Why Hopkins: Admitted Student Blog

Johns Hopkins University is a remarkable and unique institution of higher learning, but you already know that because you applied and were admitted. But we know that you applied and were admitted to other great institutions and are now faced with a difficult decision to make and you have less than 30 days to do it. Hopkins has a beautiful campus, a diversity of academic experiences, amazing research opportunities, and world-class facilities, but once again so does probably many of the other schools you are considering. Where we set ourselves apart from our peers is the ample and helpful resources we provide our admitted students with to help them decide “Why Hopkins.” We are the #1 social media college in the country after all, according to StudentAdvisor.com.

Hopkins Interactive is the place to start; the perfect way to get all the information you want about life as a Blue Jay. Simply put, Hopkins Interactive offers a virtual telescope into the lives of current students on the Homewood campus. The site features student blogs, message boards, videos, Facebook groups, frequent Twitter updates, an extensive Flickr photo album, and other features such as an Insider’s Guide to Hopkins.

The real heart of Hopkins Interactive is the extensive collection of blogs. Not only do we offer this one-of-a-kind blog just for admitted students, but also our other blogs cover a whole series of topics:

• Current Student Blogs: We currently offer 14 different student blogs. You can read blogs of current seniors, juniors, and sophomores. Our Class of 2015 freshman blog is one of the popular features on the site as it is written by nine current first year students. Our personal blogs reflect the academic and social spheres at Hopkins, both on and off campus. They provide you with a more genuine and interesting view of our time here at Homewood and how we experience Baltimore. Unlike other schools that offer blogs from a select handful of students and may post new entries weekly, we offer blogs from over 20 current students and post nearly two new blogs ever day. And best of all, you have the ability to comment on the blogs and ask questions!
• The Academics Blog: This collection of entries features discussions on all of the majors and minors Johns Hopkins has to offer. They offer a fresh perspective on the academic programs here, and provide a unique first-hand account of academic life from the outlook of every academic interest. Even more so, they provide extensive information and many resources to help you in pursuing your interests. When choosing a university to attend we know that academics typically comes first, and this blog is a great way to learn about the diversity of academic programs that Johns Hopkins offers directly from students perspectives.
• The Student Activities Blog: As much as academics are important in making this decision about the college you will attend, student life is equally important. Therefore as a companion to our Academics Blog we offer the Student Activities Blog, where you can learn about the vast array of clubs and organizations offered to undergraduates at JHU. Ranging from athletics to advocacy and awareness groups, and including the arts, greek life, religion and culture, and much more, this blog will display the pulse of students interacting throughout the vibrant Homewood campus and the city of Baltimore.

Our blogs aren’t just what made us #1, we connect with you via a multitude of social media platforms as well:

• Facebook: This is how you communicating daily these days, so we have tried to make it easier for you to connect with your potential future classmates while also interacting with the 25 current JHU students who operate Hopkins Interactive. (Wondering who these 25 students are? Check out their profiles to learn more.) The JHU Class of 2016 Facebook group for admitted students as already quite active and we hope you take advantage of this virtual community providing helpful information and entertaining conversation 24/7.

• Message Boards: At times Facebook can get a bit unruly so to provide an additional outlet to ask questions of the current Hopkins students individually or collectively we present the Hopkins Forums. These message boards have been in existence for years, and probably have the answer to every question you could ever ask about Hopkins. Posts in the past have varied from favorite classes and professors to where the best coffee is on campus! And if you just want a 360 degree view of Hopkins life based on a variety of “best of” topics visit the Best Of sub-forum, updated weekly.

• Twitter: What’s trending at Hopkins? Well, #WhyHopkins of course. Our Hopkins Insider Twitter, @HopkinsInsider, is updated daily with information from our blogs, message boards, and daily lives, so you can have exclusive peeks into what we experience and why we love it here. The main Johns Hopkins admissions twitter, @JHU_Admissions, keeps you up-to-date with the most recent release on Hopkins Interactive including everything from new episode of Hopkins Cribs to updates on the application cycle as well as interesting news stories regarding the various divisions of the university. Even better, we have current student Tweeters and you can get a glimpse of what life is like at Hopkins in 140 characters or less! We have six Tweeters: @JHU_Saznin, @JHU_Greco, @JHU_Noah, @JHU_Allysa, @JHU_Erica, and @JHU_Joseph. Our very own Daniel Creasy, Associate Director of Admissions, can also be found on twitter @AdmissionDaniel. Daniel posts news about the admissions process, statistics about how many applications we have received, and links to his stress-relieving blog entries. And of course you should check out @JohnsHopkins, the official twitter account of the Johns Hopkins University. Here you will find a wide array of information from each division of the University, from student concert series to news about Nobel Prize winning research. Our favorite part about Twitter is #whyhopkins – between now and April 30^th, our tweeters will be promoting #whyhopkins, telling you all the various reasons why they chose Hopkins. They will each be tweeting about #whyhopkins at least once per day, so be sure to check out the tweets to find out all the reasons why they chose Hopkins, or just follow the feed at the bottom of this blog!
• YouTube: We also have a YouTube page full of student-produced videos, which are invaluable to learning more about life on campus and in Baltimore. You can experience virtual dorm living with the CRIBS videos, and explore Baltimore with our new show Learn More, See More, B’More! You have already experiences the Why Johns Hopkins video so now explore our Day in the Life episodes, our features series and the mind-blowing Project Intersession.
• Flickr: Sometimes it is just better to get a sense of a place through still pictures, and for that reason we offer you our Hopkins Interactive Flickr page which over 700+ images takes by Hopkins students.

The complete Hopkins Interactive is truly a one-of-a-kind resource and a great way to begin acquainting yourself with JHU. So what are you waiting for…go explore!

Come back tomorrow and Wednesday as we present the other way to truly learn about Johns Hopkins, visiting campus. Help with planning your SOHOP visit, or your non-SOHOP visits are on the way.