School Review: Johns Hopkins University

I've never really been passionate about Johns Hopkins for any reason, but I know it's a good school so I thought I'd check it out since Baltimore was on the way to the next school I wanted to see on this trip. What I found was a beautiful campus that most likely has a lot to offer its students. Note: I don't have tons to say about this school.

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.

School Review: Georgetown University

I loved Georgetown. I honestly couldn't believe how perfect it seemed when I visited campus a few days ago. The location, the campus, the academics... just so perfect.

Pros:

Washington D.C.! I love that Georgetown definitely feels as though it's connected to D.C. but also operates under its own distinct identity. Being so close to the capital of the nation has its obvious advantages, and Georgetown students take advantage of that. I believe they said that over 80% of Georgetown students do an internship while at the university. Being in D.C. also makes it easy for speakers like Bill Clinton, Bradley Cooper, and even Barack Obama to visit and give speeches.

The campus is utterly breathtaking. It's summer so there was some construction going on when I visited, but I was still blown away. Don't worry--I have pictures.

The business-first attitude of the students really appeals to me. I think you have to have a certain mindset to be able to live in places like D.C. or New York and I think I definitely have the personality required. I also was happy to see that not all of the people I saw on campus looked like they came straight from a Ralph Lauren commercial (though I did see that Georgetown has its own Vineyard Vines line!)!

Though Georgetown is technically a Jesuit (Catholic) university, they have a very diverse student body and are very accepting of all people. They even reiterated the fact that they were the first Catholic college to have a LGBTQ center, which I found very cool. They also have religious centers inside of the Catholic chapel for Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and some other things I can't remember. They definitely don't seem to be pushing Catholicism on anyone.

Apparently Georgetown has the #1 college town in the country. All I saw were a bunch of upper-scale houses, but from what they told us the area surrounding Georgetown is pretty awesome and has all the shopping and food places a student needs.

Cons:

I did notice some litter and a lot of cigarette butts on campus, but I'm sure it's just because it's summer and they aren't fully staffed.

I had the hardest time finding the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, where the information session was held. I walked all around campus and even ended up walking through a nature trail a few blocks from campus because that's what my GPS told me to do! Turns out the office is right next to the front gates. I should have just looked it up on their site in the first place. It did give me a chance to check out campus though!

Pictures:

Creepy ancient graveyard in the middle of campus!

Some of the surrounding area.

Seriously? Is this Georgetown or Hogwarts?

Apparently Georgetown students are a bit embarrassed by their football team... but their basketball team is really good!

The view of D.C. from the roof of one of the apartment-style dorm buildings. Yes, that's the Washington Monument you see.

Location is everything!

Overall:

I would be honored to attend Georgetown. The campus is beautiful, the opportunities are endless, and the academics are excellent. What more could one want from a college?