What do you need to get into John Hopkins Medical School?

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is an institution steeped in tradition and respect for tradition. Hopkins has been voted America's Best Hospital five years in a row by U.S. News & World Report and advertises this rating with a large banner at the main hospital entrance. Hopkins students are continuously reminded that they are one of a very select group.

Admissions/Financial Aid 

It is difficult to gain admission. Of the 3,800 students who apply to Hopkins each year, about 700 are interviewed, and 120 students are admitted. Last year, 53 percent of the admitted class was female. Underrepresented minority applicants are invited for a welcoming weekend organized by minority medical student groups and are admitted according to special criteria.

Although Hopkins is a private school with total costs of more than $30,000 per year, financial aid can relieve the financial worry. Eighty percent of students receive financial aid, and the average indebtedness is about $55,000. Tuition is locked in and inflation-proof at matriculation, the unit loan is fully fundable through deferred-interest loans, and grant money is amazingly available (the average grant is $13,000). Informal polls of students reveal that Hopkins gave them outright grants three to twelve times as large as those offered by competing East Coast schools. Last year, the medical school dean even toyed with the idea of abolishing tuition completely.

Preclinical Years 

The Hopkins faculty received a multimillion dollar grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to revise the medical school curriculum. Many changes have occurred since the School received the grant. During first year, classes are over by 1:00 and students have up to 3 hours of smallgroup attention daily from full-fledged professors,even Nobel Prize hopefuls. Instead of having multiple classes histology, cell biology, molecular biology, etc.) that have their own tests, the entire education occurs one class at a time. Therefore, there's one test every two to three weeks.


Surprisingly, tests are open book (except in anatomy). This leads to a collegial atmosphere where one can actually enjoy medical school and classmates. Every fortnight, students observe a clinician one onone and sometimes participate in care (one first year student even helped deliver a baby). Although Hopkins still has a letter grade system, almost 75 percent receive B's in their classes, making for a somewhat mellow atmosphere. Students often quip, "C=M.D." Hopkins has also launched a muchballyhooed Physician and Society class to humanize student-doctors, but students generally consider this feeble.

An almost three month vacation follows first year, during which students can get funding to do almost anything (they have traveled to Australia, worked on Indian reservations, and even written computer programs over that summer). However, Hopkins becomes a lot less fun during the second year. Students ahould get ready to write off this year of their life. Instead of the big picture approach, second year is details, details, and details. Gone are open book tests and all but one to two free afternoons, and class becomes an exercise in endurance. Students have plenty of time to ponder the universe from 8 am to 5 p.m. every day.

Unfortunately, they have the added burden of volumes upon volumes of additional reading (at Hopkins, all professors are required to furnish complete notes ot each lecture). But there is a good side: students finally learn medications and dosing, pathophysiology (the study of failing organ systems), and pathology (the study of failing tissues).

Clinical Years 

Hopkins begins clinical training right after spring break of the second year, almost three months earlier than other schools. Unlike other medical schools, Hopkins doesn't require national board exams before beginning clinical training (students can take them any time before graduation). Managed care has not penetrated Maryland yet, so students do not learn office medicine as they would in California. While Johns Hopkins is the prime hospital, affiliated hospitals include Hopkins Bayview, Sinai, St. Agnes, Franklin Square, Good Samaritan, and others.

The tradition of Hopkins excellence is clear during weekly Medical Grand Rounds, which are a veritable who's who of world famous clinicians discussing the latest advances in medicine. The Johns Hopkins Hospital is renowned for its stellar departments in medicine, pediatrics, surgery, ophthalmology, neurology, and almost every other specialty (notably, however, Hopkins lacks a family practice department). During clinical years, students carry patients, order labs, work with world class attendings, and present to their floor team. They are pimped (asked tough questions they probably don't know the answer to), but end up strong (the ultimate compliment given by house staff). Hopkins surgery is said to be more hands off than other schools (students almost never do anything but stitch occasionally), but it is very well organized. Heart transplants, Whipple procedures, and knee replacements students see them all at Hopkins. Pediatrics is strong as well, but it is in transition and currently has no chairperson. Students are more hesitant to recommend psychiatry and ob/gyn because of their poor teaching and department personalities.

"Johnny Hopkins Magic" - ft. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Class of 2020

Because clerkships begin early and can be taken in any order, students have great freedom to explore (they can take orthopedics, pediatric oncology, or anything else in the tall of third year). Specialty clerkships (about half of a medical education) are tops, with world class attendings in cardiology, infectious diseases, surgical subspecialties, geriatrics, rheumatology, and more. If anything negative can be said, it is that the emphasis on new knowledge and research excites more students to pursue academic careers and specialization rather than routine primary care. In fact, almost 15 percent of students seek out fellowships so they can take a year off during medical school and pursue research. However, the School is considering requiring a primary care clerkship for future classes.

At the end of clinical training, students are highly marketable to residencies and even fellowships. The Dean writes letters on behalf of all students applying to residencies, and truly facilitates the process.

125 Years of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Social Life 

Hopkins attracts students from almost all fifty states, with a good representation of sexes and ethnicities. About 10 percent are married, and most are in their early 20s (although students range to age 40). With so much free time first year, school is very social with dinners, dancing, and parties galore. This peters out somewhat as the years go on (small social groups inevitably form), but Schoolwide activities such as the annual Monte Carlo Night formal, Mardi Gras party, and winter satire show still draw many students. Most first-year students live in Reed Hall, a mouse filled but fiin dorm situated in East Baltimore, and some nights they are sure they hear machine gun fire. Because of incidents four years ago, security has been beefed up, without similar incidents in the past three years. Because rent is so cheap in Baltimore ($800 per month can get students a three bedroom apartment in the nice parts of town) and the East Baltimore area is so dangerous, upperclassmen generally move to genteel Mt. Washington, hip Mt. Vernon, or raucous Fells Point.

A car is almost mandatory, and students can get away to rural Maryland for biking, vineyard tours, or autumn pumpkin picking in about 20 minutes. While Baltimore has gotten a bad rap for safety, it is an eminently accessible city. Orioles baseball games at Camden Yards are awesome, subscriptions to the historic Center Stage Theater are only S39 per year, and even the finest restaurants are affordable. Students often congregate in bar-packed Fells Point for dancing or drink beers in the more refined Mt. Washington Tavern. Sailors can rent boats for only $20 a day in the Baltimore harbor, and sea watchers can relax and watch them in the nicely redeveloped Inner Harbor wixh its museums and shops. Washington, D.C., is an hour's drive or train ride away. Climate ranges from sultry summers to moderate winters with occasional snow.

Campus Profile - Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine offers maximum prestige and outstanding resources, but at the cost of a private school tuition rate and four years in a mediocre city. However, even years and years after graduation, graduates are known as a "Hopkins" woman or man. Where graduates choose to go afterward is limited only by their imagination.
Web https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/som/