UIUC vs. Johns Hopkins

PLANTREE
Thu, 20 Apr 2006 00:40:58 +0000

You can’t go wrong with either school academically. UIUC engineering is great and JHU is a world reknown name. These 2 schools are so different from each other it is hard to compare them. You need to decide what type of school you want and what feels best to you.

Last Summer my son did the Pre-College program at JHU, and did not even submit an application to them. My son enjoyed his experience there, but the school did not have the right feel for him. He wants to experience college via a good mix of study and having fun. He also is going the engineering route, but he is undecided as to which discipline, but he doesn’t have a strong Bio interest and knows that he won’t pursue Biomed Engineering (the largest engineering dept. at JHU.

JHU is a very conservative small school, ranked as one of the best schools in the country/world, best known for Medical and pre-med, a great BioMed Engineering program, great lacrosse team, very academmically oriented, located in a city with some safety issues especially by the Med School (Downtown). When I asked one of the summer program’s RA’s from New Hampshire, why he chose JHU over Dartmouth, he said “I didn’t want to go to a party school”.

UIUC is a BIG diverse midwestern University with Big 10 athletics, many top programs including one of the best all around for engineering and business, Big school activities, fraternities and college life. UIUC is also somewhat conservative when compared to others like Wisconsin or most of the Ivies/Northeastern Universities, but much more liberal than JHU.

Choose what feels best for you both academically and socially. Good luck.