Friends Forever (At least Through Freshman Year)

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Name: David Aaron White

Year: Freshman

Hometown: Moorestown, New Jersey

Major: Writing Seminars

On December 15^th, 2011, I eagerly awaited the message that determined where I would spend the next four years of my life. At approximately 6:37 p.m., after having hit the “refresh” button in my school inbox several times, I received an email from Johns Hopkins University with the subject heading I had been waiting for: Congratulations!

Don’t get me wrong: I was incredibly excited to have gained acceptance to JHU. However, my good friend Tyler Knowlton had also applied to JHU Early Decision, and I had not yet heard from him. As a born pessimist, I naturally assumed the worst: I hadn’t heard from Tyler because he had died in a car crash and couldn’t inform me about his acceptance to Hopkins. So, while my mother jumped for joy, while my father called my grandparents, and while my twin brother shared my relief (he had been accepted to Dartmouth five days earlier), I bit my nails and twiddled my thumbs. I didn’t post a Facebook status celebrating my acceptance out of respect for my friend, yet every nearly congratulatory remark that made it my way was accompanied by another question: “Did anyone else from your school get in?”

Finally, at about 7:15 p.m., my phone buzzed with the fateful message from Tyler:

“IS IT POSSIBLE? ROOMMATES!” It took me a minute to process this. However, I soon realized that Tyler was broadcasting his acceptance to the school of our dreams, and I was immensely relieved and could finally start celebrating.

Tyler and I had known each other since we were in sixth grade at Moorestown Friends School. Yet, we experienced our closest brotherhood during our freshman year of high school, during which he opened his doors to me and my brother, and we had many good times following that pivotal evening spent playing Rock Band in his attic. We made films together, studied together, and even served as each other’s wingmen at parties. Knowing that I would be attending college with Tyler filled me with enough joy to make up for the sadness of my childhood coming to an end.

Though Tyler and I did not end up rooming together, we do have the same core group of friends at school, largely thanks to our pre-orientation trip that we took before school started. Of course, we’ve each met other people and made separate friends, but I’m frankly proud of the fact that we’re still so close. Quite a few people back home said that we’d “split up,” or “grow apart,” but that has proven to NOT be the case. Sure, Tyler has an amazing girlfriend, but we’re still as close as ever. We even ran a pretty successful campaign at the beginning of the year for class senate, garnering just about 2% of the freshman class’ vote. Having Tyler with me in college has definitely added—not subtracted—to my experience at Hopkins.

I think that my experience can show you that, if you are close friends with someone prior to arriving at college together, you are under no obligation to “move on” from that person just because you want to meet new people. Why not have both? I’ve managed to have both: I’ve met some lovely people, including Hopkins Interactive’s Zoe Jack, enjoyed my classes, and taken steps down a path that I hope will furnish my academic and occupational careers. I’ve also maintained—if not grown—my friendship with Tyler, so I believe that I serve as proof that good friends can withstand the college transition. Of course, I bet it doesn’t hurt that Tyler and I live right next door to each other.

Classes I Take as A Junior ChemBE

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Name: Greco Song

Hometown: Fullerton, CA

Year: Class of 2013

Major: ChemBE

Hi world. I’m Greco and I’m a junior studying chemical and biomolecular engineering. I’m a member of Hopkins Interactive, and you can learn more about my academic experience at Hopkins and ask me questions here. I also have a twitter (@JHU_Greco) which ALL OF YOU should follow!!

Since my sophomore year, I’ve been guest blogging on this website, and none of them really talked about the courses that I take at Hopkins. Obviously as a ChemBE, most of the classes are engineering related where they teach you a bunch of equations for you to apply to different situations. I took more general, non-engineering, qualitative classes like General Physics, Biochem, Orgo, Cell Biology, etc. but now that I’m a junior, my classes are more focused on my major. Here are the classes that I am taking this spring semester!

Probability and Statistics for Biological Sciences and Engineering
This is actually an applied math department class that’s not really required for my major, but I decided to take it because a lot of times I encounter statistical problems when doing research. No matter what research you do, it’s ALWAYS about whether or not the findings are statistically significant. Statistics gives scientific paper validity and gives people a reason to care about it. I’m still taking this course so I don’t know what we will be discussing in the future, but so far we covered basic probability materials and delved into random variables (burnoulli, exponential, gamma, etc). Later in the semester I heard we’ll be discussing more about data and graph fitting and some statistical tests to evaluate significance of given data.

Kinetic Processes
Ok, so this is a ChemBE department course. This course is all about learning about different types of reactors (batch reactor, continuous stirred-tank reactor, plug flow reactor, etc). Later in the course we’ll try to design reactors and assemble different combinations of reactors. So why is this related? Well, this course is a pretty traditional course for chemical engineers, and a lot of places that employ chemical engineers, like say petroleum plants, food process, pharmaceutical facilities, require maintenance and improvement of their chemical reactors. You want to build a reactor that makes a chemical process go as fast and efficiently as possible (by efficiently, I mean it in terms of time and cost).

The Culture of the Engineering Profession
This is also a ChemBE required course, but you get humanities and writing-intensive credits for it. This class goes over different communication methods that engineers use when they go industry. So far I think this class is really interesting – did you know that most engineers spend more than half of the time at work for communicating? You think that when you graduate as an engineer, you’ll work with the equations that you were taught in school at work. I mean, yea you do use some of them, but mostly, your task will have nothing to do with it. For an assignment, I had to ask 4 engineers working at different industry like IBM, Boeing, and Genentech, and they all told me that workplace is a lot less technical that you may think as an engineering college student. And all of them emphasized how important communication skills are. Even if you have really good ideas, if you can’t present it to people and fail to communicate, the ideas just remain as ideas! In this class we also learn about engineering ethics, and later we’ll have to write a formal proposal and report for our final evaluation.

Chemical and Biological Separations
I think mostly this class is chemical separations. I think they just kind of added “biological” because we are chemical and “biomolecular” engineering majors, not just chemical engineering majors. But basically this class teaches you different methods for separating mixtures, for example, through distillation, liquid-liquid extraction, absorption, etc. There’s actually a really high demand for separating stuff like extracting gold, extracting chemicals from cells, purifying alcohol, etc. I mean, I don’t usually get so excited in this class to be honest because it’s very technical and calculation-heavy, but when I think about how this is relevant, it gets a lil more interesting.

Emerging Strategies and Applications in Biomedical Research
This class is a biology department higher-level elective that I decided to take just for kicks (although right now it’s actually kicking my butt). It covers a lot of current biotech stuff that people use in labs, including gene sequencing, transgenics, induced pluripotent stem cells, etc. and we get to read a paper each week that applies these different techniques in its experiment. A lot of topics are actually pretty interesting, and the professor seems really passionate about it. To be honest, reading scientific papers is painful for me because there are just a lot of technical words and a lot of times they put me to sleep. So I’m hoping that this class will train me not to over this semester, and hopefully in the future, I’ll be able to read a paper without falling asleep. More importantly, I want to train myself so I can get the most info out of each paper even when I don’t have a good background of the topic it’s talking about. The engineers that I interviewed for that culture class told me this is really important.

Woah I think that’s it! Seems like I’m taking gazillion classes, but I’m actually taking five.. great. But this is a total of 16 credits, and that’s a pretty good number of credits at Hopkins I think. Engineering students can take classes up to 19.5 credits, but I just think that’s not possible for me…

One of the cool things about Hopkins is that a lot of the professors are actually involved in research! In fact, four of the five classes that I’m taking this semester are taught by professors who do research outside of class. I think this helps professors teach classes more practically than other schools, and a lot of times they try to relate the subject to the research that they do which is pretty interesting usually. For example, the professor that teaches separations currently has a lab at Hopkins and he does a lot of cell engineering that sometimes requires protein or saccharide purification. So sometimes he brings up his research whenever it’s related, and that really helps me stay awake during class.. haha

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed my little entry! My classes right now are very major-specific so this entry might be targeting a small niche but I mean, it should be interesting for you guys to see what the “grown-up” students learn… :P come on – 101 classes are sooooooooo freshmen year.. (unless you’re taking them for electives of course) I find major-specific classes very practical and also in some way easier to learn because you don’t get pressured to learn gazillion different things, but you rather deepen your knowledge of one or two specific field of study!

 

Thoughts of a Hopkins Dreamer

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Name: Chantel Fletcher

Year: Class of 2014

Hometown: Detroit, Michigan

Major: Public Health

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If you really want to know if Hopkins is right for you, you must examine Hopkins from different lenses. I am here to showcase my experience here at Hopkins, so far. First, I want to introduce myself. My name is Chantel Fletcher. I am currently a sophomore studying Public Health Studies. I am from Detroit, Michigan. I get homesick a lot only because I can be a crybaby at times. My freshmen year I lived in Wolman Hall. It was nice; I shared a room with another girl and we had to share a bathroom and a kitchenette with 2 other girls. This year I have the luxury of living by myself in Homewood apartments. I just like coming home after class to my own space. It makes a difference in my life but we are all different.

I could begin to talk about the classes. I actually have fun in classes that are interesting to me. As a public health major, I enjoy classes such as health policy and cultural factors. Although the classes stressed me out I feel like I am getting a quality education. At Hopkins, you meet some dedicated professors and teaching assistants.  You may run into some who could care less but Hopkins provides several resources to help you succeed at Hopkins. You have the Learning Den if you aren’t a genius in Chemistry, Microeconomics, Calculus, Biology, Neuroscience, Physics, along with a wide range of other courses. Also if you aren’t too good at perfecting a paper then there is also help. The Writing Center is a great tool to utilize at Hopkins.

But Hopkins isn’t just a stressful place. There are fun events here. The highlight of my spring semester is definitely Spring Fair. It’s like a carnival on our campus. We have great concerts! There is great food here and awesome things to buy when spring fair rolls around.  Hopkins tries to balance out our workload in my opinion. I’m not a fan of frat parties but there is a multitude of things to do here at Hopkins and around Baltimore. A few weeks ago I went to a Turkish restaurant with a few friends and they had belly dancers.

 

Transportation is not an issue either. The JHMI and Collegetown Shuttle are pretty reliable. Although the Collegetown serves other schools, I think it provides good service for what it’s worth. It goes to the mall which makes retail therapy possible. There is actually a free public bus called the Charm City Circulator. I use the Circulator a lot to get around because it’s free! The other public transportation, the MTA, isn’t bad either.  It only costs $1.60 but don’t quote me on that. You can also take the MARC train to DC to relieve some stress. DC is pretty cool.

I hope, through this post, that Hopkins has become more appealing to your eyes but I understand the senior year of high school stress. My only advice would be to really do your research and where you could see yourself prospering at. I know during my senior year I visited Hopkins, Dartmouth, Duke, University of Chicago and applied to 50 million colleges. Ultimately, I loved Hopkins and got really excited about my future. I had so much fun at Discovery Days, a program that the Multicultural Student Volunteers put on for prefrosh.

 

Where Did the Time go?

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Name: Brett Schwartz

Year: Class of 2012

Hometown: Langhorne, PA (suburbs of Philadelphia)

Major: Economics

Minor: Entrepreneurship and Management

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Now… where did the time go?  Three and a half years at Johns Hopkins University.  I can’t believe I’m about to graduate this spring.

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 past summer I interned with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York City, and I will be working for PwC in management consulting full-time after graduation.

Looking back at my time in college, 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.  This year, we qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history.  I have really enjoyed spending time with teammates, and even got to race at Disney World last 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 my junior year, as I believe it sums up my experience at Hopkins.

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 there, 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 Dublin and Marrakech.  I was lucky enough to spend St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, which was a memorable time.  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 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 organizations, 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 catch a Phillies game).  All in all, I think Hopkins offers everything one can ask for.

I have really enjoyed my time at Hopkins, and will treasure the experiences of the past 4 years!

 

 

Seeing Hopkins Backwards

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Name: Meera Valliath

Year: Freshman

Hometown: Winnetka, Illinois

Major: ChemBE

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As I write this, I am reclined on my lofted bed, catching a few minutes between my classes and work. My window, from which I can see the baseball team warm-up (a definite plus), is thrown open so I can enjoy the beautiful weather and the team’s pre-game music (Ke$ha – an even bigger plus).

This week for me marks the second week of Blue Key training. The Blue Key Society, as many of you may know, is Hopkins’ student-run, student-staffed official tour guide organization. I applied to Blue Key on a whim, unaware of how many students apply to be tour guides. I must have said something particularly entertaining during the interview, because, lo and behold, I am one of the newest members of the Blue Key society!

As part of tour guide training, we are required to shadow an information session and a campus tour (like many of you have probably done). Last Monday, I slid into the back row of Shriver Hall to observe an information session, which in fact, I never attended at Hopkins. Sitting there, I felt a flashback to spring of junior year, just starting the college search: countless information sessions with colored pamphlets and brochures filled facts and statistics I would not retain for long.

The senior conducting the session was charismatic and knowledgeable, but this information session was like any other. Later that week, my fellow trainees and I went on a tour with a Blue Key Executive member, who gave us last minute tips and quizzed us on the basic Hopkins facts. Walking around the brick buildings and green lawns, I tried to view everything as a prospective student, seeing the campus for the first time, but I couldn’t. Every place on campus I walked by, I saw through the lens of the countless memories I have made in my six months at Johns Hopkins.

We passed the Digital Media Center, where my friend Josh and I once spent hours recording our Adele cover, which successfully made my mother tear up (and isn’t that always the goal). We passed Shriver Hall, where I danced on stage for the first time since my ballet recitals in the 90s. We walked through the breezeway, affectionately dubbed “the Febreze-way” by my little sister, past Gilman, my favorite study spot. We crossed onto freshman quad, where I’ve read books, thrown Frisbees, and fallen asleep in my physics textbook. We passed the Fresh Food Café, where my hallmates and I inevitably appear late at night to snag fresh cookies, French toast, or fresh-squeezed orange juice and tell stories from our day.

As we passed my dorm, my anchor and home on campus, it struck me: I really love this place. I love the campus, the city, the community, my friends, the opportunities available to me, everything. I was apprehensive, to say the least, about choosing Hopkins. I didn’t know much about it, and I didn’t know if I would fit in on campus. As someone who takes a while to get used to new places and new faces, this was the first time that I was aware that I am completely, 100%,absolutely in love with Hopkins. I suppose I have been for a while. It just took a backwards walk around campus to see it.

 

Going Greek: A Blue Jay’s Perspective

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Name: Becca Krishnan-Ayer

Majors: History of Art and French (double major)

Year: 2013

Hometown and state: Dallas, Texas

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The beginning of the spring semester marked an annually exciting yet busy time for Greek organizations on the Homewood campus. Here at Hopkins, most fraternities and sororities participate in delayed rush, or second semester rush, so that during their initial months at the university, students are free to explore what the school as to offer independently from their extracurricular or Greek affiliations. I was certainly interested in Greek life when I arrived at Hopkins freshman year, but wasn’t certain how involved the rush process and actual membership process would be. After talking with Lauren B. of Hopkins Interactive, who I met during my time on the Student Admissions Advisory Board, I felt more assured that trying out rush would suit my interests. I’ve always enjoyed broadening my horizons and meeting new people, and while I absolutely loved getting to meet all of the new students in my AMR I Royce house, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to branch out and at the very least, meet a number new people in the rush room that I wouldn’t otherwise have met. Luckily, I predicted correctly, and although there were a bunch of nerves that accompanied those interesting three or four days– chatting, talking some more, following a bunch of smiling sisters around in an intimidating room filled with older girls—ultimately, I ended up confident that I had made the right decision.

Not only did JHU_Lauren B. help to demystify the entire experience for me (she explained to me when we met each other the first week of school that she was a sister of the Phi Mu Fraternity), but also I was able to talk to a fellow classmate from my high school turned Hopkins student, also a Phi Mu sister, and another friend from home’s mother, who actually served as president for the first ever chapter of Phi Mu at Hopkins. After talking with current sisters and alumnae of the chapter, I realized that one aspect of Hopkins Greek life that sets it apart from other schools is its flexibility in terms of the degree of your participation or involvement. Our undergraduate student body is around 25% Greek in total, making it something that that certainly has a visible presence on campus, but doesn’t at all overtake the social or extracurricular opportunities here. Nonaffiliated individuals and affiliated individuals interact a great deal, and while Greek affiliates here definitely have an allegiance and brotherly or sisterly “pride” for their respective sororities or fraternities, this doesn’t negate the general Hopkins pride inherent in the student body.

During the spring semester, Greek visibility is generally more pronounced due to various rush activities and beautiful weather, which allows for outdoor events. Organizations typically plan events that coincide with lacrosse games, Homecoming, and Spring Fair, and I think it’s amazing to witness so many young alumni prioritizing their return to their alma mater from all over the country (not to mention, the world!) so they can visit with old friends and take part in a number of social, sporting, and university-sponsored events. Greek organizations typically plan separate homecoming events to welcome their own alums, so weekends such as Homecoming Weekend become an all-around thrilling time for returning students to not only to reminisce about their good times as an undergrad, but also about their fond memories as a Phi Mu, Kappa, or Fiji, for example. Students also embrace their sorority or fraternity pride during Spring Fair, Hopkins’ annual student-run fair and concert, a time when individual organizations can sign up for selling booths to raise money for certain charities or philanthropic events. In the past, there have been barbecues, stationary bike riding, head shaving for a cause, dunking booths, and much more.

As a current junior looking back on my initial reservations about participating in Greek life here, I have a whole new perspective about what being in a sorority, particularly a sorority at Hopkins, entails. After serving on the Junior Executive Board, a stepping stone for higher leadership positions in Phi Mu, for two consecutive years, I was thrilled when my sisters elected me to lead them as Vice President of Chapter Development. I just began my position this semester and have really enjoyed the opportunity think creatively on behalf of the entire group; plan fundraisers, brainstorm philanthropic events, meet with other members of the Executive Board, attend Panhellenic meetings, and most importantly, run Phi Mu’s weekly meetings.  At the very least, joining a Greek organization has enabled me to expand my circle of friends and acquire leadership skills that will undoubtedly serve me well in all of my future endeavors. But most what’s more, being a part of a group of successful, extremely motivated, talented young women has taught me what it really means to embrace tradition and friendship, and to use both of those in order to impact the Hopkins community positively.

Looking Back to the Start

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Name: Sara I. Abdel Rahim

Hometown: Alexandria, Egypt

Year: Class of 2012

Majors: International Studies & Anthropology

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I remember the first time I visited Hopkins, I was a senior in high school it was the first quarter of the year. My friend and I drove up from Northern Virginia in her moms car, armed with a GPS and enough gas and toll money to make it to Baltimore and back. We were set to find out more about this school that we were both anxious for the opportunity of attending together. It was a sunny day, the campus was beautiful with trees changing color, the buildings looked extra shiny with the sun-light hitting them, the grass freshly cut– it was all just so welcoming. I remember making it back home after a day full of exploration of the Homewood campus, and telling my parents about how much I enjoyed my visit and that now, Johns Hopkins was without a doubt, my first choice.

April 1^st 2008 was certainly a nerve-racking day. I remember sitting at my desk on my computer consistently refreshing my yahoo inbox waiting for an admissions decision letter and checking my junk-mail just incase it went there. My dad was sitting right behind me on my bed trying to distract me from the lack of an email in my inbox that was going to shape my future. It was getting closer and closer to 6PM and that’s when emails were being sent out, with a burst of energy I told my dad, “if I get in to Hopkins, I’ll run down our neighborhood street screaming in joy”. When I turned around to continue refreshing my inbox it was there, one email, form Johns Hopkins University. I clicked on it, and I don’t think I made it past the “Congratulations” and started crying with joy. I hugged my dad my tears still intact smiling. He smiled right back and said, “remember what you have to do now?”

That was almost four years ago. And as I sit writing this blog, the sun is shinning on our campus, the grass looks freshly cut, and the buildings look as shiny as they did the first time I visited Hopkins. I’m now a second semester senior double majoring in International Studies and Anthropology. As I look back over my time here at the Homewood campus as its all coming to an end this May with graduation, I’m nostalgic. My time at Hopkins has allowed my to make some great friends, enabled me

to take some really interesting classes that have shaped and focused my interests in a range of disciplines. Being at Hopkins has also given me the opportunity to become involved on campus as a leader, and a mentor. And most of all the drive to seek to continue exploring the world with a level of uncapped passion for discovery.

 

 

New-trition for the New Year at Nolan’s

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Name: Kimmy Hilson

Year: Class of 2014

Hometown: Baltimore, MD

Major: Sociology

Minor: Entrepreneurship and Management

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This intersession, I made a vow to myself to start eating more wholesome meals. In the past, my diet had consisted of pizza, tater tots, more pizza, more tots, burrito bowl, pasta, pizza, more tots…and so on. I am a lover of all things not-so-healthy, and until recently, not really a fan of all things healthy. Specifically, I told myself that I really needed to cut back on how much pizza I was eating because it was really getting to the point of excessiveness. Since I usually dine at Nolan’s (the primarily sophomore dining hall), I decided that I would boycott Nolan’s all together so that I could resist the temptation to get pizza and tots and try to have a more balanced meal. Don’t get me wrong, Nolan’s is great, and they always have something good to eat. There is a pasta station, pizza station, a grille, an omelette station, a Chipotle-style station, and a salad bar, but as you might have guessed, I clearly preferred the pizza and Chipotle-style station. I’m also not suggesting that these stations produce solely unhealthy options; they’re great in moderation. However, for a week, my friends and I decided to eat all of our dinners at the Fresh Foods Cafe (aka the FFC, the primarily freshmen dining hall) so that we could try to get a more balanced meal. The FFC has a great salad bar, homestyle station, grill, fruit and yogurt bar, vegan and vegetarian station, and also a Kosher room. They also have quite an impressive array of pizza, french fries, and sweets…uh oh.

That first day, I allowed myself one slice of pizza, as long as I tried some salad and some other nutritious options. I’ve never really been a fan of salad; it must have been something about the dryness and the earthy-taste about it that wasn’t extremely appealing to me. But I told myself, “Kimmy, you need to do this. You already have a slice of pizza on your plate.” So, I listened to myself and with the help of my friend and suitemate, I made my very first salad…ever. YAY me! As I sat down to eat it, I realized that it actually wasn’t too bad! I continued eating this way for the week, slowly phasing pizza completely out of my diet. Because I live in McCoy this year, walking to the FFC (which really isn’t thaaaaat far) isn’t the most convenient option for me to eat everyday, especially since I have Nolan’s right around the corner. But how was I supposed to eat healthily at Nolan’s!?

This week, I “discovered” the salad bar at Nolan’s, and holy cow, it is my new favorite place to eat on campus! With a meal swipe, I am able to get a small salad, a bowl of soup, and a dessert. While their salad bar isn’t huge, it is still really good! They have the basics like lettuce and spinach leaves, as well as a wide variety of yummy toppings to make a delicious salad. I am beyond excited that I discovered the salad bar, not only because it is delicious and ultra nutritious, but also because I am typically able to convert my 1 meal swipe into 3 separate meals: salad for dinner, my dessert (which is typically yogurt with fruit) for breakfast, and soup for lunch! #winning.

Being away at college, it is so easy to eat unhealthily and forgo all of the healthy “training” that you received while you were at home. The Freshman 15 is a real monster, but if you learn how to resist the temptation and indulge yourself every once in a while, you’ll be fine. Eating healthily also becomes easier when you have a good group of friends to remind you of your goal and yell at you when you’re about to revert to your old ways…thanks guys!

Part Time Work as an Undergraduate

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Name: Sarah Hersh

Hometown: Willmette, IL

Year: Class 0f 2012

Majors: Writing Sems & Psychology

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When I first came to college, my parents cut me off and stopped giving me a weekly allowance. I was excited to gain a bit more independence, but a little worried about my quickly dwindling cash. So, I set out to be responsible and started applying to jobs. I had expected these jobs on campus to be boring, sitting behind a desk doing nothing or filing for some random department. In my freshman year, I started working in the intramurals department to ref games, but never anticipated gaining actual life skills. It seemed fun, almost like a paid extracurricular. Soon, I realized that the job gave me the opportunity not only to make new friends across several grades, but also to handle difficult situations in conflict resolution. I learned to make split second decisions and then gained the confidence to stand by these calls in the face of angry students who got too competitive on the field. The intramural position was so enjoyable that I remained on staff throughout my entire undergraduate career.

By the time I was a junior, I applied for a second job in the Hopkins Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit working in a psychiatry lab that researched the effects of Chantix, a drug used for smoking cessation, on alcoholics. Despite having no previous research experience, I used the skills I had gained from previous journalism internships and those I had gained as an intramural ref to land the paid position. I had the opportunity to run my own sessions with participants, sit in on meetings with the Principal Investigator, and spearhead an effort to further market the study. Although working two jobs in addition to my full course load was slightly overwhelming at times, I was glad to be gaining exposure to different fields. As a junior without a clue what I wanted to do after graduation with a Writing Seminars and Psychology double major, I was desperate to get my hands on as much diverse experience as possible.

Now as an early graduate working part time in the admissions department to supplement staying in Baltimore for what would have been my senior spring semester, I am grateful that my parents cut me off. I was able to gain several different skills that not only helped me grow as a person, but also aided in getting a job for next year as a Project Manager at the healthcare software company, Epic. These Hopkins jobs allowed me to feel connected with the University while still supplementing my own income and taught me valuable skills that I could never have learned in the classroom.

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.

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.