2009-2010 Johns Hopkins Application Thread

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Many medical school have fantastic opportunites, especially when comparing the top ones. I think when people refer to hopkins' resources they are talking about the fact that hopkins's hospital is ranked #1 in US News and World report and many of the specialties that you will rotate through will be taught by leaders of the field. In addition Hopkins has the most Nobel laureates on staff (13?) compared to any other medical school. Also Hopkins is associated with one of the top public health schools in the world. Actually Hopkins has been working extremely hard to build it's international reputation and many of the international students that I meet rank Hopkins above Harvard. At most medical schools you will be able to do basically anything you want, but at hopkins you may be able to do it a little easier and be associated with a bigger name. In terms of resources Hopkins doesn't have I would say the no children's hospital thing (yet) is a big one, although they do have many great people working in the pediatric clinic. Also Hopkins is not closely associated with a law school or business school (I think there is one, but not near the hospital), so if you want a MD/JD or MD/MA hopkins may not be the best place.
 
All top-20 medical schools have more 'resources' than any medical student could take advantage of in 4-5 years, everyone perceives hopkins and harvard as offering superior experiences because of the names. Try a thought exercise: pretend really hard that hopkins is called 'university of alaska' and harvard is called 'san juan batista' and Vanderbilt is called 'hopkins' and pittsburgh is called 'harvard', now think just about what you saw on the interview days and ask yourself where you really want to go so badly
 
All top-20 medical schools have more 'resources' than any medical student could take advantage of in 4-5 years, everyone perceives hopkins and harvard as offering superior experiences because of the names. Try a thought exercise: pretend really hard that hopkins is called 'university of alaska' and harvard is called 'san juan batista' and Vanderbilt is called 'hopkins' and pittsburgh is called 'harvard', now think just about what you saw on the interview days and ask yourself where you really want to go so badly

this is exactly my point. ive spent hundred and hundreds of hours at the jhu hospital. i know what its about as opposed to most ppl who only spent 4 hrs there. and no, the number of nobel prize winners means nothing. you'll never see them or work with them (although im 100% sure hopkins will let you know they work there). you wouldnt even want to work with them since they have NO time to invest in a medical student. when they interview postdoc's, the first question they ask is "can you work completely by yourself?" if yes, you're hired and can join the factory. a few of the recent nobel winners have actually left hopkins.

and hopkins games the rankings. they know what they need to put in to get #1 (other schools probably do that too). and everytime you walk between the main hospital and the outpatient clinic, you will be privileged to see huge posters of every us news magazine ranking hopkins #1. too bad they never show you the "golden paved" wards set out exclusively for the saudi princes who donate all the cash that makes many of the new buildings possible). they even get their own butlers up there.

and a lesser known fact, a lot of hopkins research money has nothing to do with hopkins. they have their name associated with outside organizations and they lump that money into the research numbers. after all, hopkins is very small (only 150-200 acres which includes the undergrad campus). some med schools have just research facilites that are that size.
 
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this is exactly my point. ive spent hundred and hundreds of hours at the jhu hospital. i know what its about as opposed to most ppl who only spent 4 hrs there. and no, the number of nobel prize winners means nothing. you'll never see them or work with them (although im 100% sure hopkins will let you know they work there). you wouldnt even want to work with them since they have NO time to invest in a medical student. when they interview postdoc's, the first question they ask is "can you work completely by yourself?" if yes, you're hired and can join the factory. a few of the recent nobel winners have actually left hopkins.

and hopkins games the rankings. they know what they need to put in to get #1 (other schools probably do that too). and everytime you walk between the main hospital and the outpatient clinic, you will be privileged to see huge posters of every us news magazine ranking hopkins #1. too bad they never show you the "golden paved" wards set out exclusively for the saudi princes who donate all the cash that makes many of the new buildings possible). they even get their own butlers up there.

and a lesser known fact, a lot of hopkins research money has nothing to do with hopkins. they have their name associated with outside organizations and they lump that money into the research numbers. after all, hopkins is very small (only 150-200 acres which includes the undergrad campus). some med schools have just research facilites that are that size.

Sounds like you have Hopkins-envy.

To SwineSue: Hopkins, and other top 20 medical schools, look for medical students that have the capability to take advantage of the 'resources' during their 4 or 5 years of stay.

And to both of you, if you were accepted to Hopkins do yourself a favor and make some other student's dream come true by withdrawing. If you weren't accepted to Hopkins, find a new thread to troll.
 
Jason, you seem to have a particular problem with Hopkins and that's too bad. But I'm not sure that your perspective is representative. As a family member of an MS1 at Hopkins (admittedly I'm not a student), I would say that the mentoring, the interest and availability of the medical faculty has been the best part of a very good first experience for this student.

From the most famous to less famous, from most busy to just a bit less busy, all the faculty have been friendly, warm, interested in talking about research and clinical projects and they have taken an active interest in making sure that the med students are having a good experience, finding all the learning resources needed, connecting with research projects and supervisors and also feel able to approach clinicians for opportunities to shadow and visit.

The US has many many fine medical schools but the mentoring at Hopkins seems to be unusually strong and their reputation gives them resources, connections and funding that maximize a med student's efforts.

Good luck to all of you students. I know that Spring sometimes brings inexplicable disappointment as well as hoped for successes for med school applicants. But what a great thing to put your hearts into. And there are many paths to a successful career in medicine.
 
Jason, you seem to have a particular problem with Hopkins and that's too bad. But I'm not sure that your perspective is representative. As a family member of an MS1 at Hopkins (admittedly I'm not a student), I would say that the mentoring, the interest and availability of the medical faculty has been the best part of a very good first experience for this student.

From the most famous to less famous, from most busy to just a bit less busy, all the faculty have been friendly, warm, interested in talking about research and clinical projects and they have taken an active interest in making sure that the med students are having a good experience, finding all the learning resources needed, connecting with research projects and supervisors and also feel able to approach clinicians for opportunities to shadow and visit.

The US has many many fine medical schools but the mentoring at Hopkins seems to be unusually strong and their reputation gives them resources, connections and funding that maximize a med student's efforts.

Good luck to all of you students. I know that Spring sometimes brings inexplicable disappointment as well as hoped for successes for med school applicants. But what a great thing to put your hearts into. And there are many paths to a successful career in medicine.

its not that i have a problem. if you have the money and want to go here, go for it. id imagine most people can enjoy/tolerate where they go to school just cause no one likes bashing their own school. im just saying a lot of people choose hopkins for the wrong reasons and can end up unhappy (like many many many of the undergraduates here). i'd choose a place because you want to live there and think you'll enjoy it, not the outside perspectives which hopkins is so good at molding.
 
its not that i have a problem. if you have the money and want to go here, go for it. id imagine most people can enjoy/tolerate where they go to school just cause no one likes bashing their own school. im just saying a lot of people choose hopkins for the wrong reasons and can end up unhappy (like many many many of the undergraduates here). i'd choose a place because you want to live there and think you'll enjoy it, not the outside perspectives which hopkins is so good at molding.

Fun Fact: Hopkins SOM cost me the least amount of money for a medical education.
 
Fun Fact: Hopkins SOM cost me the least amount of money for a medical education.

well of course its possible. depends on your state of residence, where you apply, your financial standing. they do have sub 40 tuition, which is nice compared to some schools (ex washu's 45)
 
Jason, you seem to have a particular problem with Hopkins and that's too bad. But I'm not sure that your perspective is representative. As a family member of an MS1 at Hopkins (admittedly I'm not a student), I would say that the mentoring, the interest and availability of the medical faculty has been the best part of a very good first experience for this student.

From the most famous to less famous, from most busy to just a bit less busy, all the faculty have been friendly, warm, interested in talking about research and clinical projects and they have taken an active interest in making sure that the med students are having a good experience, finding all the learning resources needed, connecting with research projects and supervisors and also feel able to approach clinicians for opportunities to shadow and visit.

The US has many many fine medical schools but the mentoring at Hopkins seems to be unusually strong and their reputation gives them resources, connections and funding that maximize a med student's efforts.

Good luck to all of you students. I know that Spring sometimes brings inexplicable disappointment as well as hoped for successes for med school applicants. But what a great thing to put your hearts into. And there are many paths to a successful career in medicine.

again - much of this could be said about any school. Do you really think hopkins is the only school in the country where med students can shadow clinicians?
 
im just saying a lot of people choose hopkins for the wrong reasons


Who are you to judge someone else's thought process and declare with authority that s/he is going about it all wrong?

Different people prioritize different things. Some people want to end up in Baltimore. Some people want to go into academic medicine, at which point reputation of their medical school is important. There are many other reasons why Hopkins would be the best place for someone, given his or her background and interests and needs. If someone else's reasoning is different from yours, that doesn't mean it's invalid in principle, it means it's invalid for you & what you want from your life.

And as others have pointed out, it really does smack of sour grapes for you to be on this thread at all if you dismiss Hopkins' strengths as nothing special.
 
Hopkins is one of the few schools that I have yet to hear anything from post-secondary, and I was complete since September. 😕 Are interviews still being given out and if so, for how long? Thanks!
 
well of course its possible. depends on your state of residence, where you apply, your financial standing. they do have sub 40 tuition, which is nice compared to some schools (ex washu's 45)

They also have spectacular financial aid if you're needing. Research-focused medical school graduates (Hopkins, Stanford) have some of the lowest debt per graduate figures.
 
Because shadowing Ben Carson is on the same level as shadowing your podiatrist, amirite?

you can make individual examples of many physicians. there are tons of great surgeons every where.
 
Who are you to judge someone else's thought process and declare with authority that s/he is going about it all wrong?

Different people prioritize different things. Some people want to end up in Baltimore. Some people want to go into academic medicine, at which point reputation of their medical school is important. There are many other reasons why Hopkins would be the best place for someone, given his or her background and interests and needs. If someone else's reasoning is different from yours, that doesn't mean it's invalid in principle, it means it's invalid for you & what you want from your life.

And as others have pointed out, it really does smack of sour grapes for you to be on this thread at all if you dismiss Hopkins' strengths as nothing special.

i didnt judge anyone, i just said a lot of people can be deceived. i would have liked to know this information 4 years ago, but i didnt.

i never said they werent "special", i just said they do a very very good job of letting you know that they are the all mighty when in fact, after spending 4 years here, it really isnt as much the case as they lead you to think
 
They also have spectacular financial aid if you're needing. Research-focused medical school graduates (Hopkins, Stanford) have some of the lowest debt per graduate figures.

yes but you have to look at how the averages are made. they could just be making sure there are no extremes, or they can distribute more evenly. any individuals financial aid will depend on the individual school and their policies, not the average figure
 
Yet you failed to counter with a single name.

maybe cuz im not a med student and i dont have the sports cards of all my favorite physicans. did ben carson even go to hopkins for med? no he didnt. hell, ive shadowed the neurosurgeon at hopkins who does the most surgeries there, and he wanted out. only other surgeon i know is dr. andrews (cause he does all the ortho stuff for sports players). and he doesnt work at hopkins and sanjay gupta cuz he's on TV.
 
yes but you have to look at how the averages are made. they could just be making sure there are no extremes, or they can distribute more evenly. any individuals financial aid will depend on the individual school and their policies, not the average figure

Obviously. Except I have looked into it extensively, and the data from the LCME is where that call was made.
 
Sounds like you have Hopkins-envy.

To SwineSue: Hopkins, and other top 20 medical schools, look for medical students that have the capability to take advantage of the 'resources' during their 4 or 5 years of stay.

And to both of you, if you were accepted to Hopkins do yourself a favor and make some other student's dream come true by withdrawing. If you weren't accepted to Hopkins, find a new thread to troll.

yes, clearly I lack the capability to collaborate with all 13 Nobel prize winners, but Azadre will defintely be working intimately with each of them
 
again - much of this could be said about any school. Do you really think hopkins is the only school in the country where med students can shadow clinicians?

That's absolutely correct and that is what I would look for in choosing a school.

I think that the student I described, who did feel torn and quite drawn to a few other programs, felt the need for a more active mentoring style rather than a more laid back style. He sensed that at Hopkins the faculty really felt a mission to provide mentoring to students. And that's what he's found. It's more than the opportunity to shadow, it's also a welcoming attitude, a concern for feedback and student response to such experiences and it's also regular meetings with his preceptor who seems interested in each student's development as a future physician and also in their welfare during the learning process.

With 120 passionate, intense and historically successful students in the class, I do think it can be a bit of a pressure cooker. It doesn't come from the faculty and the students are not competitive with each other and are all very concerned for each others welfare. But they all have such high expectations for themselves that I worry that the whole experience could be too intense for some people. So maybe that's why the mentoring has evolved as it has.

At any rate, it has seemed exceptional to me, but certainly not the only great school.
 
yes, clearly I lack the capability to collaborate with all 13 Nobel prize winners, but Azadre will defintely be working intimately with each of them

im sure they'll get some of them to speak at 2nd look. just for the ooh's and aah's
 
That's absolutely correct and that is what I would look for in choosing a school.

I think that the student I described, who did feel torn and quite drawn to a few other programs, felt the need for a more active mentoring style rather than a more laid back style. He sensed that at Hopkins the faculty really felt a mission to provide mentoring to students. And that's what he's found. It's more than the opportunity to shadow, it's also a welcoming attitude, a concern for feedback and student response to such experiences and it's also regular meetings with his preceptor who seems interested in each student's development as a future physician and also in their welfare during the learning process.

With 120 passionate, intense and historically successful students in the class, I do think it can be a bit of a pressure cooker. It doesn't come from the faculty and the students are not competitive with each other and are all very concerned for each others welfare. But they all have such high expectations for themselves that I worry that the whole experience could be too intense for some people. So maybe that's why the mentoring has evolved as it has.

At any rate, it has seemed exceptional to me, but certainly not the only great school.

i wouldnt imagine the pressure being too high there. its P/F and competition seemed negligible. probably why lots of schools are going to P/F
 
Funny. I am a med student and I actually am receiving lectures from these big names that I am dropping.

you only dropped one, and unforunately, you dont have the list of physicians giving lectures at other schools, so you, nor anyone really, can really compare.

and a big point i learned on one of my interview days and during undergrad. if im learning about g-proteins, i dont need the guy who discovered them to tell me about it. id much rather have some random person with teaching skills tell me than a researcher (who classically dont teach so well, but this is variable). but from what i understand, hopkins is phasing out phd's from teaching and sticking to md only. thumps up
 
That's absolutely correct and that is what I would look for in choosing a school.

I think that the student I described, who did feel torn and quite drawn to a few other programs, felt the need for a more active mentoring style rather than a more laid back style. He sensed that at Hopkins the faculty really felt a mission to provide mentoring to students. And that's what he's found. It's more than the opportunity to shadow, it's also a welcoming attitude, a concern for feedback and student response to such experiences and it's also regular meetings with his preceptor who seems interested in each student's development as a future physician and also in their welfare during the learning process.

With 120 passionate, intense and historically successful students in the class, I do think it can be a bit of a pressure cooker. It doesn't come from the faculty and the students are not competitive with each other and are all very concerned for each others welfare. But they all have such high expectations for themselves that I worry that the whole experience could be too intense for some people. So maybe that's why the mentoring has evolved as it has.

At any rate, it has seemed exceptional to me, but certainly not the only great school.

I'm sure your son or daughter is having a great time and getting a fine education, but again, this is all true of other schools. All top schools have mentoring and pretty much every medical school in the country allows students to shadow physicians.
 
oh come on, don't be a snob, there are no worthwhile physicians at Duke or UCLA?
Because UCLA Hospital and Duke are not top programs? Wait...

im sure they'll get some of them to speak at 2nd look. just for the ooh's and aah's
You'll be surprised at who's talking. Wait, you're not coming to second look.

yes, clearly I lack the capability to collaborate with all 13 Nobel prize winners, but Azadre will defintely be working intimately with each of them
Obviously.
 
I'm sure your son or daughter is having a great time and getting a fine education, but again, this is all true of other schools. All top schools have mentoring and pretty much every medical school in the country allows students to shadow physicians.

thats fine. as long as he/she likes it, then its a good match and works for both the student and school
 
Because UCLA Hospital and Duke are not top programs? Wait...


You'll be surprised at who's talking. Wait, you're not coming to second look.


Obviously.

didnt apply to hopkins med like many of the undergrads here. cant stand baltimore any longer.

and who is talking? is it a nobel winner? cuz if it is, then that'd be awesome. im right on the money
 
you only dropped one, and unforunately, you dont have the list of physicians giving lectures at other schools, so you, nor anyone really, can really compare.

and a big point i learned on one of my interview days and during undergrad. if im learning about g-proteins, i dont need the guy who discovered them to tell me about it. id much rather have some random person with teaching skills tell me than a researcher (who classically dont teach so well, but this is variable). but from what i understand, hopkins is phasing out phd's from teaching and sticking to md only. thumps up

Bert Vogelstein, Henry Brem, Alfred Quinones, Daniel Nathans, Charles Flexner, etc.
 
Because UCLA Hospital and Duke are not top programs? Wait...


You'll be surprised at who's talking. Wait, you're not coming to second look.


Obviously.

wow. WOW. now that is a #1-in-the-country ego.
 
Bert Vogelstein, Henry Brem, Alfred Quinones, Daniel Nathans, Charles Flexner, etc.

yes, people you'd probably never really work with. only heard of vogelstein, and from what i gather, his lab has tons of ppl in it.

its just part of the hopkins message. if they acted like a normal school and didnt shove that kind of stuff down your throat, maybe it wouldnt be as obnoxious
 
Where are you going?

dont know yet still have to wait on schools that aren't rolling, but somewhere that fits me better and in a fun city. from what i have gleaned, hopkins wasnt taking too many hopkins undergrads. knew a couple people with OUTSTANDING apps (top 2% of hopkins undergrads academically, great mcat/research etc) that were turned away. we're pretty suprised on this end
 
guys, if all top 20 schools are the same why aren't you trolling the other 19 threads? or at least the harvard thread...harvard has a wonderful reputation and immense resources (😉) but hopkins is getting all the hate. be equal-opportunity trolls at least, and recognize that everyone has an individual decision making process in terms of finding what fits for them. you can't argue that all top 20 schools are exactly alike, even if you think the opportunities offered by these schools are similar.
 
yes, people you'd never really work with. its just part of the hopkins message. if they acted like a normal school and didnt shove that kind of stuff down your throat, maybe it wouldnt be as obnoxious

Except we do. The guy next to me is in Vogelstein's lab for the summer. I am working in Brem's lab. The guy in front of me is working in Quniones lab. Flexner is having students over for drinks in a few weeks. Nathans ran a small group session, but I can't think of anyone working with him.
 
Where are you accepted?

i stay anonymous, but multiple schools in usnews's top 20, which means nothing to me but at least they're on the map. if i had a chance at the university of hawaii, id be there over anything else. i dont see what you're getting at. if you're trying to suggest im not good enough to into/be qualified to go to hopkins (very different things) you're wrong. ive turned pretty much every class at this school inside out with little effort.

in terms of working in a lab, i would not work in a huge, high throughput lab like those. its not the best learning environment when your PI doesnt have that much time to focus on helping you. i find the lab groups with 10 or fewer ppl much better for learning than those 30+ postdoc factory labs. same would go for a graduate student. those labs are GREAT if you're a postdoc, but probably not otherwise.

and a point that i would like to clear up is that you can enjoy your time in baltimore. its not terrible. but after you hit that 3rd year or so it starts to get kind of tiring. there just isnt that much to do, you cant really walk around /escape anywhere (i HIGHLY suggest you bring a car) and the only ppl in the city that are in their 20's are pretty much from hopkins. so its kind of isolated in that sense. 4 years is like the max, and id imagine a lot of people would want out like a vast majority of the undergrads do (which is funny because of lot of the undergrads started off with only hopkins med in their mind). this may very well be true of other places, but i see cities like boston (just an example, not related to harvard) as amazing. i wouldnt mind spending more than 4 years there cuz lots of ppl love it and you hear that. dont hear too much love for baltimore
 
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i stay anonymous, but multiple schools in usnews's top 20, which means nothing to me but at least they're on the map. i dont see what you're getting at.

in terms of working in a lab, i would not work in a huge, high throughput lab like those. its not the best learning environment when your PI doesnt have that much time to focus on helping you. i find the lab groups with 10 or fewer ppl much better for learning than those 30+ ppl ones.

Good luck!
 
guys, if all top 20 schools are the same why aren't you trolling the other 19 threads? or at least the harvard thread...harvard has a wonderful reputation and immense resources (😉) but hopkins is getting all the hate. be equal-opportunity trolls at least, and recognize that everyone has an individual decision making process in terms of finding what fits for them. you can't argue that all top 20 schools are exactly alike, even if you think the opportunities offered by these schools are similar.

but not all of them have students as startlingly full of themselves as azadre hanging around SDN boards. i'm actually glad i saw this exchange, as it might affect my decision making a bit
 
but not all of them have students as startlingly full of themselves as azadre hanging around SDN boards. i'm actually glad i saw this exchange, as it might affect my decision making a bit

What'd you expect? If you go to the Harvard or Penn or WashU thread and start mouthing off in their threads, you'll see the same response. If you go to any school thread and start yapping without merit, you'll quickly get shut down.

I am not bothered to know that I could dissuade you from attending Hopkins, but I would be disappointed to know that some guy on the internet could have the kind of impact on your entire career.
 
What'd you expect? If you go to the Harvard or Penn or WashU thread and start mouthing off in their threads, you'll see the same response. If you go to any school thread and start yapping without merit, you'll quickly get shut down.

I am not bothered to know that I could dissuade you from attending Hopkins, but I would be disappointed to know that some guy on the internet could have the kind of impact on your entire career.

If someone's career goals are not centered around becoming a high-powered, highly-paid surgeon/specialist or researcher, and therefore don't need the hopkins/harvard name, it's reasonable to want to attend a school where the student body tends to share the same values
 
Don't mean to disrupt this banter, but has interview season come to a close?
 
If someone's career goals are not centered around becoming a high-powered, highly-paid surgeon/specialist or researcher, and therefore don't need the hopkins/harvard name, it's reasonable to want to attend a school where the student body tends to share the same values

And said individual likely would not be applying to Hopkins. Nor would their application garner an interview let alone acceptance because of the striking difference.

You wouldn't go to El Bulli for a casual dinner, and you wouldn't go to Hopkins if you didn't want to be around students who could inspire you to achieve something greater.
 
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Here is what I don't get about you Swine: You are not going to Hopkins, and yet you've been following this thread like it's your job.

You would likely be miserable at any research-oriented medical school by your rebuttals. This thread is for people who have questions about Hopkins SOM that are currently in the application process. I've already wasted enough time with your posts, so do not expect any more responses.

:troll:

To those of you who actually were accepted or wait listed at Hopkins SOM, let the financial aid, second look, and your firsthand experiences with your potential classmates help you decide.
 
And said individual likely would not be applying to Hopkins. Nor would their application garner an interview let alone acceptance because of the striking difference.

You wouldn't go to El Bulli for a casual dinner, and you wouldn't go to Hopkins if you didn't want to be around students who could inspire you to achieve something greater.

Some think that all doctors, even those with less glamorous careers, should try to be the best they can be, and they too could benefit from Hopkins' clinical training - not only the millionaire cardiac surgeons.

I guess my interview offer was a mistake.

Whatever. I leave you in your smugness.
 
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