<p>Well I just want to say congratulations to everyone that got into JHU. I've been reading these posts and everyone keeps having these posts JHU vs Blank Blank Blank. So here is some knowledge that I want to drop in that you guys should consider. What do you do after graduation? University ideally is a place for sheer academic growth (which JHU is a great place for) but in this super competitive world, your university opens doors. Whether its a job or a graduate degree, your undergraduate degree DOES matter. And this is why JHU trumps schools WASHU, Georgetown, Brown etc etc.
International recognition. Besides the top ivies, JHU has probably one of the biggest international names of any US university. I have been out of the country for the past 2 years and everywhere I go, the name JHU lifts an eyebrow and an oh wow response. Yes in this globalized world, its not just enough to be at a school that's well known in America but world wide. We are entering for the first time in human history a truly global society and its a whole new world. You might end up working in Australia, Europe, Asia, or the Middle East. And I can assure you, you will never be left out in the dust with a JHU degree.
Graduate school: JHU is not a school of grade inflation. While people might worry about how that will affect their grad school chances I can assure you don't think twice. Everyone I know my year who applied to medical school got in. All my friends who applied to Law School got into top law schools (one of my good friends with a 3.0 GPA got into Georgetown with no connections to it whatsoever) The JHU name represents kids that study hard and are shaped as real scholars. Personally for me the JHU name has given me a lot of support for grad school. I had decent grades nothing spectacular and had decided to get my masters outside of America just for a change of pace. I was accepted to Oxford University (Mphil Chinese Studies), the London School of Economics and Political Science (MSc in International Relations and LSE-Peking University double degree in International Affairs (( the double degree has an admissions rate of 8% and the IR degree has 10%)) London School of Oriental and African Studies MSc Asian Politics and MA Chinese Studies (Considered the best school in Europe for Asian oriented subjects). I will be going to the LSE next year which is one of the best schools in the world for International Relations and I am stoked. I truly believe I got into all these great schools because of JHU. I have friends at Harvard that applied to the same programs that got rejected and in my humble opinion I think the people that matter understand what type of students JHU graduates. We are taught to be independent thinkers that work for our knowledge. All my friends that went onto graduate school after Hopkins all entered the schools that are top in their field. While Hopkins does not have the wow factor the schools like HYP have to Joe Plumber, when I contacted the professor at LSE I wanted to study under he said he remembered my application and expects high things from me since he has heard about the excellence that JHU requires from its students. So all you admitted pre-freshman, when it comes to comparisons, unless the school has a much superior academic tradition or international name to that of JHU (which are very very few), I would suggest JHU. You won't regret it.</p>
<p>Wow, this was really thorough and interesting! Thanks!</p>
<p>thank you so much for this!</p>
<p>awesome . i enrolled like 2 days ago, but this definitely makes me feel good about my decision =]</p>
<p>Awesome Post BlueJayBJ, thanks for taking the time in doing so.</p>
<p>Not a problem guys, I just felt that there are way too many ■■■■■■ on the jhu board and facts needed to be stated. JHU has some flaws, all schools do. In my opinions there are not enough departments in the humanities (we really need an east asian languages and literature department, a slavic languages and literature, and a middle east languages and literature department, religious studies) and there needs to be more focus on intensive language tracts for IR students. This stuff can be created with enough student interest and the right donor money though. All in all as I said in my other posts JHU is going through lots of positive changes and I wish I was young enough to start at JHU next year.</p>
<p>Thanks for the positive thread. D felt very enthusiastic after her admitted student day, but is still not completely buying the “really, the cut throat, intense reputation is not correct” presentation. I am hoping she chooses to enroll (other choice is a wonderful LAC so she cannot go wrong), but the reputation is hard to overcome. Aside from covered grades first term (which may go away, I gather), is there any other “comfort” you can provide that the students are in fact happy and collaborative for the most part and that there are not killer grading curves crushing the spirit of the undergrads. D will be in the social sciences (prob international relations) space. Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m in the IR/poli sci department and I’ve never seen ANY cutthroat behavior. Seriously. We all share notes before tests, we all split up reading, etc. We all want to do well, but it’s never at the expense of any people. social sciences have no curves, so your grades come from your professors reading your papers and grading them. Probably similar to other schools. Yes, they expect a lot but it’s JHU. They’d expect a lot at UChicago, or Dartmouth, or…</p>
<p>In response to your post about how JHU opens doors. The simple answer is yes, but there are so many more places that other schools can open up. My aunt is in charge of a particular department at NIH and she told me not to apply to JHU because for internships, NIH believes that Hopkins students are not up to par for NIH standards.</p>
<p>and I know several JHU undergrads who were recruited for NIH internships (NIH even comes to campus…<em>gasp</em>)…so what’s your point jenga? To argue JHU doesn’t open doors, especially for anything health related, is far fetched.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know multipe JHU students that have interned at NIH…that sounds wrong.</p>
<p>JHU has its problems. On a similar note to BlueJayBJ, I wish the departments that JHU is not “known for” had more money, particularly so that undergrads could do more research (I’m referring mainly to the math department and some social science departments).</p>
<p>I’m not sure how I feel about the claim that JHU “opens doors.” Now, I certainly don’t believe it closes them but at least from my experience (which is not in anything bio/medicine/IR/public health related), it doesn’t offer any outstanding opportunities that wouldn’t be available elsewhere. That said, students who try and succeed in creating opportunities generally do well. I know lots of people (myself included) from “lesser-known” departments that got into top 5 graduate programs.</p>
<p>JHU opens doors in its strongest areas (bio, IR, hard sciences, engineering in general especially) through the name and connections provided by the professors. But there are definitely some areas that are lacking as stated by YanksDolphins. I’m referring specifically to wall street, finance, venture capitalists, and investment banking ventures. I’d say the main reason for this is the fact that JHU does not have an elite business school (Carey just became full time and I don’t hold it in high esteem yet). I have friends that worked for Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns (one had a job lined up before the debacle), Citi, and Bain.</p>
<p>But they definitely had to work a bit harder to find these opportunities than others as JHU does not have a strong finance presence on wallstreet. Their professors pointed them in the right direction and some even helped my friends get interviews. But it wasn’t like engineering, where they could pick up the phone and get you a job or internship.</p>
<p>If you do well at JHU, the name and connections will open doors for you, absolutely. If you, like some people I know, don’t do well and fail to take advantage of all that JHU has to offer, then you will probably not have the same opportunities.</p>
<p>Blah2009: I’ve actually been working at Citi the last three summers and I have a friend who was offered a full-time position at Goldman. However, both of us had connections. So I completely agree with you on that.</p>
<p>I wonder how JHU’s financial economics program is doing for internships in finance. JHU spent a fortune recruiting wharton professors away to Hopkins I wonder how its paying off.</p>
<p>This is an awesome post. I really appreciate the honesty. Personally, I wish I could be a freshmen at JHU again as well. There are so many nice things happening on campus! New buildings going up (e.g., Brody Learning Commons extension to the main campus library), new labs being built (e.g., Mudd Hall extension), improvements to areas around the campus (e.g., Charles St. renovation). </p>
<p>I think most of these changes also reflect the earnest effort of Hopkins administrators to improve the quality of life for the students, although they’ve been doing that for a long time already. Still, they somehow always manage to leave those affiliated with the school a long list of things to look forward to.</p>
<p>Internships in finance are still hard to come by (by this, I’m referring to positions with prestigious bulge-bracket banks). Those banks simply don’t recruit here, and that’s going to limit the internships.</p>
<p>With regards to the Wharton professors, one of them (Shore) is leaving, and the other two (Eraslan and Krasnokutskaya) are not finance people (game theory/theory and IO).</p>