Pros:
The campus is gorgeous and expansive. It's definitely the nicest part of the area it's in, but I'll get to that later.
Baltimore is a big city, but Johns Hopkins does a good job of separating itself from the hubbub of the metropolis it's in. The campus is definitely well contained and isn't spread throughout Baltimore.
Cons:
The area Johns Hopkins is in doesn't seem like the safest place to go to school. I'm usually a pretty good judge of what parts of town to avoid, and I don't get nervous very often. But let's just say I wouldn't want to walk around Johns Hopkins or the surrounding area at night. And that sucks.
Johns Hopkins does seem like quite the nerd school. I can't imagine JHU kids have too much fun on the weekends. It also seems to be focused more on the sciences than other areas of study. I know it has good programs across all subjects, but what I observed was an emphasis on math and science and all that.
Pictures:
Some apartments close to JHU.
Paths like this run all throughout the campus.
Told you the campus was beautiful!
Greenhouse!
Food trucks right next to the school.
Baltimore Museum of Art... free to all!
Tiny building nearly hidden in the trees on campus.
Overall:
Beautiful, clean campus meets top-notch academics at Johns Hopkins University. If you're a serious student who can hold their own in a somewhat sketchy part of town, look into this school. It seems great, but I just don't think it's for me.
Ha! I'm from Baltimore, and yes it is not in the kind of neighborhood in which one strolls about at night. Interestingly, though, I have never seen (or could have imagined!) the campus presented in your pictures. Looks decent -- outside of Harbor East, decent is hard to find in Baltimore.
ReplyDeleteOh, and you forgot to mention: if one did take a stroll at night and suffered some "injury," there is a university a few paces away packed with aspiring doctors, eager for some work out in the field. Yay, JHU!
Hey I'm a Johns Hopkins sophomore and a Baltimore native so I think I can speak about this topic pretty well, and first I really have to say and truly emphasize that you’ve got it ALL wrong. Lol from the outside, yes Baltimore does seem pretty bad but it’s not as bad as other places I know and over time you can really grow to love it. Next, let me explain why you are completely safe when walking around campus late at night, even as far as the Homewood apartments, (apartments pictured above one of the first pictures). Also, plenty of students HAVE walked around that late at night and do live off campus so this isn't just me that know this. There are security guards and blue lights EVERYWHERE, literally at all times of the day and especially at night there are people and guards looking out for the safety of everyone. I mean, you can't even get into a dorm with A) having a JCard and B) passing by a security guard who will question you if you don’t have a JCard or any identification. Being from a different part of Baltimore that is definitely not as nice/artsy/and as well protected as Hopkins I know how it can feel to be walking alone at night and not feel so safe. But let me tell you, a big part of Hopkins is letting the students know they're safe. Additionally, we get daily crime reports every day about any crimes that happen both on and off campus and let me tell you, their generally are no crimes, or if there is, its theft because a student left something like a Mac computer overnight in the library alone. Trust me; Hopkins is actually the safest place in Baltimore. Having lived here my whole life and also having watched the news every day, the amount of crimes that happen daily in Baltimore city are nowhere near the amount of nonexistent crimes that happen at Hopkins.
ReplyDeleteThe campus is beautiful and yes I can agree that Hopkins is very separate from the rest of Baltimore oddly enough since I'm from here but it still feels like I'm in a completely different city than the one I actually grew up in. Now to get to the rest of your cons, I would not categorize Hopkins as a nerd school. Hopkins is a school of passionate, dedicated, incredibly talented students. BUT Hopkins students definitely know how to have fun and there are a lot of organized events by the student body and the general organization. For freshman ESPECIALLY during freshman year you will become overwhelmed by all of the events that will continually go on, even into the spring semester. There is something to be said (this is true at all colleges) and that is most of the fun you will have will come out of your "niche" or the group of friends you make during your years here. Still, Hopkins has a lot too offer in the area of fun events and things to do. Now let me explain further; there are frat parties EVERY night. You are free to go to as many you want on any day at any time you wish. Since your parents aren't around anymore many freshmen even go, especially along with their roommates or people in their dorms. These parties have music, alcohol and plenty of people to chill with and even if you don't drink, if you go with the right people you can still have a relatively decent time. If your not into partying there's still plenty of ways to have fun, like going into a common room in a dorm and playing video games all night with people in your dorm or watching movies on an actual T.V. Along with plenty of other things to do like exploring Baltimore city which is a kind of hidden gem I would say. There are restaurants downtowns, movie theaters (sorry I really like movies lol:-P) shopping malls, and a lot of museums and libraries yet to be explored by anyone who isn't from here. Baltimore as a city has a lot to offer and so does Hopkins. You can have as much fun as you can handle as well as getting one of the best educations money can buy (trust me, its very expensive, but that’s a whole different topic to discuss).
Yes Hopkins does emphasize math and the sciences because the majority of the school is pre-med or engineering but that doesn’t mean that the other majors/departments are not as amazing as the sciences and math departments. I know for a fact that our writing sems department is one of the best and from having taken classes in that department it’s really awesome! Our history major and sociology majors are also really well established and contain really qualified and passionate people, just like the math and science departments. I can say to you that if you were to apply to Hopkins, get in, decided to go here and really learn what Hopkins is about for yourself, you would grow to love it or maybe even intensely like it because of all it has to offer in every area of a college student's life. I wish you luck in your college decisions and hope this has provided a different viewpoint on what you thought about Hopkins. Good luck with everything!
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