<p>Out of curiosity, where else have you gotten in?</p>
<p>Ok, Your social life sucks because you’re a bitter person who has trouble making friends. We get the point. Instead of going out and attempting to have a life, you eagerly type away at all times of the day.</p>
<p>To all others: come visit. And see JHU for yourself. Stay overnight, ask your hosts frank questions, and really see what JHU students do for fun. Spring is great, as you can relax on the beach quad and get some sun.</p>
<p>JHanonymoUs-- I don’t go to JHU but the next quad movie is actually tomorrow night. The Hopkins Film Festival!</p>
<p>I don’t even go to this school and I am aware of this, too. Haha.</p>
<p>JHAnonymoUs: You indicate that you are transferring and therefore will not continue as a TA in Chem. Just curious as to the school you are transferring to…</p>
<p>Also, I assume you are a freshman? As a parent of a student considering Hopkins, I cannot imagine why you would remain longer than one year at a place you are so unhappy at unless you are on a hefty scholarship. I assume you would not be paying $50 grand plus to be so unhappy. </p>
<p>If you are looking for a great social scene, consider USC. As an alum, I can tell you there is infinite school spirit, frat parties, a real “beach” and a vibrant campus. Cannot attest as to the chem dept. though. Just wondering where you are headed if Hopkins was not your thing.</p>
<p>I was at the admitted student day and I didn’t just talk to the volunteers. My parents and I walked up to random people and I have to say that I liked what I heard. I think JHU is an intense place, but your experience is what you make of it. I appreciate jhanonymous postings, but if you look at all the posts he/she has made, all of which are critical of jhu, you can see that he/she is very unhappy there. I doubt that represents the school as a whole, nor does he/she claim his/her opinion does.</p>
<p>As for me, I really liked my experience at the admitted student day and JHU has moved to the top of my list. I have one more re-visit to do before making my decision.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posts. Just be critical of the source. Like at any school, it’s what you make of it… meaning there is a social scene at Hopkins for sure and there are many students who are exceptionally happy there.</p>
<p>Just a few observations. I am both an alum (2 Hopkins degrees) and a parent of two recent alums. I loved my time there and do did both of my kids. But Hopkins has always had a certain percentage of students of are unhappy and get their kicks out of bashing the place. It is a small minority of students. All schools have this to some extent but some schools (Hopkins, Harvard, MIT and CalTech to name a few) seem to have it more than most.</p>
<p>I believe that most unhappy students at Hopkins fall into the following categories. 1) Smart kids who went to mediocre high schools and were underprepared for the rigor at Hopkins. These kids did well in high school but didn’t have to work hard to get good grades. They never had to develop good study habits. When they arrive at Hopkins, they learn to their dismay that many of their classmates know a lot more than they do, are just as smart, and have much better study habits. When they get their first grades, they are disappointed and blame the results on the"cutthroat" nature of the students. Many are also disappointed that they have to work more than they anticipated. 2) Kids who are overly driven and don’t lead a balanced life. Frequently these kids have parents who set their expectations too high. These kids usually do well and get a good education at Hopkins, but aren’t happy because all they do is work.Some of them expect the University to provide them with a social life and are disappointed when it doesn’t. </p>
<p>Kids who lead a balanced lifesyle–who work hard but play hard too–usually love Hopkins.</p>
<p>And to add on, being in one of those two categories doesn’t imply unhappiness. I don’t consider myself a very outgoing person (rather I consider myself very shy) but I have a close group of friends who share my interests. We always work together and talk about the same things so I consider myself happy.</p>
<p>I also work really hard. :)</p>
<p>To JHanonymoUs again:
Please let us know where you are considering transferring to if Hopkins is making you miserable. I’m just wondering what school would offer the right balance of top-notch academics with a vibrant social scene.</p>
<p>JHanonymoUs- quit being an ***hole, get off the message boards and go outside and maybe you’ll have some fun…in one night at hopkins i went to an off campus party, a frat party, to a club, and then back to the dorms for another party there…you were most likely sleeping at that time</p>
<p>srsly, some of the whiny losers at Hopkins, ala JHAnonymous, really irk me. If you don’t like your social life, that’s fine…but DON’T spread the misery everywhere! 0.o
It gives outsiders the WRONG impression of how fantastic Hopkins really is.</p>
<p>Yes. So right, Bonanza.</p>
<p>hopkins social life can be okay. however, it probably won’t be great if: you ever thought you might like the social life at a small LAC, you dislike the idea of frat boys/sorority girls, you are more crunchy than the East Coast mainstream, you aren’t too concerned about constantly bettering your future career, or you want to hang out with actually interesting people. we have 'em, but our interesting people would probably blend in at a more interesting school. also, sadly, the different “groups” tend to stay separate, especially the asians. my friends in high school were way more diverse than my friends now. also, not as wealthy.
no, but seriously. often quite boring. or, if not boring, costly, especially off campus.</p>
<p>Yeah, I just got back from visiting and the main issue I found was a self-segregated student population. There was no diversity of races, personalities, and majors. From my observations, all the BMEs (mostly Asian) hung out together and all the preppy East Coast white kids hung out together and the two groups hardly interact, if at all.</p>
<p>So True Mod. Good observations.</p>
<p>what social life, lol</p>
<p>It’s true that there is a pretty apparent “ethnic” separation at Hopkins. However, it’s not just Asians that do this. I’ve rarely seen a black person walking amongst a group of white/Asians either. Likewise for white students. I don’t really think that it’s the students that are racist or that they don’t want to hang out with other groups, it just some how works out to be that way. If you’re Asian, or Black, or White, chances are when you get here…you will probably hang out with your respective group. For example, in my freshman year, i had a group of all Asian friends that I always hung out with. It wasn’t that I chose them because they were Asians, it just somehow happened to be that way. Also, maybe the reason why you guys see more Asian groups than other ethnic groups is because there are a lot of Asian international students here. They tend to stick together a lot, and tend to speak in their own languages. But believe me, you will also see packs of Black students all the time. Again, it’s not like they’re racist or anything (some of them may be), it’s just easier to befriend someone who has at least one thing in common with you-namely skin color- when you have no friends to start out with in freshman year. I’m not trying to defend any particular ethnic group, all I’m trying to say is that don’t automatically blame the students simply because they find it easier to make friends with a particular group. I’m Asian and one of my good friends is white. I didn’t choose to be her friend because she’s white, simply because we have things in common. I think it is the case for most other students here.</p>
<p>Do you believe that this ethnic separation only occurs at Hopkins? Does it not occur at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc… If not, why not? What would make Hopkins less cohesive in terms of social life than other top universities?</p>
<p>ethnic separation occurs at every single school that I’ve seen and visited. It’s natural. very natural.</p>
<p>You also have to consider that sometimes, it’s a language/cultural barrier. I know that in my D’s high school, the Asian friends she tends to have are American born and speak English as their native language. Makes communicating easier. The Asians who are new to the U.S. and may not speak English at home, etc., have a harder time assimilating, and therefore stick together. It’s not ideal, but it is also what may happen at the college level with international students. I do remember this happening years back when I was in college, and I attended a very social, party-oriented university. It still didn’t help in merging groups.</p>