Should I transfer?

[ar707]

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[BombsAway]

Add to your cons list: transferring usually sets you back in time and money. Courses don't transfer exactly. Sequencing is off. Registration goes awry. etc.

Add to your to-do list: be open to new experiences, and they will find you. I assure you things are indeed happening on friday nights. They just aren't happening with you. Make friends with the upperclassmen. Go places alcohol is served.

 

[Podstar]

If you are looking for fun and a social life consider joining a respectable fraternity. One of the best decisions I ever made.

 

[ar707]

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[BombsAway]

I know plenty of brothers and I’m friends with a group of people that won’t let a party pass them by. There have legitimately been Fridays where no frat was throwing down and others where these parties were awful. Sometimes of course there are closed ones (the football frat usually has a strict invite list) but it’s pretty awful to not have anything worth going to on certain days. And to add to that, the Hopkins 500 is very much a real thing. Even at the good parties, you know everyone there.

If you can't figure out how to have fun and meet people in a city of ~600,000 I am perplexed by your hypothesis that transferring to a city of ~50,000 will fix the problem. If you're at Hopkins you must be a smart, hardworking kid, so I wish you the best. Be sure you don't take this decision lightly. Confide in your mentors and advisors, not asshats like me on the internet.

 

[ar707]

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[mydogmolly]

Baltimore mostly sucks, I won't deny that. But I'll just say that nobody is having that much fun freshman year, at UNC or anywhere else. Stop looking at social media because it is lying to you. Freshman year is a tough adjustment for everyone. Just keep your head up and look for opportunities to make friends and have fun experiences at Hopkins (maybe go out for ultimate frisbee, join a club, start a club, etc.) Transferring is a last resort.

College should be a good time, but remember why you're there. If you're getting an awesome GPA and able to put together an amazing pre-med resume, you shouldn't shake all of that up on the off chance you might have some more fun at your state school.

 

[Lucca]

I don't think this is a particularly good reason to transfer, personally. If you are doing well at Hopkins I would advise you to stay there. Grass is always greener but it sounds like you are doing well at a difficult school with a lot of cachet in case you decide not to pursue medicine (and even if you do, well connected to a lot of great resources and opportunities to help you succeed as a premed particularly clinical and research opportunities) and I wouldn't gamble with that.

 

[DokterMom]

Hopkins is somewhat notorious as a grade deflator and frankly, pretty legendary for medical studies. If you can succeed there (as you currently are) that will set you up for reaching the highest heights in the medical world. Transferring to a state U -- even a really good one like UNC -- reduces your chances. The big name top private medical schools do have a bias in favor of students with "pedigree". Succeed at Hopkins and you'll have that pedigree. Succeed at UNC and you'll be well-qualified and receive fair consideration.

 

[Potentia Virtus]

Oh man, I hope you look back on this post in like ten years and laugh at yourself- worrying about what school you're going to because you're not partying enough on Friday nights. It's just not something I can really relate to, since I married really young and have always had to provide for a family while doing my undergrad, but even as a young single guy I would think you should have bigger things to worry about.

 

[Potentia Virtus]

If you really want to be premed, do it for you, not because you've got doctors in the family (again not something I can really relate to, so take my opinion with a grain of salt). Take these boring weekends when there isn't a party going on and go do some volunteer work, get some clinical experience, or do research.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

it feels like I’m working very hard each week and having almost no payoff on the weekends

welcome to medicine.

jk. in all seriousness transfer if you're unhappy, don't if you're not. don't think too hard about the other factors; this in general is probably not a great place to ask because most who come here are by definition myopically focused (rightfully, probs) on maximizing potential for med school admission

 

[ar707]

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[Dr. Meliodas]

I’m not going to pretend the social life isn’t a factor in me wanting to transfer, but I’d say the #1 concern is still how much easier it would be to pull off a good gpa at UNC compared to JHU.

You just sound like your looking for an easy way into medical school. If so then by all means transfer to UNC. Honestly though as a Hopkins alum your time at Hopkins is only as difficult as you make it. You by no means have to major in a difficult science to get into medical school. Major in something you are interested or passionate about that you will not have the opportunity to purse later in life like Classics, Anthropology or Archaeology. Even with the major you are in now, there are plenty of easy upper level science courses to fulfill your requirements.

You need to figure out what your passionate about and pursue activities that align with that and when you do you will find people that you'd be interested in being friends with and then from there you will figure out things to do in the city, or take trips on the weekends. DC is 1 hour away, NY is 4hrs away, Phily is like 2-3hrs away.

 

[ar707]

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[Dr. Meliodas]

I'm sorry if it came off that I assumed you are majoring in science only for medical school. That was not the intention. If you feel like the environment at UNC is better fit for you then it sounds like you know what you want to do already. Can you get into a top medical school if you went to UNC probably. However, a high GPA from Hopkins will mean more than a high GPA from UNC everything else equal. On the other hand, a mediocre GPA from Hopkins will definitely look worse than a higher GPA from UNC everything else equal. As long as you can maintain your current performance in the next 3 years and score well on the MCAT transferring would be unwise. If your only concern is the social scene at Hopkins, I personally think that is a pretty weak reason to transfer. Also its not like you are restricted to Hopkins parties, you could always go to Towson, Loyola, or College Park parties which plenty of people at Hopkins tend to do at least when I was a student there. That might help you enjoy the social scene more.

 

[VincentAdultman]

Can you get into a top medical school if you went to UNC probably. However, a high GPA from Hopkins will mean more than a high GPA from UNC everything else equal.

Dude. UNC is like a top ten public university. If anything keeps him from a top med schoo, it's not gonna be that.

 

[altblue]

There's gotta be people in softer majors who have free time.You have plenty of time to start repairing this - there have to be social people at Hopkins, join a fraternity.

And as a heads up sure UNC is a D1 school, which might be giving you impression you have in addition to friends' feedback, but is also an academically oriented school too (less so than Hopkins). If it's like my UG there isn't much going on during the week at all, your best friends are studying, and people only really go out on Friday/Sat (or Thursday if they live it up). So don't expect the healthiest social life in existence there unless you work for it, and don't expect to have the most amazing social life after transferring.

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

Dude. UNC is like a top ten public university. If anything keeps him from a top med schoo, it's not gonna be that.

Yes, but rank 30th overall. Again a higher GPA from Hopkins means more than the same GPA from UNC. I'm not saying that UNC is a bad school by any stretch.

 

[mistafab]

Bad decision

 

[VincentAdultman]

Yes, but rank 30th overall. Again a higher GPA from Hopkins means more than the same GPA from UNC. I'm not saying that UNC is a bad school by any stretch.

I'm not an adcom, but all things are never equal, and there's a host of factors that will matter before deciding the relative "prestige" of UNC vs Johns Hopkins.

TBH I wasn't even sure Hopkins was considered the better school.

 

[Danbo1957]

Adcom here:

Wait until I ask you why you transfered...

Ahem. Next file.

 

[VincentAdultman]

Adcom here:

Wait until I ask you why you transfered...

Ahem. Next file.

Yeah....that's fair.

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

I'm not an adcom, but all things are never equal, and there's a host of factors that will matter before deciding the relative "prestige" of UNC vs Johns Hopkins.

TBH I wasn't even sure Hopkins was considered the better school.

1) Hopkins is clearly a better school, just because you aren't aware of it does not mean an adcom won't. Transferring to a lower rank school will always be a red flag when adcom's look at an applicants file so you better have a good reason.
2) Since I can't tell the future and know everything about OP's next three years "all else equal" is the best anyone can do when judging one parameter of what adcom's look at. If not then you can never compare anything.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

I agree if nothing else, the intentional step down looks like a red flag.

 

[VincentAdultman]

Yeah. Top 15 to top 30. Might as well co to community college.

The OPs reasons for transferring are a way bigger red flag tbh.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Adcom here:

Wait until I ask you why you transfered...

Ahem. Next file.

"The city and school were not a good fit for me, and I was unhappy."

 

[Lucca]

"The city and school were not a good fit for me, and I was unhappy."

yah those would be actual good reasons to transfer. Not the OP's stated reasons. IMO OP sleeps on it for like a month and won't have the urge to transfer anymore. First year is a chaotic time, even if you are doing well, and everybody gets the urge to do something impulsive (like transfer out of Hopkins with no academic or personal issues).

 

[altblue]

1) Hopkins is clearly a better school, just because you aren't aware of it does not mean an adcom won't. Transferring to a lower rank school will always be a red flag when adcom's look at an applicants file so you better have a good reason.
2) Since I can't tell the future and know everything about OP's next three years "all else equal" is the best anyone can do when judging one parameter of what adcom's look at. If not then you can never compare anything.

Considering they're looking at around a 3.8 at Hopkins I'm having difficulty seeing how it's a red flag. I'm assuming from the post that OP is from NC? There could be a multitude of viable other reasons they transferred.

 

[CaptainJackSparrow83]

If you are looking for fun and a social life consider joining a respectable fraternity. One of the best decisions I ever made.

Yeah if you want to be rejected by every MD /DO school sure. At a school like jhu there isnt a lot of free time as he excels through the years and picks up heavier course loads.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Yeah if you want to be rejected by every MD /DO school sure. At a school like jhu there isnt a lot of free time as he excels through the years and picks up heavier course loads.

What do you mean by this, there were tons of frat/sorority people in my med school

 

[VincentAdultman]

I also encountered many frat bros in med school.