Johns Hopkins vs. Cornell

NixonDenier
Tue, 05 Apr 2016 19:25:02 +0000

As a Neuroscience major who graduated from Hopkins I have only the best things to say about the program. Much of the stuff I will praise the program for:

Accessible faculty who are almost entirely world-class researchers that are passionate about the content they are teaching (since they've spent their lives studying it)

Flexible coursework (there are three concentrations you can focus on: Cellular/Molecular, Systems or Cognitive: http://krieger.jhu.edu/neuroscience/academics/requirements/)

New facilities

Teaching practicums (http://krieger.jhu.edu/neuroscience/academics/practicums/)

3rd most popular major (plenty of camaraderie and testament to the program's many strengths and its resources)

Program-oriented outreach (NRP, the undergraduate neuroscience service society organizes tons of outreach on campus and in the community, which offers students great experiences to interact with the city, share your knowledge and boost that resume)

But more importantly than that is the sheer amount of research opportunities you will have access to. Everyone says they have research, but honestly, only large state schools and a few notables like Hopkins, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Harvard, Duke, UPenn are the true research giants. Additionally, Hopkins has a small undergraduate size (which means you don’t have to compete for limited research opportunities, unlike students at many state schools), has the NIH headquartered in Bethesda right next door (which means they have many labs in Baltimore you can research at, as I did), and the school spends almost 50% more on annual research than the next highest school (http://www.bestcolleges.com/features/colleges-with-highest-research-and-development-expenditures/). I’ve come to learn that if you want to analyze any organization you simply follow the money. Money doesn’t lie and it shows the organization’s priorities. Hopkins is spending so much more than any other school on research, and I can attest that these opportunities are ripe for the picking for undergrads. The Neuroscience major requires independent research for its majors and so the undergrad program works diligently so that there are ample opportunities for research (not that I needed their help in finding research, but it was there).

Why does research matter? For science majors in general, research provides you the skill set to have marketable skills when you leave school. The market is inundated with science majors and unless you plan on going to graduate school to learn a skill set (like Ph.D or MD, etc.) it’s the science majors with undergrad research experiences in labs that have the skills and the industry connections to get the jobs. Even if you are planning on medial school, etc. meaningful research experiences are a huge leg-up on the competition. Coursework is also easier and more enjoyable when you see the application of the content you are learning in class. Specifically for neuroscience, a field growing rapidly and constantly changing, being around and participating in groundbreaking research is absolutely thrilling. In my opinion, for any school to have a strong neuroscience program it must have a strong research program. Neuroscience is debatably a fifty year-old field (if not younger), and active research is dramatically redefining what we know all the time. I only had three textbooks for all my neuroscience coursework since all of the classes were based on research papers and Powerpoint/lectures designed mostly by the faculty-researchers who are at the forefront of the research for the given topic. This is because the information in textbooks was often wrong or too vague by the time it’s edited and published. Furthermore, the skill set of reading a research paper and critically analyzing it on its merits, faults and value is essential for any science major. Basically, research experience and studying/discussing neuroscience from a research (rather than textbook) perspective is essential for a quality neuroscience education, and Hopkins does these things extremely well.

Some other general thoughts comparing the schools:

Cornell has more than double the amount of undergrads than Hopkins, which is good for extracurriculars (more likely to find other people interested in starting a Star Wars Fan Club) but bad for research (more competition for limited resources, but that also depends on the breakdown of undergrads as science majors, etc. which I glimpsed at and Hopkins has slightly more but not to offset the difference in undergrad size)

Cornell is in a rural area in a small college town (Ithaca w/ 30,000 residents) versus Hopkins, which is in a major U.S. City (Baltimore w/ 650,000 residents). Where do you want to live? Proximity to family? Opportunities for public outreach (as @OnMyWay2013 mentioned)?

Climate: Baltimore TYPICALLY gets little to no snow with average warmer temperatures and more humidity in the summer.

Greek life? Athletics? Safety (I've posted on this before)? Social Life outside of school? (there are plenty of posts about this factor, and NO, we are NOT cutthroat). These matter to some people (hopefully safety and social life matters, lol). Let me know if you want my perspective on Hopkins for these things.

Tuition and associated expenses (travel, living costs) are nothing to overlook, and both of these are expensive schools.

Premed support: If you are indeed premed then this should matter a lot to you. Hopkins has the highest per capita medical school applicants each year (last I checked), which can be good (faculty and advising staff know what they are doing and advise well) and can be bad (there are many students applying to med school with a Hopkins degree, though a smaller absolute value of applicants than other larger schools like Berkley, UCLA, etc.). Both schools offer a committee letter for medical school, which probably means nothing to you now, but is a huge benefit come application time.

Both schools are awesome and I am by no means bashing on Cornell, but if the last few factors I listed aren’t overwhelming deal breakers for one school or the other then I would definitely go with Hopkins. Cornell fans please chime in and balance me out, but what I do know for sure is that the research spending difference is overwhelming and the importance of research for any undergrad science major is clear to me. That alone (besides everything else I’ve said) is why I chose Hopkins and would choose it again.