Baltimore is a great city

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bigbaubdi

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Often times, I have seen people take shots at Baltimore while discussing the two med schools in Baltimore, Hopkins and UMD.

Something along the lines of,

"I think ______ is a great school but I don't know if I can put up with Baltimore for 4 years. "

Now I will admit that Baltimore doesn't have as much to offer as a city like NY, DC, SF, etc...

However I would strongly advise people to spend some time in Baltimore before making any judgments about it. Baltimore has some really great areas that are worth exploring. Besides the Inner Harbor, Baltimore has a wide variety of interesting neighborhoods such as Fells Point, Federal Hill, Hamden, Canton, etc...

Above all things, DO NOT LET BALTIMORE BE YOUR REASON FOR NOT COMING TO JHU OR UMD!

Give it a chance, explore a little, and you will have a great time!
 
:laugh:

stupid character limits because of that dope zuma
 
JHU was seriously one of the scariest places I have ever been...MWahaha
 
BoulderLABrat said:
JHU was seriously one of the scariest places I have ever been...MWahaha
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Out of curiousity, how much time have you spent around JHU?
 
Hopkins Homewood is a beautiful campus, one of the nicest and I've been to many schools. The area is pretty safe.

Hopkins Medical is just a huge sprawling swath of buildings, I dont see what there is to be afraid of if you're just going to and from the center.

Downtown baltimore is charming, as long as you dont wander too far from the well lighted areas.

West baltimore and east baltimore (past jhu) are terrifying.
 
Baltimore is a SCARY place, especially for students. I know of 2 incidents where UMD medical and pharmacy students who lived across the street from MLK parkways were mugged. On the bright side, rent is about $300 a month 😀
 
exmike said:
West baltimore and east baltimore (past jhu) are terrifying.
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There is another way to spin this -

It is true that Baltimore has a lot of poverty. However, med students who are genuinely interested in community service have ample opportunities to serve the poor.
 
bigbaubdi said:
There is another way to spin this -

It is true that Baltimore has a lot of poverty. However, med students who are genuinely interested in community service have ample opportunities to serve the poor.
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This is true.
 
I spent a week...every city has good and bad parts and lots of schools are in Iffy parts of town. I think Balt. probably gets a bad rap bc you dont here about the good things...however, I did have some scary experiences near the student's house I stayed at (one involving staring straight ahead while in the car so as to avoid incident with car next to us)
 
Hopkins is one of the best medical schools in the world, but Baltimore is an absolute ****hole. Only Detroit is worse.

All big cities have bad areas, but Baltimore is on a whole other level. At BEST, I'd say only 20% of the city limits are considered decent areas.

Detroit, Baltimore, and DC are the worst cities in america in terms of ratio of bad areas to good areas.
 
BoulderLABrat said:
I spent a week...every city has good and bad parts and lots of schools are in Iffy parts of town. I think Balt. probably gets a bad rap bc you dont here about the good things...however, I did have some scary experiences near the student's house I stayed at (one involving staring straight ahead while in the car so as to avoid incident with car next to us)
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A week really isn't enough time to explore the city. I used to always want to get out of Baltimore until high school, when I began to explore the city with my friends. I had a lot of great times in places like Fells Point and Hampden. I also saw a bunch of games at Oriole Park, which is arguably the best ballpark in the country.

There is a lot of great stuff in this city, if you are willing to spend time in it.
 
MacGyver said:
Hopkins is one of the best medical schools in the world, but Baltimore is an absolute ****hole. Only Detroit is worse.

All big cities have bad areas, but Baltimore is on a whole other level. At BEST, I'd say only 20% of the city limits are considered decent areas.

Detroit, Baltimore, and DC are the worst cities in america in terms of ratio of bad areas to good areas.
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Out of curiousity, how much time have you spent in B'more?
 
junathon said:
Baltimore is a SCARY place, especially for students. I know of 2 incidents where UMD medical and pharmacy students who lived across the street from MLK parkways were mugged. On the bright side, rent is about $300 a month 😀
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Borrowing some old Chris Rock material... well DUH, what do you expect living near any road named after MLK? It doesn't matter what city you are referring to, MLK Blvd. (Pkwy, whatever) is always going to be dangerous.
 
samurai_lincoln said:
Borrowing some old Chris Rock material... well DUH, what do you expect living near any road named after MLK? It doesn't matter what city you are referring to, MLK Blvd. (Pkwy, whatever) is always going to be dangerous.
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chris rock is funny, but that certainly isnt always true.
 
MacGyver said:
Hopkins is one of the best medical schools in the world, but Baltimore is an absolute ****hole. Only Detroit is worse.

All big cities have bad areas, but Baltimore is on a whole other level. At BEST, I'd say only 20% of the city limits are considered decent areas.

Detroit, Baltimore, and DC are the worst cities in america in terms of ratio of bad areas to good areas.
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You should take a Sunday drive through Gary, IN or East St. Louis, IL and you would consider B'more a walk in the park. Of course, those aren't really major cities, but they are on a whole nother level of suckitude, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I disagree with your assessment of DC -- it has become so gentrified over the last decade that the "murder capital" title has been rendered a relic. Still some crappy areas toward the east, but nothing like the 1970s and 80s. Detroit on the other hand... I have nothing good to say, so I won't say anything at all 🙂

I know it is kind of touristy and schlocky, but I would implore any Balto-haters to at least check out the inner harbor and see how much the city improved the area.
 
bigbaubdi said:
Out of curiousity, how much time have you spent in B'more?
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Three days was more than enough time. Harbor is pretty nice. JHU is located in the worst location possible.

Also I call BS on the serving the indigent argument. With the number of matches JHU has in dermatology, gas, rads, etc, I somehow doubt that the indigent are at the forefront of the minds of those who attend JHU.
 
exmike said:
Hopkins Homewood is a beautiful campus, one of the nicest and I've been to many schools. The area is pretty safe.
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Safe? Homewood campuse safe? Relative to what? exmike and I must have gone to different homewood campuses. (Although I must admit I was only there for ~2 years...)
 
I like Baltimore, even though I only spent two days there. It has a lot of character, and the crab cakes are yummy. People who live there for a long time seem to like it.
 
I love Baltimore..I've lived here for 6 years and I will be sad to leave.

People are so ridiculous when it comes to complaining about Bmore. Hopkins students are some of the worst at it. When people see a neighborhood that has mostly black people walking around and maybe some run down housing, they automatically think it is unsafe.

[In my case, I'm thinking mostly of Greenmount. Have you ever actually walked around there? There is Mama Lucia's, Pete's, the Goodwill, and Normal's. Pretty cool places if you ask me.]

Like any city, you just have to be careful. There are very few places in any urban area that I'd feel comfortable walking around at night. Use your head and open your eyes. Not everything great about a city comes in the form of shopping malls and chain restaurants.
 
I spent over a year and a half in Baltimore, and while the city does have some charming neighborhoods, it's a mess. People get mugged around Homewood regularly and they get assaulted near Hopkins Med. It's not safe by any stretch of the imagination. If I'm not mistaken, it's the second most dangerous city in America. There some decent areas with bars, but any city worth its airport has those. Detroit has some great bars. But I wouldn't recommend moving there.
 
I've lived in Baltimore my whole life minus 4 years of college, and while I generally am sick and tired of it, that is mainly because I have adopted the "anywhere-but-here" mentality.
True, Baltimore is dangerous, especially the areas where the major medical centers are (there should be no argument here, if you have ever been to the area). Even though Hopkins is making a strong bid to establish its own nation-state in the middle of east Baltimore, the areas right around the medical campus are highly dangerous and med students run into violence and crime all the time. This is true of other major medical centers too though. There is an upside to this though--lots of clinical training with trauma and drug-related illness.
Overall, though, most of what I just mentioned is avoidable, and there are some charming neighborhoods in Baltimore. I wouldn't live here just for them, but if I had been accepted to Hopkins I would have used them to justify staying in a battered city another four years.
So, in my mind, Baltimore is what you make of it--if you seek out the good stuff you shall find it--and the seafood is unmatched (if you haven't sat down to a couple dozen steamed blue crabs with a few friends and a few hours to kill, you haven't experienced true dining), and Hopkins is the single best place to learn medicine in the world. So, there you go.
As much as I have grown to resent this city, I would have given a testicle to go to med school at Hopkins, and I will be working my ass off to get back here for residency.
Just my thoughts.
 
after writing all that, I found myself wondering what the point of this thread actually is.
 
I used to live in Baltimore and agree that there are some charming neighborhoods and good restaurants, but I have to say I am incredibly happy to no longer be living there. I was assaulted at gunpoint as were two of my friends (separate events, not all at one time). Many of my other friends have had their cars and apartments broken into. People who say that the Homewood campus area is safe need to think again. That's where all of the above occurrences took place. Hopkins is a great school but, if you are going there or planning to go there, good luck...
 
Baltimore is fine, and there are many many places to explore like Pikesville/Mondawmin, Canton, Annapolis, Federal Hill, Fell's Point, Mt. Vernon, and Charles Village which are all unique. Mt. Vernon is probably my favorite area and I have some incredible memories between me and my ex there.

The crime rate is unacceptably high, I agree. But there are ways to reduce crime, such as aggresive police presence in very high crime areas, intensive educational programs (and training) for people in the city so they can get jobs, and the introduction of "mini-loans" which can help entrepreneurs start new businesses in the area. Police forces should also step up undercover operations and undercover-ly pay people in the area to detect high level violent criminal elements, and have these elements arrested and convicted.
 
Oh, so THAT's how you reduce crime? Sheeet!
 
mdmike24 said:
Ithey get assaulted near Hopkins Med. It's not safe by any stretch of the imagination.
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the areas right around the medical campus are highly dangerous and med students run into violence and crime all the time.
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You are misrepresenting the situation. there are armed security guards on hopkins med campus 24-7. There have been no incidents on the medical campus proper. Unless you are stupid and wander off campus, you'll be fine.

The only people who are victims at Hopkins Med are those who stupidly go off campus in the early morning or late at night.

the area around Hopkins Med is atrocious, but the medical campus is safe.
 
I thought Baltimore sucked too but after having lived here (mostly in the suburbs), I'd say it's not that bad. Of course, it's surrounded by much cooler cities like NYC, Philly, and DC so you can always go there on weekends. If there was actually public transportation, I might go into the city more. In conclusion, Baltimore is cooler than cities like Rochester, NY but it's still a giant ghetto in many places.
 
MacGyver said:
The only people who are victims at Hopkins Med are those who stupidly go off campus in the early morning or late at night.

the area around Hopkins Med is atrocious, but the medical campus is safe.
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So tell me, if the area around Hopkins Med is terrible, how do you get home after a late night?

I know some Hopkins undergrads who worked at Hopkins med, and they say how bad both areas are, but ESPECIALLY the med campus. Ive heard multiple stories of people having their apartments vandalized (one story involving people I know actually being there and hiding, watching as their belongings were stolen but fearing harm on themselves were simply forced to watch), being mugged, having their cars broken into.

So you are correct, Hopkins Med is secure. Unfortunately, for those that decide not to live within the med center 24-7, it means you have to go home. And unfortunately, that means living in a crime-ridden area.

You're probably safe at Hopkins Med on the campus, but the sad thing is, its your HOME where you must fear for your safety the most, considering how bad the area is.
 
greenie8 said:
When people see a neighborhood that has mostly black people walking around and maybe some run down housing, they automatically think it is unsafe.
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Yup, mostly true. been there and I must say I didn't feel threatened any more than I would be elsewhere. This is my take on it:

if you are from some middle class suburbia and your life hasn't had that much diversity (Maine, New Hampshire etc) you will feel unsafe in Bmore.

if you are ignorant, careless and don't know how to take care of yourself, you will be unsafe in Bmore.

if you are generally streetwise, have had diverse experiences and know how to take care of yourself, you will feel as comfortable in Bmore as you would any 'less appealing' areas of your city/town/state.


My college was in an area alot of people liked to term 'unsafe'. Well, when I was there I was never mugged, threatened etc. meanwhile I know people who had these things happen often, one guy even got mugged 3 times at the same spot in the same month. Its all about learning how to live on the real world. It isn't seseme street you know...
 
Gleevec said:
So tell me, if the area around Hopkins Med is terrible, how do you get home after a late night?


So you are correct, Hopkins Med is secure. Unfortunately, for those that decide not to live within the med center 24-7, it means you have to go home. And unfortunately, that means living in a crime-ridden area.

You're probably safe at Hopkins Med on the campus, but the sad thing is, its your HOME where you must fear for your safety the most, considering how bad the area is.
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Have you ever been to Baltimore? Do you know how stupid this actually sounds?

People get home by walking from the medical school, walking down the street, entering a parking garage, walking up the stairs, getting off at the proper level, and finding their car. Then they drive home. Brilliant.

Or else they take one of a bazillion shuttles to various destinations off campus, or to the Homewood campus.

Many people who do not want to live in Bmore proper live in the suburbs, and not are all "crime-ridden areas". The people who choose to live in the city have a variety of choices of quality neighborhoods with low to moderate crime rates, including Guilford and Roland Park, which are communities that feature multi-million dollar homes and beautfiully landscaped parks.

Crime is a risk you take when you move to any city.
 
Gleevec said:
So tell me, if the area around Hopkins Med is terrible, how do you get home after a late night?

I know some Hopkins undergrads who worked at Hopkins med, and they say how bad both areas are, but ESPECIALLY the med campus. Ive heard multiple stories of people having their apartments vandalized (one story involving people I know actually being there and hiding, watching as their belongings were stolen but fearing harm on themselves were simply forced to watch), being mugged, having their cars broken into.

So you are correct, Hopkins Med is secure. Unfortunately, for those that decide not to live within the med center 24-7, it means you have to go home. And unfortunately, that means living in a crime-ridden area.

You're probably safe at Hopkins Med on the campus, but the sad thing is, its your HOME where you must fear for your safety the most, considering how bad the area is.
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Gleevec, I dont think you are qualifed to judge the safety of the housing in Baltimore given that you have never lived there. I don't know why you would weigh in with information you are not privy to. I don't see how your hearsay anecdotes prove anything about the safety or lacktherof.

In response, I will give my own anecdote 🙂

I lived there five years, in five different apartments. I dont really know any students, med or undergrad, that CHOOSE to live in areas of high crime. The apartments in downtown baltimore are plush, reasonably priced, and very very safe. Have you even seen the loft apartments downtown? They're filled with yuppies that work in the financial district.

As for living hear homewood campus. Anything within a mile radius is pretty much safe. Yes, people get mugged and robbed but that happens at EVERY SCHOOL. I lived pretty far off campus, AND I worked full time at JH Med campus, and it was an uneventful year. Students that live close to campus are actually very safe.

Baltimore gets a bad rap from the media/crime shows (homicide the series comes to mind). It is safe unless you go out of your way to find trouble. None of my friends that I have known have ever gotten robbed or mugged.

Safety is common sense. Dont walk in dark strange places at night alone. That applies everywhere.
 
Mr Reddly said:
Safe? Homewood campuse safe? Relative to what? exmike and I must have gone to different homewood campuses. (Although I must admit I was only there for ~2 years...)
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If you live in hopkins house/broadview/marylander/colonnade/etc, you are safe. You're so frigging close to campus you'd have to TRY to get mugged on the way home.

Now, greenmount and parts further east and south I would be more wary of
 
Generally I agree with exmike. HOWEVER, Gleevec shouldn't be totally dissed over this because the murder rate in Baltimore is 46/100,000, 26 in Philly and 7 in NYC (the worst is Detroit -- 62/100,000). An undergrad was also killed staying at the SAE house this year at JHU (Homewood). While it is almost certain you'll be ok in Baltimore, the high crime rates needs attention, and solutions should be implemented.

Oh I lived in the Broadview for 2 years 🙂...not bad, but damned expensive. Higher crime areas are houses along 30-32nd street and St. Paul.
 
greenie8 said:
Have you ever been to Baltimore? Do you know how stupid this actually sounds?

People get home by walking from the medical school, walking down the street, entering a parking garage, walking up the stairs, getting off at the proper level, and finding their car. Then they drive home. Brilliant.

Or else they take one of a bazillion shuttles to various destinations off campus, or to the Homewood campus.

Many people who do not want to live in Bmore proper live in the suburbs, and not are all "crime-ridden areas". The people who choose to live in the city have a variety of choices of quality neighborhoods with low to moderate crime rates, including Guilford and Roland Park, which are communities that feature multi-million dollar homes and beautfiully landscaped parks.

Crime is a risk you take when you move to any city.
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Hey, hello, did you read my post? Hello?

Im responding to the fact that people say Hopkins is a safe haven. That's great, but what do you when you go home? Notice all the anecdotes I mentioned are about how people got robbed near their HOMES.

I never said you couldnt find a safe place in the suburbs, but a lot of students DO live in proximity to the campus (it is nice to be only a few minutes away). Unfortunately the area is now good.

I guess Homewood is relatively safe, but even Mr Reddly who lived there for a couple years thinks that is a stetch of the imagination...
 
exmike said:
Gleevec, I dont think you are qualifed to judge the safety of the housing in Baltimore given that you have never lived there. I don't know why you would weigh in with information you are not privy to. I don't see how your hearsay anecdotes prove anything about the safety or lacktherof.

In response, I will give my own anecdote 🙂

I lived there five years, in five different apartments. I dont really know any students, med or undergrad, that CHOOSE to live in areas of high crime. The apartments in downtown baltimore are plush, reasonably priced, and very very safe. Have you even seen the loft apartments downtown? They're filled with yuppies that work in the financial district.

As for living hear homewood campus. Anything within a mile radius is pretty much safe. Yes, people get mugged and robbed but that happens at EVERY SCHOOL. I lived pretty far off campus, AND I worked full time at JH Med campus, and it was an uneventful year. Students that live close to campus are actually very safe.

Baltimore gets a bad rap from the media/crime shows (homicide the series comes to mind). It is safe unless you go out of your way to find trouble. None of my friends that I have known have ever gotten robbed or mugged.

Safety is common sense. Dont walk in dark strange places at night alone. That applies everywhere.
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Baltimore gets a bad rap for crime because STATISTICALLY it has one of the crime rates. It is true I have not lived there, mainly because from my experience there and what Ive heard from friends about how bad it is. You can disavow the anecdotes of my friends, which is easy for you since you dont know them, but I know and trust them. They're not stupid and they're not living dangerously. Its just when youre in a city as crime-infested as Baltimore bad things DO happen.

And I can spit all the crime statistics out and prove this to be true, but ultimately for ME I believe the anecdotes more because they affected people I know. And the thing is, Im pretty much just reiterating what people who have LIVED at hopkins have been saying, so I dont see the difference here. You can learn by experience, or by learning about other peoples experiences...

Its not as if people randomly picked out Baltimore to get a bad rap, it EARNED it by having terrible crime.

Its interesting though. I choose not to consider a city to live in because of its crime, based on statistics and anecdotes from friends, yet somehow I cannot comment on crime there because I chose to avoid that city because of that very crime. Its an interesting, but unfalsifiable, argument that is being made-- because by that token no one (outside the military) can say "Iraq is a hellhole right now" because no one has lived there for several years.
Actually, thats a very clever argument you can use to defend any city, because there is no argument you can make against it (unless you lived there). I should try using it more.
 
Gleevec said:
Baltimore gets a bad rap for crime because STATISTICALLY it has one of the crime rates. It is true I have not lived there, mainly because from my experience there and what Ive heard from friends about how bad it is. You can disavow the anecdotes of my friends, which is easy for you since you dont know them, but I know and trust them. They're not stupid and they're not living dangerously. Its just when youre in a city as crime-infested as Baltimore bad things DO happen.

And I can spit all the crime statistics out and prove this to be true, but ultimately for ME I believe the anecdotes more because they affected people I know. And the thing is, Im pretty much just reiterating what people who have LIVED at hopkins have been saying, so I dont see the difference here. You can learn by experience, or by learning about other peoples experiences...

Its not as if people randomly picked out Baltimore to get a bad rap, it EARNED it by having terrible crime.

Its interesting though. I choose not to consider a city to live in because of its crime, based on statistics and anecdotes from friends, yet somehow I cannot comment on crime there because I chose to avoid that city because of that very crime. Its an interesting, but unfalsifiable, argument that is being made-- because by that token no one (outside the military) can say "Iraq is a hellhole right now" because no one has lived there for several years.
Actually, thats a very clever argument you can use to defend any city, because there is no argument you can make against it (unless you lived there). I should try using it more.
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Those crime stats cover a city, not subsections of it. Unless you know the regional variations within it a city, you cannot draw a conclusion from the statistics. This is just common sense, you should know better than to misuse stats like that. Since when did we draw conclusions from cross sectional data?

Yes, baltimore has one of the highest murder rates. But tell me, how many of those murders involved drugs? How many hopkins and umaryland students are involved in the drug trade? Where were the murders? Where is Hopkins and Umaryland in respect to areas of high murder?

Did you know the waverly area of baltimore city is one of the wealthiest in the nation? I can assure you that the crime/murder rate there is very very low.

My point? Baltimore is a very very large city. To generalize the high crime to the entire city is unfair. Noone is going to claim that baltimore is safe by any measure, but to blanketly call it dangerous is just as misleading.

Sure, NYC has a low murder rate. But does that make it any safer? It depends on if you live in the upper east side or spanish harlem.

Gleevec, you can choose a city based on whatever you feel like, but you really should have a more in depth experience than "friends and visits" before you start making generalizations. Chances are I have friends that went to school where you did, and probably have visited there as well, but I'm not about to start claming I know the area by any means.
 
Gleevec,

you dont get it. People park in garages or secure parking lots. They dont wander off campus and park on the street (if they do, they are stupid).

People dont live in the Hopkins neighborhood. They either live in on campus housing, protected by security guards, OR they commute 10-15 minutes away to the good areas of Baltimore that are not crime-ridden.

There is NO NEED TO EVER LEAVE THE HOPKINS MEDICAL CAMPUS, unless you are stupid and just choose to take extra risks. You can park in the parking garages/parking lots (GUARDED LOTS), walk around the GUARDED CAMPUS, or live in the GUARDED on campus housing.

You make it sound like people at Hopkins Med are forced to go off campus. Not true at all. You can go for an entire 4 years at Hopkins Med without ever leaving the campus grounds.
 
BTW, whatever happens at the Homewood (undergrad) campus is irrelevant in terms of Hopkins Med. They are 10 miles apart and have nothing to do with each other (unless you choose to live at Homewood and commute to the medical campus).
 
This whole discussion really bothers me. Baltimore is a horrible city strictly because of the obscene amount of crime and some of the dispicable scum that live there. This is enough to make Baltimore a horrible city. The Hopkins undergrad campus is considered one of the safer areas in Baltimore, yet every person I know has been affected by crime in some way or another. This past semester alone I had 3 friends stabbed. STABBED!! One was at a club, one was at a convenience store literally across the street from campus, and the other was sleeping in his bedroom in his fraternity house. Somebody broke into his house while he was minding his own business and stabbed him in the heart to death. Don't tell me he was being "stupid" or "ignorant" or wasn't being careful. My friend was not a drug dealer. He was sleeping in his bed two blocks from campus. Making comments that if you're smart and don't sell drugs, you have nothing to fear is just asinine.

And this is at the Hopkins undergrad campus. Hopkins med and UMaryland are in much worse areas. I've heard of cab drivers that won't take people into east Baltimore (right around where Hopkins med is located) because it is so unsafe. And don't think crime here just happens at night. Last week someone broke a car window outside my house to steal something in it at 2 in the afternoon. I've heard of 3 people that have been mugged at knife point on the sidewalk in the middle of the day.

Now Baltimore has some really fun areas around town and some great food. There are definitely positives to the place. But I am so glad that I will be leaving this town for good in two weeks. The positives of the city don't outweigh fearing for my safety every single night i set foot on the street. I will never live here again. If you choose to go to school here, do yourself a favor and move into one of the suburbs outside of the city.
 
I don't know why I am posting, because people on these message boards tend to take things way too seriously, but I thought I would add my two cents. I agree that Baltimore is horrible in terms of crime rate. I personally know a person who had their car stolen in front of the Baltimore Museum of Art and another person who was mugged, also near the Hopkins undergrad campus. However, I honestly haven't heard of anything bad happening at the med school campus, even though it is in a bad neighborhood. Maybe its the extremely tight security, who knows, but thats not what I wanted to talk about.

What I really wanted to say was that this city definitely isn't for everyone. One thing that I really love about my class is that they are people who work hard to make a difference. Many of them tutor at dilapidated schools, work in run down free clinics or counsel HIV patients (Baltimore is also top 10 for almost every STD) in the heart of the slums. Baltimore has a lot that needs to be done to improve the city and I think Hopkins attracts a lot of people who want to make a difference. A lot of my class has done work in 3rd world countrys where things are a lot worse and truly want to make a difference. And besides, where do you think you'll get to see the best medical cases.. in the rich suburbs?

There is also a lot being done to help improve the city. Inner Harbor is a good example. Hopkins is also planning on building a 1.5 billion dollar Biotech park to help improve the surrounding community. It hopes to bring a lot more businesses and is working with the community to help improve the area.

I am actually enjoying my time here. I really do think that Baltimore is what you make of it. You can live here and be miserable or you can have the time of your life. The city has an incredible amount to offer if you go out and try to find it. It has great restaurants and a great harbor. Federal Hill is a beautiful place to go jogging. Some of the museums are unique and amazing. The restaurants are great. And there are great areas to live in with little or no crime. I'm living in Roland Park where my place is surrounded by mansions and because rent here is pretty cheap its very affordable. And if you really want to escape, DC is less than an hr away, NYC is about 3 and Philly is about 1.2

The bottom line is no matter where you go, a city is what you make of it. Find a place that fits you.

Aristian

MS I
The Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine
 
This discussion is really interesting - especially because I've been toying with the idea of not applying to some schools - JHU, UPenn, Yale, etc - because they're in crime-ridden areas. I hate to have fear be the determining factor, but what I've read on this thread is definitely nudging me in the "eliminate" direction. (Of course, these schools are so selective anyway that I may just be saving myself some money by not applying to them).

I'm sure that you can significantly reduce or eliminate your risk of being a victim by not straying off campus much - but who really wants to be stuck on campus for four years, or even have to always be worrying about whether the restaurant you're eating at, or the apartment you're living in, is in a safe area? Med school is stressful enough, and safety concerns just add another burden on top of everything else.

By the way, would you guys say the area around Hopkins is less safe than the UPenn or Yale Med area? I'm guessing Hopkins is one of the worst. 🙁 🙁
 
leechy said:
This discussion is really interesting - especially because I've been toying with the idea of not applying to some schools - JHU, UPenn, Yale, etc - because they're in crime-ridden areas. I hate to have fear be the determining factor, but what I've read on this thread is definitely nudging me in the "eliminate" direction. (Of course, these schools are so selective anyway that I may just be saving myself some money by not applying to them).

I'm sure that you can significantly reduce or eliminate your risk of being a victim by not straying off campus much - but who really wants to be stuck on campus for four years, or even have to always be worrying about whether the restaurant you're eating at, or the apartment you're living in, is in a safe area? Med school is stressful enough, and safety concerns just add another burden on top of everything else.

By the way, would you guys say the area around Hopkins is less safe than the UPenn or Yale Med area? I'm guessing Hopkins is one of the worst. 🙁 🙁
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THis is not a sufficient reason to stop applying. Hopkins is the preeminent medical campus in the world. THe medical school is safe, and you will be fine. We are pointing out the relative differences in safety between cities.
 
Baltimore sucks, and I've lived here all my life. Great harbor area, and Fells Point/stadium area etc. Hell, there's nowhere I'd rather be then a Ravens game down there. Aside from that, horrible public transportation, and a lot of sketchy areas. Blah. The only reason I'm considering schools in state are tuition(and thats just UMD).
 
MacGyver said:
Gleevec,

you dont get it. People park in garages or secure parking lots. They dont wander off campus and park on the street (if they do, they are stupid).

People dont live in the Hopkins neighborhood. They either live in on campus housing, protected by security guards, OR they commute 10-15 minutes away to the good areas of Baltimore that are not crime-ridden.

There is NO NEED TO EVER LEAVE THE HOPKINS MEDICAL CAMPUS, unless you are stupid and just choose to take extra risks. You can park in the parking garages/parking lots (GUARDED LOTS), walk around the GUARDED CAMPUS, or live in the GUARDED on campus housing.

You make it sound like people at Hopkins Med are forced to go off campus. Not true at all. You can go for an entire 4 years at Hopkins Med without ever leaving the campus grounds.
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No MacGuyver, you're ignoring the obvious. I fail to see how you can ignore all these people who are saying they lived in Baltimore and attended Hopkins for several years and still find it dangerous.

I dont know how you can disagree with the assessment that JHU is located in one of the most dangerous areas in the country. I have my own opinion based on the unfortunate experiences of people I know, and there have been some other anecdotes on this thread.

Look, this is going in circles. You might think Hopkins is a perfectly safe place to work, and thats your opinion. For me, Hopkins is too dangerous a place. Ive just known too many people who got mugged, had their cars vandalized, or even had their apartment robbed while they hid to avoid being caught.

Obviously you have not encountered such problems, or known of people who did. And that's fine. If you want to roll the dice, that's your decision based on what threshold of crime you prefer. All I know is that Hopkins is generally considered one of the most dangerous medical schools in terms of crime for good reason, and while I have been lucky enough to avoid experience with that in my few days there, it doesnt take more than a couple hours to realize the state of crime near JHU-- I only wish my friends had been as lucky as I was. And no, they didnt go out in the middle of the night walking with gold chains... all this happened at their homes, which true arent in the ritziest area of Baltimore (because how can you expect a student to afford that?).

So I dunno, if you don't believe the statistics, and you dont believe the anecdotes, both of which Ive tried to use to convince you of the level of crime in Baltimore and around JHU, then there really is nothing left for me to argue with. So ill leave it at that. Those who believe the stats and anecdotes, fine, if you dont, then thats no skin of my back-- I have no vested interest either way in the outcome of this discussion. But Im not going to waste any more time on this, because if statistics and anecdotes won't convince you, then nothing will, and there's no point in wasting anymore breath on this.
 
Gleevec said:
Also I call BS on the serving the indigent argument. With the number of matches JHU has in dermatology, gas, rads, etc, I somehow doubt that the indigent are at the forefront of the minds of those who attend JHU.
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Perhaps. But if you WERE interested in serving the poor, then JHU would be a great place.

Elphie said:
I used to live in Baltimore and agree that there are some charming neighborhoods and good restaurants, but I have to say I am incredibly happy to no longer be living there. I was assaulted at gunpoint as were two of my friends (separate events, not all at one time). Many of my other friends have had their cars and apartments broken into.
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There are plenty of anecdotal experiences out there but I haven't seen anyone provide any factual data that Hopkins or UMD is that much unsafer than schools like Columbia, for example.

I compared the crime statistics of Hopkins and Columbia:

http://www.jhu.edu/~security/Annual_report.htm#_CRIME_STATISTICS

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/facets/ (Look under campus security)

In 2002, for example, there were 2 total crimes reported at Hopkins med while there were 8 crimes reported at P & S. Comparing undergrad campuses, there were 4 reported burglaries at the Homewood campus (JHU) while there were 25 reported burglaries at the Morningside campus (Columbia).

Crime at Hopkins is not as bad as people make it out to be. As exmike pointed out, this happens all over the place.

pekq said:
If there was actually public transportation, I might go into the city more.
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I agree with this 100%. Public transit in B'more is mediocre at best. If you want to get around Baltimore, I would strongly advise you to bring a car!

Friday said:
Yup, mostly true. been there and I must say I didn't feel threatened any more than I would be elsewhere. This is my take on it:

if you are from some middle class suburbia and your life hasn't had that much diversity (Maine, New Hampshire etc) you will feel unsafe in Bmore.

if you are ignorant, careless and don't know how to take care of yourself, you will be unsafe in Bmore.

if you are generally streetwise, have had diverse experiences and know how to take care of yourself, you will feel as comfortable in Bmore as you would any 'less appealing' areas of your city/town/state.
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I couldn't agree with you more. 👍 👍
 
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