Johns Hopkins University Top Questions

Sweet, friendly and are willing to share notes if they are close with you. Some are very snobbish.

Overachievers.

Self-focused and sheltered.

Hopkins is a pretty WASPy campus. I went to New York for a weekend, visiting friends at NYU and Rutgers, and then came back to Hopkins, and it struck me how the student bodies had very different looks. Hopkins is definitely preppy, and people care how they look. There aren't that many black students on campus, and they seem to stick together. There are a lot of Asians, and more Asians than you would think who are actually immigrants. Students seem pretty wealthy to me, but compared to other top 15 universities, Hopkins gives pretty good financial aid, so the student body is probably not as wealthy as that of the other schools. The student body is pretty liberal, but 1. lazy, and too focused on doing well in school to really focus on anything else 2. I think it's a much more conservative campus than others I've visited.

Education focused.

As a rule, they are intense. Everyone wants to do well, and there is a huge pre-med contingency on campus, who tend to be a bit more cutthroat than everyone else. For the most part it's not too extreme (no one tries to sabotoge each other's notes), but classmates can be a little bit less than eager to help if you're in the same class.

My classmates are all driven and each one has a unique depth.

When I was at JHU, homosexuals and African Americans seemed to me to be marginalized. But I have no idea if that's the case today. Asian Americans seemed to be very visible. Generally speaking, it was a very conservative campus. There was an abundance of pearls, polo shirts and j. crew but among various groupings, there was still quite a bit of cross over just because the school was so small. I doubt there would such mixing in a large university, such as Columbia, Harvard or Berkeley, for example. Students mostly ate with their housemates as the freshman housing system really promotes comraderie. Students don't really talk about how much they will earn one day. Most are focused on their classes and interestes, and assume jobs and earning potential will fall into place.

People are pretty accepting here. Moreso than I found in high school, where if you weren't like everyone else or didn't try to be, you were "weird." There's a lot of individuality here and a lot of diversity if you're into that, but it's not mandatory. There are a lot of people who make friends with people who are exactly like them and that's fine, too. Again, you make it what you want.

I think that the student body is diverse and on the whole very respectful of each other, but I know that there has been some tension in the past year/s with regards to people feeling insulted and targeted, racially. I feel however, that most people are not insulting, and respect everyone at the school. I think the kind of student that would feel out of place at JHU are those who don't have very much interest in academics, since I feel that most students do place a high priority on that, and the school can be quite competitive at times. Most students wear jeans to class, but many girls often wear dresses, skirts and sometimes more comfortable clothing. Most JHU students are from the east coast and mid-west, I would say, and I would say that there is a mix of financial backgrounds but that most people come from middle-class families. I think that students are politically aware and active, especially during the current primary season and elections. I think the students are predominantly left, but there is also a more right-wing presence on campus.