Johns Hopkins University

One of the finest universities in America, The Johns Hopkins University is not like many small liberal arts schools. There is the large amount of NIH funding along with world class faculty and facilities for undergraduate and graduate students. The men’s lacrosse team has a rich tradition in Division 1 and many sports teams make the Division 3 playoffs. The undergraduate campus is pleasant and has been used as a backdrop for movies (The Social Network) with Gilman hall and the clock making a guest appearance. The library and laboratory space have been renovated and both are spectacular. You will not get a free pas at JHU but the education you receive will be second to none.

A beautiful school located in Baltimore. I came here on ⁷⁄₄ to visit my friend. The campus is accessible and gorgeous. However it lacks the feel of a college town… But according to the stigma, its a place were a lot of hardcore studying premeds exist. Thus it begs the question of whether or not the absence of a college like town is really necessary.

Beautiful campus and a top-​notch educational value. Hopkins is well respected and I have had nothing but a 100% positive reception for my graduate school education there. The professors are just uniformly experts and incredibly helpful and responsive. The only thing I have to warn about is that you have to be a very assertive/​independent person when it comes to administration. I actually attempted to attend JHU nearly a decade ago, but I ended up dropping out because of issues with financial aid and registration. Basically, my paperwork did not get processed on time, and I was not going to be awarded my student loans until well after the semester began. It took me several years to gather the fortitude to go back and complete my master’s degree. To be fair, by then they had replaced a lot of the staff, but I had also learned to be extremely assertive and follow-​up all the time (to the point of being a nuisance sometimes — I’m sure they were glad to stop hearing from me!). Still, regardless of the vast improvements in administration, I do think someone who attends this type of school has to be very driven and assertive and make sure things get done no matter what. Overall, I’m grateful to JHU for my education and the opportunities it has afforded me.

Spring Fair. Nuff said

This is the Johns Hopkins main campus, not to be confused with the medical center located closer to downtown. As a tourist, a visit to the campus was a nice way to spend a leisurely spring afternoon. It has lots of big college-​y-​looking buildings to stroll around, with crisp green quads, shady benches and a few nice gardens with fountains, plenty of stressed-​out looking students and the like.
Getting there is simple, and there is a very inexpensive parking garage directly next to the visitors center that provides convenient access to the center of campus. Just follow the signs from the main road.
My favorite site at the campus was definitely taking the tour of the old house that was the original building on the site of what would eventually become the University campus. JH is one of Baltimore’s most prominent institutions, and definitely worth a visit if you haven’t been.

Blue jay forever — yes forever

Like most of the other Unilocalers below, I have a LOVE-​HATE relationship with my former alma mater. Here is why:
LOVES:
*THE LIBRARY: basically the only social mecca of this campus. which is pretty sad because college is supposed to be a social experience, no? I’m guessing the Hopkins library is the equivalent of a «student union» at a large state school. But I have many fond memories of studying at the «MSE» — nice large well-​lighted desks, although you will have to fight for them, nude people streaking through during finals, the comfy couches where you could take naps in between class, and late night study sessions with friends.
*PUBLIC HEALTH (MAJOR). Yes, I switched around my major from «Undecided» to «Premed» to «International Relations» and finally settling on Public Health. But seriously, Public Health is a great major that allows you to take a breadth of different courses. You get to take all your senior year classes at the Graduate School of Public Health, which is on the med school campus. Classes there are easy by comparison and super specialized — i took a «Water & Sanitation» class for example.
*CAMPUS: It’s actually quite pretty — lots of marble and bricks. Just don’t stray further than one block from campus or you might get shot.
*ACADEMIC REPUTATION: Let’s face it — it’s a hard school to get in to and a hard school to survive in for 4 years. That being said, virtually everyone graduates within 4 years unless you have Academic Probation. I am proud to have a degree from this school though, although you have to pay some insanely high tuition for it.
*GYM: Or the «A/​C» as we fondly referred to it. There’s a nice indoor track, racquetball courts, exercise classes, and a rock-​climbing wall. It never really got super crowded either — probably because most students at Hopkins spend more time in their dorm room or the library.
HATES:
*BALTIMORE WEATHER: California people — here is a forewarning — YOU WILL BE MISERABLE IN BALTIMORE! The weather sucks, the campus is only nice within a block, and you will need to bring something to cover your feet (flip flops are insufficient year-​round). Of course I was the poor naïve California girl used to wearing sandals all year and had to buy my first pair of «Timbs» (which I thought only ghetto rappers wore). Apparently they’re an all-​purpose shoe there — but yes, bring waterproof shoes. Also the weather is dreary here 90% of the time and totally unpredictable.
*BALTIMORE SAFETY: Baltimore gets a –10 000 stars on safety. No joke — at least 3 people in my graduating class passed away due to crime, break-​ins, and murder. And these happened within blocks of campus. Very tragic and very unsettling.
*LACK OF PARKING: I brought my car junior year and found it to be quite a pain in the ass. You pretty much have to rent an indoor parking spot otherwise you will end up having to shovel your car out of snow occasionally or deal with parking tickets. That, and circling around looking for parking takes up time when you should be darting to class.
*LACK OF STUFF TO DO NEAR CAMPUS: There really isn’t much within walking distance of campus. You will need to take public transportation everywhere (to go to Inner Harbor downtown, take the Collegetown shuttle to Towson mall, etc.). Not exactly a college town. There’s also probably a total of 5 restaurants within walking distance. Since there’s only 5 each basically has a monopoly on its style of food and there’s no incentive to improve the cuisine or lower prices.
*FOOD: If you’re stuck on meal plan, it’s among the worst i have ever experienced (I have visited my friends at other schools and been insanely jealous at their meal offerings). Unlike other schools, Hopkins does not have any «chain» restaurants — instead they contract with Sodexho, which is a catering company that provides prison food. Every day was a monotonous meal — buffets filled with stale salads, stale cereal, two types of fruit (apple or banana), pizza, pasta with white sauce, or pasta with red sauce. Basically the only exciting meal I had to look forward to was Sunday brunch with the omelette bar (sad huh?). Often times the food would either be too bland or way too salty.
GENERAL COMMENTARY:
*SOCIAL LIFE: It is what you make of it. If you decide to get yourself involved with lots of activities (on-​campus organizations, Greek life, etc.) you will make friends — about 25% of students did that. The other 75% are hardcore nerds who are cutthroat and who never experience fresh air because they are either in the library or computer lab. Also, because everyone is kind of limited to campus and there is only so much to do, most people end up bonding and it’s a small school to begin with. I’ve made some of my best friends in life through JHU.
*INTERSESSION: It’s fun to stay for Intersession! Take the Wine Tasting course… nothing better than getting trashed with your fellow classmates, then trudging home in the snow afterwards.

It feels odd to Unilocal your uni, but I seeing as how I spent 8 years here getting two advanced degrees, I realize that I am likely more knowledgeable than most about its charms, dining options, sight-​seeing gems, and things to avoid.
And it makes sense to Unilocal a place like this, since it attracts a lot of visitors and can be confusing to those who don’t know where to go to get some food, coffee, or simply have a good time. Unlike many commercial establishments that have flashy signs or billboards, college and university dining facilities are understated. This is often why they can sometimes be really excellent places and are typically located in attractive settings with neat architecture and interesting people to hang out with (or just observe).
Tip #1: Avoid the obvious food court choices in Levering Hall, the student union. They are pretty run-​of-​the-​mill and the lines can be long. The exceptions would be coffee in the Jazzman Café and special events in the Glass Pavilion. The JC is something of a misnomer b/​c I never saw a jazzman or — woman there, and they lack a stage for live music. So it’s more suggestive than anything else. But they do have leather comfy chairs, some gas-​light fake fireplaces, free WiFi, campus newspapers, and all that you need for a nice afternoon’s respite. The other cool locale here is the Glass Pavilion, a 70s-​style open space with floor to ceiling glass panels and a large area for catered events, which can be really great. But they tend to be invite-​only.
For a quick coffee or snack in a bookish setting, try the Q-​Level in the Milton S. Eisenhower library. A younger brother to the Supreme Allied Commander and 2-​term U.S. president (Dwight D.), old Milty is most infamous for running the Japanese-​American internment camps during the Second World War (officially called the War Relocation Authority). But he also served as a president to JHU, so he gets a building named in his honor. Go figure.
My favorite hidden gem for dining on campus, though, is the Azafrán Café in the Space Telescope Building (
). I have Unilocaled them before, but they deserve an additional shout-​out for being pretty awesome. Almost too good than a university café has any right to be, really. And the building itself, one of several places where the Hubble is moved around, is pretty neat, too, with lots of great wall art from the universe.
My last tip for touring this beautiful urban campus in North Baltimore is the lily-​pond garden located next to the Faculty Club (mediocre food served in a posh setting), the President’s House, and a former greenhouse that now has offices for the Anthro Dept. and other academic institutes. This little garden is wonderful all year ’round.
During the annual Spring Fair — when the Homewood campus is temporarily transformed in Bakhtinian fashion into a carnival setting replete with rides, booths, and food stalls — the garden becomes a Biergarten with a stage for musical performances and an impromptu bar serving cold ones. It’s a pretty amazing thing to witness, and the Spring Fair is definitely one of Hopkins’ best annual traditions!

I have a love hate relationship with this school. I really disliked my experience at the school, and the school’s rank dropping from 7 to 15 from my freshman year to my senior year didn’t help either. People were really lame, hardly anybody wanted to go out, a «good time» was getting trashed at one of the terrible frats. The classes and professors were overall pretty unforgiving. The only things that were positive are that I’ll hopefully never have to endure something so god awful for 4 years again, I made a few really good friends, and my current career would not be possibly without attending there (mostly due to Prof. Aronhime). So Hopkins gets 2 stars instead of 1.

I have a bit of a love-​hate relationship with Hopkins, but on the whole I guess I can’t complain too much. It’s giving me a fine education, and I’ve found a social scene that gives me something to do in my free time. I tend to disagree that Greek life has been deteriorating, but then again I am a Hopkins Greek, so I may be biased. Whatever you do, don’t believe the rumors of a cutthroat campus. We’re really not more competitive than any other campus out there. Good grades can be tough to come by, however. Most profs here aren’t given to handing out As. Two Hopkins traditions I’ll look fondly upon when I graduate are Spring Fair (an annual campus event that brings in a major musical performer, as well as various student shows, arts & crafts vendors, and local FOOD establishments!) and Blue Jays lacrosse games. Heck, the Jays just won another NCAA lacrosse title.
So yeah, Hopkins isn’t too shabby of a university.

i can’t believe i’m giving it a 4 star, but it is one of the best universities in the country and they do offer some of the bests programmes. but if you’re considering coming here, BEWARE! this is no easy ivy league schools that give you a B+ to A– curve, nor this is much of a party school (greek life has been getting worse and worse every year), so if you’re coming, you’re coming for the academics. and if you do come, drop me a line, i can give you a few pointers