Biophysics AND East Asian Studies…What?!

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Entry Title: Biophysics AND East Asian Studies…What?!

Name: Elaine Yu

Year: 2013

Hometown: Fremont, California

Major: Biophysics & East Asian Studies

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Yeah, that’s right, I have two majors and I go to Johns Hopkins University.  No, I don’t live in the library.  Yes, I have time to sleep.  No, I was not the valedictorian of my high school.  And yes, I have a life.  Any more questions?

As a high school senior, I’m sure you’ve heard all the stereotypes: the nerds that spend their days in the library, the jocks that live in the gym, the weird theatre kids that wear all black, the hipsters that run the campus coffee shop, and the sorority girls and frat bros that party every night of the week.  Where will you fit in?  What major should you choose so that you can be who you want to be?  Should you even apply to Johns Hopkins University?

Let’s start with that last question.  Yes, you should definitely apply to Hopkins.  Choosing to spend 4 years of my life here is one decision I will never regret.  Having been born and raised in California, I was wary of traveling all the way across the country to attend a school I applied to on a whim, thinking “There’s no way they’ll accept me.”  I didn’t have a 4.0GPA, I had an average ACT score, I had never worked in a research lab, and I thought hospitals were a place for sick/injured people to go, not college applicants.  Whatever, I applied anyway.  While waiting for my friends to show up for Halloween trick-or-treating, I typed up an essay and submitted it with the Common App minutes before it hit midnight on the East Coast.  6 weeks later, I was in.  Awesome!  Now what?

Well, I knew I wanted to be a film director when I grew up, so I submitted my deposit and “declared” a major in Film and Media Studies.  Fast-forward 9 months to Orientation, and I knew that I had made a mistake.  I went to a bunch of random open houses for majors that sounded interesting—film being one of them.  That’s where I realized my mistake—the scholarly approach to film that Hopkins taught wasn’t the trial-by-error, go-big-or-go-home style I had grown to love.  So, if I didn’t want to study film, what did I want to study?  Let’s just say I saw a short presentation in the hard-to-find Jenkins Hall and walked out knowing I wanted to be a biophysicist.  A what?  You know, one of those graying scientists that spends all day in a basement laboratory watching proteins wiggle under a microscope…not.  I wanted to be someone who could think critically and analyze problems by observing and applying the knowledge I had learned over time.  A pretty abstract goal, I know.

Here’s how the Hopkins Biophysics program is helping me out with that.  1: It’s a small department so you get to know all the professors really well.  They’re all really nice and a great resource.  2: You take all the classes you need to be a pre-med as part of the curriculum, so you don’t have to figure all that out on your own in case you want to be a doctor someday.  3: Biophysics majors get to take classes that combine both biology and physics so you don’t have to take those boring entry-level lectures/labs to fulfill your science requirements.  This gives you more time to take interesting upper-division courses that really help you develop the mind of a biophysicist.  4: If you’re worried about finding a research lab, don’t worry.  You’re required to do 2 semesters of research so you’re basically guaranteed a year of experience and you already have a foot in the door if you want to continue.  A plus is that you can do anything in a bio lab as long as there’s a physics aspect and vice-versa, so you’ve got lots of options to explore your interests.  5: Free food.  Lots of it.  All the time.  Need I say more?

Okay, enough about Biophysics.  What’s the story behind East Asian Studies?  Let’s just say that I wanted to keep up my Chinese and found that Hopkins has an awesome “Heritage” language curriculum that allows native speakers who are illiterate to learn in a faster-paced environment.  The East Asian Studies department also offers a lot of interesting courses discussing anything from ancient history to current political issues in Asia.  An extra plus is that these courses often are deemed “writing intensive” and can help fulfill the 4 required “writing” classes for Arts/Sciences students.  Sweet, right?

Alright, now I’m really gonna blow your minds.  Every science major requires you to take a bunch of “humanities” classes to make sure you’re getting a well-rounded education.  On the flipside, every humanities major requires you to take a bunch of “science” courses to achieve the same effect.  So when you combine a science and a humanities major, you’re able to build a schedule where classes fulfill the core requirements of one major and the distribution requirements of the other.  Are you confused yet?  Let me put it simply: I take 5 classes a semester, am very involved in 3 on-campus clubs, work 2 campus jobs, and am part of a research team.  If there’s one thing that Hopkins helped me realize, you can do pretty much anything you want here…or elsewhere, for that matter.

This past summer, I had the opportunity to study abroad in China studying Traditional Chinese Medicine.  Between the two majors, I didn’t really have the time to spend an entire semester abroad, but I knew I wanted that experience.  Somehow, it worked out.  The two courses I took fulfilled my East Asian Studies major requirements and I was able (for the first time) to “shadow” doctors in a hospital setting.  It was quite the eye-opening experience and I highly encourage everyone to go abroad at least once in his/her college career.  Not only did I get to meet a great group of new people from elsewhere in the US, I also got to see first-hand how people in other countries lived their daily lives.  In turn, I came to appreciate so much more the American lifestyle I was raised in, and, how great a school Hopkins is.

Have I answered all your questions yet?  Yes, you should definitely apply to Hopkins.  Here, you can choose whatever major(s) and minor(s) you’d like.  The academic advising’s office provides really handy checklists (http://www.advising.jhu.edu/degree_checklist.php) for each major/minor so you can see all the required courses and plan out your semesters accordingly.  These lists were really handy for me when I was trying to figure out what classes to take which semester.

It’s also really important to join a lot of clubs/organizations.  Everyone needs breaks, breaks from studying, breaks from hanging out with your housemates/floormates, breaks from being on the Hopkins campus.  Take breaks with people in different clubs.  Branch out, do something fun, get off campus.  There are plenty of opportunities to explore Baltimore and the rest of Maryland while making great friends.  Some of my best friends are in the outdoors clubs.  If you decide on Hopkins, you should definitely sign up for Pre-Orientation (www.jhu.edu/preo).  It’s a week of fun-filled activities while camping out in the wilderness before Orientation and where I met a lot of my closest friends.

[caption id="attachment_1399" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="kayaking over spring break"][/caption]Before you start jumping to conclusions and stereotyping me as some sort of nerdy Californian hippie, let me really throw off your preconceived notions of the standard college kid.  I am a science and humanities major.  I work at the Digital Media Center as a graphic design, photography, and gaming specialist.  I spend every weekend off-campus kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, caving, mountain biking, and trail running.  Throughout the year, I help design lighting schemes for on-campus theatre productions.  Every week, I spend hours on the phone talking to booking agents, band managers, and event technicians to plan Spring Fair, a 4-day music festival held right on Hopkins’ campus. Lastly, I volunteer afterschool at an elementary school to play indoor sports with the kids for an hour.

One day, I want to start a nonprofit organization that brings onsite emergency patient care to attendees at large music festivals and local shows.  I also want to spend time abroad researching ways to close the gap between Eastern and Western medicine.  When I retire, I want to work for the local ski patrol.  Where do I fit in?  Wherever I want.  Where will you fit in?  Wherever you want.  You can be whoever you want to be here.  You can choose whatever major fits your interests…or make your own (see “Interdisciplinary Major” checklist).

Here at Hopkins you will find, define, and become the person you were destined to be.  So what are you waiting for?  Apply now!  I can’t wait to see you on campus.

Heart of Homewood

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Name: Liz Mauer

Year: Class of 2014

Hometown: Weston, CT

Major: International Studies

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Hi everyone! My name is Liz and I’m a sophomore here at JHU. Here on campus I am really active in the Blue Key Society, which is the group of tour guides here. As part of Blue Key I have some administrative duties but my most important role is giving a weekly tour. I always start my tour by talking about what I’m involved in here at Hopkins and then proceed take the group on the scenic tour of the campus. I always try to end the tour by talking about why I chose Hopkins but inevitably before I get there, a curious parent or prospective student stops me and asks, “Why, over every other school in the country, did you choose Hopkins?”. At this point I always pause, not because I don’t have an answer, not because I don’t want to say why, but because it is nearly impossible to say what I love about Hopkins in just one sentence.

First of all, the easy answer is this campus. Growing up in the northeast, I wanted a taste of home with the colorful fall and four seasons, with the benefit of a city near by. Honestly, what could be more perfect than Homewood, a suburban oasis in the heart of a city? Nothing.

What drew me here next were the options for International Studies. I knew that was what I wanted to major in (don’t worry if you have no idea, so many people come undecided) and Hopkins has one of the most impressive programs in the country. I am given the opportunity to take classes across many departments (political science, history, economics, and more) to fulfill my major requirements, rather than staying within one. I also loved the importance Hopkins puts on study abroad, something I have always wanted to do.

What I think is more important than why I came to Hopkins, is what kept me at Hopkins. Within days of moving from home to Homewood I could no longer picture myself anywhere else, it felt like the only possible fit. Since I’ve been at Hopkins I have met some of the most diverse, interesting, and fabulous people than ever before who I am now lucky enough to see every single day.

Oh, and this hardly even begins to answer that question.

 

Senior Year

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Name: Corey Adams

Year: Class of 2012

Hometown: Cedar Grove, New Jersey

Major: Political Science

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As a senior in high school, I was extremely happy that I was accepted into Hopkins nice and early. I was able to simply enjoy my senior fall while others were stressing about applications, win my high school’s first soccer state championship, and then, much to the chagrin of my parents, coast through senior spring. The only problem with this was the amount of questions I got from students, friends, and family members. Over the course of my senior year, I was asked the question: “You’re going to Hopkins, are you going pre-med?” While this annoyed me at first, considering I knew that Hopkins has much more to offer than pre-med courses, I took the opportunity to explain this fact to them after telling them I wasn’t going to major in a science related field. Over time, however, I realized that Hopkins is well known for its medical program and that this was the first thing people thought about when Johns Hopkins came up in conversation. I became accustomed to the question and was completely fine with answering it– as long as they gave me the chance to praise the other non-scientific departments of the school as well, of course. But, in my past four years here at Hopkins, I’ve realized that many people, in their earlier years of college, have trouble deciding what they are going to major in during their four years. Sometimes people even attempt to double major in completely opposite subjects– writing seminars and biology may seem like an unlikely pair, but it happens more than you’d think.

You may be asking yourself right now, where am I going with this? Fast forward four years and I’m getting a different type of question as a senior in college. This question is different because it has far more important implications than what major I was going to pursue in college. I can’t even begin to explain how many times I’ve been asked by friends, professors, coaches, family members, and most importantly, my parents: “Have you figured out what you’re going to do with your life after graduation?”

Let me answer that question for you. At the moment, I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do next year. I have some ideas, but nothing solid. It’s reassuring to know that I am not alone, as most seniors don’t have solid plans at this point either. For a few weeks, I took part in resume drops and had a few interviews, some going better than others, but then I started to second guess that route. I’m not sure if I want to jump right in to working full time. Sure, some consistent income would be great, but I have to be happy with going to work everyday or I know I’ll regret taking the job. Grad school seems like a better option some days while working interests me more on others. It’s a never ending cycle.

I know I have to figure it out and time is of the essence, but part of me wants to put this monumental decision off for a few more weeks (or months). As much as I want to figure out my life after graduation, enjoying my senior year is of the utmost importance to me. I’m confident that I will come to a decision and be happy with it, but I plan on enjoying my last year atHopkins. Four years ago, I wanted to make a decision early. After spending three great years atHopkins, I’m not rushing to leave.

To Writing Sems, or Not to Writing Sems

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Name: Andrea Fields

Year: Class of 2015

Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

Majors: Molecular and Cellular Biology and Writing Seminars

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One of the scariest parts of the college process was writing application essays.  Between in depth descriptions of my deep appreciation for digital photography and neatly worded paragraphs about my summer in the neonatal unit, I was beyond overwhelmed.  It wasn’t that I disliked writing, I actually secretly really enjoyed it, but summing myself up in a few hundred words was both daunting and slightly demeaning.  I liked to think my seventeen years of life extended much further than a few double-spaced pages but, in mid October of last year, I sent the Microsoft Word version of myself to Johns Hopkins.

On the Hopkins application I was asked to write down what I intended on majoring in.   Unlike most of my friends from home (and most seventeen-year-olds), I was very strongly set on what I was going to do with my life.  At family functions and graduations gatherings when asked what I was thinking of studying, I would proudly declare that I was going to major in molecular and cellular biology without any hesitation.  This was a dream come true to my father who majored in Chemistry in college, but my mother, who earned a degree in English Literature, constantly questioned whether or not I was really her daughter.

Signing up for classes in July was easy: I knew I wanted to fulfill some of the biology requirements early on and also take a couple of classes that were completely irrelevant to my major.   Chemistry and calculus filled my cart within seconds but I decided to sign up for Fiction and Poetry Writing 1, otherwise known as IFP, on a whim, figuring I probably would get sick of so much science.  After adding Introduction to Neuroscience and a freshman seminar my slightly unbalanced schedule was set and I was ready for Hopkins.

Choosing IFP wasn’t as random as I make it seem though.  In high school I didn’t have the chance to take a class focused specifically on fiction or poetry but in English class we were sporadically assigned creative writing.  Upon the announcement of the assignments, buried between the moans of anguish and annoyance from my classmates, was my excitement; I was always one of the few who truly enjoyed these assignments, and found myself beginning to write on the side for fun.  When browsing through Hopkins’ class list I knew immediately that I needed to see what it was like to write in a class and IFP was the perfect opportunity to do so.  Unlike my large neuroscience and chemistry lectures, there were only 15 students in my class and our majors ranged from cognitive science to classics.  After we introduced ourselves we immediately started analyzing poetry.  As the weeks went on, we got further into fiction and began writing and work shopping our own short stories.  It was something I’d never experienced before and while I still loved my calculus and chemistry classes there was something special about being able to sit in a circle and discuss the differences between Welty and Woolf.  I started to look forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 and not just because it was the latest I got to sleep during the week; I knew I was starting to change my mind about my major.

About a month into school I had my first slip up.  Upon introducing myself to someone, I smiled and said that I was Andrea from Brooklyn majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology and, uh, maybe Writing Seminars.  I paused and despite a few confused looks from my close friends I realized that what I said wasn’t wrong.  I spent all day mulling over the idea of double majoring in two totally disparate areas of study and realized that I really did want to study those two things for my next four years.

Right now, even though it’s only half way through first semester, I’m already starting look forward to second semester classes and figuring out how to fit calculus 2 and English Lit among many other classes into my schedule.  Every so often I can’t help but think back to this time last year and how different I was: instead of Chemistry, college applications were ruling my life and I thought I had my future mapped out perfectly.  Even though I thought I knew myself better than anyone, I now realize there’s nothing wrong with not knowing exactly what I want to do with my year or my life.   College is for self-exploration and while getting to know myself better I’ve met so many amazing friends and accomplished professors who manage to teach classes while still periodically publishing papers. I also know that I’m in for many more fiction classes and creative writing than I expected when arriving on campus in August and I truly can’t wait.

Oh and before I go, let me introduce myself.  I’m Andrea, I’m from Brooklyn and I’m double majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Writing Seminars.

Where Did the Time go?

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Name: Brett Schwartz

Year: Class of 2012

Hometown: Langhorne, PA

Areas of Study: Economics and minor in Entrepreneurship & Management

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Now… where did the time go?  Three years at Johns Hopkins University.  I can’t believe I’m now a senior.

My name is Brett Schwartz and I’m a senior from the suburbs of Philadelphia.  I am an economics major with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Management.  This summer I interned with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York City, and I hope to go into business after I graduate next May.

Looking back at the last three years, I can’t believe the amount of opportunities and experiences I have had at Johns Hopkins University.  As a member of the school’s varsity Cross Country and Track teams, I have spent most of my time… well.. running.

I have really enjoyed spending time with teammates, and even got to race at Disney World this year (yes… I got a picture with Mickey and Minnie).  When I’m not practicing or racing, I’ve taken the time to experience almost everything else Hopkins offers as well.  I’ll recap the last year, as I believe it has been my most interesting year to date.

I began the fall semester in late August, as our team comes back early for preseason.  After surviving the dog days of summer, school quickly began and it was nice to have everyone back on campus after working in Baltimore over the summer.  I worked two internships (both through the Center for Leadership Education, CLE) in Baltimore, and also worked as a tour guide and a lifeguard on campus for some spending money.  During the fall semester, I spent most of my time in the Center for Leadership Education.  Three out of my five courses for the semester were through the CLE program, and I really enjoy the hands-on learning the courses offer.  Hopkins gets a lot of flack for being too much of a pre-med school, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my classes through the program, and wish more people took advantage of what it has to offer.  During the fall semester, I was involved at CLE by TA’ing a class called Oral Presentations and also being on the board of a CLE-sponsored organization, The American Marketing Association.  I also am a member of the business fraternity on campus, Alpha Kappa Psi.

During my spring semester, I studied abroad in London.  I loved my four months, as it was my first experience outside of North America.  I took full advantage of my time there, as I visited 23 cities in 14 countries in just under four months in Europe.  Two of my favorite cities were Paris [where I got to meet up with a current Hopkins student and an alum (who is currently in the Peace Corps)].  I also was able to travel to Morocco, where I even got to play with some snakes in the main square in Marrakech.

Oh, and I got some studying in as well, as I enjoyed experiencing such a different type of education system, which was very different from the American education system as it was very hands-off since each class only met for two hours a week.  All in all, I could not believe the amount of places I was able to explore, and it was an opportunity I was happy to have as a student at Johns Hopkins.

The things I have really enjoyed about Hopkins is the opportunities this school provides you.  I was ecstatic to hear that I could go abroad for the spring semester, and be involved with all of my organization and still have plenty of credits to graduate in four years.  The opportunities for research and internships are invaluable to one’s education, and there are plenty to choose from at JHU.  I also really like the location of Hopkins as it is within the city limits of Baltimore, but has a separate, beautiful campus.  I also like how close it is to other major cities such as Washington, DC and Philadelphia (where I can take a quick train ride home to see my new puppy!).  All in all, I think Hopkins offers everything one can ask for.

I have really enjoyed my first 3 years at Hopkins, and can’t wait for my senior year.  Hopefully time will slow down this year!

Senior Year?

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Name: Laura Elsener

Year: Class of 2012

Hometown: Marin County, CA

Areas of Study: Economics and Entrepreneurship & Management

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As the summer begins to wrap up, I find myself starting to think about returning to Hopkins for senior year. Wait – senior year? That’s right, there’s no stranger feeling than realizing this upcoming year will be the last of my undergraduate experience.

Astonishment aside, it’s nice to reflect back on the past three years. Though initially it’s unsettling to realize how fast they’ve gone by, I also can’t believe all the amazing experiences I’ve managed to fit into the past few years…

Most of the activities I’ve gotten involved in have been a product of chance. Like most students, I perused the booths at the student activities fair and signed up for far more clubs than one could conceivably join. Out of the 20+ mailing lists that I joined, I did manage to pick a few clubs to continue with. One of those was Save the Future, a financial literacy tutoring group.

Save the Future pairs Hopkins undergraduates with inner city Baltimore teenagers. JHU tutors teach the high school students about budgeting, credit cards, and other personal finance basics. I joined as a tutor, and have now been President of the club for 2 years. It’s a great leadership opportunity that I was lucky enough to have early on, and it eventually led to a new endeavor called Building Bright Ideas.

Through my experience with Save the Future, I realized the Baltimore high school students had an interest in business and entrepreneurship. I met with another student, Kate Vacovec, and with the generous support of the Center for Leadership Education, we co-founded Building Bright Ideas 4 months later.

Building Bright Ideas teaches high school students about entrepreneurship and important managerial and leadership skills. It’s an interactive and activity based program that relies on small group cooperation and teamwork. Starting a group from scratch was a lot of work, but it has been beyond rewarding. Seeing the engaged and excited students energized Kate and I. We’re looking forward to expanding and improving the program this Spring and can’t wait to meet the new students we’ll be working with!

It was a great experience to be part of something so new like Building Bright Ideas. It often represents an opportunity to get significant leadership and truly impact a group’s direction. This holds true for my experiences with the new JHU chapter of the American Marketing Association as well. Still in its early stages, students are given the opportunity to assume leadership positions and contribute to the group’s long-term strategy and marketing community. I joined as a sophomore and was privy to the executive board meetings and helped plan the group’s Second Annual Alumni Panel. With the effort of this year’s executive board – we were able to significantly boost attendance and campus exposure.

As these experiences evidence, there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer and discover your passion at Hopkins. If you want to start something new as Kate and I did, the resources and support from the University are invaluable. If you join an existing group, the potential to learn and improve the program are boundless.

Though it may seem like the last three years have flown by, I’ve accomplished a lot, made some unforgettable friends, and learned valuable lessons both inside and outside the classroom. Our time at Hopkins goes by so quickly because we’re surrounded by our friends 24/7. So here’s to a great 2011/2012 school year, whether it be your freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior year!

CLE Experiences

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Name: Ava Scheininger

Year: Class of 2012

Hometown: Westfield, NJ

Area of Study: Economics, Entrepreneurship and Management (minor)

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I knew one thing when I entered Hopkins my freshman year—I wanted nothing to do with pre-med. I had thoughts of majoring in Applied Math, Economics, International Studies, or maybe even some form of Engineering. I really didn’t know. Ultimately, I majored in economics, and minored in Entrepreneurship and Management run by the Center for Leadership Education (CLE). However, now that I am entering my senior year, I look back and realized that I really majored in Entrepreneurship. I know most of you are thinking, “Wait, Hopkins doesn’t have an entrepreneurship major.” Well, you would be right. Let me explain.

I read an article in the Wall Street Journal written by Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comics. Adams explained that he too was an Economics major, but throughout his college career he had “mastered the strange art of transforming nothing into something.” The Center for Leadership Education has provided me with many of the necessary skills to do just that.

I have taken almost every class offered by the CLE—from marketing, to finance, to management and leadership. While it is impossible to say which class was my favorite, the Entrepreneurship class I took last fall (Fall 2010) probably has had the biggest impact on my future. Each week we were required to get together with our group and come up with a new business idea. In week 1 our assignment was to come up with a retail idea. I knew my idea would be a great business—custom made jeans targeted to female athletes. As a member of the Johns Hopkins Women’s Soccer team most of my friends are other athletes and we all had the same sentiment regarding jeans—they just don’t fit. To my surprise my group, which consisted of three senior boys, loved the idea.

For a final project we each had to individually take our favorite idea, or a new idea, and develop a business plan. I decided to run with the idea of custom jeans. I wrote an entire business plan for True Blue Jeans Company, and the more I worked on the plan, the more I realized not only how feasible of an idea this was, but also how it really filled a market need.  By January I had filed LLC papers with the state of Maryland and I was officially in business. My professors were extremely helpful throughout the spring semester with tips and advice about marketing tactics and ways to bring my product to market. By the end of the spring semester I had made progress, but not as much as I had hoped. I decided that instead of taking a summer internship, I was going to work for True Blue Jeans full time.

This summer I have made incredible progress and dealt with my fair share of, what seemed to be, disasters. I have been involved in so many aspects of business, something no internship would have enabled me to do. I have found experts in garment manufacturing (which was more than necessary because I have no experience in design!), worked to develop our jeans, filed for a Trademark for our brand name Chuck Street, and so much more. I conducted science experiments in my driveway to determine the effects of bleach on different denims (something my dad was not so happy about) and attended a major denim tradeshow.

In the fall I plan to take a course with a several professors from CLE called a “Practicum in Entrepreneurship”. This course will allow me to meet with professors weekly and discuss my business, my progress, and get their help on how to accomplish my goals with True Blue.

To bring this full circle, I also organize an event hosted by the Women’s Soccer Team called KICKIN’ IT WITH COLLEGE KIDS. Every fall we invite special needs children from the Baltimore area to come to campus and play soccer with the team. Each child is paired with a buddy who is a member of the team. It is a great day for everyone involved—children, parents, and players alike.

These are just two examples of turning “nothing into something.” Hopkins has an extremely supportive community. If you are interested in joining a group or club there are so many to choose from. If you want to start a group that is not represented on campus, the students and faculty are incredibly helpful and often times, interested.

I know that Johns Hopkins is best known for work in the medical field. When I told some friends that I was coming to Hopkins, but that I wasn’t going to major in pre-med, or public health, most of them looked at me like I had five heads. But, if you are interested in business, Hopkins is a great place to come. It is a small community, with professors who have actual experience in what they teach, and care not only that you learn the material for their course, but also that you are prepared to take classroom subjects and apply them to any internship or job you might have. In fact, many professors will even help you find that perfect internship.

I know that when I was looking at colleges talking to students about programs and their social life was really important to me. So, if you have any questions about CLE, or Hopkins in general, please post them here and I will be more than happy to respond!

What I Did Last Summer

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Preparation for the Business World

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I didn’t initially consider attending Hopkins because it lacks a Marketing major. I knew I wanted to pursue a career in Marketing, so majoring in the field seemed like the most logical path. When I visited Hopkins, however, I fell in love with the campus, the faculty, and the liberal arts program.  I had reservations about how a liberal arts major would prepare me for the business world, but I soon found out that Hopkins provides many opportunities for students to get business experience.

The Center for Leadership Education (CLE) offers many business-oriented courses.  Through them, you can get an Entrepreneurship & Management minor and soon you will be able to get a Marketing minor.  My favorite thing about the CLE courses I have taken is that they depart from the typical slideshow and lecture format by giving students assignments that mimic real world business projects. Half of the “Principles of Marketing” course I took with Professor Kendrick was dedicated to developing a marketing plan for a real organization.  Moreover, Professor Jones’s intersession course on branding gave students the intriguing yet difficult task of developing a new brand.

Other classes go even further in simulating real-world scenarios.  Professor Reiser’s class, Social Media and Marketing, involved working with an actual client to develop and implement a marketing campaign.   Professor Kendrick’s Advertising and Promotions course transformed the classroom into a communications agency.  Each student was assigned to one of various departments in the agency that worked together with a budget of $3,000 to research, design, execute, and present a full-fledged marketing campaign for the NAVY SEALs.

Professional clubs around campus also offer good venues for gaining industry knowledge and exposure.  I joined both AKPSI, the coed business fraternity, and the JHU AMA: the student chapter of the Undergraduate American Marketing Association.  Besides teaching me about business/marketing and keeping me updated about relevant events on campus, both groups have allowed me to surround myself with people who have similar aspirations and serve as great networking resources.

When it came time to get a summer internship–it comes faster than you think–the CLE staff was a great resource.  They connected me with various networking events and job fairs (the AMA also holds networking events).  Professor Kendrick was particularly helpful in putting me in contact with potential employers and offering general advice on where/when to apply, etc.

During interviews, potential employers were very impressed with my resume and loved hearing about all of the business experience I got in JHU classrooms.  In fact, explaining my contribution to the NAVY SEALs marketing campaign was a major factor in landing the internship I have this summer at LPK, an international branding agency.  What’s more, the fact that I am a liberal arts major but still managed to get business exposure actually ended up working to my advantage—it rounded out my resume and set me apart from the crowd.

I was, of course, involved in many other organizations on campus where I got leadership experience, participated in community service, etc., but I think it is important for prospective students to know about these resources for students interested in business. If you go looking, you can find a plethora of opportunities at Hopkins to gain industry experience and prepare yourself for the business world.

Below is a picture of my team from the Advertising and Promotions class (I’m fifth from the left) and a sample of the work we did for the Navy SEALs.

It’s Always Sunny in South Africa

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Name: Saznin Mehta (@JHU_Saznin)

Year: Class 0f 2012

Hometown: Alexandria, VA

Major: Public Health Studies

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For one of my very first Hopkins Interactive blogs, written way back in the stone age that was my freshman year, I mentioned a major life aspiration of mine: to become Anthony Bourdain. The man travels, eats, and says snarky things on camera for a living. Naturally, I have a major case of life envy. But as one of my friends once put it, “What’s there to be jealous about? You do all those things anyway, just without the cameras.”Okay, true, I’ve traveled quite a lot and eaten quite a lot. And come to think of it, I can earn something from my travels Anthony Bourdain can’t (at least not anymore): college credit. So this summer, I studied abroad in South Africa for six weeks as part of a new Hopkins public health program. Needless to say, spending six weeks in a strange country with 13 strangers – while sounding a lot like Real World: Cape Town – was a learning experience in itself.

Our first stop: Soweto, South Africa’s largest township located right outside Johannesburg. We were intrepid young tourists by day – riding bicycles through the township, touring Nelson Mandela’s old house, perusing museums – and a motley crew bonding over a bonfire by night. Our first few days in the world-famous township served as a crash course in South Africa’s history of apartheid, which provided solid background for what we would be learning in class later. After Soweto, it was off to Kruger for a three day safari, which was as fun as it was cliché. We saw our fair share of giraffes and springbok, but finally hit the jackpot when we came upon a couple of lions cuddling by the side of the road. National Geographic material right there. Once our orientation period in Soweto and Kruger was over, we headed to the main attraction: Cape Town.

The way we conquered Cape Town would put most travel hosts to shame. I’m sure our little group hit up every notable restaurant, bar, and local attraction Cape Town had to offer. And when we weren’t stuffing our faces, checking out the nightlife, or partaking in pretentious tea times and wine tastings, we literally put our lives on the line. Some in our group went cage diving with sharks and hiked up Table Mountain, while I and four other friends drove seven hours to attempt one of the highest commercial bungee jumps in the world. Insert requisite apologies to our parents: sorry, but it just had to be done, and now you can brag about us to your friends!

When we weren’t out defying death, we were taking a great class on issues surrounding public health in South Africa and interning at health-based organizations in and around the city. As part of the class, my peers and I had the opportunity to help a small community-based organization in Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest township. My internship at Ubuntu Africa, a small non-profit that provides comprehensive care to HIV-positive children, was located in Khayelitsha as well. Three days out of the week, I’d be driven away from the beautiful mountainside campus of the University of Cape Town to an expanse of corrugated metal shacks and poverty in Khayelitsha.

My boss, Whitney Johnson, started the organization right out of graduation from Colorado College in 2006 and has been expanding the program’s reach ever since. Working there for six weeks gave me a look into the inner workings of a small non-profit, and having the opportunity to help them with projects related to their growth made for an awesome out-of-classroom learning experience. Children affected by HIV/AIDS face extreme levels discrimination and a severe lack of access to necessary resources, on top of the destructive health effects of their disease. The extreme levels of poverty in the township making living with such a devastating disease that much harder. Seeing as South Africa has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world, UBA certainly fulfills a critical need. Being able to witness firsthand the kinds of struggles HIV-positive kids face every day taught me more about public health than I could ever learn by sitting in a classroom.

The stark contrasts between the developed metropolis and its vastly poorer townships used to bother me, and having to switch between the two every day was extremely jarring. I found it hard to wrap my head around the fact that I could be eating at a fancy restaurant before having to spend six hours working in an impoverished township. The apparent disparities had me asking a lot of difficult, unanswerable questions.

But that’s the exciting thing about South Africa: it’s full of contradictions that are impossible to comprehend in just six weeks. I loved being immersed in country still in transition. Its recent recovery process from apartheid has been complicated by the scourge of HIV/AIDS, but after meeting so many hardworking, enterprising South Africans, I have no doubt that the country will live up to its potential within my generation.

My time in Cape Town played out much like an episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Just like Tony, I ate my weight (even more, actually) in amazing food, took advantage of some amazing opportunities (seriously, nowhere else would I have drove seven hours through a foreign country just to jump off a bridge), veered off the beaten path to see those aspects of Cape Town no tourist would ever experience, and come out of it all with more questions than I had going in. Cue really introspective monologue present at the end of each episode.

At the end of the day, I gained a fresh new perspective, 13 new friends, experience at a great non-profit, and close to 10 pounds (but I was never able to master the three different clicks of the Xhosa language. Fail.) I know I’ll make it back some day, but I’m determined to do so with a camera crew to record yet another amazing experience for my loyal viewers at home. Watch your back, Bourdain.

For even more about Saznin’s experiences in South Africa, check out this JHU Gazette article: On the ground in South Africa.