Johns Hopkins University Top Questions

Hopkins is an awesome location, a beautiful campus in the heart of a city, which allows so much opportunities if you take the initiative to get off campus and explore. Many people complain about Baltimore not being a good city but they are just whiners who havent put themselves out there enough. Everyone here is weird and awkward in some way, which makes for a lot of hysterical situations. However, you cannot be the kind of person who is easily upset by people who have no idea how to handle normal social situations, as this happens a lot. Brush off people's oddities and lack of common sense and you'll be fine.

One of the best things about JHU is how easy it is to get invovled in anything you may want to do. The campus is small enough that they are happy people are willing to participate in whatever and big enough to have a wide range of activities. If you want to do research you can. If you want to learn how to build a set you can. If you want to get involved it is only a matter of walking down to the CSC (the center for social concern). The walk won't be long because the campus is so small so a 15 min walk would get you anywhere. The campus is also a gorgeous brick and marble with cherry trees so the walk would be pretty. The JHU administration is fabulous. They are constantly trying to improve the happiness of their students.

Hopkins is a great school with some smart people at it. However, there is little emphasis put on being well rounded. It is necessary to take it upon yourself to make all you can out of your college experience. No one at Hopkins is going to tell you how to get involved on campus, rarely are you just going to walk outside and be able to get into a game of football on the quad (technically on the freshmen quad sports aren't even allowed.) There is a reason for the no fun stereotype, but it doesn't have to be that way.

JHU is really not as bad as some (majority of) students say it is. For example, I've heard a lot of complaints about campus food both in the Sodexho and Aramark eras, but from the bottom of my honest heart, IT IS FINE!!! You can choose to eat as healthily as you wish, as frequently as you wish, all under your budget. JHU has many resources to prepare people to go to graduate studies or get a job. But one has to look for them actively in order to get the right service. Recent controversy: Halloween party incidence last year. I think the administration went overboard to suspend the kid for a year and a half. I would have much preferred giving him some community service tasks, which would serve to dissolve the mutual misunderstanding of what is a culturally appropriate message. I was glad however to find both sides' perspectives publicized well on the web.

I think the administration is too invested in creating an environment that donors and alum find appealing as opposed to taking up actual student life issues. There is a desperate undercurrent of wanting to mimic and be in the same league as the Ivies and as a result so many opportunities are missed to define and distinguish Hopkins as its own unique place. Advising is inaccessible and some advisors are downright rude and may actively dislike students. Students are allowed to leave Baltimore with absolutely no concept of the place in which they've lived or any sense of the social deterioration happening around them. It fosters a sense of entitlement and distance from a city that could benefit greatly from the talents of the student body.

My favorite part about Hopkins has been the opportunity I have had to work at the hospital. The ease of getting to the Medical campus and the opportunities I have gained from it have been amazing. I would encourage the school to try to increase levels of school spirit. If there was a designated day off from classes to just bond with other students - maybe a day during a lacrosse game - that would be amazing. It is slowly becoming a college town. There have been many great stores and apartment buildings popping up.

It's a beautiful campus, that's the first impression. And Baltimore is a wonderful city to live in. Yes, you have to have common-sense, just like in any city, but Baltimore (despite it's murder-rate) is a welcoming, quirky city that you'll love to get familiar with.

Small private school. You end up seeing everybody you know and getting to know people you don't eventually after a year or two, if you even venture to try. Otherwise, the only excuse for not meeting people is being holed up in your room. My friend circles overlap, but that's just because I spent a lot of time on my social life at Hopkins instead of studying, which you need to do 24/7 if you want to hack it at this school. The most successful kids who come out of here are the ones that are crazy about every academic or extracurricular pursuit they choose. They live and breathe it, and therefore have no use for outside fun. If that isn't you - if you like a little bit of everything at a chillax pace, then don't go here. Hopkins is intense, and it's a struggle just to make it through all four years. That said, if you're crazy intense, and want to be surrounded by like-minded dorks, then this could be the perfect place for your undergraduate career.

The best thing at JHU is that the misfits have a strong community. Those who enjoy docenting at museums, book clubs and vegan food feel persecuted by the polo-wearing majority and by the lack of school funding or support for artistic endeavors. They bond together over that. I would make tuition lower!!! I would also ask for themed housing, like they have at Loyola down the street: German language house, athlete housing, etc. I like the size of the school. I like a small pond. But other people say that it's too small; everyone you hook up with has hooked up with one of your friends...ew. "Are you a doctor?" No. I used to hold court at the Levering coffee shop. People always knew I would be there and would come to find me. But then one of my enemies started showing up there so I relocated. I used to love the Hutzler Reading Room (the Hut) in Gilman Hall, but they are renovating and took out all the books. Now it is just drafty, extremely hot/cold, and there is only one toilet for all 40 people studying in there. I LOVE BALTIMORE SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH. I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE. It is a great place to be young and strange. Did I mention our bike collective? The strange way that Mount Vernon (monuments, gay people) becomes North Central Arts District (train station, more gentrification) becomes African-hair-braiding/Korean-barbeque becomes Charles Village (lesbian dog walkers and Hopkins) becomes Waverly (Kennedy Fried Chicken, dollar stores, black people) becomes Roland Park (rich rich rich) becomes Hampden (poor white people, awesome shopping and lame touristy shopping)? I love it. The administration is kind of a dick. It took us a year and a half to get funding for our club. But some of the deans are lovely. Hmm...Sig Chi's racist Halloween party...the Carrolton Review published pictures of DSAGA and "outed" them...people are frequently dying... There is mild school pride. A lot of people seem to take pride in saying: "JHU: Where your best hasn't been good enough since 1896" but half the schools in the country claim that motto as their own. People have a lot of pride in how unwashed, awkward, throaty and boring their classmates are. Also we have a lacrosse team. Baltimore is unusual. Dance parties in Gilman 500 (under the belltower). The scent of night-blooming magnolia by the library. The first time I went to a warehouse party... People complain about everything.

All of the students at JHU are passionate about studying and learning. I think that the administration could treat its students better. The size of Hopkins is just right. People ask me if I am going to be a doctor when I tell them I go to JHU. I spend most of my time in Cafe Q the coffee shop in the library. I think that the administration often overlooks its students and seems not to care about them.