<p>I was recently accepted to WUSTL and JHU for the class of 2015. I was also waitlisted at UChicago, Brown, and Princeton.</p>
<p>Do you think I should stay on the waitlist for any of these colleges or should I just stick with WUSTL or JHU? </p>
<p>I am planning to do pre-med and I have lived in Wisconsin for half of my life. I want to go to a place where has a lot of international opportunities because I have been living in shanghai for the past three years to end my high school. Which school do you think would better suit my needs if I am almost set on going to med school (Harvard Med is my goal!) I'm not afraid of working hard but I also want to have some fun sometimes. However, academics and getting into graduate school is still the most important for me.</p>
<p>Hopkins all the way. International opportunities are very much all over campus and JHU has an amazing international reputation which WUSTL lacks. </p>
<p>Hopkins will open doors for you overseas much more than WUSTL.</p>
<p>I am choosing Hopkins although I was accepted to several other schools. I intend to go to a med school after college as well.Hopkins have a great reputation for guiding their students to medical schools and it also has a greater international reputation compared to Washington University in St. Louis (at least thats what I personally think). I am of Korean & Japanese decent so I am definitely aware of how people oversees view US colleges, and they sure think that JHU provides people with better opportunities than WUSTL. I feel as if a lot of people overseas tend to overloook WUSTL and fail to recognize their name more than they should. Don’t get me wrong, I KNOW that WUSTL is a great university and I am not saying that JHU is of better quality. But at least from where I come from, and what my family says from overseas, they recognize JHU more than WUSTL, which means this will probably open up doors for you wherever you go after college.JHU also has a great program that will lead their students into med schools. They have a very rigorous program for this and as long as you can survive, your future to med school is pretty much guaranteed. I heard from one point at a different thread that last year (or two years ago?) the acceptance rate to med schools was 95% for JHU students, which is a pretty good stat.I also talked to one of the students who went to JHU for undergrad, then got accepted to JHU med school and went onto become a doctor, and she said that this transition tends to be easier than people applying to JHU med school from other colleges. I’m sure you still have to be one of the top students from Hopkins, but from what I hear, it does seem like it’s easier to get accepted to JHU med school by being a JHU undergrad student. I do understand that your goal is Harvard med, but I’m sure nobody would disagree with me that JHU has a great med school. So there is another great alternative/chance for you if you don’t make it into Harvard.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is any difference academically between the two. I would attend whichever school feels right to you. Having lived in WI, maybe you want to try outside the midwest. Having lived overseas, I think you will find JHU/Baltimore be a bit more ‘cosmopolitan’ than St. Louis. I know that after living in Europe for a year, even Chicago seemed very provincial to me when I attended UChicago afterwards. So, suggest you go for the ‘feel’ rather than trying to dice the pros/cons of each.</p>
<p>Whether you stay on any of the waitlists will depend on whether you’d rather attend one of those schools vs. JHU/WUSTL, and you are the only one that knows that answer.</p>
<p>The responses here will be biased toward JHU since you posted this in the JHU board. I personally would pick WashU only because it seems less competitive than Hopkins, but different strokes for different folks.</p>
<p>to rainbowrose: you know this because you’ve attended both right?</p>
<p>I’d choose JHU in a heartbeat. Wustl has disingenuous admissions practices still to this day and is pretty bad for anything not bio related. St.Louis is also the most dangerous city in america with the most violent crimes per capita. Washu is also “known” as competitive (probably spread by students who didn’t get in). Additionally, Washu’s reputation is a non-concern as it doesn’t exist.</p>
<p>I agree with Blah…while Washu has many more departments compared to JHU, the quality isn’t there. I was accepted to both Washu and JHU for East Asian studies and while Washu had an actual department, the professors there compared to the ones at JHU were more mid tier compared to the professors I had at JHU and JHU doesn’t even have a department for my program. So if thats true for an “interdisciplinary” degree, extrapolate that to JHU premed…</p>
<p>I’ll reiterate the fact that to attend a school with a global reputation like that of Johns Hopkins is really a great opportunity. Also, if you haven’t seen the physical plant of campus, it’ll really blow your mind about how beautiful it is and how traditional it feels. </p>
<p>With respect to reputation, I’ll give you a similar situation:</p>
<p>University of Warwick for Cambridge University?</p>
<p>While they may offer similar experiences and requirements to be admitted are almost identical, the global reputation of Cambridge really means a lot in the work world and when it comes to landing opportunities post college. I’ll say the same about Johns Hopkins University. It’s a great university with an incredible reputation for academic excellence which is recognized world wide as a place where academics go to learn, study and research. </p>
<p>I think WashU also appears more selective and to enroll higher quality students than it actually does because of their use of EDI, EDII and a high percentage of their class coming in off of the WL. If you really love WashU and demonstrate your interest, some pretty marginal students can get in because the university cares a lot about enrolling students who are really interested in going, and not necessarily academic superstars. I think even if you’re really, really interested in Hopkins, you are still not likely to be admitted independent of how much you show that. </p>
<p>I tend to view Hopkins on the other side in that they attract some serious national and international level powerhouse students in all academic areas because of the exceptional reputation.</p>
<p>This is totally wrong. You’re actually highly UNLIKELY to get into their medical schools. Their med school acceptance rate is so low and I heard just the opposite, from an admissions person. (Not kidding.)
Do not criticize this comment below. It’s true. JHU kids think highly of JHU. And WUSTL think highly of their school. And they are different.
This statement below is also untrue. Please don’t assume you’re all that knowledgeable until you have applied to med school. It is true that JHU’s med school is a higher rank than WUSTL (#3 vs #4), but let’s not sound so righteous.
</p>
<p>Full disclosure: my son attends WUSTL. I had encouraged him to go visit and he came back and loved it. My nephew had attended JHU, but he found kids there too competitive (like ripping out pages from a library book) and ended up transferring.</p>
<p>limabeans you are ■■■■■■■■, of course JHU name is more international than WASHU. JHU isn’t just represented by the med school, but by bloomberg (#1 public health school in the world) and SAIS (while Gtown is the top IR school for american foreign policy, SAIS is THE premium for global IR).</p>
<p>Did i tell you about my <em>insert relative here</em> who attend Wustl and said he hated it? He ripped pages out of library books there in frustration after realizing he had to live in St.Louis AND in the midwest for four years. Blah blah blah blah blah…washu ■■■■■■ where nelly rolls.</p>
<p>I think we’ve all noticed a pattern. Wustl and UMich posters envying JHU and coming to this board to trash the school and “try” (hey…maybe if you shout louder, people will actually believe you…=)) to inflate their school. You never see the reverse happening for a reason.</p>
<p>" Wustl… is pretty bad for anything not bio related."
Because you’ve attended WashU, right?</p>
<p>I’m just going to copy and paste this from their website because I have no idea where to find the rankings specifically, but I have also read somewhere else on this board that they’re in the top 5 for Political Science specifically.
“U.S. News & World Report for 2010 places 20 Washington University graduate and professional programs in their top-10 rankings. The School of Medicine is number four in the nation, and 12 of the departments and programs in medicine are ranked in the top 10. The George Warren Brown School of Social Work is ranked number one in the nation, and three Arts & Sciences areas are ranked in the top 10. The School of Law was ranked 19th in the nation; the school’s clinical training program ranked number five, and its trial advocacy program was number seven. The Department of Biomedical Engineering is ranked number 16. The Olin School’s part-time MBA is 10.”</p>
<p>I can’t comment on the admissions practices because I am not an admissions officer and I won’t pretend to believe that their admissions practices aren’t sketchy. ALL schools are a bit sketchy, just some more than others. They’re private schools; they can admit students however they want to as long as they aren’t blatantly discriminating against anyone. Also, WashU does not have EDII as WealthOfInformation stated.</p>
<p>I didn’t say WashU or JHU was the better choice. I won’t deny that JHU has a better international reputation, but this is undergrad and OP plans to go to med school so it’s most important that (s)he is in an environment where (s)he is best suited to learn as much as (s)he can and be best prepared to be admitted to and enter medical school.</p>
<p>I told you I read it on one of these boards. EVERYTHING you read on these boards should be taken with a grain of salt (including EVERY poster on thread).</p>
<p>Only OP can decide which school is best for him(her)self. Good luck with your decision! You really can’t go wrong here!</p>
<p>You’re right…I should have clarified WUSTL as pretty bad for ALMOST EVERYTHING else not bio related. I can’t believe you forget to mention wustl’s other fabulous programs?</p>
<p>WUSTL Medical school (its pride and joy) for clinical care (#41 compared to JHU at #13). </p>
<p>WUSTL’s cutting edge engineering school (#49)?</p>
<h1>35 in aero engineering</h1>
<h1>36 in chem engineering</h1>
<h1>65 in civil engineering (it’s so bad, wustl dissolved its civil department)</h1>
<h1>42 in computer engineering</h1>
<h1>38 in electrical engineering</h1>
<h1>34 in environmental engineering</h1>
<h1>61 in materials engineering</h1>
<h1>48 in mechanical engineering</h1>
<h1>39 in comp sci</h1>
<p>Let’s move on to WUSTL’s preeminent humanities and social sciences:</p>
<p>First of all, I don’t consider all departments in the top 50 to be PRETTY BAD. </p>
<p>I think OP needs to pick where he/she likes best, whether it be JHU or WashU. Both schools are fine stepping stones for med school with 90+% medical school acceptance rates for their pre-med students (I can’t find the stats online, but that’s what they said at the Bio info session I went to at WashU so I would assume it’s legit).</p>
<p>It’s nice to see school spirit when it’s nice. Otherwise it’s not so nice. I’m not sure angry posts make students want to attend JHU. These are both great schools and I’m only coming here to correct some misinformation. I’ll go away. I promise.</p>
<p>Here are some rankings on the Wash U wikipedia site, which is maintained by a professor. I believe it is the medical research ranking that is the pride and joy. They are 4th, Hopkins is 3rd. But I’m sure you’ll correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>"Graduate schools include the School of Medicine, currently ranked 4th in the nation, and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, currently ranked 1st. The program in occupational therapy at Washington University currently occupies the top spot for the U.S. News and World Report rankings (tied for #1). For the 2011 edition, the School of Law is ranked 18th and the Olin Business School is ranked 20th.[37][38] Additionally, the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design was ranked 5th in the nation by the journal DesignIntelligence in its 2009 edition of “America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools.”</p>
<p>The OP should remember, though, that the choice of an undergraduate institution should be based on factors other than ranking of the graduate programs. </p>