opinion on hopkins??

[Sir William Osler]

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anyone have any opinions on hopkins med? i mean, how do you weight the value of the quality of faculty and hospital vs. Baltimore and the competition. ya know? what kind of student goes to hopkins versus what kind of student decides to go to say, ucsf or penn instead?

i'm curious to hear your opinions.

 

[Hopkins2010]

The only thing I dont like about Hopkins is the immediate location in Baltimore. The city itself is fine, its just Hopkins' location that works against it a little bit.

I wont be interviewing at Penn until late Jan, so I dont know for sure, but I've heard bad things about its location too. I didnt apply to UCSF.

Hopkins has a rep (somewhat undeserved I think) for attracting the premed gunners. When I was there, I didnt notice that. However, a couple of MD/PhD students at other schools that I interviewed at implied that Hopkins has a lot of cutthroats. Again, I'm not sure I buy that.

UCSF/Penn/Hopkins are all great programs and I dont know how I would really distinguish them from each other except for location.

The people at Hopkins were really passionate about medicine, but I'm sure thats also true at UCSF/Penn.

 

[Sir William Osler]

bump

 

[DesperatelySeekingMD]

Tbone- I have some of the same questions and concerns. Before I interviewed and visited Hopkins, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't want to go there because of the perceived competative atmosphere, but during my visit I didn't perceive any of that. My opinion completely changed after my interview and it became one of my top choices/if not my top choice.

In fact every student that I met was really down to earth and seemed to be really cooperative and out to work with not against their fellow classmates, but I still have a few reservations. But, that may also have been the students that I met and those who were there to help in the interview process. However, the MD/PhD program may be totally different.

Then there is the whole grades thing- I think that may encourage competition, but then again a lot of schools with honors/high pass/pass/fail can turn into the equivalent of grades. There is just something intimidating about a letter grade. Also as everyone said at Hopkins, even if you graduate in the bottom of your class, you are still going to get your choice of residencies. Amazing what a name and amazing rep can do!

And Baltimore...well, yes Balitmore is not the most beautiful city. But, it is a big city and there are some really nice areas and a lot to do. Not to mention that NYC is 3.5 hrs away, Philly is about 2 hours away and DC just 45 minutes. And you are going to be in med school, so I don't see that you will be having that much time out of school anyway. The area in that the school is in actually is one of the positives for me. Most top trauma centers are in economically depressed areas. And working in an area like that also allows you to see everything. This is also the population that I would eventually like to work with, so there is never a better time to start then now.
Just my two cents....

 

[Sir William Osler]

seekingmd:

let's chat by email. i'm really feeling the same way about jhu. it would be interesting to hear more of your feelings about it. private message me with your email if you dont mind. i dont think you have private message enabled.

 

[Coalboy]

And Baltimore...well, yes Balitmore is not the most beautiful city. But, it is a big city and there are some really nice areas and a lot to do.••

Not the most beautiful city? Well, according to our mayor, we're "The Greatest City in America." A hyperbole if I've ever heard one. 🙂
Seriously, I've lived here my whole life (aside from four years in Vermont for college), and in general, it is a pretty nice place to live.

 

[bonbon81]

i'm a hopkins undergrad right now, and i'm currently considering whether or not i want to stay at hopkins for med school. i think a lot of the "gunner" reputation is actually associated with the undergrad campus, and i'm not really sure if it carries over to the med school - the impression i got from the students was that it really didn't have too much of that atmosphere, and i got an especially good impression of the faculty from my interview. at the same time, i'm not sure if it's time to move on to a new stage of life and to start that in a new place. do you guys have opinions about doing med school in the same place that you did undergrad?

 

[doepug]

I'm a second yr med student at Hopkins... it's a fabulous place.

Contrary to popular legend, competition truly does not exist here. Letter grades are only for show... 80-85% of the class gets a B on any given exam. Furthermore, no + or - goes on the transcript, so B+ = B- = B. Don't believe the myth that letter grades foster competition... the understanding here is that everyone gets the "Hopkins B."

Please - anyone - feel free to e-mail me ([email protected]) if you have questions about Hopkins. I'd be happy to debunk any rumors you've heard. 🙂

Cheers,

doepug
MS II, Johns Hopkins

 

[Linie]

I met a lot of fun people in my 4 years at Hopkins med! There were a few people I thought were intolerable (really just a handful), but even THEY each turned out to have something great to offer later when I had to work with them during clinical years. I am a huge Hopkins fan, I'm not competitive, I love medicine. What I love most about Hopkins is that I'm surrounded by people who love what they do and are excited by medicine. Not that we smile & hug all day long: we make fun of each other, we complain, but in the end we're pretty enthusiastic about our job. I'm an intern in internal medicine here now. I chose to stay, so it must have been good!