I very much agree that JHU is no slouch in the humanities. Though Penn does have the edge in the areas mentioned (classics and philosophy) as well as in English, Economics, Anthropology, Art History, Politics, Religious Studies (though I’m not sure JHU has a religious studies department at all), and Spanish language and lit. Penn is also a bit stronger in Comparative lit and French and Francophone Language and Literature. JHU tends to be stronger in German, Linguistics, and music. Both are considered equally exemplary for history. Whether that matters at the undergraduate level can vary and is partially up to the students themselves. It’s not a secret that the best scholars go to the schools with the strongest departments in their fields. Going to a school with more top programs in the humanities means more access to the best scholars in the humanities. And at Penn, because of the one university policy, students are permitted to take classes in both the graduate and undergraduate schools, in addition to having permission to do research with professors across school boundaries. Stronger departments also tend to mean more scholarly specializations in addition to the bread and butter knowledge bases, allowing for a broader array of class options beyond the intros and standard upper levels.
For example, compare the undergraduate course offerings of the Penn English Department with those at JHU. Penn is offering 117 english courses in the fall and 110 in the spring. JHU appears to be offering 51 in the fall (not including the 2 internships, 2 independent studies, and 2 senior essays they list as a course offerings-- but still including the multiple sections of the same course that they list separately cause I don’t feel like counting them all)
https://www.english.upenn.edu/courses/undergraduate
http://english.jhu.edu/undergraduate/courses/
And it’s not just quantity, there’s a difference in the types of course offerings there as well. Penn’s span many interdisciplinary boundaries and focus on super niche areas of literature and writing that JHU’s department doesn’t seem to be offering.
And the same is true in History where scholars tend to think of both programs as pretty equally outstanding. In terms of undergrad course offerings (still allowing JHU to double count multiple sections of the same class cause i’m too lazy to count them out… though the comparison would be more striking if I did) you have 76 Penn courses and 52 JHU classes (minus a couple of independent studies).
http://www.history.upenn.edu/courses/undergraduate/pc/term/2017c
http://history.jhu.edu/undergraduate/courses/
So yes, you can definitely get a top tier humanities education at JHU, but what JHU can offer in the traditional humanities may be more limited than what Penn can offer because of the greater strength of Penn’s humanities departments on the whole.