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27 Apr Addendum

By Miranda B. on April 27 2012 |

(You can read my original Why Hopkins post here.)

I was talking to an admitted student today, and she asked me about my favorite thing at Hopkins. It’s undoubtedly the people. They’re what make me excited to go to class, excited to go to a mock trial meeting or tutorial or out to dinner, excited to be here at Hopkins. It’s a network of people that includes people like my professors who show that they care and make extra office hours so that you can stop panicking about your paper, the security guard in the library who does rounds so that she can “check on her babies,” the FFC workers whose smiles make you happy got decided to get up for breakfast, my friends who are constantly there for me, and the people who create an atmosphere that’s welcoming, friendly, and distinctly nerdy and academic at the same time. Here’s what I’d tell myself, c. August 2009.

They’ll pick you up when you fall down. It’s not just literal (although they’ll done that for you too, maybe even post photographic evidence on facebook). They’ll be there for you when you fail a test, or don’t get the internship you wanted, or just have a rough day. They’ll be the ones looking out for you, and make sure you don’t stay down. They’ll be able to tell just from how you say “I’m fine” (even over a text message) if you’re actually fine, or if you’re just pretending you are. You’ll even have professors notice too, and make sure that you’re able to deal with whatever you’re going through.

They'll give you a chance to reenact prom.

They’ll let you enjoy being a nerd, but make you have fun as well. They’ll give you that academic atmosphere you looked forward to. They’ll make an environment where you can get excited about what cases the Supreme Court was hearing, or make a chemistry joke, or mention an article you’ve read and have other people know exactly what you’re talking about.

They’ll let you  discover that it’s not just all work or all play. It’s a healthy mix of both, and people here will help you remember that. You’ll find somewhere where academics are valued, and where you can get excited and talk about our papers or potential research or your upcoming internship.

They'll plan dorm room picnic Hanukkah celebrations.

They’ll make you wonder how you could have lived without these people for so long, and how you’re going to deal without seeing them on a semi-regular basis after you (or they!) graduate.

They’ll show you how to balance meticulous planning and complete spontaneity. They’ll be the ones urging you to start your giant paper early, and they’ll also be the ones persuading you to take an impromptu study break to do karaoke.

They'll go on adventures with you.

They’ll push you to explore your dreams, and interests. They’ll be your biggest fan and your harshest critic at the same time, and you’ll thank them for it at the end.

They’ll convince you to take a class with them, because they didn’t want to take it alone, and you’ll end up adding a new minor as a result.

They'll help you try out the recipes you found when you were supposed to be doing homework.

They’ll fill your inbox with news articles, restaurant reviews, and funny pictures of kittens, and you’ll do the same to them.

They’ll figure out how to get you home when you miss the collegetown shuttle, and they’ll show you that you don’t need to take a cab to the airport.

They'll give you one of the best team experiences you've ever had.

They’ll read over applications and cover letters for you at the last minute, and you’ll do the same for them.

They’ll make you a surprise birthday cake and take you out to dinner.

They'll come visit you, and you'll go visit them.

They’ll be the people who you bring you medicine and make you soup when you’re sick.

They’ll share their care packages and notes from class when you’re sick and dresses and hair straighteners and advice and curly fries and umbrellas and memories.

They'll help you find your way.

They’ll remind you, on a daily basis, why Hopkins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category(s): Perspectives, Reflection, Why Hopkins | Share This

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15 Apr Why Hopkins? It’ll make a (wo)man out of you.

By Miranda B. on April 15 2012 |

(Edit: You can read the addendum to this post here).

Hopkins is tough. It’s not a place where people are going to guide you everywhere, show you what to do, and make your decisions for you. It’s a place where you’re going to figure out what you want, figure out how to make that happen, and learn more about yourself along the way. A lot of the time, the resources will be there for you. And sometimes, they won’t be. You might have to make your own resources, push boundaries, and work hard so that you can get yourself where you want to be.

This is a story about making my own way, and working with what I have to create what I want.

I entered Hopkins my freshman year as a very different person from who I am today. I was much more timid and shy, not hugely assertive or confident in my abilities to succeed at Hopkins, and I wasn’t completely sure what I wanted to do while at college, or afterwards. I entered as a history major, and first semester convinced me that that wasn’t the answer. I loved my political science class, I wasn’t as gung-ho about history as I thought I was, and I thought that there was more out there to try. And there was. By the end of my freshman year, I’d taken classes in History, French, Political Science, Applied Math, Economics, Anthropology, English, and Earth Science. When I was choosing classes for sophomore year, all the political science classes appealed to me, and I ended up taking three of them. I’d loved Mock Trial my freshman year, and very much enjoyed my role as an attorney there. I loved the fast-paced analytical thinking, the debate, the pressure. I was convinced law school was the right option for me.

I could have stopped right there. We’ve got a pre-professional advising office that helps prepare students for law school. J-connect, our internship/career database, has legal jobs posted all the time. Going to law school and becoming a lawyer is a good choice for many people. I still get excited about the law, I’m taking a class right now through Hopkins and the University of Maryland Law School, I camped out at the Supreme Court to see the ACA hearings, and I still like doing constitutional research. But I realized that this wasn’t all I liked, and this wasn’t necessarily all that I wanted to do with my life. Sophomore spring exposed the fields of education policy, and education in general to me. I realized again how much I cared about these topics and how much I wanted to end up in this field.

I also realized how little–and how much–I was being prepared for my future.

I’m going to be completely honest here. This isn’t the best school to go to if you’re just looking to become a teacher. There’s no traditional education major or minor. The vast majority of the education coursework I’ve done here has been the result of me taking an opportunity to write a paper on what I want to write about–something related to education law or policy. There’s no accelerated master’s program with the School of Education. It’s hard to meet grad school prereqs because Hopkins simply doesn’t offer all of the classes needed to apply to certain teaching programs.

But this is a school to go to if you’re looking to be prepared for the future and make the most of any situation. I’ve gained many transferable skills over the last two and a half years. My writing has improved, both in the quality of my writing, and in the quantity of writing I can produce. I’m much better at analysis, whether it’s academic (a primary source for my history class, a policy proposal, or a Supreme Court opinion) or in other forms, such as reading people or making decisions. My time management and organization have increased significantly. I’ve gained skills outside of the classroom. I’m much more assertive, and I’ve gotten much better at standing up for myself and others. I’ve taken on new responsibilities, I’ve learned how to plan events, and I’ve learned how to work in a team.

These are the skills I’m going to take with me into the future. These are the skills that I’m going to be able to take with me to grad school. These are the skills I’m going to take with me into the classroom. And these are the skills that I’ve developed during my time at Hopkins.

It’s been a tough semester mentally. This is the first semester I’ve had to focus a large amount of time on the future–I have a year left to complete prerequisites for grad school, which means that I needed to essentially plan out my senior year schedule this spring before registration. It means I needed to be making decisions about where I wanted to end up, what sorts of programs I favored, dealing with people questioning my decisions and the legitimacy of my career choice, and facing the question that’s dogged me throughout Hopkins: Am I prepared for this?

I came into Hopkins feeling under-prepared. Feeling like I was the kid who had slipped under the Admissions Office’s radar, and really wasn’t supposed to be there. Feeling like I was the kid who was being judged for not having the same SAT-word enriched vocabulary. Feeling like I wasn’t going to succeed. But I succeeded that first semester, and I’ve continued to succeed. Hopkins can bring that out in people. You’ll find yourself capable of things you never thought you could do, beating down limits you never thought you could reach.

I’ve grown so much over the last three years here. I’ve surpassed limits I thought I could never reach. I’ve become a better student, and much more importantly, a better person. That’s what I want to take with me when I leave college. It’s not a traditional “Why Hopkins” story, but it’s “Why Hopkins” for me.

Here's to making it! (photo creds Aunt Anne)

 

Category(s): Perspectives, Reflection, Why Hopkins | Share This

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29 Mar I WAS THERE

By Miranda B. on March 29 2012 |

(at the Supreme Court Tuesday for oral arguments, that is).

Facts:

Baltimore is about an hour away from DC.

It costs $5.75 for me to get to DC.

DC is home to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court this week was hearing oral arguments for challenges to the Affordable Care Act (more commonly referred to as “Obamacare”).

This is one of the biggest cases of the term for the Supreme Court, not to mention this era.

The results of this case will be huge, with major repercussions for both health care reform and other cases involving the commerce clause.

Given these facts, I spent Monday-night-which-somewhere-became-Tuesday-morning camped out in front of the Supreme Court, hoping that our counts were accurate and we were one of the first 60 people camped out (generally assumed to be guaranteed a seat inside).

The Night:

I left my class at Goucher early to take the collegetown from Goucher to Penn Station, in time to take the last MARC train of the night. MARC is the Maryland commuter rail system, which is a really affordable way to get to DC. One of us had gone ahead to see if it was worth camping out, and once I’d confirmed we had a chance (obsessive stalking of the NY Times coverage had revealed that 120 people had been let in for Monday’s hearings) I got on the train to DC.  I got there around 10:15, and walked to the Supreme Court.

The Capitol and the Supreme Court during the day are impressive buildings. They’re enormous, and meant to convey power and prestige. At night, they’re something completely different. They stand out beautifully in the dark, and seem that much more powerful.

The Supreme Court has a no tents rule, and we were also limited by what we had with us in Baltimore/what could reasonably be taken to DC and into the courthouse. It was also 20-something degrees and windy. We brought MANY layers, created a mini fort out of umbrellas and raincoats (it didn’t actually rain, but we’d brought raingear in hope of not needing it if we brought it, and assuming if we didn’t bring it, it would actually rain), and made trips to 7/11 and Union Station for hot tea throughout the night. It was still freezing (hands and feet having feeling is overrated), but we made it through to the morning of misleading sun (last week had been in the 80s and sunny, but this week was big on wind and cold).

Daybreak:

Sunlight means no more depending on phones/ipods to read anything, and it also means the potential for warmth. Around 5 or so, more people started showing up to the line (there weren’t really any additions between midnight and 5) and the line continued to grow slowly for the next few hours. The news crews started to gather, and set up equipment in front of the court. Around 6:30, interviews started, and continued up until tickets.

The Tickets Go Out:

Usually, there are about 60 seats for members of the general public. That can increase if the SC brings in extra chairs, or there aren’t extra guests. Members of the Supreme Court Bar (fun fact: any attorney who’s passed a bar exam can apply for membership in the Supreme Court Bar; it’s not just for people who argue before the court) and VIPs have a special line (they also didn’t have to camp out!) and take up a certain number of seats. However, seats for this case were a hot commodity–there are 26 states challenging the AFA, as well as a suit on behalf of private/independent groups, and a lot of people wanted to be there.

Around 7:15, they started announcing the ticket protocol, and around 7:30, the first round of tickets went out. We were 65th, 66th, and 67th in line, and didn’t make the first cut. However, the first 15 or so people in line were waiting in line for tickets to sell, not tickets to actually enter themselves. My friend managed to buy one of those tickets for $30 right after they were handed out (to put that in comparison, a man had bought one of these people’s space in line for $250 about 20 minutes beforehand), leaving the other two of us outside waiting.

The wait continued, with security telling us it would be at least another hour before we knew if we could get in. By this point, the groups holding rallies outside had assembled (no political-celebrity sightings at this point, although we were pretty sure that big names would show up soon [Rick Santorum was there on Monday, and Michele Bachmann did show up later]). A little before 9, a man came out, holding a few tickets. He had them for members of his group that didn’t end up showing up, and had them for the first six people in line, aka #61-#66. WE WERE IN.

Inside the Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court inside was nothing like what I’d imagined. I’d competed a week and a half ago inside the US District Courthouse, which had beautiful courtrooms, but I was not prepared for this. The halls are wide and full of marble, and the Court itself is magnificent. It’s about as close to something like a palace that you get here in the US. It was beautiful, and I couldn’t believe I was there.

The Supreme Court is a place where so many important cases have been heard. Historically, it’s where cases I’ve read were argued. It’s where important American legal concepts came to fruition. And on Tuesday, it’s where the Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments in Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida concerning the individual mandate section of the Affordable Care Act. Whether you agree with the AFA or not, I think everyone can agree that it’s a major piece of legislation, and the ruling on this case will have a substantial impact on America.

Oral Arguments:

Oral arguments run extremely efficiently. Each side has a specific amount of time, and the justices can spend as much of that time as they want asking questions (and asking questions can often just mean making a statement). It’s an intense atmosphere–justices typically ask multi-part questions, advocates have multi-part answers which are then often interrupted, and you’re expected to be familiar with anything the justices throw at you. There’s no time to pause, or consult anyone, or flip through your notes. It’s you, and the Commerce Clause, and the individual mandate.

It’s exhilarating being there. Last year in Con Law, when cases challenging the constitutionality started being brought, we talked about these issues. Is this considered interstate commerce? Can inactivity be regulated? Does inactivity have a substantial enough impact on commerce? What about Wickard? What about Raich? How far can individual mandates go? But this time it wasn’t in a stuffy classroom on the third floor of Krieger. It was in the SUPREME COURT, and it was amazing.

Afterwards:

When you enter, you go in the disguised side entrance, through the first set of metal detectors, and onto the bottom floor of the building. When you exist, it’s at the top of the steps, on the same floor as the courtroom, looking down on everything below. It was a beautiful day, the bottom of the steps were full of members of the press and protesters, and we had just witnessed oral arguments for one of the most important cases of the year (or decade or era, take your pick). I still can’t really believe we were there.

I didn't bring my camera, because I didn't think they were inside the building, so this is from July 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category(s): Beyond Baltimore, Perspectives | Share This

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19 Mar Go Read a Book

By Miranda B. on March 19 2012 |

One of the things that has defined my experience as a social sciences/humanities student is the amount of reading we have. Professors regularly expect anywhere from 30 to 700 pages of reading a week, sometimes in a another language. It can get overwhelming at times (taking several reading intensive classes can make for a pretty intense weekend), but it also means we’re exposed to a lot more about the field we’re learning about.

To compare it to high school: In high school, we had regular homework assignments. Sometimes we were assigned to read for an English class, but often our only outside work was something that we could turn in. In college, at least for social science/humanities classes, you’ll have many reading assignments, and many fewer homework assignments.

Here are a few of my favorite reading assignments from the last few semesters (this is only from the books we’ve read–if I was looking at other articles/selections the potential list would be much longer).

Context: there are about 50 other books in my apartment that were assigned reading that aren't in this picture.

The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America by Jonathan Kozol (Education Politics in Urban America, Mind the Gap)

This is my all-time favorite reading assignment.  I’d recommend it to everyone who’s interested in learning more about the state of education in America (and anyone who cares about the future of our country, honestly). Jonathan Kozol has spent the last 40+ years in the classroom and then writing about education issues, especially literacy and the state of American schools. The Shame of the Nation is a follow-up to his earlier book, Savage Inequalities, and discusses the growing segregation in American schools, and the education quality disparities for students in segregated urban areas and wealthy affluent areas. Jonathan Kozol is a powerful writer. I didn’t want to put down this book while I was reading it, and it’s one that I always turn back to so that I can reread sections of it again. This book underscores the disgraceful state of our education system today, and shows how much change and progress needs to be made. I can’t recommend this book enough.

The Hollow Hope by Gerald Rosenberg (Courts, Politics, and Public Policy)

Some books you read and completely agree with them. Some books you read and they make you think. And think some more. This is one of them. Rosenberg attempts to prove that the Supreme Court is unable to create any meaningful social change. As Americans, we tend to think about cases like Brown v. Board of Ed.  and Roe v. Wade as really important cases that fundamentally changed America. Rosenberg argues that the importance of these cases is widely overstated, and that the Supreme Court’s ruling didn’t really change anything. It’s a really interesting read, and makes you think a lot about the role of courts, and the ability of courts to enforce rulings.

Brown in Baltimore: School Desegregation and the Limits of Liberalism by Howell S. Baum (Education Politics in Urban America)

This book provides an overview of the desegregation (and de facto resegregation) process in Baltimore, and how Baltimore’s characteristics influenced that process. This was also interesting to read after reading The Hollow Hope, as Baltimore did have an immediate reaction to Brown. However, this book also demonstrates the difficulty of creating integrated schools and not just ending de jure segregation (segregation by law). I think it’s also important to know about the area you live in, and so this provided me with a much better understanding of Baltimore’s history with education, and the connections it has to demographic changes over the last 60 years.

Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform by Derrick Bell (Education Politics in Urban America)

Another book that makes you think. This book addresses the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown, and its ability to actually create equal educational opportunities for all children. Bell argues that the Supreme Court should have focused not on the “separate” part of the case, but instead on the “equal.” He asserts that if the Court’s focus was on ensuring equality, and not just ending separation, the quality of education would have improved much more. This book made me think about the differences in why people bring a case v. how the court rules v. how that ruling is interpreted v. how that ruling is implemented, and how hard it can be to create the change that’s needed.

Spinning Wheels: The Politics of Urban School Reform by Frederick Hess (Policy Disasters)

There aren’t a lot of education-specific classes at Hopkins, but I try and take political science (or other department) classes that have at least a partial focus on education, or where I can focus my final paper or other major work on education. For Policy Disasters last semester, one of the issues we talked about early on in the semester (and kept connecting things back to) was the issue of urban school reform. Hess argues that those involved with urban schools have high incentives to promote new policies for reform, but very little impetus to ensure that the reform is implemented. He argues that there is a culture of suggesting reform, and that the cycle of reform promotion without implementation hurts schools. For me, this book highlighted the importance of implementation, as well as the difficulties schools face when charged with reform ideas that have no real implementation plan.

Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI, and the Origins of 9/11 by Amy Zegart (Policy Disasters)

This book doesn’t have to do with education! But I still really liked it, and thought it has important lessons in it, both for national security and for other organizations. Zegart discusses how the structure and culture at the FBI and CIA failed to properly address the changes posed by the growth of international terrorism, and how that left the US vulnerable. The book is also very well organized and structured (really helpful if you’re trying to write about it), and I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about the structure of the FBI/CIA.

There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz (Introduction to Urban Policy)

This book also isn’t directly about education, but it does highlight the importance of addressing out of school factors, and how those also contribute to the achievement gap. This book follows two brothers, Lafeyette and Pharaoh, who are growing up in a housing project in Chicago, and the issues they face dealing with poverty, racism, violence, and structural inequality. It’s really well-written, and another book you don’t want to put down–Kotlowitz tells a powerful story that we don’t usually hear about in today’s society. I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about “The Other America,” or the issues faced in a community dealing with segregation and widespread poverty. This book does a great job portraying the effects of inequality in America, which is an issue not discussed enough.

My bookshelf, as seen in neater days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category(s): Academics | Share This

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02 Mar the other envelope

By Miranda B. on March 2 2012 |

Yesterday, my roommate checked our mailbox, and left the mail for me on the table. One ad was about buying a new car, but the other was a thick envelope from a grad school. Don’t get excited, it wasn’t that thick envelope, the type you get when you get into a school, it was just the type that you start getting when you start researching and putting your name on various grad school mailing lists. It was still exciting though, and it’s hopefully foreshadowing some more thick envelopes next year (with exciting things in them like acceptance letters!).

It’s weird not knowing where I’ll be in a little over a year. I know where I’m living and the general types of classes I’m taking next year, but everything stops with May 23, 2013. Putting a date on it seems weird, but graduation is the last planned event I know about (or really will know about) for another year (or more). I don’t know what city I’ll be living in, what type of program I’ll be doing, and what type of job prospects I’ll have.

A lot of the programs I’m looking at are residency based programs, which involve observations, internships, and/or student teaching in the community that the school of education serves. I’m interested in this type for several reasons–I think it’s really helpful to get hands-on experience while still in school (whether it’s for a MAT program (Master of Teaching) or a MA in Education Policy), and because many of these schools help you get set up to continue to work in these areas (either through fellowship programs, where your master’s is paid for if you commit to working in a certain community for several years after your master’s, or through the connections you’ve established while in school there). I love the fact that practically all of the programs I’m looking at have some sort of applied experience from the very beginning, but it’s also important for me to remember that choosing a grad school also means choosing where I want to spend the next few years.

I know I want to live in a city. I know I want to work in an urban school, and be an advocate for improving urban education. I know I want to live in the Northeast, except for the times when I start to wonder about places I’ve never even visited, let alone know if I’d want to live there. I’ve focused my schoolwork on American urban education, but urban education in other countries has its problems too–would I want to move somewhere new? Generally though, I stay focused on the Northeast, because that’s the only part of the East Coast (with the exception of central Virginia) that I have any real knowledge about.  It’s not very much knowledge though (apart from Baltimore)–I’ve visited the tourist-y parts of DC on daytrips, I’ve only been to Philadelphia when I was at UPenn for a tournament, I’ve only been to NYC once for a non-mock trial related trip, and I spent under 24 hours under it then. I’ve spent about a week in the Boston area (adding up the time spent there on my college visit the the two visits to my friend who goes to school in greater Boston), and a day in Providence. I’ve never been to Pittsburgh, New Haven, or anywhere in NJ that the Bolt Bus doesn’t drive through.

So where does this all take me? Lots of confusion and research. I’ve spent this afternoon sitting in the giant blanket fort my roommate and I made last night and alternating between research and trying to organize my thoughts on this blog. Where will I be in a few months? We probably won’t have the blanket fort up anymore, but I’ll be sitting on the green sofa thinking and dreaming, and counting down the last year of certainty. A few months after that? Rejoicing that I’m done with the GREs, and working on my personal statement. A few months later, mailing out the last of my own envelopes, and ideally a few months after that receiving some in return (or those virtual envelopes they call emails, I’m down with those too). And by May 23, I hope I know a lot more about what’s coming my way…

proof that I can figure out all of this eventually!

 

Category(s): Reflection, The "Real" World | Share This

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17 Feb Anachronistic Valentine’s Day Photoshoot

By Miranda B. on February 17 2012 |

OR: How to enjoy Valentine’s Day with your best friends.

OR: Yet another blog about why I love my friends.

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When people ask me why I chose Hopkins, I tell them that my number one reason was the lack of core curriculum. When they ask me why I like Hopkins, I tell them “the people.” It’s a theme you’ll see repeated throughout all of our answers to this question, and it’s really true. There are some professors here that have changed my outlook on life, some that have made it clear that they care about me as a person, and not just that I’m learning, and some that teach because they care about us learning. There are also numerous other adults on this campus who’ve had a positive impact on my experience here, and are part of the reason I value being here so much.

But on a day-to-day (and let’s face it, hourly or minutely) basis, it’s my friends and classmates that remind me how lucky I am to be here. I love being surrounded by people who care about school. I love being at a school where it’s expected that we care about our academics.

And I also love that even though we all care about our academic work and our future, we also care about having fun. And being ridiculous, and eating cupcakes, and everything that awesome people should participate in.

Without further ado, how to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your best friends and a bunch of vegan gluten free cupcakes!

1. Make sure everyone’s included. 

Zoe’s abroad right now in London, living in an awesome city and getting to eat food I’m constantly jealous for. She was still one of our valentines, and we all caught up via the wonderful tools that the 21st century has brought us.

Skype=awesomeness

2. Eat cupcakes.

Originally, we were planning on going out for dessert. But since I had a night class and Caitlin wanted to make cupcakes she could eat we decided to have our own party at our apartment.

These cupcakes are gluten-free and vegan and have candied violets on them and are DELICIOUS.

3. Dress up.

For us, this usually means having some sort of themed dinner or party. For our Rosh Hashana dinner, we had Biblical foods and made a tent in our living room. This time, we did a picnic in the park with Valentine’s Day colors and pretty dresses.

Yay pretty dresses! (and credits to my aunt for making the dress!)

4. Have a tea party!

Tea is classy, and goes perfectly with our theme of being ladies on a picnic.

Cupcakes+tea=tea party of my childhood dreams

5. Take ridiculous pictures

I’m pretty sure that the point of photobooth is to take ridiculous pictures that you find much later on. In that spirit, we unearthed some gems from freshman year, added to the collection, and had fun with the regular camera too.

One of the less-ridiculous pictures, with the appearance of a giant stuffed yeast microbe.

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 Happy Belated Valentine’s Day to everyone!

just another adorable guinea pig picture

Category(s): Perspectives, Social Life, Why Hopkins | Share This

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03 Feb Inter(esting)session, v. 2.0

By Miranda B. on February 3 2012 |

Something I’ve grown to love at Hopkins is Intersession. Really interesting classes, lots of free time, snow, and restaurant week are all things that happen during this time, and are all things that I love. Read on for my favorite parts of intersession this year (and you can also read about what I enjoyed last year!).

Class #1: Mind the Gap

Jonathan Kozol!

If you’ve read my blog over the last year, you’ll see that one of the things I’m most interested in is education (read about my (punny) academic decisions related to that here and here, as well as when I SAW JONATHAN KOZOL LIVE). When I saw this intersession class, I knew I had to take it, both for the subject matter and the fact that I appreciate punny titles. The “Gap” refers to the achievement gap in education, and we spent three weeks discussing causes of the gap, ways to measure it, and potential solutions. Our project for the class was to come up with our own plan to address an aspect of a neighborhood in Baltimore. We had to establish why this project was needed, details of it (with research to back it up), why we thought it would succeed, ways of measuring its success, and artifacts from the project (things like lesson plans, flyers, etc). It was the sort of class I love–really interesting material, a great instructor, and other students who care about the same things I’m interested in. The bad part? It was only three weeks, when it could have easily stretched into a semester.

Class #2: Dancing Like Jane Austen

This was a personal enrichment class offered through the Office of Student Life. It met three hours a week, and was designed to give us an overview of country dances that would have been popular during the time Jane Austen was writing. To make it better, all of the classes were held in the Homewood House on campus, which is from the period (definitely helped to establish us in this setting). Some people in our class had dance experience, some of us didn’t, but it was a great atmosphere for learning something completely different. It also makes me appreciate the type of dancing education people received back then–there were so many dances people were familiar with, could do well, and could dance for hours!

Mock Trial Goes to Fordham!

Freshman year, I went to New York City for the first time with Mock Trial. Since that point, out of the last three times I’ve been to the City, two of them have been for mock trial, including two weeks ago! Two of our teams went, and competed in Fordham’s tournament in the Bronx. Highlights of the weekend include waking up to snow Saturday morning, my team going 6-2, taking over a Chinese restaurant with 10 crazy mock trialers, 3 individual awards for the program, and the coolest BoltBus driver to drive a bus.

Cooking/Baking fun!

If you hadn’t already noticed, I post about food a lot. Intersession involved a four layer lime cake with homemade lime curd filling for my friend’s 21st, a belated mock trial family birthday cake making session, perfecting calzones (probably made them about 4 times in the last four weeks), deer cookies for mock trial, and eating an entire batch of chai cookies at exec board meeting.

Birthday cake!

DC/Virginia trip & Family Visit!

During the first week of intersession, my mother and aunt came to visit me for a few days. They went to museums while I was in class, and we went to Annapolis (which was BEAUTIFUL) and then to DC on Friday, before going to Virginia for the weekend. Looking up potential museum visits for DC gave me a long list of new museums to visit while I’m living in the greater DC region, including the Museum of Crime and Punishment! I ended up spending part of the day in the Air and Space Museum (which I’m in love with), learning about naval carriers and the politics of deregulation.

The view from Annapolis

Restaurant Week

Last week was Restaurant Week, which means that expensive places I don’t normally eat at have prix fixe menus with lots of delicious food! I went to Mezze with JHU_Sydney and JHU_Kate, which was delicious (even if Kate and I can’t pace ourselves correctly), and also meant we got to make Sydney run a marathon (jokes) and ride the JHMI and two different circulators. I also went to the Waterstone Bar and Grille in Mt. Vernon with people from my team, which was also delicious and fun. Food is a wonderful way to bond with people.

And now it’s the first week of the new semester! I’m still deciding on classes and working out my schedule but it’s looking like it’ll be a good semester!

Category(s): Beyond Baltimore, Classes, Intersession | Share This

6

31 Jan Thank you.

By Miranda B. on January 31 2012 |

If you’ve viewed the current student profiles page, you might have realized that this semester we’re missing a few people. Joe and Brian are no longer working with us, but the work, effort, and dedication they’ve put in is evident in what Hopkins Interactive is today.

Joe

When Joe began working on the website, it looked like this:

After countless hours of work and effort, Joe had turned the website into this:

The blogs all had to be transferred from typepad to wordpress and converted, themes and sidebars designed.

However, his work didn’t stop there. Joe’s work had made Hopkins Interactive into the beautifully designed and useful website it is today.

When the bloggers chose their blog theme, Joe was the one who made it work with the website, changed the colors and fonts to our satisfaction, and made it generally awesome (case in point see the top of the freshman blog).

He’s also responsible for updated forums, from transitioning from the old invisionfree forums to a newer version to the fully updated version that exists on the site currently. Transitioning didn’t mean just getting a new platform—it meant transferring all of the posts and accounts as well. He also was responsible for implementing the flickr page and designing the video page.

He’s also served as the producer for the Learn More, See More, B’More series, where he’s responsible for numerous behind the scenes roles. He’s also held roles as a blogger for the Class of 2013 blog and has maintained an official JHU twitter for the last year and a half.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of all the work that Joe has put in over the last two and a half years on this site and this group. He’s responsible for all of the code and the reason this website exists. You won’t see his name listed on credits for this site, but without him, this site would not exist.

Brian

Brian has been one of the leaders of SAAB for the last few years, where he has contributed ideas for Open House banners and new technology, among other things. As a freshman, he wrote for the Class of 2012 Freshman Engineering blog, and since Fall 2009 has maintained an official JHU twitter account.

Additionally, he served on the SAAB interview/selection panel for Fall 2009 and 2010. There, he created the first digital version of the SAAB application, and also helped recruit technical talent.

One of Brian’s biggest contributions has been his work on the Insider’s Guide. The Insider’s Guide has been one of the mainstays of Hopkins Interactive for the last few years. It’s an entirely student designed and written publication about life at Hopkins for prospective students. He’s worked on this for the past three years, putting in hundreds of hours. If you’ve been to an Admitted Student Open House, you’ve probably seen some of Brian’s work (and you can view the 2011 version here).

The Insider's Guide, 2009

The Insider's Guide, 2011

So much of what we see on Hopkins Interactive is the easily visible content–the blogs, the twitter feeds, the pictures, the video, the publications. It’s hard at times to remember how much work goes into making all of this happen. A video isn’t produced, filmed, and edited in a few minutes. The publications we produce aren’t just thrown together, they’re the work of hours and days of labor. The website we host isn’t just a basic template form–it’s a uniquely coded platform that supports an amazing site, full of amazing student content.

Joe and Brian, thank you for all the work you’ve put in over the years. This post doesn’t cover nearly all of what you’ve done, but I hope this thank you does.

edited 1/31/2012, 8:21 pm

Category(s): Perspectives, Reflection | Share This

2

10 Jan Eleven

By Miranda B. on January 10 2012 |

11 for 2011–Things I’ve learned, appreciated, or otherwise want to remember (Hopkins edition)

1. Pre-college. I can’t say enough wonderful stuff about pre-college. I’ve met so many awesome people, spent more time laughing, and spent more time in a laundry room bonding with the rest of staff than I could have ever imagined.

2. My apartment. I was hesitant about apartment life–I didn’t know what having all this responsibility would be like, not to mention all the extra space. It’s been so much more than I thought it could be. I have a wonderful roommate, a fantastic kitchen, and the best futon anyone could ever write a blog from. And potentially the coolest bookcase in Charles Village (see #8).

First of many delicious apartment dinners

3. My classes. Spring 2011 had probably my best set of classes. They were interesting, relevant, and most importantly, helped expose me to issues I truly care about, and want to work with in the future.

4. The Hopkins Beach (or, how I learned to be nocturnal). Beautiful sunny days during reading period and finals last year meant that I spent most of the afternoon outside, most of the night working, and most of the morning sleeping.

5. Winning a trophy (or plaque). My team has put in so much effort this semester, and it’s been so rewarding to both find funding to allow us to travel to new tournaments, but also to hold our own, and end up with a record we’re proud of.

6. Papers are still better than tests, but tests aren’t so bad after all. After freshman year and sophomore fall, I was ready to never take another test again. They freaked me out, I never did as well on them as on papers, and I much preferred writing papers. These past two semesters have made me more comfortable with tests again, although I’m still a much bigger fan of paper writing.

7. I can write 40 pages in a day. It’ll probably never happen again, but it’s good to know I can.

8. Books. Call me old school, but I still love paper books more than anything electronic. The Book Thing has helped me improve my college book collection, in addition to the classes requiring a new book every week.

 

the bookshelf in the process of being painted. wordpress doesn't want to recognize the picture of it with books :/

9. European pop music. My new study staple, and my new obsession to share with anyone who wants music recommendations.

10. Furry animals make studying so much better.

LUCY! (she's not in Baltimore, but she's pretty helpful with internship applications too)

11. My friends. I talk about them all the time on this blog, but they’re the #1 reason I love being here.


Category(s): Reflection | Share This

2

22 Dec So What’s the Workload Like?

By Miranda B. on December 22 2011 |

“How many hours a week do you spend studying?” 

“What types of assignments do you get?” 

“Which majors have the most work?” (often connected to “Do pre-meds have to work harder than other people?”) 

I get asked variations of these questions at every open house I’ve worked and on a fair number of the tours I’ve given. It’s a popular topic–people know that Hopkins is tough and that people here work hard, and are trying to get a realistic answer. Practically every time, as current students we all stand there, trying to figure out exactly how much work we do/how many hours we put in/if we’re doing more or less work compared to other students. To be honest, I never have a particularly articulate answer. As a social sciences student, my workload fluctuates a lot, depending on when I have papers due or tests. My classes aren’t usually based on weekly assignments, and instead just have a few assignments or tests and participation to determine my grade. So, here’s an attempt to shed more light on the workload.

This semester I took five classes (which you can read more about here): La France Contemporaine (400-level French language class on contemporary French culture, politics, and history), Introduction to African History Since 1880 (100-level introductory history class), Policy Disasters (400-level political science elective), Urban Politics and Policy (300-level political science seminar), and Constitution and Criminal Justice System (300-level political science elective).

My assignment/test list for the semester (this got made sometime mid-November when I wanted to convince myself that I was over halfway done with work)

The majority of my classes were upper-level electives, which in my experience has meant that there’s more flexibility on paper/project topics. For final papers, you’ll typically turn in an abstract or project proposal part of the way through the semester, but it’s up to you to choose a topic. Classes with response papers will either let you decide 1) which weeks you want to turn in papers 2) what topics you want to discuss in response papers or 3) all of the above. This semester, Policy Disasters had five papers with a fixed format, but we could choose which five weeks we wanted to write papers. Urban Politics and Policy had three papers, and we could choose the weeks and the topics. By contrast, my history class (which is a humanities class I need for my Africana Studies minor and will also fulfill the second of the two history classes I need for political science) had three in-term papers, all of which had fixed due dates and very specific topic choices.

Lots of social science also means the possibility of avoiding having many tests. I prefer writing papers to taking tests, and I feel like I’m able to express my knowledge of the subject better through a paper than a test, so I tend to gravitate towards classes that focus on papers and participation instead. Three of my classes this semester didn’t have tests during the term. I ended up with three unit tests for French (which ended up being lots of fun to study for, because it usually just meant two of my friends and I would sit around talking in French and eating bread, cheese, and grapes) and one midterm for CCJS. For finals, I had two tests (Policy Disasters and CCJS).

All of my classes had reading. Some of it never took long (French), some of it was inevitably several hundred pages a week (Policy Disasters and Urban Politics), and some of it varied depending on the week (CCJS). The thing I’ve learned about reading-intensive classes is that it helps a ton to be interested in what you have to read tons about. The reading for African history was under 100 pages a week, but it was typically more anthropologically or economically focused, not politically or sociologically focused, which meant that it was often easier for me to get through a several hundred page book for Policy Disasters. Some professors give guidelines for the reading (subjects to look out for or questions that will be discussed in class), while others just assign it.

So how much time do I spend working? It really depends week by week, and on other events going on. Two of my classes (and therefore 8 papers) could be schedule throughout the semester whenever I wanted, which gave me (needed) flexibility to deal with my mock trial schedule (I’ve reconciled myself to the fact that a weekend away from campus with mock trial means a weekend doing nothing but mock trial and no work). It also meant that I could clear the few days before a big tournament for more meetings and practice. After 5(!) semesters here, I’ve gotten much better at figuring out which readings are top priority, how to make myself get readings done sooner than right before class, when I need to start researching for a paper/writing a paper to make it turn out well, and (as of this semester, and hopefully for the future!) how to study more effectively without freaking out about tests.

One week I spent about 8 (keep in mind–this is a ROUGH estimate) hours studying/writing. Typically, in a week, I spend over 30 hours reading, studying, or writing. Some weeks I have tons of work due, and spend all of my free time working (40-60 hours? I’m still not sure of this hour count). Is this a lot? Yes, in comparison to high school, but in college so much of the work is done outside of the classroom, and I write SO MUCH MORE (capslock necessary to emphasize the difference) in college than I ever did in high school.

Does my major have more/less work than others? Again, hard to answer. The work in the social sciences is very different than what you’ll find in other areas. My roommate is a biology and public health double major who takes mostly science-based classes. We both put in a lot of hours, but hers are more focused on problem sets and studying for tests, and she has less reading and writing. Lots of work as well, but different work distribution!

So is all of this manageable? Absolutely, but keep in mind this is a schedule that’s a result of both me knowing what types of classes I’m most successful in and enjoy the most and of me learning college reading, writing and studying skills. I’m still able participate in several activities (one of which takes up at least as much time (if not more, probably more!) than a class), have an on-campus job, and spend time with my friends.

The takeaway? It’ll be a lot of work whichever path you choose. However, it’s much more manageable if you choose classes where you enjoy the material (a Sunday night reading a book on a topic you find interesting is much more appealing than forcing yourself to push through something you don’t care about at all), if you choose classes with a workload/testload (new word, don’t worry) that best fits the way you demonstrate your knowledge of a subject, and (possibly most importantly) if you remember the value of taking study breaks/being part of activities outside of classwork and studying. They’ll be a welcome distraction (no matter how much you love a class), will help you learn to manage time better, and will add significantly to the college experience.

 

Category(s): Advice, Classes | Share This

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