<p>Is JHU as competitive, stressful, and difficult as people say it is? I'm planning on applying ED but that depends a lot on the atmosphere of the school.</p>
<p>Also, I would enjoy it if some current students could take some time and post about what life is like throughout the years at JHU. How are the people, the competitiveness, the dorms/housing, etc. You can say pretty mug anything that you liked about JHU that makes it stick out from other top school, to what you don’t like as much about it.</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Freshman BME here; I’m basing my testimony on only about 6 months of experience. I also assume that you’re wondering about the STEM experience. The humanities are an entirely different side to the school.</p>
<p>It’s perfectly possible to juggle a full load of classes, extracurriculars, and a social life here. The key, as hitchhiker’s guide puts it, is “don’t panic.” Lots of people will stress themselves out, and complain about how difficult life is without actually doing anything to remedy their situation.</p>
<p>Coursework in STEM classes is heavier than what most high schoolers are used to and definitely more challenging. You need to be productive with your study time. If you focus, you can probably get away with doing about 2-4 hours (depending on how much aptitude you have for a certain subject) of work a day on 5 classes. The key is not to fall behind.</p>
<p>It might be counterintuitive, but the higher level you get in your courses, the more laid back and less cutthroat it becomes- your class sizes will be smaller as well (e.g. Organic Chemistry I & II are seminars of ~250 people; Advanced Organic Chemistry, which I’m taking this semester is 18 students). At the lower end you’ll see your grade grubbing; that happens at every school. But if you have good study habits and truly understand the material you’re meant to learn rather than simply preparing for a test, the people who do this won’t present any competition for you.</p>
<p>Assuming you’re a high performer, there are lots of opportunities for research and meaningful work in any field you choose. It’s not as easy as asking; sometimes you have to aim to impress first before you have an opportunity extended your way. I’m a part of a Design Team at CBID, the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design, which is a collaborative project between the Medical school and the BME department here, and I’ll be doing research in synthetic organic chemistry over the summer, or perhaps starting in the fall. Both opportunities were afforded to me after I had demonstrated my capabilities, and THEN reached out for it.</p>
<p>Housing, especially upperclassmen housing, is quite nice. Meal plans (this is the case nearly everywhere, I’m told) are a ripoff, so I would try to live off-campus as early as sophomore year. For Freshman year, Wolman is the place to go. People say that the AMRs are the more social dorms, but it ends up being the opposite, I find. You end up getting to meet and know more of the people you live with, rather than simply being in close proximity to a lot of people in Wolman as opposed to the other buildings.</p>
<p>Networking and forming relationships with people is by my estimate about half the benefit of receiving an elite education. It’s not difficult to make friends on campus from a wide variety of backgrounds. There is a party scene, and it’s nice to go with people you know, and also to meet new people as well. Personally, I’m not so big on partying, though. I go rock climbing at the rec center, run outdoors (the area around campus is fairly safe; we go at 9 PM at night even) with guys who live on my floor, and do plenty of socializing in other ways as well.</p>
<p>I hope I answered your questions adequately.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for our response! If I get accepted (I find out the 27th!!) I will definitely be a Pre-med and majoring in Biology, Biochemistry, or neuroscience, which I saw existed and it would definitely be an option. Either way, I will major in a science or possibly Mathematics since I am quite good at calculus an enjoy it (I am in calc BC). What are the curves or average grade for Pre med/ science classes(bio, chem, o-chem, physics). Are the Pre meds competitive against each other? How hard will it be to get a decent enough GPA for acceptance into med school? I’m going to infer that their advising for premed is quite good and I am very interested in doing research at the undergrad level/ volunteering at the hospital. I am sure the course load and challenge is extremely high and difficult, but are their times where it is more laid back? Or are there tests/quizzes often that require studying? 2-4 hours of studying seems quite a lot but in college you do seem to have a lot of time of compared to high school. </p>
<p>Could you elaborate on the meal plan and on the Johns Hopkins weather and social scene?</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses! :)</p>
<p>One big change from high school to college is that you go from having lots of tests and quizzes to having 3-4 major projects or exams (including finals) throughout the entire semester which constitute nearly the entirety of your grade (homework and attendance combined weighted ~10-15% of your total).</p>
<p>Curves and averages vary sharply from course to course, and also depending on which professor you have. For instance, when I took Linear Algebra with Professor Gjoneski, the midterm averages were 47% and 68%, and the final exam average was a 45% (very intimidating numbers, I know). The first midterm in Calculus III with Gjoneski this semester had a mean score of 62%, with a standard deviation of 18%. In his class, you could get an A if you were 1 standard deviation above the mean; which meant the top ~16% or so of the class received As. But the same course taught this semester by a different professor has exam averages in the 80% range. Organic chemistry exam averages range between 60-70%. You’ll want to pull above 80-85% to get an A.</p>
<p>Admittedly, Linear Algebra fall semester was the first exposure of many freshmen (myself included) to a university mathematics course, which could have contributed to the low exam averages last semester. It’s a significant increase in difficulty from AP; the course focused more on the theoretical aspect of mathematics rather than calculations and application, and thus, proofs featured heavily on his exams, which was a concept alien to many people.</p>
<p>A decent GPA range for med school applications at Hopkins would be 3.5-3.7 or higher. You shouldn’t struggle to achieve this if you apply yourself. Keep in mind that Fall semester grades of Freshman year are “covered” - i.e. for your first semester, you take all your classes pass/fail, and those grades aren’t released outside of the university, so there is a period where you are able to adjust. As for competition, if you look at premed particularly, I would say that there is a degree of competitiveness, more so than just when you consider STEM in general. In the same vein as “don’t panic,” though, focusing on the competitive environment, in my opinion, is only detrimental to your own performance. Focus instead on your own education, and understanding the material you’re presented with.</p>
<p>Baltimore weather: rains pretty often by my standards (I live in Upstate New York). Warm summer, fairly mild winter. Bring an umbrella and a raincoat, and a winter jacket.</p>
<p>Meal plan: freshman year and any other year that you live on campus, you’re obligated to purchase a meal plan. The freshman meal plans are pretty much all-inclusive; you can opt for varying degrees of coverage sophomore year and beyond. It works out to be ~$8-10 a meal (the more-inclusive plans are slightly better value per meal), though, so you save a lot of money if you don’t buy a meal plan. There’s a supermarket, Giant, that’s a five minute walk away, and there are plenty of restaurants (Subway, Chipotle, etc) nearby if you don’t have the time to cook- even eating out all would cost marginally less.</p>
<p>Social scene: lots of student groups on campus; it’s easy to find people with similar interests, almost no matter what you’re into. Lots of events are run by student groups as well; coffeehouses, poetry readings by literary magazines, for instance. Orchestral concerts take place every so often, as we do have the Peabody Conservatory attached to the university- they’re really quite good. Movies are shown in auditoriums on campus on a weekly basis: I saw the Dark Knight Rises fairly shortly after its theatrical release; I forget which student group, perhaps the Residential Advisory Board, pays the screening fee. Outdoor Pursuits hosts rock climbing day trips; I will be in attendance in April. It is also possible to make a day trip to DC via the commuter train.</p>
<p>Parties: hosted by fraternities for the most part, open to the student body at large. Music, dancing, refreshments, fraternization, the works. I’m not so much into Greek life, though; I’m sure if you visit, a tour guide will be able to provide you with more information than I can. Sometimes there will be house parties, but these are generally limited in attendance to whatever group is hosting them. For instance, if we can keep it a discreet matter, our Engineers Without Borders group did host a private get-together, with the invitation header “Drinking Without Borders”. Loyola and UMD are in close proximity.</p>
<p>Formal social occasions will be organized by the school and various subsidiaries of the school as well; sometimes you’ll have the opportunity to sit down and dine with members of faculty, alumni, and network with upperclassmen in your field of specialty as well.</p>
<p>Any other questions?</p>
<p>If let’s say only around 15% of students get As in math/ premed classes, how can the decent GPA be a 3.6ish? Only 15ish% are able to get a 4.0 and then the rest is a 3.0 and lower. Do they do half steps such as B+ and A-? And would this mean that the other “easier classes” are significantly easier to get an A and some classes award 50+% in A’s?</p>
<p>Average GPA on campus is ~3.2, if I recall correctly. Engineers will have a harder time than the average student on campus as well, so I would keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Half steps exist. A = 4.0; A- = 3.7; B+ = 3.3; B=3.0. As I said before, grade lines are set by professors, and the distribution of grades will vary from instructor to instructor. I’d say 15% As is on the more stringent side; the class average is generally normalized to a B- in curved STEM courses, though.</p>
<p>There are non-curved classes, and there is no limit to how many people can receive As. That either means it’s very difficult to earn an A, or relatively easy. In the humanities, I’d say a significantly larger portion of the class manages to do this.</p>
<p>~45% of our premeds attend medical school; average GPA for acceptance overall is ~3.45. For a top-tier medical school, you want in excess of 3.7 as your GPA. It is difficult, yes, but to speak frankly, I would only want high performers as my doctor.</p>
<p>Only 45% of premeds attend medical school?</p>
<p>And would engineers have a harder time earning a higher gpa than a Pre-med?</p>
<p>I believe 70%+ med school APPLICANTS are admitted by med schools. Many pre-meds do not eventually apply to med schools, so that may be why there is the 45% number.</p>
<p>Disguy is correct. Over 70% of applicants are admitted. I think some absurd figure like 2/3rds of the freshman class has some intent of “premed” but many do not follow up on it.</p>
<p>Engineers in general will have a harder time keeping gpa up because of more challenging requirements. BME is particularly noted as difficult.</p>
<p>Current student here- JHU is definitely not the bad competitive school that it is thought to be. I think that word is incorrectly used. In fact, collaboration is encouraged by each professor. That being said, everyone is working and doing their best. Everyone is genuinely interested in performing as well as they can. It is an intense and stimulating environment that establishes a good learning environment.</p>