ringing endorsement. :(</p>
<p>silly, silly comments about baltimore. hopkins is doing something right. that's why it earned its #1 position in safety rankings. i think you have to live there to really know how great a town it is. vanderbilt is beautiful, and the town rocks. but the student body is waaay different from hopkins. if you want a highly respected school, with interesting and lively kids who are extremely smart, and has an outstanding neuroscience major, i would opt for hopkins.
go bluejays! lacrosse rocks!</p>
<p>
[quote]
the student body is waaay different from hopkins.
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</p>
<p>Actually, statistically speaking, the student bodies (incoming freshmen) are quite similar:</p>
<p>Vanderbilt, 25-50 percentile ranks (SAT):</p>
<p>CR 640-740
M 660-740
W 640-730</p>
<p>JHU, 25-50 percentile ranks (SAT):</p>
<p>CR 630-730
M 660-760
W 630-720</p>
<p>More Asians at JHU, more African Americans at Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>JHU avg gpa = 3.69
Vanderbilt % gpa above 3.5 = 73.5 %</p>
<p>Keep in mind that Vanderbilt University includes a large school of education (Peabody College) and a music school (Blair); the statistics of those students in arts and sciences (wherein most neuroscience students will be found) are probably higher than the university overall.</p>
<p>The campus atmosphere is quite different, that is true. Visits would be in order when the OP gets closer to decision-making time.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input, guys! I will be visiting Baltimore this spring break along with Durham and Nashville this fall.
Midmo - Thanks for your perspective of Vanderbilt! I will definitely give it a try.
Out of the 3 schools, which is the easiest to get into and the hardest? Also, does any of these schools care about extra - curricular activities and recommendations just as they do about grades and ACT/SAT scores?</p>
<p>Of those 3:</p>
<p>Duke is the hardest to get into.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is the easiest.</p>
<p>Admission rates are currently highest for Vanderbilt. This year saw an increase of over 30% for freshman applicants. That will no doubt result in a lowered acceptance rate (although it might mean extensive use of the waitlist, I guess.)</p>
<p>I would say that extra-curricular activities and recommendations are important at Vanderbilt. It is my guess that the same is true for Duke and JHU.</p>
<p>Just as a general word of 'warning' if you will: I know kids at all three of these schools, and for the most part, they do not fit the standard stereotypes used to describe the student bodies. There is a lot of variability in the student make-up of most schools. Nonetheless, these campuses do have different 'feels', and it is a good thing you are planning to make visits to all of them.</p>
<p>Thanks midmo! Any other opinions, guys?!</p>
<p>It surprises me, in terms of safety, that schools like rice and notre dame, not to mention many ivies, are not ranked. does this mean that they received failing grades for safety?</p>
<p>Applicants: 14,848
Admitted: 3,586
Enrolled (projected): 1,216
Admit rate: 24%
Early Decision available? Yes
Early Decision applicants: 997
Standardized Tests
Middle 50th percentile for admitted students in 2007*</p>
<p>SAT Total: 2010-2290
SAT CR: 660-750
SAT Math: 690-790
SAT Writing: 660-750
ACT: 30-34
Midmo: From the Hopkins website, these are the actual numbers for admission. These can be found at the undergraduate admissions page, "fast facts."</p>
<p>Acceptance rates at Vandy have and will likely continue to decrease with the addition of the Commons, since the undergraduate admissions must cap the number of students to the number of available beds.</p>
<p>And ECs are extremely important here ...</p>
<p>ellekay, it sounds like you are confusing <em>admitted</em> students with <em>enrolled</em> students. Not all admitted students enroll, and at a place like JHU, many of those who do not enroll are among the strongest candidates. That is why Common Data Sets and U-CAN data use only <em>enrolled</em> students. The latest numbers reported by JHU--that I located--are for students enrolled in fall of 2006.</p>
<p>U-CAN:</a> Johns Hopkins University :: Page 1</p>
<p>These are the same numbers I posted upthread.</p>
<p>However, to be consistent, I noticed the U-CAN data for Vanderbilt is one year out of date also, and there is a slight adjustment downward from their 2007 enrolled freshman class (CDS data on Vanderbilt site). Vanderbilt's incoming freshman statistics seem to be on an upward trajectory. JHU's may be as well, but I can't find current CDS data.</p>
<p>U-CAN stands for University and College Accountability Network. The idea is to enforce some standardization in the way this kind of data is reported.</p>
<p>All three are excellent schools--but I agree with the sentiments that they are quite different from each other and you need to visit each to get a sense of that. I'll admit my bias toward Hopkins. Not only do I think it is slightly stronger academically (compare Peer Assesments, for example), but I subjectively prefer Baltimore to either Nashville or Durham. Baltimore may be south of the Mason-Dixon--but it is a Mid-Atlantic city--not Southern. Not only is Baltimore much larger than the other two (and, therefore, far more to do off-campus), but it is much more accessible to other places. Washington, for example, is less than an hour away and is served by frequent and cheap commuter trains. Philly is less than 2 hours away--NYC 3 hours.</p>
<p>Hopkins and Duke are much better known internationally than Vandy. Vandy is good and getting better--but it is still primarily known as a southern school. </p>
<p>It is probably fair to put Hopkins behind Duke and Vandy in terms of social life--but not by much. Hopkins does have the reputation of having students who study all the time--and while that might be true for a few--it is mostly a myth perpetuated by students who like to be perceived by others as very hard workers. Most Hopkins students lead balanced lives and have a lot of fun along the way. Hopkins is academically challenging but I would hope that, if your parents are paying close to $50,000 a year for an education, that you would want to be challenged.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for all of your replies!! In my opinion, one of the down - sides about Hopkins is its price tag. 50,000 dollars a year is a tad expensive for my family, even with financial aid. My parents already work 60 hours a week and barely making above 65,000 dollars a year. I couldn't do that to them. Is there any other good, reputable college that's well known for it's neuroscience program? And is also cheaper and gives out more aid? Thanks!</p>
<p>midmo= those are the numbers for admission for the class of 2007. the numbers for the enrolled students are not so important for people who are applying. applicants need to know what they will need to be accepted to whichever school. hopkins, nor any school, can necessarily predict with complete accuracy, who will accept offers of admission. what they can, and do control is the stats required for admission.</p>