Wash U or Hopkins?

[JustBreathe]

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Just curious to hear which one you'd choose to attend and why.

 

[DrKitty]

Just curious to hear which one you'd choose to attend and why.

From my experience, some of the truly gifted and talented physicians and scientists have graduated from JHU school of medicine. I know some of them through work, and these people are amazing, and I would think that the school is as well. I don't know much about Washington.

 

[JDWflash44]

From my experience here at Hopkins, I'm a grad student at Bloomberg (live in Reed Hall), I really wouldn't want to go here for medical school. The students don't seem to be very happy to me. Obviously, you will get an amazing education at either school. I have no idea what WashU is like. Just my $.02

Jim

 

[chandelantern]

I didn't apply to either so I have done little to no research on them, but if I was to chose between them I would chose Hopkins. I think the research opportunities at Hopkins are amazing, especially for what I'm considering specializing in. I have heard that the students are quite competitve there (rumor, no evidence) but I haven't heard anything about WashU and wouldn't want to live in Saint Louis. 🙂

 

[KevinZ]

From my experience here at Hopkins, I'm a grad student at Bloomberg (live in Reed Hall), I really wouldn't want to go here for medical school. The students don't seem to be very happy to me. Obviously, you will get an amazing education at either school. I have no idea what WashU is like. Just my $.02

Jim

Any chance you can elaborate on why the students aren't happy? Thanks!

 

[Woodstock]

sorry this might be a little off the topic but i was wondering JustBreathe if you've heard from Hopkins yet? I interviewed a week before you did and was hoping to hear some good news this week but haven't, so I'm thinking I might be waitlisted. have you heard anything/know when you're supposed to hear? both those schools are awesome- i have only seen hopkins but thought it was pretty damn impressive. good luck!

 

[JustBreathe]

sorry this might be a little off the topic but i was wondering JustBreathe if you've heard from Hopkins yet? I interviewed a week before you did and was hoping to hear some good news this week but haven't, so I'm thinking I might be waitlisted. have you heard anything/know when you're supposed to hear? both those schools are awesome- i have only seen hopkins but thought it was pretty damn impressive. good luck!

No, I haven't heard anything. I'll be sure to post if I do. I could have sworn that we were told that we would hear back the third week in January (because of winter break), but people that interviewed later are expecting to hear in December so I'm kind of confused. Oh well, good luck to you, anyway

 

[Gavanshir]

Hopkins is ranked #2 while Wash U is #3. The choice is obvious.

 

[JustBreathe]

Hopkins is ranked #2 while Wash U is #3. The choice is obvious.

So all that matters are the US News research rankings? Right...

 

[SuzieQ3417]

Are you planning on going into research? I had a pre-med friend who graduated from Wash U, and told me that the only reason to go to that school is if you wanted to do research, and not to waste your time if you are more interested in the strictly clinical/patient aspect of medicine. Just one person's opinion...not sure how much truth there is to that. Obviously Hopkins is also very research oriented, so I don't know how the two would compare in this regard.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

Hopkins is ranked #2 while Wash U is #3. The choice is obvious.

To me this is tantamount to saying, "they are almost completely the same...the choice is obvious." Hahah. I think I know what you meant, but still, being so closely ranked, there are many other factors to consider before making this choice.

Is there anybody who has been accepted to both though? I want to come back as you in my next life

 

[Gavanshir]

Yes yes that was sarcasm indeed.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

Yes yes that was sarcasm indeed.

Dude, you're supposed to use smileys for that!

Are you planning on going into research? I had a pre-med friend who graduated from Wash U, and told me that the only reason to go to that school is if you wanted to do research, and not to waste your time if you are more interested in the strictly clinical/patient aspect of medicine. Just one person's opinion...not sure how much truth there is to that. Obviously Hopkins is also very research oriented, so I don't know how the two would compare in this regard.

Wash U is ranked 46 for primary care, JH is ranked 23. Certainly both are highly oriented toward research, but Wash U is probably more so. 46 is pretty weak, actually. And living in St. Louis would suck because it is soooooooo cold.

 

[veenut]

Dude, you're supposed to use smileys for that!



Wash U is ranked 46 for primary care, JH is ranked 23. Certainly both are highly oriented toward research, but Wash U is probably more so. 46 is pretty weak, actually. And living in St. Louis would suck because it is soooooooo cold.

hahaha. have you ever been to baltimore?

 

[JDWflash44]

Any chance you can elaborate on why the students aren't happy? Thanks!

The things I hear is when I talk to the first years that either live on my floor or i talk to around campus. They say that the administration doesn't really care about what the students think. They said that leads to frustrating things like having a final exam the day they got back from Thanksgiving break, meaning many of them had to study through the break. They say a few teachers are great but a lot just don't seem to care about teaching. Also, supposedly the detail tested is more so than most schools, the example i've been told was having to know all of the genes and what they do in developmental bio. These are things that are supposedly not even covered on the boards. Some of the averages on the tests were around 90%, and not easy tests either, meaning as they do everything on a curve one can only imagine what was needed for a honors or high pass. One kid complained about not getting any "clinical training" in the first year at all. He said they have a Dr who's office they go to every few weeks, but they get no instruction in taking histories or physicals or anything like that. Now, i have to say I'm sure there are plenty of students that absolutely love it here. What I have heard may just be a vocal minority, or it may just be the people I have talked to, but just sharing with you guys what I have heard. Hope it helps...

Jim

 

[Fermata]

Both schools are pretty much equal in the quality of education and type of student they attract.

Hopkins has a slight advantage in name.

 

[ahumdinger]

The things I hear is when I talk to the first years that either live on my floor or i talk to around campus. They say that the administration doesn't really care about what the students think. They said that leads to frustrating things like having a final exam the day they got back from Thanksgiving break, meaning many of them had to study through the break. They say a few teachers are great but a lot just don't seem to care about teaching. Also, supposedly the detail tested is more so than most schools, the example i've been told was having to know all of the genes and what they do in developmental bio. These are things that are supposedly not even covered on the boards. Some of the averages on the tests were around 90%, and not easy tests either, meaning as they do everything on a curve one can only imagine what was needed for a honors or high pass. One kid complained about not getting any "clinical training" in the first year at all. He said they have a Dr who's office they go to every few weeks, but they get no instruction in taking histories or physicals or anything like that. Now, i have to say I'm sure there are plenty of students that absolutely love it here. What I have heard may just be a vocal minority, or it may just be the people I have talked to, but just sharing with you guys what I have heard. Hope it helps...

Jim

well, for those of you wondering about WashU, simply negate EVERYTHING that was said by Jim. I'm not kidding--Just imagine the exact oppsite of every single sentence. And then you'll know what WashU's like.

BUT! I have to say, those of you even considering hopkins over washU are probably pretty intense, and this year's class is already studying way too much, so next year's supposed to be chill class. So I guess you'd better go to Hopkins. My ulterior motive behind all of this is that if you don't come to WashU, and I get waitlisted at WashU, then better chances of me getting off of the list! 😉

 

[QofQuimica]

Both schools are pretty much equal in the....type of student they attract.

I can't speak for anyone else, but that's definitely not the case for me. Out of curiousity, how many of you applied to one of these two schools but not the other?

 

[Fermata]

I can't speak for anyone else, but that's definitely not the case for me. Out of curiousity, how many of you applied to one of these two schools but not the other?

type = upper eschelon

 

[GoodEats]

Applied to WashU but not Hopkins because I didn't qualify for Hopkins' 21 hours of humanities or whatever it was.

 

[QofQuimica]

I guess I should answer my own question. 😳 I applied to Wash U but did not apply to Hopkins because of its location and my own gut feeling.

 

[aumed22]

I was close to not applying to Hopkins, for no real reason other than I didn't know anything about it except that it was supposed to be cut-throat. I'm glad I did though, my pre-conceived notions about the school were quickly dismantled.

 

[Law2Doc]

hahaha. have you ever been to baltimore?

It's nickname is "Charm City" -- how bad could it be?

 

[lorelei]

I applied to both and liked both a lot when I visited. I didn't get in to Hopkins, which was a pretty major disappointment for me (I wanted to have the chance to stay close to DC for personal reasons). Now I'm an M1 at Wash U.

Obviously I know way more about Wash U than I do about JHU since I've never been a student there. But my impression was that the facilities are pretty even, you get an awesome education at both, and both are fairly research-heavy but people who aren't all gung-ho about research still have a place. (I'll probably do some research while I'm in school just to say I've done it, but I hadn't done any when I applied, and it's not really a big part of my career goals, and I feel like Wash U is a good fit for me.)

I did personally feel like the Wash U students were a little more laid-back. That might have something to do with the pass/fail grading system first year - it's definitely nowhere near as stressful as I thought it would be. But then, I'm generally a pretty laid-back person (some call me a slacker) so that might just be me.

My opinion as to the major difference between them is about goals. I think that Wash U's major goal is to produce excellent physicians and scientists. JHU's goal is partially that, of course, but also, Ivy-style, to turn out people who are going to be leaders in the field - chiefs of staff at major hospitals, policymakers, things like that. I got that idea from my interviewer, and as I said, I didn't get in - I suspect that it's because I don't have very much ambition to be a leader, just to be really good at what I do. Of course I don't know for sure; that's just my take.

As for the locations, Baltimore and St. Louis are both cities with a significant amount of crime but also a pretty good amount of stuff to do. Neither is a NYC or SF, but neither is a Toledo, OH either. And it's a little colder in St. Louis but it snows more in Baltimore in my experience.

 

[Thewonderer]

if u get scholarship to go to Wash U, go with Wash u. If not, go to Hopkins because Baltimore and Northeast are a lot more interesting than St. Louis. St. Louis downtown is dead on weekends. As of 5-6 years ago, it was still losing population (i.e. more people moving away than moving in).

 

[nicholasblonde]

I haven't heard anything about WashU and wouldn't want to live in Saint Louis. 🙂

😱 Are you kidding me? If you only knew how freaking nice the neighborhood around Wash U (called the Central West End) is...and compared that to BALTIMORE you would realize how hilarious that statement is to someone who has been to both cities/schools. I once wrote off St. Louis as a city I wouldn't want to live in, until I spent a few days in the CWE/Wash U area. It reminds me of a lot of the Upper West/Upper East Side in NYC...it's situated on the East end of Forest Park, and it's filled with tree-lined gated avenues full of neoclassical and gothic revival homes, upscale art dealers, shops, cafes, and gorgeous architecture....the Metrolink runs right under the hospital/school complex, and you can hop right on and be in downtown or the airport in 15 minutes flat. Closest thing to a cosmopolitan life you can find outside of Chicago in the Midwest.

 

[jonappleseed]

I second that, nicholas...the area around Hopkins does not come anywhere close to the Wash U neighborhood...

 

[CTSballer11]

Yes yes that was sarcasm indeed.

Yea that is what I thought. I was laughing pretty hard at it.

 

[KevinZ]

So for those that have extensive experience in Baltimore or know the area, are there good student-friendly neighborhoods near the medical school? Do students feel comfortable walking around campus or those neighborhoods after midnight? How about walking off-campus?

Thanks!

 

[JDWflash44]

So for those that have extensive experience in Baltimore or know the area, are there good student-friendly neighborhoods near the medical school? Do students feel comfortable walking around campus or those neighborhoods after midnight? How about walking off-campus?

Thanks!

If you want to live walking distance to the medical school then your only option is Reed Hall, pretty much You dont want to be walking around in this neighborhood. That being said, you can live by homewood/Ugrad campus or in mount vernon(my recommendation) and take the Hopkins shuttle to school. It runs til like 1130 at night during the week, 630 on saturdays, and 930 on sundays. I have friends in Mount Vernon and it seems really safe with some fun bars and other stuff to do. I would say many people dont feel too comfortable in the neighborhood after dark, let alone midnight. There's a reason why there are armed security guards/posts every 100 yards everywhere you go on campus (i think that started after a few students were killed a couple of years ago, or so the story goes...). Honestly, in my experience the stories are true, this is truely in the ghetto (i didn't think I would believe it before i got here). That being said, I havent been assulted, mugged, or anything in my 3 months here (knockon wood) and generally feel pretty safe most of the time (although many of my female friends dont). In conclusion of my rambling, I would recommend living in mount vernon and taking the shuttle to school everyday. Or Reed Hall (as I do) but this place aint exactly the Ritz...

Jim

 

[Lisy51]

i only applied to wash u. originally i wasn't going to apply to either because i thought both places were too intense, and full of really competitive pre-meds. i want to learn medicine in a more laid back atmosphere. but then i got all these recruitment brochures from wash u and i decided to go ahead and give it a shot. i really liked the school and st. louis seemed decent. the area around the medical school wasn't scary to me at all (i had to run out at 11pm the night before my interview b/c i forgot my stockings!!) but then again i am from the bronx, hahaha. im still glad i didnt apply to jhu because i knew people from my class who were going there and i knew i didnt want to be around them anymore. sorry if that sounds harsh, but i think all of us have those people in school...
bottom line, i got won over by the pretty brochures! lol