You definitely get what you pay for at this school. You get a challenging course load and many opportunities to participate in the real world or to do great research. People complain about how hard it is and how much it costs, but in the end, you come out with valuable tools. Not only do you leave this school with a great quality of education, you also leave this school with a sound work ethic and leadership skills that will undoubtedly make you successful wherever you utilize it. Depending on your major, you have the opportunity to either take classes at the grad school, do research on various campuses, or interact with people in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins is a great school and many people know that.

I decided to go to Johns Hopkins because of the generous financial package I received. I applied to a bunch of big named schools and got into almost all of them. Johns Hopkins happened to give me the most money and because my family could not afford to pay $54,000 a year out of pocket, there was no question.

The best is that there's always something to do on campus during the day. The worst is that there isn't always much to do during the evening/night.

Hopkins is definitely intense, but in the best way. It's a place for independent learners. The school won't hold your hand, but they trust you to pursue your own interests, self-motivate, take your studies and run with them. Because of this, you can do individual research, internships and projects. You can personalize your degree to a greater extent than I've seen at a similar-caliber school. Students often take graduate-level classes, engage in internships, pursue research, and study abroad to pursue their academic interests. I

From the students and staff to the facilities and location, Hopkins is top notch in every regard. The students are driven and intelligent, campus has a comfortable, enthusiastic vibe, the facilities are incredible (and ever-expanding), and Baltimore has so much to offer. There is a wide array of students hailing from every corner of the globe and there is no one mold for the "typical Hopkins student." Any type of person can easily find a niche here at Hopkins and everyone is so welcoming and friendly. The staff members have made prestigious contributions in every field and they really have an enthusiasm to teach the students in their particular subject area. The facilities at Hopkins are state of the art and even more facilities designed for students and by students are currently being constructed. Baltimore has so much to offer Hopkins students: culture, history, music, dining, and more! Baltimore is a great city to live in during your college years and it is so accessible to New York and Washington DC on the weekends! Overall, Hopkins is an amazing university and I'm so glad I chose to attend!

It depends. I've had the pre med classes and labs and they varied. I had 2 amazing professors for organic chemistry and even though they were large classes, we could ask questions during lecture. I love the social science and humanities classes I've had here. Most of those have been small but a few were also lecture like. Part of my favorite thing here being a Public Health major is that I've gotten to take classes at the grad school. It's something to look into!

About 25% of the school is involved in Greek life, but there are always non-Greeks at parties. There are a lot of community service organizations that do work in Baltimore, at local elementary schools, local hospitals, etc. Students seem to be very involved in service since there are so many service organizations. My experience in campus dorms has been great: students are very friendly and open, and I've met some of my best friends from living on the same hall. Homecoming and Spring Fair are two of the biggest campus events, both held in the spring, that nearly the whole campus attends. There is also plenty to do off campus: the school provides shuttles that take students to the Inner Harbor or Towson for free, where students can go to the mall, movies, grocery store, restaurants, museums, and much more. It is also very cheap to travel to D.C., which is another population destination for students.

The best thing about Hopkins is the people. The students are talented and passionate; they are super fun. Everyday, I am amazed at the brilliance of the teachers and what I learn in class. It's really cool to be in a place where outstanding discoveries go on everyday.

The HUT in Gilman Hall is a smaller library that is a really relaxing place to get work done.

Student groups - JHUMUNC (model UN) is really big, and Tutorial Project (elementary school tutoring) is really popular as well. There's about 350 student groups though, and practically everyone I know is involved with at least two of them. Dorm life is awesome, I've met most of my really good friends that way. There are parties always on Friday and Saturday, and sometimes on weeknights (usually smaller events). Frat parties are more for underclassmen, and then upperclassmen do apartment/house parties.

This is a wear-sweats, read books, weekend-frat-party nerd kind of school. People are generally laid back, not too outspoken, a little bit cliquey, but nice.

The best thing at JHU is that the misfits have a strong community. Those who enjoy docenting at museums, book clubs and vegan food feel persecuted by the polo-wearing majority and by the lack of school funding or support for artistic endeavors. They bond together over that. I would make tuition lower!!! I would also ask for themed housing, like they have at Loyola down the street: German language house, athlete housing, etc. I like the size of the school. I like a small pond. But other people say that it's too small; everyone you hook up with has hooked up with one of your friends...ew. "Are you a doctor?" No. I used to hold court at the Levering coffee shop. People always knew I would be there and would come to find me. But then one of my enemies started showing up there so I relocated. I used to love the Hutzler Reading Room (the Hut) in Gilman Hall, but they are renovating and took out all the books. Now it is just drafty, extremely hot/cold, and there is only one toilet for all 40 people studying in there. I LOVE BALTIMORE SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH. I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE. It is a great place to be young and strange. Did I mention our bike collective? The strange way that Mount Vernon (monuments, gay people) becomes North Central Arts District (train station, more gentrification) becomes African-hair-braiding/Korean-barbeque becomes Charles Village (lesbian dog walkers and Hopkins) becomes Waverly (Kennedy Fried Chicken, dollar stores, black people) becomes Roland Park (rich rich rich) becomes Hampden (poor white people, awesome shopping and lame touristy shopping)? I love it. The administration is kind of a dick. It took us a year and a half to get funding for our club. But some of the deans are lovely. Hmm...Sig Chi's racist Halloween party...the Carrolton Review published pictures of DSAGA and "outed" them...people are frequently dying... There is mild school pride. A lot of people seem to take pride in saying: "JHU: Where your best hasn't been good enough since 1896" but half the schools in the country claim that motto as their own. People have a lot of pride in how unwashed, awkward, throaty and boring their classmates are. Also we have a lacrosse team. Baltimore is unusual. Dance parties in Gilman 500 (under the belltower). The scent of night-blooming magnolia by the library. The first time I went to a warehouse party... People complain about everything.

The Buttered Niblets rule.

Classes seem to be either really huge or really small but nothing in between. Almost all of the language or upperlevel humanities classes are small and the professors are really involved in the class, but most of the introductory classes and science classes are huge, graded by TA's, and the professors will never know your name. It seems that most Hopkins students use their degrees to get into grad school.

I love my classes. I'm an IR major, and we have some incredible professors. I took Contemporary International Politics, an intro level class, with Professor David, and it was the best class I've ever taken. He would lecture for an hour and give us so much information, but it was completely organized in a way that made it really easy to follow, and was interesting. I worked so hard for that class, and there was so much reading, but it was all stuff that I wanted to read. And you have to respect it when a Professor has been giving you well-respected journal articles to read all semester, then halfway through you get assigned an article written by him, and you listen to your next lecture and know you're hearing from an expert on it. You can see your professors if you take advantage of office hours. Intro level classes are usually 100 person or more lectures. My least favorite class was Intro Chem. The science professors that teach intro classes hate teaching, don't care about teaching, and teach straight from the book. Then you get the professors that can't really speak English. People do participate in class. Students study ALL THE TIME.

Some professors know my name, and if you're a teacher's pet in a big lecture class, everyone will know your name because they'll all be annoyed with you. My favorite class here I took first semester as a freshman. It was Intro to Human Physiology and the professor was amazing and the class was non-stop interesting and fun. Competitive doesn't come close to describing how studious some of the kids are here. I'm a bio major, though I would have preferred to be a French major. The education at Hopkins is geared towards learning for its own sake. If you want to just get by, don't come here.

The best thing about JHU is the campus. The beautiful Georgian architecture, brick buildings, cherry blossums, and large grassy quads were some of the many factors in my decision to attend Hopkins. Although, I do not think that JHU has the strongest sense of community, the quads allow people to congregate on "the beach" as they sun themselves and attempt to do homework on the large grassy area outside the library. People play frisbee, soccer, football, and it is really entertaining and community-orientated to sit out on the beach on a sunny spring day. In the wintertime, there is the Lighting of the Quad where all the lamp posts are adorned with Christmas tree lights and the Gilman Hall Clock Tower shines red and green for the holidays. No matter what season, JHU is a beautiful place to be. In terms of Baltimore, the location of Baltimore in the middle of a bunch of East Coast cities is really wonderful. The fact that you can get to Washington DC and Philadelphia in an hour, and New York in two hours makes road trips and weekend visits very conveninent. Batlimore itself is an interesting cultural city with lots of funky and unique neighborhoods. One can take the free shuttle to Hampden and find a wide array of shops from anitque shops to ritzy/expensive clothing boutiques. As a city, Baltimore has a good sense of humor, and you will be suprised with what you find. With great restaurants all over the place, a favorite tradition is Vacarro's on Monday nights in Little Italy for all you can eat desserts. The Inner Harbor, may be the main attraction for most visitors, and as beautiful as it is, the longer you stay in Baltimore the more you may expand your visits to include other historic neighborhoods like Mt. Vernon, Fell's Point, Mt. Washington, and Canton. There are a lot of bars in Baltimore and on Halloween everyone puts on a costume and heads down to Fell's Point for one of the largest Halloween parties ever. The streets are filled with all types of people wearing crazy costumes. For those who want to party on or near campus there are frat parties, off-campus parties, and local bars and clubs which students frequent. Although some people believe the only thing Hopkins students do is study, this is not true. There are quite a few people that go out multiple times per week, if not every night. Overall, Hopkins is a suprising school and Baltimore is a suprising city. The public transportation in Batlimore is sometimes frustrating, and most people take cabs, but the admistration does its best to make students feel safe and allow them to travel about the area. There is a local shuttle system that you can call, as long as you are within a mile radius of campus. There is also a shuttle that stops at the different Hopkins campuses in Baltimore, including the Peabody Conservatory and the Medical School. Conveniently enough, it even stops at the train station. Finally, there is a Collegetown Shuttle that stops at local Baltimore universities and downtown at the Inner Harbor.

My favorite class turned out to be a huge lecture dreaded by most natural science majors--Organic Chemistry. It's tough but my professor is great. He makes every effort to engage students, even though there are over 250 of us. There are also some very interesting small seminar-style classes that allow students to get to know the professor and other classmates very well. All of the classes require work and effort, but what you get out of a class is related to what you put into it.

I have never been to a lacrosse game before!