What's the social life like at Johns Hopkins?

Colleges & Universities Johns Hopkins University
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<p>I just read through this whole thread and I want my 10 minutes back.</p>

<p>My son just visited the campus and is considering JHU so I am interested in real answers to this question. But it seems as if the participants in this thread have gone about the whole thing in the wrong way, arguing without any real facts.</p>

<p>It seems to me there are two basic types of social life possible…on-campus opportunities, and off-campus opportunites. It would help to describe them, their existance or lack thereof and quality rather than argue over whether the social scene is good or bad.</p>

<p>I’d appreciate if if people could post on the type, frequency, participation, and quality of the following social events:</p>

<p>On-Campus

  • Hanging out in dorm rooms, watching TV, computer games, etc.: a given
  • Informal recreation: frisbee, open gym, open swim, open track, etc., gym classes (aerobics, yoga, etc.)…do people do these things?
  • Intramural sports: year round? do many people participate? what sports?
  • Clubs: drama, dancing, environmental, photography, cycling etc. and related field trips, events, etc. What clubs are there and do many people participate?
  • Events: drama, lectures, films, concerts, speakers What type and frequency of events and are they well attended?
  • Intercollegiate sports - other than lacrosse, do students attend and support other sports i.e., soccer, basketball, track, football, swimming.
  • Restaurants/clubs - other than the dining hall(s), what other options are there to hang out and socialize, eat, drink?
  • Greek scene - is it just a bunch of drunken aholes, or can it be fun for a broader audience?</p>

<p>Off-Campus (for each of these, consider or describe how far away the opportunity is and how easy it is for a freshman without a car to get to)</p>

<ul>
<li>Recreational opportunities (beach, skiing, hiking, rafting, biking, etc. things that college kids are interested in)</li>
<li>Movie theaters - how close to campus?</li>
<li>Restaurants/clubs/bars - how far do you have to go to get a decent selection? Are these locations walkable or easy by public transit?</li>
<li>Events: pro sports, art galleries, symphony, music clubs for concerts, </li>
<li>nearby cities - NYC, Philadelphia, DC…do students typically venture that far? </li>
</ul>

<p>What does a typical group of freshman do on a Friday night in early October?</p>

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<p>The key to having a social life at Hopkins is being able to manage your time effectively. You have to get your work done so you can go and have fun. It’s definitely possible. </p>

<p>Your friends are the people you live with, and they’re always right there, which is amazing. Lots of time is spent just hanging out in the dorms or studying together. You are constantly with friends. People who want to find time to play frisbee and work out - there is the option of going to the gym and there are special hours when you can go to the pool to swim. There are work-out classes like yoga available at the Recreation Center. </p>

<p>There are TONS of clubs on campus. A lot of people get quite involved in one or two of them, and lots of students attend events that student groups put on, like concerts. You will hear about tons of student group events every week. Check out this extensive list of student organizations: [JHU</a> Student Organizations (326) | Johns Hopkins University | MyStudentGroups.com](<a href=“http://jhu.mystudentgroups.com/]JHU”>http://jhu.mystudentgroups.com/)</p>

<p>Like I said, there are lots of different events each week. You will always know what’s going on from fliers, emails sent out and giant posters/murals around campus. There are both events run by student groups and events run by the university, like speakers (Will Ferrell came last year.) We have a huge event called Spring Fair in the Spring semester where our campus is turned into a fairground, and there is always a big concert that weekend. It’s a ton of fun. There are also events such as open-air movies on the quads.</p>

<p>We have sports. Lacrosse is definitely what people get excited over, but basketball games and other things are attended. People support their friends. [Johns</a> Hopkins Blue Jays - The Official Athletic Site for the Johns Hopkins University](<a href=“http://www.hopkinssports.com/]Johns”>http://www.hopkinssports.com/)</p>

<p>There are a ton of places to eat on St. Paul street and all around Charles Village - all within easy walking distance. You can also go to the Inner Harbor, Mt Vernon or Towson really easily to have more options. There is a service run by Goucher College called the Collegetown Shuttle that will get you to the mall/town at Towson, and on weekends it goes to the Inner Harbor too. The JHMI (med school) shuttle will get you many places as well, all for free. Getting around is easy!</p>

<p>Greek life is a great option for meeting more people and filling up your already busy schedule with lots of fun stuff. It’s true that fraternity parties can be very rowdy, but Greeks are generally very nice people who work just as hard at their schoolwork as everyone else. Almost everyone involved in Greek life loves it, and they all have lots of non-Greek friends as well as their fraternity brothers/sorority sisters. </p>

<p>If you can find any time, the Outdoor Pursuits club and the Johns Hopkins Outdoors Club run frequent outdoorsy trips to places in the relatively nearby area: [Outdoor</a> Pursuits](<a href=“Ralph S. O'Connor Recreation Center | Student Affairs”>Ralph S. O'Connor Recreation Center | Student Affairs)
[JHOC</a> Home Page](<a href=“JHOC”>JHOC)</p>

<p>You can go to the movies in Towson, or to the sort-of artsy Charles Theatre down North Charles Street - both are easy to get to on the Collegetown or JHMI shuttles. </p>

<p>Like I said, it’s easy to walk to <em>or</em> get a ride on a shuttle to many restaurants. There are a couple popular bars right next to campus, as well as one club. To get more bars or clubs you would have to go downtown, which is difficult as a freshman, but most are content with what they have next to campus. </p>

<p>There are <em>always</em> things going on in Baltimore. The Baltimore Museum of Art is on campus and has lots of events, and there are many, many other museums in the city as well. There are baseball games at the stadium downtown and The Peabody Institute has many concerts that Hopkins kids can attend. There is more going on than you can ever manage to go to.</p>

<p>Sometimes students travel to nearby cities. A lot of people go to DC once in a while since it’s easy and cheap to get there on the train. </p>

<p>On a Friday night in early October many typical groups of Freshman would hang out together in the dorms and then head to a frat party. Others would stay in together and watch a movie, or go to a concert or some other event on campus. It all depends on what you want to do with your friends!</p>

<p>Honestly, it is what you make it. Baltimore and JHU have all there is to offer, you just have to make the time! It is very, very possible to have a thriving and happy social life at JHU.</p>

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<p>Well, my family and I hve been driving down th east coast looking at colleges this week and the thing that completely threw us off guard about Johns Hopinks was something they don’t advertise on the brochure. About one mile north of the homewood campus there is about a 5 mile long stretch of projects. Essentially , the School is essentually a really pretty prision surrounded by projects. I honestly saw prostitutes about 3 minutes before arriving at the main campus. It’s like UChicago. I’m not really complaining [I’m from Chicago], it’s just that I was completely unaware, and now that off campus activities have been brought up, I want others to know as well. Also, I wrote this on a phone, please excuse gramatical errors.</p>

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<p>Its hard to discern what you are talking about. A mile north of the Homewood campus is a beautiful area (where Loyola College and the College of Notre Dame of Maryland are located. There are no “projects” there (I assume by projects you mean public housing) that I know of. Of course, there is public housing in Baltimore. It is a city.</p>

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<p>fuse - where the heck were you? There are no projects a mile north of JHU.</p>

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<p>Hmm, well I wasn’t driving so I can’t offer street names, but I remember that if you start at the campus, you take this very long downhill street which has a lot of houses of the same type. They all have gardens and are painted different colors and are quite nice and there is a long row of them on both sides. Then you turn left and it gets to like the Art Museum I think and there are some cement walls that are painted in florescent colors that say Johns Hopkins U and then after that it just goes to sheet. All the houses are half burned down, windows are boarded up, graffiti all over, gangs roaming the streets, etc. I am in no way an elitist or racist or even a parent, I just think that there are plenty of other fine universities across the nation which wouldn’t put new, young, explorative freshman so close to what is, essentialy, the failure of America.</p>

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<p>Can’t Edit Sorry. But after some Research, I think it may be Park Heights.</p>

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<p>It sounds as if you were somewhere near Druid Hill Park and there are some bad neighborhoods there. Of course, there are equally bad neighborhoods near Yale, Penn, Columbia, Chicago, Duke, Wash U … Welcome to America.</p>

<p>True, you can close your eyes and find places where you can pretend poverty doesn’t exist. You will probably love Colgate.</p>

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<p>DadX4—I haven’t been a freshman for a long time. Both of my kids (1 boy, 1 girl) went to Hopkins relatively recently and they both loved it. As for on campus activities, all of the things you mentioned are available and are done by some students, probably none by all. While a small university, it is large enough to be quite diverse; kids do lots of different things. Some lead very active social lives, some not. They get to choose, but it is all available.</p>

<p>Same for off campus activities. The only thing you won’t find easily accessible is a beach. Baltimore is on a large river, which feeds into the Chesapeake. But swimming in the Chesapeake is limited; the water is shallow and, for much of the warmer months, there are sea nettles (jellyfish) which make the water unpleasant. The nearest real beach is Ocean City on the Eastern Shore–which is accessible only if you have a car and a lot of time on your hands. My guess is that Hopkins students visit Ocean City once or twice during their four years.</p>

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<p>Ditto Bonanza. Welcome to urban America! Have you ever seen the wrong side of Cambridge, New Haven or Harlem for that matter? USC is in the dead center of South Central LA. First floor dorms have bars in the windows. And yes, UChicago has its good and bad sides. Even Georgetown takes some getting through…None of these “bad” neighborhoods are featured in their brochures either. But it’s real. You may select a more “protected” school. Cornell has nice surroundings as do many others if that’s what you’re looking for. But most schools in urban environments have their gritty side. But then again, that’s most likely where the jobs will be. And then you may not be able to pick and choose as much. As a parent, I definitely worry about this; however in light of recent horrific campus crimes (UNC, Wesleyan, Virginia Tech) of schools that are in “good” areas, it makes you wonder as to where the real dangers are!</p>

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<p>The going north part really confused me since I live about 7 miles north of JHU. I’m not sure where fuse was, but just north of JHU are the neighborhoods of Guilford, Homeland, Roland Park - very wealthy, very beautiful neighborhoods. Perhaps they went south to Howard Street further into the city or west towards Druid Hill and the zoo - that would be about 3 miles away. Students going into the city and Inner Harbor would likely just go south on Charles and have no reason to go down in the southwestern part of the city. No matter - if being in an urban area like that bothers someone, there are plenty of other good choices.</p>

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<p>in my hopkins experience, there is always something fun to do. at the very least, if you have friends (jhanonymous… do you have friends? you do a lot of roaming around campus at night apparently alone) you’ll make your own fun. </p>

<p>it’s a little tougher if you are dead broke lol, as what you do for fun will largely depend on your amigos.</p>

<p>i usually fall into the broke category, so my nights of fun (i.e. when i’m not in class, studying for exams or doing class/home work or papers, or at work, which i try to do during the day) are either: hanging out with friends at apartments watching something on tv or playing video games or at a house party or somewhere on campus like the gym or some ECs i’m a part of, or going to see a student-run play or performance or some sort of show (for free or for very little cash).</p>

<p>when i do have some cash i like the more traditional things, like going to the mall, or inner harbor (espn zone or going out to eat or catching a game at camden yards for cheap when the yanks or some other good team is in town lol), or bowling or paintball or the movies. once in a long while i visit some friends either in town at other colleges or in other cities like dc or philly.</p>

<p>as you probably noticed, i left out frats and bar/club hoping, and sporting events. that stuff is definitely here, but im usually too lazy (sleep in or often forget) to go to games and such and im not into frats and the bar scene but i go once in a while to switch things up. the parties i go to are house parties or those thrown/hosted by student groups (i basically sign up for all the email lists from a bunch of cultural groups and im always getting those fliers for parties etc.). i pick and choose from those depending on theme and who else i know is going. </p>

<p>one thing ive stopped doing is going to intramurals, and that sucks. i really loved intramural bball but i had to stop after freshman year due to time conflicts with other stuff. instead i go to the gym with friends (sometimes) but usually go on my own and get in a pick-up game. i find pick-up to be more fun usually because you never know what kind of teammates you get lol. one day i will go out and play ultimate…i think it’s an intramural? i havent done it since summer after frosh year but that’s my goal for this year (along with going to more hopkins sports stuff. ive only seen wrestling and basketball live [haha mostly to support friends] so i want to check out other stuff like baseball and lax).</p>

<p>as far as ethnic divide: yea, that’s apparent on campus, but the friends you make depend on what YOU do for fun outside of class and who lives by you. try different things/ECs on campus and, if you are a incoming frosh, LIVE IN AMRs or BUILDINGS A & B. haha they were far more social and interactive than wolman for the most part. i found wolman to be mostly restricted to your floor in terms of hanging out. amrs were awesome! but yea more of my friends from different ethnic backgrounds were met through living near each other freshman/soph year or through clubs and intramurals. i also made some friends from things like lab or section but the vast majority came through housing and things i do for fun.</p>

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<p>so i guess in summary there is a ton of stuff to do for fun depending on your interests. my main problem is limiting myself to certain clubs and things i do with friends because there are a lot of options. balancing that with class/work is the hard part, i’d say. take advantage of first semester covered grades to work out the kinks!</p>

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<p>Dadx4 – many answers to your questions about social life have also been answered by over 20 current Hopkins students at the STUDENT LIFE section of the Hopkins Forums:
[Hopkins</a> Forums -> Student Life: The Undergraduate Experience](<a href=“Leak nudes - The Home Of The Sexiest Thots, Nipple Slips, Bikini Pictures, Nude Streamers From Patreon, Onlyfans And Much More!”>Leak nudes - The Home Of The Sexiest Thots, Nipple Slips, Bikini Pictures, Nude Streamers From Patreon, Onlyfans And Much More!)</p>

<p>Take a look.</p>

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<p>“Yeah, I just got back from visiting and the main issue I found was a self-segregated student population. There was no diversity of races, personalities, and majors. From my observations, all the BMEs (mostly Asian) hung out together and all the preppy East Coast white kids hung out together and the two groups hardly interact, if at all.”
this was one of the earlier posts on this thread.</p>

<p>I’m a potential BME student, if all goes well (I have a lot of “extra” stuff riding for me, not too worried about acceptance), and I’m Indian. Also, I go to a ridiculously preppy school 8 minutes away from JHU. maybe less. And I am extremely “preppy”, if you want to call it that. Polo shirts, living off of parents, lack of responsibility, sports-loving, intelligent, and loves to go out with friends. I intend on either swimming varsity, or, if BME takes up too much time, swimming club all four years. I am very aware of the “asian group”, and I know that there is no way in hell you’ll catch me studying when it isn’t necessary (although I am very competitive in pretty much everything I do, I prefer NOT doing work…sitting in a library or watching a movie on a tv isn’t my idea of a fun weekend). I don’t drink, nor do I plan to drink often, if at all, but I have nothing against it. Although after seeing some gorg chicks for a while, putting on my HIV will be an issue…Thank God Loyola is close by. Going to school Ive seene their chicks…NOOMNOMNOM</p>

<p>WIll I basically be forced to join the awkward JHU “nerd” (I’m really sorry, but thats as blunt as I can be; this isn’t a negative term insulting your perceived lack of ‘social life’, but rather a collective term dedicated to describe those to whom studying, rather than going out to eat or watch movies, is the preferred pastime) group? Because I won’t fit in. I know about the hard hours, yada yada yada…I’m totally dedicated and all, but I do NOT want to have to spend 4 years looking at asian chicks that I’m not attracted to, and hanging with the awkward Indian guy with the lisp and who carries a calc in his pocket.</p>

<p>This can be interpreted as a blunt, nasty, egoistic post, but I really want answers.</p>

<p>Also, is it a good idea to room with a guy from my school with whom I’m very good friends, and with whom I share many interests and character traits? I would rather have someone I’m comfortable with, as opposed to that other “indian lisp man” or the lax-brah who’s getting pasted the weekend before midterms, and not letting me in the room because he’s banging the crap out of the girl who is a hottie…when you’re drunk. hahaha, any and all answers will be appreciated.</p>

<p>And yes, I did search CC but due to the specific nature of the question, I found nothing.</p>

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<p>wow, you’ve got lots of stereotypes haha there but i’m not one to judge. anyway, to answer the question that i think you’re asking…yes you’ll fit in. the majority of Hopkins kids go out on the weekends and even during the week. i honestly don’t really know anyone who just spends every living moment studying and all cooped up in their room. Hopkins kids have a social life, if that’s what you’re asking. and as for the roommate thing, i actually don’t recommend it because you’ll just get tired of him since you already know him, while a new roommate would be an interesting experience. i know one that picked a roommate instead of going for the random selection before Hopkins and they’re not even friends and turned out to be completely different. i’ve found that the housing office does a pretty good job of assigning roommates. it’s part of the college experience, learning how to live with new people. but once again, that may go against your expectations. so it’s your call.</p>

<p>P.S. a little piece of advice - don’t set your expectations too high. part of the college experience is coming in with an open mind otherwise you’ll be missing out on a lot. you’ll be glad you did.</p>

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<p>Son is a nerd who happily spends half his time with other nerds and the other half equally happily doing a niche sport with 90+% teammates from prep schools. </p>

<p>Maybe because he’s half-asian :D?</p>

<p>Regarding your roommate question, you might post that (politely) on Parents forum and ask what the general experiences have been.</p>

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<p>I’m sorry. This school is amazing in academics, etc. You can get a great education here. It is very rigorous.</p>

<p>BUT when it comes to social life it really, really sucks. I would never recommend Johns Hopkins to anyone who wants to have a social life. Please look elsewhere, you would be miserable here.</p>

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<p>^labelle, every one of your posts i’ve seen so far have been neganeganegative. lighten up. i’ve had hopkins friends say they’ve had a blast undergrad. social life’s what you make of it.</p>

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<p>For every answer like this, I present myself as an example. I rarely partied LESS than 4 nights a week in college.</p>