Jordan
The best thing about JHU is that you can have as much or as little of a presence as you want. It's a small school, so you can make an impact in student life, get your teachers to know who you are, etc - or you can just coast by. For me it's the perfect size, because I know a lot of people but don't know a lot more, yet still don't feel like I'm drowning in anonymity like I would at some 40,000+ university.
If I could change one thing it'd be the bureaucracy. It's way too hard to get things done, sometimes, because paperwork, complicated procedures and unhelpful university staff get in the way.
When I tell people I go to JHU, most assume I want to be a doctor.
I don't spend much time on campus. There's not really a "college town" either, though now there's this row of shops on St. Paul that is kind of a sad attempt at a college town, and at least an improvement on what it used to be. There's 0 school pride, outside sports. Still, no one really came here for school spirit, so it's not something anyone worries about - the biggest complaints are usually the food, the housing, and the administration, instead.
Tristan
The best thing about JHU is the campus. The beautiful Georgian architecture, brick buildings, cherry blossums, and large grassy quads were some of the many factors in my decision to attend Hopkins. Although, I do not think that JHU has the strongest sense of community, the quads allow people to congregate on "the beach" as they sun themselves and attempt to do homework on the large grassy area outside the library. People play frisbee, soccer, football, and it is really entertaining and community-orientated to sit out on the beach on a sunny spring day. In the wintertime, there is the Lighting of the Quad where all the lamp posts are adorned with Christmas tree lights and the Gilman Hall Clock Tower shines red and green for the holidays. No matter what season, JHU is a beautiful place to be. In terms of Baltimore, the location of Baltimore in the middle of a bunch of East Coast cities is really wonderful. The fact that you can get to Washington DC and Philadelphia in an hour, and New York in two hours makes road trips and weekend visits very conveninent.
Batlimore itself is an interesting cultural city with lots of funky and unique neighborhoods. One can take the free shuttle to Hampden and find a wide array of shops from anitque shops to ritzy/expensive clothing boutiques. As a city, Baltimore has a good sense of humor, and you will be suprised with what you find. With great restaurants all over the place, a favorite tradition is Vacarro's on Monday nights in Little Italy for all you can eat desserts. The Inner Harbor, may be the main attraction for most visitors, and as beautiful as it is, the longer you stay in Baltimore the more you may expand your visits to include other historic neighborhoods like Mt. Vernon, Fell's Point, Mt. Washington, and Canton. There are a lot of bars in Baltimore and on Halloween everyone puts on a costume and heads down to Fell's Point for one of the largest Halloween parties ever. The streets are filled with all types of people wearing crazy costumes. For those who want to party on or near campus there are frat parties, off-campus parties, and local bars and clubs which students frequent. Although some people believe the only thing Hopkins students do is study, this is not true. There are quite a few people that go out multiple times per week, if not every night.
Overall, Hopkins is a suprising school and Baltimore is a suprising city. The public transportation in Batlimore is sometimes frustrating, and most people take cabs, but the admistration does its best to make students feel safe and allow them to travel about the area. There is a local shuttle system that you can call, as long as you are within a mile radius of campus. There is also a shuttle that stops at the different Hopkins campuses in Baltimore, including the Peabody Conservatory and the Medical School. Conveniently enough, it even stops at the train station. Finally, there is a Collegetown Shuttle that stops at local Baltimore universities and downtown at the Inner Harbor.