Johns Hopkins University Top Questions

Alpha Phi Omega - community service frat which is very popular Lacrosse is very popular Freshman usually keep dorm doors open I am involved with the American Red Cross JHU Chapter and we had the opportunity to host the National Youth Convention this yera.

Pre-meds love service groups! Greek life keeps growing. There are a lot of really subversive sorority girls. Thoroughfare magazine publishes fiction, poetry, art, video, etc. on CD format and on the Internet. We begin every meeting by making jokes about K-Pop and Youtube. I don't know; I don't go. I will go to a lacrosse game drunk this year, though. People don't date. A lot of people don't have sex (!!!), but just make out. All my friends have serious SOs. Long distance is popular. The dorm became best buddies for a while but that faded away. I met my current best friend when his friend who had a crush on me brought me to an awkward, pretentious video-watching in his dorm and my BFF and I got into a fight about shoegaze. I met my other friend because I had a rabbit pelt on the first day of orientation and other people thought it was gross but she thought it was cool. I met other people at Writing Seminars readings. I'm writing a paper! I'm thinking about going to therapy! I AM ALWAYS AWAKE AT 2AM ON TUESDAY! If it were Monday, I might be sobering up from drinking beer with redheads, but if it's a Tuesday I'm writing a paper for Queer class and writing obsessively in my journal. My roommates are sleeping. WE HAVE A LIGHTING OF THE QUAD! IT IS GREAT! THERE IS FREE HOT COCOA!!! Lacrosse games are tradition. Normal-cool people go out at LEAST once a weekend. Some Writing Seminars kids or affiliates have been known to drink seriously and do drugs five nights a week. Some people NEVER GO OUT. I don't know how they live, though. I guess they're really important. I was opposed to them, but I have quite a few Greek friends. I danced at the Lithuanian Dance Hall with a bunch of JHU kids and the woman who runs the bike collective and the dude who runs the anarchist book store / coffee house. The next day I had RAINN hotline training and was super tired so some writerly friends and I had a quiet craft night where we watched basketball, drank wine, ate cheese and designed tee shirts. OH yeah, I should mention that International Relations girls LOVE wine and cheese parties. Like no other. There is one happening all the freaking time. Also costume parties. Go to a concert, have a dance party in a campus building, play dress up and take photos, write love notes and hand-deliver them, go to the Charles and see a movie, um...do homework. I THINK I HAVE ANSWERED THIS QUESTION ALREADY.

There is a scene for everyone on Campus. Whether you would rather spend your nights studying with a friend for a midterm, sharing a coffee and dessert, going out clubbing, going to a football game, dancing at a frat house or just hanging out and watching a movie with friends, there is a scene for you.

Lacrosse is famous. Guest speakers are great --though turnout isn't necessarily always high. Spring fair every year is great. Fraternities and sororities are a great way to get into social circles. There's a great movie theater, The Charles, near campus and a creperie next door that is a fun alternative to drinking on a Saturday night.

The largest groups on campus are mostly academic, service or ethnically oriented. The sports teams, although popular, are not the biggest group of students, at least from my perspective. Academics plays a big part, so much so that many things are pushed aside. The dorms can be a area for a lot of interaction, if you are very social. However not everyone is social and some people do on occasion develop a small and close knit group of good friends. For most people the dating scene is fairly barren, once you are a sophomore you tend to meet everyone you will ever hang out with at JHU, so you either end up sleeping around or committing to one relationship or two. Though my view could be skewed as someone that has a small group of friends and relatively unsocial. Since campus is small and if you do plan on being social you tend to see the same people again and again a lot branch out into the city and meet locals, though that isn't a wide spread thing. Most nights are quiet, spent studying or just watching a movie with friends in someone's apt. Other times parties or bar hopping. There are some events that everyone looks forward to, such a Spring Fair and for some Lacrosse season.

Theater productions usually have pretty good showings (depending on how good the advertisements are). There are a lot of opportunities for the inexperienced to participate. Theater is relatively low key with lots of student written pieces produced. This means lots of chances to get cast.

The only sport that is huge on campus is lacrosse. Other sports are well represented and well attended, but nothing brings out Hopkins spirit like lacrosse season. Other than sports, there are lots of performing arts groups that are fun to go to. Big name speakers come to Hopkins to give speeches. Greek life isn't huge here on campus, but it does constitute about 25{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the undergrad population. It's there if you want it, but if you don't that's cool too. There is a lot to do for fun in the area including exploring Baltimore's different villages, taking a trip to the Inner Harbor, or watching a movie at The Charles Theater. If Baltimore isn't enough for you, DC is only a short train ride away.

I live in Wolman Hall, which is suite-style for Freshmen. Walking down my floor, you'll often find suite doors propped open with students studying together or just hanging out, or you'll find students in our floor's common room which has a TV, DVD player and couches. I'm not involved with many groups on campus but there are TONS and I know a lot of people who are involved in several and love them all. There's a group for pretty much any interest, and it's a great way to meet new people. As for a Saturday night at Hopkins, there are plenty of parties held by the fraternities, but there is also plenty to do other than that. Baltimore's Inner Harbor is a great place for dinner and a bit of shopping, the Charles Theater is amazing for seeing lesser-known movies, and there's typically things going on around campus as well. If nothing else, it's always nice to stay in and watch movies with friends.

Performing arts is very popular at Hopkins. Whether it's the Gospel Choir or the Allnighters (the all male acappella group), the student body is excited and out to support them. The freshmen dorms are very active and traditional in the fact that doors are kept open. However, dorms for sophomores and up tend to be a bit quieter.

The lacrosse team. National champions last season, which makes it something like the ninth time. I don't follow sports much, so that's the extent of my knowledge on JHU sports. The a capella groups are popular. There are at least six. I think the three biggest ones are the All-Nighters, the Sirens, and the Octopodes. They always sing to a crammed house - people sitting in the aisles, standing in the back. For guest speakers, it depends on who is the guest speaker, really. When Bill Nye came, Shriver Hall was filled possibly past capacity, but when David Simon came, it was maybe two thirds full. (To be fair in that comparison...well, everyone knows Bill Nye.) Theater groups are pretty popular, too, from what I can tell. If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I'm probably just bumming around online, or doing homework. I have a really strange sleeping schedule. I'm not much into Greek life, can't tell you about the parties...usually I hang with people off campus. Party in their apartments, or just watch movies there, or go out for Korean BBQ at this awesome restaurant on 20th and Maryland... Nothing special.