Hopkins vs UVA vs William & Mary

[thehara]

Hello all!
I am a community college transfer student who needs to decide very soon whether to go to Hopkins, UVA, or William and Mary.
Price Comparisons:
JHU: (full need-based grant for 22-23 years, but might have to study 5-6 semesters)
UVA: 15k (including loans)
W&M: 10k

I am interested in pursuing a neuroscience degree and doing pre-med, but in the JHU portal, they said that getting my first choice of major is not guaranteed. So, if that happens, I have to go with my second choice of major, which is Biology. At UVA, I heard getting into a neuroscience major is also competitive, so I am not sure about that either. But W&M, I do not have to think about any of that, and I already know one of the professors in W&M compared to other schools (I thought it would be helpful when getting LORs).

Everyone around me says getting into JHU is the best choice, but I am worried about the classes because I heard they are challenging and competitive for pre-med students. In addition, I need to maintain my GPA, so I am concerned if I can handle the academics at JHU compared to other schools.
Thanks.

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[voxveritatisetlucis]

UVA if you think you may switch from medicine. Places much better than Hopkins.

Otherwise, Hopkins but I’ve heard premed there is hard.

Go where you think you can get best gpa

 

[efle]

Have you already completed all the prereq series (chem, bio, physics, calc, organics, stats)?

If that's all done and you will strictly be taking upper level courses of your choosing, would pick the full grant to Hopkins. If you need to take several prereqs still, would instead avoid Hopkins.

 

[thehara]

I have to take organic and physics.

 

[efle]

I have to take organic and physics.

How was your high school academic prep? Were you in a bunch of AP classes with 5's, 98-99th percentile SAT/ACT, and so on? If so you could try to tackle the Hopkins weedout classes, if not then I would probably avoid. I'd rather have excellent BCPM grades and my choice of major. Others will disagree though, it's a very personal decision.

 

[thehara]

How was your high school academic prep? Were you in a bunch of AP classes with 5's, 98-99th percentile SAT/ACT, and so on? If so you could try to tackle the Hopkins weedout classes, if not then I would probably avoid. I'd rather have excellent BCPM grades and my choice of major. Others will disagree though, it's a very personal decision.

 

[thehara]

I only attended two years of high school in US, so I did not take a bunch of APs (only 2) or SATs. In that case, I might need to choose between UVA and W&M.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Just go to the easier one (probably W&M). Again this is assuming that you’re definitely going to stay on premed and attend med school

Try to find median GPA info at both schools

 

[chilly_md]

Moved to hSDN.

William and Mary is a great school and it sounds like you’d be able to major in something you enjoy without restrictions.

 

[Gilakend]

I would go to the cheapest and avoid Hopkins personally. Seems more likely to hurt you than help you.

 

[jhmmd]

I had several friends who went to Hopkins.
To my knowledge, the only major with any restrictions at JHU is the BME program which you have to apply to to get in.
Anything else is pretty fair game and lenient with changing majors.
Considering you have AP credit and only have to take organic chemistry and physics, I would have gone with Hopkins.
I do know that a few of my friends took organic chemistry over the summer because it had the notoriously stiffest grading out of all of the premed courses though. I'd recommend going to university subs on reddit to ask about specific course difficulty questions.
Just putting this out here in case anyone in the future stumbles across this thread.

Summer classes in general are like this, especially the pre-reqs. It is difficult to cram in several months' worth of info in a few short months, and people assume that the summer will be easier just cuz--it's nice outside?? 🤣 So the professors tend to do the opposite with the curve/leniency. Again, you have been warned.