Johns Hopkins- too intense?

[mumpers]

I'm trying to decide about an offer from Hopkins. I'm worried that it will be such an intense place to go to medical school that it might be a turn off for those of us who want a social life as well. I'm not picturing partying every night but I want to make friends and bond with some classmates. Any actual experience out there- or anyone who knows anyone at HOpkins. I have tried talking to a few current students but no one ever tells me that they LOVE it. thanks for any info.... i dont want to be stereotyping Hopkins unfairly. i'm sure all med schools are intense in some fashion

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[wowzer]

I'm trying to decide about an offer from Hopkins. I'm worried that it will be such an intense place to go to medical school that it might be a turn off for those of us who want a social life as well. I'm not picturing partying every night but I want to make friends and bond with some classmates. Any actual experience out there- or anyone who knows anyone at HOpkins. I have tried talking to a few current students but no one ever tells me that they LOVE it. thanks for any info.... i dont want to be stereotyping Hopkins unfairly. i'm sure all med schools are intense in some fashion

As you've probably seen before, what you hear about a school is often misleading. I'm a rising senior at Johns Hopkins and I have several friends that are going to Hopkins Med next year, and I've never seen such a group of friendly, outgoing, and "chill" people. People may never say they LOVE it - after all, there is a lot of work involved - but you will get that with any medical school. I remember one of Hopkin's highlights, after sitting in a couple of information sessions and talking with the Dean, to be exactly what you think is missing - a tightly-knit group of students striving to be the worl'd leading physicians.

 

[Zephyrus]

didn't they go to p/f grading to address this very concern?

Z

 

[Law2Doc]

i'm sure all med schools are intense in some fashion

I suspect you will have to go quite far down the rankings of med schools to find one that is not "intense". The top half of the premeds in college are the ones who get into allopathic med school -- they got there by being competitively smart, and many are going to continue to push their way to competitive residencies. The fact that you got into Hopkins means that you have the ability to hold your ground there, so I say go for it. If not, and if Hopkins is not P/F, your best bet is to find one which maximizes the P/F system and doesn't rank. But even in a P/F school, there will be gunners due to admissions selectivity. Congrats.

 

[45408]

I suspect you will have to go quite far down the rankings of med schools to find one that is not "intense".

I think he meant that the large amount of material to learn makes it intense - which means pretty much every school is going to fit that bill.

 

[uptoolate]

Unless it has changed recently, Hopkins is Honors, High Pass, Pass, Fail- or some derivation thereof (may be HIgh Honors, Honors, Pass...). A weak attempt to rid themselves of letter grades, but an attempt nonetheless.

 

[bschmit]

Go for It......Any med school will be hard, Im doing a summer program right now taught by the Hopkins Med School Faculty, and everyone I have met is extremely nice and willing to help....Including the professors.

 

[Cosmodion]

I'm trying to decide about an offer from Hopkins. I'm worried that it will be such an intense place to go to medical school that it might be a turn off for those of us who want a social life as well. I'm not picturing partying every night but I want to make friends and bond with some classmates. Any actual experience out there- or anyone who knows anyone at HOpkins. I have tried talking to a few current students but no one ever tells me that they LOVE it. thanks for any info.... i dont want to be stereotyping Hopkins unfairly. i'm sure all med schools are intense in some fashion

Hey Mumpers, when did you hear from Hopkins? were you on the upper tier of their waitlist?

BTW- they are honours, high pass, pass, fail with 20% of the class getting H or HP

 

[etudiante04]

I'm trying to decide about an offer from Hopkins. I'm worried that it will be such an intense place to go to medical school that it might be a turn off for those of us who want a social life as well. I'm not picturing partying every night but I want to make friends and bond with some classmates. Any actual experience out there- or anyone who knows anyone at HOpkins. I have tried talking to a few current students but no one ever tells me that they LOVE it. thanks for any info.... i dont want to be stereotyping Hopkins unfairly. i'm sure all med schools are intense in some fashion

Hopkins is no walk in the park, but Baltimore, on its own, offers many social options. yes, it is one of the most dangerous cities. As a former undergrad, though, I feel encouraged by the med students who still came out to our school-wide events. Therefore, they are not always holed up in the library studying. If anything, the med school students are more relaxed than the undergrads are!

A bunch of Hopkins MED students came to our undergrad campus to talk about the competitiveness. This group was a cross-section of 1st-4th year students. They all agreed that the competitiveness depended on the med school class (ex c/o 2004 more competitive than c/o 2005 and so on). I know this does not help much, because you don't know everyone in the incoming class.

 

[YFR]

For what it's worth, I noticed during interviews that at the top ranked schools the students genereally didn't seem very happy. One even growled at us when we accidentally woke him up in the student lounge. In contrast, at mid-ranked schools the students seemed to be happier -- or at least more laid-back -- socializing, playing quick games of table soccer in the lounge, hanging out in the courtyards during lunch, etc. This is all anecdotal, of course. But it could be correlatd to how competitive the students must be to get into the top-ranked research institutions.

But I suppose that at whatever school you're accepted, you'll find students that are approximately equally disciplined as you.

 

[Idioteque]

Hopkins is great. they have 5 of the top 50 most cited biomedical scientists! Vogelstein is there 😍

 

[mumpers]

i interviewed at UMich which is a top school and people were very enthusiastic there- lots of "I love it"from the students. too bad they arent accepting anyone from the wait list. i have head relatively postive things from student I know there- sounds like they are moving in the direction of less intense and that the worst thing about the place might be the administration- that the students like it and dont feel its too intense. maybe im just hearing what i want to but i think the overall reputation might be worse than the actual experience.

 

[riceman04]

I suspect you will have to go quite far down the rankings of med schools to find one that is not "intense". The top half of the premeds in college are the ones who get into allopathic med school -- they got there by being competitively smart, and many are going to continue to push their way to competitive residencies. The fact that you got into Hopkins means that you have the ability to hold your ground there, so I say go for it. If not, and if Hopkins is not P/F, your best bet is to find one which maximizes the P/F system and doesn't rank. But even in a P/F school, there will be gunners due to admissions selectivity. Congrats.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...........Yale!!! It is intense but you are not graded during your first two yrs., right?

 

[jhugti]

OP: I for one am going to hopkins and am planning to have a social life- there is definately a social life to be had, especially as a first year. From what I've seen from hanging out with current first years, peopel go out pretty often and are by no means holed up all the time.