Simply Serendipitous

Between daily information sessions (ranging from one to hundreds of visitors), reading applications, participating in my first-ever college fair down in Prince Georges County, and a recruiting trip to New England, it’s safe to say that my life these past few months has revolved around undergraduate admissions.  Of course, my life has also revolved around law school admissions as well, as I was going through that process myself.  In short, my life has been admissions.

Our first SOHOP event - sporting my official polo and nametag (and feeling a bit like a camp counselor)

Despite having volunteered/worked in the Admissions Office since my freshman year, I had no idea what it actually means to be a full-time employee in the office.  Sure, I had seen Admissions_Daniel and the rest of the office get really stressed or tired or whatever else throughout the application cycle, but it was impossible to fully understand what it means to be an Admissions Counselor.  …Until I started working here full-time.

I want to dedicate this blog entry to shining a bit of light on the amazing job that college admissions counselors all over the country are doing each day.  It’s impossible to truly understand this field without spending a significant amount of time immersed in it, but I’ll do my best to show you the other side of the admissions process.

November: it begins. Early Decision applications pour in and begin flooding the counselors’ online queues as the files are completed by the operations team upstairs.

December: pause.  As Hopkins students are wrapping up the semester and finishing their final exams, the counselors are also feeling the crunch to finish up their final decisions.  Decisions are released on or around December 15 (finals this past year finished around December 17), at which point, the entire campus breathes a collective sigh of relief.  The Admissions Office then has a couple of weeks that could be best described as “the calm before the storm.”

January: the deluge. Our Regular Decision application deadline is January 1.  Happy New Year, Office of Undergraduate Admissions!  Immediately upon returning from a nice winter break (which usually involves some work with pre-deadline applications), those online queues I mentioned begin overflowing.  Okay, not literally overflowing – they are online queues.  At this point, part-time readers join the team (this is where I come in) and help prepare transcripts for review by counselors, in addition to reading some files on their own.

February: a false sense of security.  By February, the staff is buried up to their eyeballs in application work.  Whether it’s processing (by our Operations team) or reading (by our counselors and part-time readers), we’re busy.  However, the official deadline is usually the end of the month or the first week in March – so there’s somewhat of a false sense of security.  “Oh, we have a few more weeks, it’ll be fine,” or, “I can’t believe how many applications we have to get to, but at least we have a couple more weeks!”

March: crunch time. First reads are finished – the work of part-time readers is done – and counselors move into their committee review.  They have about two weeks to complete the class, a process that is constantly in flux.  While this may sound like it’s arbitrary, I can assure you that it is nothing of the sort.  Each day, there is a different task to help shape the class to be exactly what we’re looking for.  The biggest challenge at this point is making sure we’re at the number that we want – during our first reads, we’re not thinking so much about the volume of each decision, we’re going with our first thought.  March is the time to make sure we’re not going to end up with a class of 10,000.  It’s unbelievably difficult.  Our mailing process involves 4-5 checks per envelope to be beyond sure that we’re sending the right letters to the right applicants.  Then: a sigh of relief.  Throughout this process, however, we’re busy with visitors who have early spring breaks or are otherwise starting those weeks of college visits.

April: where did all of these people come from? Decisions are released.  More juniors start looking at colleges during their spring break.  Seniors start visiting the schools to which they’ve been admitted.  We run four different information sessions each day, two for prospective students and two for admitted students.  We also run a lot of other programming for our visitors.  The unique challenge during April is the combined effort to introduce juniors (and sophomores) to Hopkins and to convince our admitted seniors to choose Hopkins by their May 1 deposit deadline.  In short, it’s exhausting.  But it’s fun, too – I promise.  Just for a bit of perspective, on Good Friday, we had at least 1500 visitors to campus, and this wasn’t even our SOHOP event.

The view from my beloved rental car as I head to Boston Logan Airport to drop her off.

To complicate matters, April is time for spring travel, too.  This year, while Admissions_Daniel was busy with our second SOHOP event, I went up to New England to kick off his spring travel.   He joined me in Rhode Island on Friday after SOHOP to finish off the weekend’s events.  I arrived in New Hampshire, did two college fairs there and then headed to Providence, RI for another two events.  We moved on to Dedham, MA as a convenient location for our Explore Hopkins presentation, followed by one more (gigantic) college fair on Sunday.  What a week!

May: where did all of the people go? It’s early May and there’s a calm that’s come over the Office. Seniors have made their decisions.  Juniors/sophomores aren’t on spring break anymore.  Hopkins students are finishing up the semester, and some are looking ahead to commencement.  Where did the time go?  It’s not time to kick back and relax, though.  It is crunch time for evaluating transfer applications, a process that started back in the aforementioned hectic April.

June-August: not-so-sleepy summer.  The campus is busy with summer programs for students and our office is busy with visitors who are working on their “apply” list.  We do a lot with our incoming freshmen (primarily through a Facebook group) and work on bigger projects for prospective students through Hopkins Interactive.

September-October: on the road. As students are back to classes, the admissions counselors are back on the road.  It’s time to make sure we’re out and about telling the world everything there is to know about Johns Hopkins to help them decide if it’s a good fit and whether they should apply.  It’s also time to brace ourselves; as soon as November comes, so does another crazy cycle.

So you get the picture: it’s a rollercoaster of a job.  Keep in mind, too, that this isn’t the exhaustive list of tasks.  Every day, someone sends out tours.  Someone gives information sessions.  Someone responds to e-mails.  Someone answers the phones.  Someone coordinates interviews.  Someone processes the materials coming through mail and fax.  There are countless other tasks that are more behind-the-scenes, but are certainly no less important.  This is a crazy job, but also a thrilling one.

Whether it’s serving as a family’s first impression of Hopkins or evaluating a student’s application for admission, this is a very people-centric job.  It’s also very Hopkins-centric.  I draw from my experience of three-and-a-half years as a student, but most of my job training has been picked up on-the-go.  How many students are at Hopkins? 4,998. Can you tell me about your combined five-year bachelors/masters programs in Engineering?  Yes (I’ll spare you the details).  What carries the most weight in the application process?  Who is happiest at Hopkins?  What are the professors like?  How big are classes?  What is the percentage of students admitted to medical school?  Knowing the answers to these questions is part of my job, but it’s also second nature – the most wonderful thing about Admissions at Johns Hopkins is that we don’t have a handbook telling us what to say.  We don’t have a script for our information sessions.  We’re very honest and candid.  We take questions and we want to share our experiences.  At the end of each day, the most important thing that I do is to help students/applicants find their fit – that place where they’ll be happy for the next four years – whether it’s chatting with sophomores and juniors deciding where to apply or evaluating applications for admission.  Again: this is a crazy job, but also a thrilling one.  I can’t think of a better way to have spent my “senior spring” semester.

Other advice: don't be shy about taking pictures. I felt like a dork doing it, but I wanted to have something to show to my friends and family! (And of course for my blog).

School visits can be exhausting.  Trust me – I just finished my second admitted student event in two weeks, involving several hundred miles of travel.  In fact, I’m currently spending my Friday evening in my hotel room in St. Louis, precisely because I’m so exhausted.  I’m going to be so bold as to declare myself an expert on school visits.  Between my own experience as a prospective (law) student, and my work with visitors every day in the Admissions office, I hope such a declaration is not too much of a stretch.

So what, then, is my expert opinion? Here’s my advice on making the most of your school visits.

1. Step one: do your research.
   The other part of this is to set your priorities.  In some cases, you may not be able to participate in every opportunity for prospective students, so decide which things are most important to you.  In a different vein, also have some idea of what you want to learn from the visit.
2. Step two: plan ahead.
   Obviously, check out the basics: transportation/parking, hotel information, and visit options and offerings.  Make sure you know the school’s visit schedule and arrive on time to make the most of their events.  Regardless of whether you’re going for a full-day event or just a few hours, make sure you leave enough time for the school you’re visiting.  Chances are, there are other interesting schools in the area, but make sure you’re setting a realistic schedule.
3. Step three: pack carefully.
   Figure out what you need.  I get dehydrated easily, so I always make sure to take a jumbo-sized bag and stuff a bottle of water in it.  Actually, I kind of have a tendency to pack like someone four times my age, and include everything from water and mints to tissues and Advil.  Small travel umbrellas are helpful (unless it’s a windy rain, in which case they’re useless and annoying.  Lesson learned in St. Louis).
4. Step four: participate in everything you can.
   Whether you’re staying for two hours or seven, take advantage of your time.  Even if you quickly get vibes that the school you’re visiting isn’t right for you, continue with the events.  Try to figure out what you don’t like – even if you end up deciding the school is not right for you, it can help you pinpoint what you are looking for.  That said, if you’re totally uninterested, don’t feel bad about leaving – presenters get self-conscious when their audience is clearly bored!
5. Step five: explore on your own.
   After the visit, check out the school/surrounding area on your own.  If you’ve heard about a great restaurant or popular hang out spot, check them out.  It helps you get a better picture of the school and can help you feel that “fit” (or not, as the case may be!).
6. Step six: decompress.
   After your visit, take some time to relax.  Think about your first thoughts (okay, maybe second thoughts, as your first ones are probably exhaustion).  But once you’ve inventoried your first impression, decompress before too much thought.  Relax, preferably with something mindless.  Then go back and think through your day and experience.
7. Step seven: follow up.
   Now that you’ve gone back to think about your day, what questions do you still have?  I like to think through the day in chronological order and replay the different events/speakers – what did they say and what was especially interesting?  If something pops out, I’ll research it a bit on my own, and then, most importantly, contact the school if you have other questions!  At Hopkins, you can pick up a card from your information session presenter (or you can go online to find the contact information for your regional counselor) – e-mail us if you have questions!  I’m sure most other admissions offices operate similarly and are happy to make sure their visitors have had a completely thorough visit.

I’m currently on #7, as the writing of this entry carried over to Saturday morning, where I’m awaiting my return flight to Baltimore.  I’ve talked the ears off anyone who picked up the phone when I called and I think I have a pretty good handle on this visit.  I have a mental list of things to look up when I get back to my apartment (where wireless doesn’t cost $7.95 per use) and despite the sleepiness, I’m very excited to have had such a thought-provoking visit.

For those of you visiting Hopkins, I hope you’ll take this advice to heart!  Explore Baltimore a bit – at least go to the inner harbor where freshmen tend to spend a lot of weekends, and consider eating in a dining hall you’d be going to every day as a student here.  Ask lots of questions during your tour and information session, and if you’re not comfortable asking in the big group, speak to someone afterwards.  Also, come say hi if I’m giving your session!

So, what’s your approach to these visits/events?  Agree/disagree with mine?

While many of you are currently in the throes of college applications, I’m staring at a list of twenty law schools to which I am applying.  I finally have a working version of my personal statement (after nixing twelve previous attempts) and I’m assembling all of the other required pieces (transcripts, letters of recommendation).  It’s exciting and it’s scary and it’s overwhelming.  But if anyone is interested in learning more about the law school application process, I’ll surely be dedicating an entire blog entry to that at least once in these coming months.

A screenshot from my LSAC account -- I already have several applications in the works!

For now, I wanted to offer some advice acquired from my wise old age.  Having gone through the exact process you’re going through, and then basically doing it again right now, I thought I’d offer my opinion on the processes and share my approach/mindset.

I should start by saying my law school approach is MUCH different from my college approach.  When I was applying to college, I completed out three applications:  ED at Johns Hopkins and two others that I withdrew after that magical day on December 15 when I knew I was going to Hopkins.  I had a fourth application in the works, in case my admissions decision wasn’t what I’d hoped, but that ended up being unnecessary (thankfully!).  But really, I knew what I wanted and where I wanted to do it.

Law school?  I’m applying to twenty of them.  Many are on the east coast, some are in the Midwest, and a couple of California schools snuck their way in there as well.  I have no idea where I want to live, what exactly I want to study (obviously I’m studying law, but I don’t know if I’ll specialize) and I haven’t had an official visit to any law schools.  I don’t have a clear picture in my head since I have no idea where I’ll be, so it’s really just this abstract thing floating around in my head.

That said I am still trying to do this “right.”  I’m about to set the course for my career path and it’s important to do so carefully and thoughtfully.  So, with the benefit of retrospect and the experience of doing it all again, here are my major pieces of advice in approaching the application process.   (Added after writing: it was surprisingly helpful to write all of that out and remind myself to keep it all in perspective!)

• 

  This is from one of the law schools I wandered around on my own during a visit home last year.

  Learn what makes each school unique.  It will help you get excited about the application for each school, whether you’re completing five or fifteen. When I was applying to college, I actually enjoyed writing my applications because I had a clear idea of each school and some vague notions of what my life could be like there.  Now that I’m applying to twenty law schools, it starts to feel like I’m drudging along.  The solution I came up with?  Do my applications in cycles – five or so at a time.  By focusing on a small list of schools at any given time, I can keep my head clearer and be less likely to submit my NYU supplemental essay to UCLA.

• Be open-minded.  What you want right now might be very different from what you end up doing. Honestly, I could be the Hopkins poster child for changing majors and career tracks.  I came here with the strongest belief that I’d major in neuroscience and then become a neurologist, but two changes in majors later, I’m public health and applying to law school.  I was really lucky to pick a school that is strong in so many different disciplines; otherwise I could’ve been stuck on a course that wasn’t right.  Lesson learned – I’m not applying to law schools because of strength in any single area, but rather solid programs across the board.
• 

  Off-the-record advice: don't let your love of a particular college basketball team sway you too much. (Hey - I'm not applying JUST because of their basketball team and the fact that I could get tickets more easily...)

  Do your own research. Sure, if you have a question, contact Admissions.  If you really, really want to, read any of those college guidebooks out there.  But spending time going through schools’ websites, finding your own answers (Google is your friend), and discovering things you never even thought of is so helpful.  This kind of goes along with the first point of learning what makes schools unique – but spending time getting “acquainted” with the schools via the information they provide is an important step to help you decide for yourself if the school is a good fit.

• Make a list of “demands” or “deal-breakers.”  Be realistic, but know what factors are really important to you. These can be as simple as “not within a 300-mile radius of home” or as particular as “must have professors studying gene 41gsa3109 so I can work on solving the mystery of the appendix.”  (Can you tell I know nothing about genes and/or biology?)  Know what you want in a college and then seek schools that fit your profile, rather than trying to fit yourself into certain schools just because of a reputation.  Of course I always preach that you might change your mind about these things, but if something’s important to you, don’t settle.

Whew – so here it is.  Whether you’re like I was and you have that one school held above all others, or whether you’re like I am now and have no idea what you’re doing with yourself, I hope this is helpful!  I think the hardest (but most important) thing is to try to enjoy the process; it’s such a special time for you and for your family and it’s easy to forget all of that when you’re plagued with writer’s block or worried about getting that extra letter of recommendation.  I promise (everyone keeps reminding me of this, too) that everything will work out and you (we) will be happy wherever you (we) end up.

Can you tell this was rather cathartic for me?

Hopkins, like any school full of highly motivated students, has its fair share of pre-something-or-others.  Many think “HOPKINS = PRE-MED,” as I’ll admit to thinking when I was applying and even during the beginning of my time here.  However, as a now-deeply-committed pre-law student, I can tell you that there’s certainly more to pre-somethings than pre-meds, and today, I’ll tell you about being pre-law at the great Johns Hopkins University.  Do note, (does this even need to be said?) that there are a multitude of students who are no more than pre-real-life…they’re not applying to any kind of graduate school in the near future.  So don’t think that you’d be out of place here if you have no immediate grand plans for some sort of graduate program—this just happens to be my area of expertise, given the fact that at one point or another, I’ve been on pretty much every imaginable advising track.

Anyway, being pre-law at Hopkins is great.  It makes people think you’re just oh-so-interesting because, well, there seems to be few of us.  Interestingly though, it’s not so much that there aren’t many pre-law students, but rather, we don’t have the common ties that pre-meds seem to.  Allow me to elaborate—being pre-law means that you’re going to law school.  (Period).  That’s it.  You have access to a great advising program within the Office of Pre-professional Advising and at some point you’ll be taking the LSAT and applying to law schools.  But there is nothing else required to being pre-law.

Sure, there are some classes that have “law” thrown into the title, some student groups that seem very well suited to the future lawyers of JHU, but this is all incidental.  Let me say it again: being a pre-law student just means you’re applying to law school at some point.  You could technically say that about the other pre-such-and-suches, but they have all these other requirements (classes) tacked on, so it’s really a stretch.

So what have I done to make myself pre-law?

• THE LSAT.  This thing is going to be the death of me.  I’m taking a prep course, which is great, but it’s also the length of two additional classes each week, plus homework!  Nothing like two extra classes to make you feel so very committed to something, such as, say, applying to a particular type of graduate school.
• 

  just a bit of light Sunday reading

  My classes.  I’ve taken things like “Politics and Policy Design,” “Politics of Health Policy,” “American Constitutional Law,” “Constitutional Law” (the second semester version, basically), “Courts, Politics and Public Policy,” “International Human Rights Law in US Courts,” and probably a few other that are escaping me right now.  But yeah, I got a little overly excited by the political science department’s offerings and took pretty much anything that was on some sort of study of law.  AND I’M GLAD!  I’ve learned that I like the reading and researching involved.  This is good news.

• Pre-law honor society.  So we haven’t really done anything, but I did apply and pay my dues back in December when a group of pre-law students decided to bring the chapter to campus (I think that’s the proper lingo).   At least I can add it to this list, right?

• My extracurriculars.  Okay, so just the ethics board.  And it’s not a strictly pre-law thing, by any means.  But it’s something that has given me a very strong appreciation for formal processes and rules and procedures, and how important they are to institutions.  That sounds about right.

So maybe you haven’t caught on, or maybe I haven’t done a great job, but I’m trying to show that being pre-law, despite our AWESOME lack of requirements, is just as cool as being pre-med (if not COOLER).  We still have pre-law(ish) classes, pre-law groups, pre-law tests, and can sympathize with our fellow law school applicants on all of this.

In all seriousness though, being pre-law at Hopkins is great.  The flexibility of our majors means you can study whatever you want and still take some of these cool law-sounding classes, (and the lack of requirements for the pre-law advising program means you can major in whatever you want and not take any of those (or similar) classes and still call yourself pre-law and impress everyone).  I think I’ve had the opportunity to take a much more multidisciplinary approach to my education, thanks in part to my major and to my struggles with past majors, and therefore find the areas where my strengths and passions align.  It’s a wonderful thing, which I’m not sure I would’ve been challenged to do had I not been at Hopkins.

I had a blog entry drafted about how my semester didn’t really turn out exactly as I’d hoped for it to, but in the spirit of new beginnings, I’ve scrapped it.  The short version: my grades were lower than I’d have liked, and after much reflection, I think it’s because of taking on a lot of new responsibilities and counting on a curve that didn’t happen.  Anyway, with the new year and new decade on the horizon, I thought it was entirely appropriate to look ahead with a new perspective.

2010 is going to bring a lot my way, assuming everything goes according to plan.  I’ll take the LSAT, have an internship in Washington, take classes at the School of Public Health, apply for real-life jobs and law school and then graduate from college.  Yeah.  In one year’s time, my life will be entirely different.

And if you’re reading this as a prospective (or just-admitted!) student, so will yours.  I’m sure you’re already thinking about that, and will be on New Year’s Eve.  It’s hard to even imagine how your life is going to change–everything I thought mine would be turned out completely different, and I couldn’t be happier.

In the interest of not scaring myself too much more, I’ll focus on the more immediate future: January.  Intersession is one of the greatest things about Hopkins, hands down.  You can take a class or two, work, hang out with friends, or do nothing at all.  It’s really just fantastic.  This time around, I’ll be taking a class called International Development and Policy, in which we’ll have speakers come in from different organizations and talk to us about what they do.  Then, after two weeks of that, we take a three-day trip to New York City to visit more organizations and spend time in the city.  I’m super-excited, especially because I’ve never been to New York.

January will also bring my 21st birthday, which falls on the first day of the spring semester.  More on that later on, as it’s likely to be a month-long planning process.

As for the spring semester, I have all kinds of big plans and lofty goals, but those will surely unfold more as we get closer to it.  However, I’m unwilling to miss out on anything, and I’ve got my priorities set…which likely means the sacrificed item will be a bit of sleep.  I’ve been meaning to become a morning person, anyway.

With that, I’m saying farewell to 2009, a difficult year and a particularly difficult semester.  More importantly, I’m excited about what’s to come, as I’m getting wiser in my old age (ha!) and have learned a thing or two about this whole college thing.  Stay tuned for what promises to be a better semester, a better year, and an exciting new decade for us all.

So I’m leaving for the airport in about 45 minutes and am only about half-packed.  Of course, this seems to be a habit of mine. Not the point.  Anyway, up until very recently, I wouldn’t have had an answer if you asked, “Mandy, what do you think about the health care reform currently under debate?” (because this is, of course, how you’d ask me).  I really didn’t know what to think.  In fact, I think I was over-thinking, partly because I’m a public health major and am taking two policy classes.  (whew! that’s a lot of thinking!)

In a couple of days, I’m hoping to post my opinion on the entire health care debate.  I don’t expect it to be uncontroversial, as I tend to think of things in a weird way and I’m approaching it from my academic background, as well.

As a preview for what’s to come, check out this part of CBS News’ Face the Nation, featuring Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Kyl (R-AZ).  I watched this in my Politics of Health Policy class today.  If you’d like to see the entire discussion, click here.  But seriously in the YouTube clip, go to ~5:53, when Bob Schieffer (the host) asks if the plan will raise taxes.  The immediate response is kind of funny.

This semester, I’m taking two courses that deal with policy–Politics and Policy Design and Politics of Health Policy.  The two overlap slightly in the principles, as you might expect, but I feel like I’m actually getting a very diverse education in policy-making and implementation, and how what seems like the logical solution is not usually the one used in practice, largely because of political concerns (i.e., re-election).

Anyway, an important principle discussed in both classes is the “critical juncture,” or, roughly, a turning point.  This also plays into the concept of “path dependence,” where current options are limited by past decisions.  Basically (and I mean VERY basically–a quick google search shows that this can be an extremely complicated topic), as it was explained in one of my classes, critical junctures are the point when big decisions are possible, and the rest of the time, you’re limited by path dependence set in place by the critical junctures.

In simpler terms?  The decisions you make now set you on a specific path, where some later options can be drastically changed depending on the current decision.  I guess you could kind of think of it like the “butterfly effect,” if you want to skip the middle part, and think about the impact a current decision will have on your available options twenty years from now.  But it’s not really about endpoints (as in, right now and twenty years from now), at least as I see it.  It’s  about the entire path–now, tomorrow, the entire time between now and twenty-years-from-now.

I see it like this:  as college students, we’re at a critical juncture, RIGHT NOW. (no pressure, right?).  We have the ability to make relatively big decisions that set a whole particular path before us.  That’s not so scary though, because I don’t think political science is completely translatable to peoples’ lives on an individual level (despite this blog entry’s attempts at that?)…as in, just because we’re setting our paths, doesn’t mean we’re going to be entirely limited by it.  I think path dependence works a little better with policies than with people, but it still applies.

I don’t know if you necessarily have to call out just one critical juncture for all of college or this age period, but to choose one, I think mine is when I settled on my public health major and realized I’m not doctor-material.  Choosing not to continue pre-med studies is rather path-dependent, at least in the short term.  (Luckily, nowadays, there’s post-bac programs for people who decide after graduating that they actually do want to go to med school, but that’s not me.  Just throwing it out there).  Anyway, I set myself a new path when I had that critical juncture and made that decision, and now each successive decision relevant to my life goals (undefined though they may be) are putting me further along on that path–I hope.  That is, if political science works.  I think I believe in it.

I hope this doesn’t get construed as alarming–it’s not like you make one decision and you’re stuck for life, as it can be with policies.  I think that’s the beauty of our generation; we have so many options and fallbacks and the ability to redo things, all at much later points than previous generations.

So now, here’s your quiz to see if you’ve been paying attention.  Here I am, having passed my critical juncture in which I chose to pursue law school, and am currently faced with the following path-dependent decision: spring internship in DC or LSAT course?  I might need a few more weeks of policy classes to figure this one out.  Or maybe just a few more days in the week next semester.  I’m wondering what the politically feasible option would be in the long run…okay, I can’t even think of any more ways to stretch this.

(By the way, I’m choosing the LSAT course, sadly).

I’ve been in a bit of a “funk” lately.  See?  I absolutely hate that word, but it’s the best I can do to even describe how I’ve been feeling these past few weeks.  That’s how I can tell something’s weird.  But I have.  And now that my boyfriend and two of my three suitemates are all gone for the weekend (Mike’s in Texas, and Maura and Javaneh are both at home), I’ve had a lot of time in my quiet little head…I think I’ve figured some things out.

I guess you could say I’m having a bit of an identity crisis.  But those of you who know me or read this blog regularly might think that’s pretty common.  You’re probably right.  But this isn’t one of those “I hate all of my clothes” or “I should cut off all of my hair” or even “I should add on three minors” kind of identity crises (in fact, my hair is the longest its ever been–I’m getting better at managing these!).   Seriously though, this is the sick-to-my-stomach, what-am-I-doing-with-my-life, what-do-I-even-WANT-to-do-with-my-life, smack-in-the-face kind of thing.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m sorry for sounding crazy and I’m really glad you’ve never had one of these.  I think my firstone probably hit about the time I was applying to college.  I later decided it’s really kind of good to have them (you know, few and far between) as a way of reassuring myself that I’m not just letting myself get comfortable with the way things are.  In fact, now that I’m in college and all of my choices are affecting my future (for example, if I don’t take the LSAT, I can’t go to law school), it’s important to really evaluate where I am and what I’m doing.  Maybe I let it go to far (or don’t evaluate often enough and let all of the pent-up questions explode all at once), but whatever.  Now that you have the general idea, let me explain the specifics of this one…

This time, it was two-fold.  Not only was I afraid of not being good enough to get into “blank” type of school, but I just didn’t even know if “blank” type of school was what I wanted to do with life.   But here’s the thing.  You only get one life.  You have to do with it what will make you happy.  And if you don’t know what will make you happy, do what does make you happy, and go from there.  That’s what I figured.  (I know it sounds cliche and everyone hates cliches, but I figure they became cliche because they’re overused, and they’re overused because they’re true. Right? Right.)

So, for now, I’m taking classes that are really interesting to me (more on those sometime soon).  I’m getting really focused on them, particularly now that the latest crisis has been averted, and because they are on topics I picked myself, I can do the work while really enjoying it.  I’m hoping this amounts to a very good semester.  For the future, I’m still thinking MD/JD (no, not just because of some inability to decide–more on that some other time).  For in-between?  Probably a few other crises…but until next time, we’re good.

Veritas vos liberabit. The Johns Hopkins University seal (logo? I don’t know what you call it) has this written on it.  Translated from Latin, it means “The truth will set you free.”  Taking a little of that spirit, it’s time for my honest thoughts about life here.

So I decided to try something a bit different this week…probably because I’ve been pretty busy studying instead of doing things you’d care to read about.  Anyway, it was inspired by this message board thread (HERE), in which Hopkins students share the things they’d change about Hopkins, I’d like to elaborate on my answers.  As a general disclaimer, if this is your first time reading my blog (or if you just need reminding), I LOVE HOPKINS.  I feel like I really belong here and am indescribably grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given (thanks Dad and Mom).

That being said, when I saw the message board thread, I was able to think of a few things off the top of my head I’d like to see changed.  So, here are my original responses (in bold), now with more elaboration (italicized):

1. I’d like to go back to the MTW and ThF schedule for classes
My first semester, the University held classes on MTW or ThF, but this semester the classes meet MWF or TTh.  I prefer the old way, but I don’t have a good reason. Probably just because I’m a creature of habit.

2. In the neighborhood–obviously this is one Hopkins can’t fix itself–have some kind of hang out spot for weekend nights for students not interested in the partying. There’s stuff to do off-campus, but it’d be nice to have somewhere closeby you can go–basically, the same idea as a bar but without the drinking. This one’s a bit far-fetched.
Okay, so this one I didn’t state very clearly.  If you look at the discussion thread I linked to above, JHU_Kate said it better: we could really use a student union.  I think that’s the general idea I was trying to get at, though I didn’t think about it being something on campus, I thought of more like a late-night coffee place or something of the sort.  The reason I said it was far-fetched is simply because it doesn’t seem likely that a business like this would just happen to pop up somewhere nearby.

3. bridge the gap between the community and the institution (by institution, I mean both the medical campus and the University itself). This one’s a constant effort, and Hopkins does seem to be trying.
It’s an unfortunate reality, but Baltimore has it’s issues just like any other large city.  There’s poverty,
gang activity, high prevalence of HIV, violence (usually gang-related), and other crime.  Hopkins is extraordinarily safe, both the University and the medical campus, but it’s like we live in a bubble and many students are completely unaware of this.  We are truly privileged to live the way we do, but the reality is that much of the Baltimore population is struggling in multiple ways.  There are several student groups that are involved with the community in some way or another, and Johns Hopkins himself gave the money for the hospital to be built to “serve the people of Baltimore, regardless of their ability to pay.”  (Okay, not a direct quote, but I learned that at my hospital volunteer orientation).  Anyway, as I said before, this is a constant effort, one that will not be ‘fixed’ instantly or easily.  I just feel that students should do more to be aware of the city they live in for ~9 months of the year and to give back to those less fortunate.

4. Allow more options for double majoring within the natural sciences
This one’s pretty self-explanatory.  There are limits on double-majoring in natural sciences because of the overlap of course requirements.  I only say this because I would love to double-major in Neuroscience and Chemistry.  It’s not impossible, though.  I’m planning to contact my academic adviser and the two departments.

5. More on-campus housing options for juniors and seniors. Maybe my mind will have changed by then, but living on campus just seems so much more convenient.
Also pretty self-explanatory.  I just love living on campus and being so close to everything.  The dorm security is also unbelievable.  I feel so safe!

So as I mentioned before, I love this University and all of the amazing opportunities it provides for students.  However, nothing is perfect and I wanted to offer my opinions that I’ve gained over the past semester (almost semester and a half–time flies!).  If you have any questions about something I’ve said, feel free to ask away on my personal message board thread, HERE.  If you are of a different opinion and care to share, please do so–either on the message board thread I linked to or in the comments section of this blog.

When I first moved to North Carolina as an eleven-year-old and continuing through most of high school,
I refused to be considered “southern.”  I was born in Maryland (although in Southern Maryland, which is indeed, very stereotypically southern), and I was convinced that that made me a “northerner.”  Nevermind the fact that my parents are both from central Florida and my brother’s always had a thing for fishing and dirt bike racing.  [picture: my brother and I on the lake in his fishing boat with Dixie]

Anyway, sometime later on in high school, I realized that being “southern” isn’t a bad thing and that I was a lot like my mother (who I used to make fun of for her southern phrases).  When I came to Hopkins, I really knew I wasn’t “from ’round here.”  A lot of the people I’ve met are from New England and it’s entirely different being surrounded by people from that area as well as from all over the country.  I knew I was a little southern girl when I mentioned grits and sweet tea and got nothing but entirely confused expressions from those around me.

Okay so it has taken awhile for me to get to my point, but here it is, as cliche as it will sound:  College really does open your eyes to who you are.

While thoroughly enjoying pointing out little accents my friends have on certain words (and going along when they start saying words for me to say to check and see if I have an accent), I realized that you really shouldn’t let where you’re from dictate everything about you; you have to be open to grow.  Here we are, all in this one place together, from all over the country and the world, growing and learning and sharing our passion for knowledge.  Where you are and where you’ve been certainly shape your identity and it’s important to never forget where you come from.  At the same time though, you have to be open to all the new experiences college has to offer–in addition to all the different ways of life you’ll be introduced to as you start meeting people.  So many people (myself included) try to figure themselves out around the end of their senior year of high school.  Since being here though, and being constantly busy with one thing or another, when I take the time (like now) to sit and think about all of this, I have really found out a lot about who I am just by the way I handle all the stresses and joys that college life entails.  I think that even in this couple of months’ time I’ve changed quite a bit in order to adapt, but I’m still that little semi-southern girl who occasionally slips up and says “y’all” or gets very excited about college football/basketball and especially the beginning of baseball season.  [picture: my "Carolina girls...best in the world" shirt.  In case you're wondering, I'm adding to a little collection of quotes we keep on my wall]

All through high school, it was a well-known fact that I was going to become a neurologist.  People didn’t even bother asking me where I was applying for college, they’d known since my sophomore year that I was going to go to Johns Hopkins and study neuroscience.  That was the plan.  That’s who I was.  And that’s all I would do.  …but since I’ve been here, I’ve thought about it and realized that there are more options than becoming a doctor.  It’s been my passion for a long time, but I’m trying to be open to whatever chances I have to try new things and explore the seemingly endless possibilities Hopkins has to offer.  Not that I don’t get very concerned about orgo grades or use “what do you expect? I’m pre-med” as an excuse to stay in the library until very early in the morning, but I’m learning that change isn’t a bad thing.  It doesn’t make you any less who you are, it only offers the potential for growth.

So the quick version? College changes you more than you can imagine and in the most incredible ways if you let yourself be open to it.  There are amazing people to meet and stories to share, dedicated professors who truly love what they teach, and all the resources you’d ever need to pursue any interest.  I had no idea what an experience college will really be and I feel incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to be here.

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P.S. On the note of amazing people, check back sometime this week–I hope to have a video of “the people you’ll meet at Hopkins,” and show you some of the people on my floor and how…interesting…we all are.