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| Meet JHU_Mandy - Cary, NC; Public Health Studies Major | |
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| Topic Started: Sep 14 2009, 10:10:32 PM (2,669 Views) | |
| JHU_Mandy | Sep 14 2009, 10:10:32 PM Post #1 |
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Hello! My name is Mandy and I'm a senior majoring in Public Health Studies. I'm from Cary, NC, in the Research Triangle Park area. -------------------------------------------------- Why Hopkins? The reasons why I chose to come to Hopkins are so different from the reasons why I'm glad I chose to come here. So, first things first, I chose Hopkins because of its outstanding programs in the natural sciences and great preparation for medical school. However, three majors and a new advising track later, I'm glad I came here because of all strengths across so many different disciplines. If I had gone somewhere with a strong department in just one major, I would have been quite stuck when I decided it wasn't my calling. Hopkins is equally great for those who know exactly what they want, and for those of us who only think they do. -------------------------------------------------- Classes fall 2007 (click here for a blog about these classes) Organic Chemistry I Expository Writing: Ethics, Genetics, and Healthcare Freshman Seminar: On the Road Intro to Bioethics Introduction to Personality Theory intersession 2008 (click here for a blog about these classes) Soren Kierkegaard spring 2008 (apparently I never wrote a blog specifically about these classes?!) Organic Chemistry II Intro Organic Chemistry Lab Cognitive Neuroscience General Physics I for Physical Science Majors General Physics Lab I fall 2008 (click here for a blog about these classes) Anthropology of Mental Illness Calculus II General Physics II for Physical Science Majors General Physics Lab II Business Law spring 2009 (click here for a blog about these classes) Intro to Moral Philosophy Philosophical Implications of Clinical Neuroscience International Human Rights Law in US Courts Law, Psychology, and Public Policy Fundamentals of Health Policy & Management fall 2009 (click here for a blog about these classes) Politics and Policy Design American Constitutional Law Politics of Health Policy The Environment and Your Health Public Health Biostats intersession 2010 (click here for a blog about these classes) Seminar in International Development and Policy spring 2010 (click here for a blog about these classes) American Literature to 1865 Elements of Microeconomics Constitutional Law Courts, Politics, and Public Policy Fundamentals of Epidemiology summer 2010 Elements of Macroeconomics fall 2010 Economics of Health The Constitution and Criminal Justice System Social and Economic Aspects of Human Fertility* Life and Death in Charm City: Histories of Public Health in Baltimore* Maternal and Child Health Legislation and Programs* Health Behavior Change at the Individual, Household, and Community Levels* (* denotes a class taken at the Bloomberg School of Public Health) -------------------------------------------------- Extracurriculars student admissions advisory board SAAB is the group of students behind these posts, the blogs, Facebook groups and pages, Twitter accounts, and other projects that are in various stages of development. other various admissions involvement I work part-time in the Admissions office, working with Admissions_Daniel on all sorts of projects. Some of it is Hopkins Interactive related, other tasks are more related to actual Admissions functions. Like several other SAAB-ers, I've also been trained to give on-campus interviews as part of the Admissions Representatives group (ARs, for short). I love meeting with prospective students to hear their thoughts on the process and offer my own experiences at Hopkins. undergraduate academic ethics board I joined the Ethics Board during my sophomore year and became presiding official and chair as a junior. We handle cases of academic dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism, etc.) which is an unfortunate but necessary position. It's kind of tough sometimes but it's actually been a very important experience for me in my time at Hopkins. pre-law society The Pre-Law Society at Johns Hopkins has gone through phases of dying off and being reactivated over and over again. But now we have a very involved exec board and a lot of interested students, so I think it is here to stay for awhile. This is basically a resource for students considering a legal education, and as someone getting busy with law school applications, it's great to be a part of. -------------------------------------------------- Dorm Life Freshman year, I lived in Wolman Hall, in a suite of three girls with a shared bathroom and kitchenette. I lived in a single but enjoyed living in a suite so I had semi-proxy roommates. Sophomore year, I lived in a four-person suite in Charles Commons, where each of us had a single bedroom with a shared living room, kitchenette, and two bathrooms. Junior year, I moved “off-campus,” but my apartment building is actually situated just between Wolman Hall and Charles Commons. I live in an efficiency and enjoy having my own space. I decided to stay in the same apartment for my senior year and I’m loving it. Check out my Cribs blogs to get a tour of my living spaces over the past few years! |
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mandy jhu class of 2011 public health studies read my blog! | |
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| JHU_Mandy | Sep 24 2009, 10:26:28 AM Post #2 |
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hello, again! Here's a little archive of some past questions I've gotten, with my responses. Hopefully this will help someone, and if you have any questions about anything you see, or something else, ask away!
Great questions. Let me actually address your second one first. If you're intending to follow the pre-med track, any natural sciences major would allow you to meet the requirements. In fact, you can major in anything you want, just as long as you take the classes required for med school. Here's a list of what most medical schools want you to have taken as an undergraduate. 1 yr. of general chemistry with associated labs 1 yr. of organic chemistry with one associated lab 1 yr. of biological science coursework with associated labs 1 yr. of general physics with associated labs 1 yr. of English (composition and/or literature) 1 yr. of mathematics (calculus and/or statistics) 1 sem. of biochemistry (required by 30+ schools) with associated labs Up to 24 credits in social sciences and humanities from the office of pre-professional advising, here: http://web.jhu.edu/prepro/health/overview.html Let me also direct you to this other message thread where there's more discussion on the pre-med track. http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums...p?showtopic=244 As for the neuroscience question: Unfortunately, there aren't really many neuroscience classes offered for Freshmen. There is a class called Physiological Psychology, which is an introductory-level course on relating brain structure to function, basically. This is NOT a pre-requisite for other later neuro classes, so I actually did not take it. In the spring, the freshman class is called Cognitive Neuroscience, which IS a pre-requisite for later classes, so if you intend to major in neuroscience, you really should take this class in the spring. Freshman year is a great time to take classes that are of personal interest to you, since there aren't too many requirements that you have to get in. This is from the office of academic advising, it's a great place for an overview of the Neuroscience major, and you can check out other majors as well. It has links to the department's website as well. http://www.jhu.edu/~advising/majors_neuroscience.htm So for you, personally, it all depends on what you're interested in. There is a writing requirement (12 credits total), so I took an Expository Writing class first semester. As far as the Calculus goes, I'm pretty sure they offer Calc II in the fall, so you could take that if you wanted. Biology with lab is another good one to take, especially if you don't have to take Chemistry and lab at the same time. One thing I'll have to say--if you got AP credit for Chemistry, I would NOT recommend taking Organic Chemistry freshman year. I took it this year, but only because I took Chem I and II at a state university during the summer. Organic Chem is extraordinarily hard, not just content-wise, but also because it requires taking a different approach to it, one I was not ready for. Many freshmen who take it end up very stressed...heck, many sophomores and upperclassmen who take it end up stressed! It's hard..I'd suggest waiting until after you've figured out what works for you in university-level classes and once you've established a good learning technique. And about the credit limits: For freshmen in the School of Arts and Sciences, the limit is 16, but I think 17.5 is allowed IF you take a foreign language. I think that's right...hm..It's only for the engineering students that the freshman limit is 18.
Just making sure you know this--"premed" isn't a major, it's just a sort of track for advising purposes. If you're interested in IR, you can major in that and still be on the premed track, you just have to take some classes that would be outside of the IR major but are required for med school. There are also a lot of students who double major in IR and Public Health to pursue international health issues. I think it's a pretty cool (and very practical) combination. I know what you mean with the last part of high school. Getting accepted on Dec. 15 makes it a bit rough to stay motivated and focused for another several months. The best thing I can tell you is to just stay on top of your studies...if for no other reason just to be absolutely sure you maintain the standards you've set for yourself. Give yourself the satisfaction of completing high school all the way through with your strongest efforts and performance. Does that make sense? I just mean you've worked so hard up until now, don't let yourself slack off--but definitely don't be afraid to take the time to pursue other interests. Have fun! Enjoy the comforts of home and high school and knowing everyone. You'll be glad you did it, I promise. Also, one thing Admissions_Daniel reminded me of was that you don't have to come in to your freshman year with a definite major. Academic advising is a great resource for helping students pursue their interests but still end up graduating with some kind of degree. Also, just make sure to stay open-minded. I came in dead-set on Neuroscience and now I'm strongly considering Chemistry.
1. I couldn't even imagine what was waiting ahead of me when I was a senior in high school. I knew college would be a completely different world, not only because of the course work but also because of being away from home and having to keep myself motivated since Mom and Dad aren't here to ask me if I've done all my homework. Now don't let that scare you. When you come, there are going to be about 1200 other students in the EXACT same situation you are in. All of the excitement during orientation will certainly help put you at ease in some respects. In order to do well...hm, this is kinda tough, as I'm still figuring that one out for myself Seriously though, the best thing I can tell you is that you have to be open-minded and understand that you may need to 'learn how to learn.' Your high school study habits may or may not work for you in college and you'll just have to experiment a bit to figure out how to best use your time. In college, you'll have a lot more free time and it's easy to let it slip away from you, so just try to figure out how you can make the most of your time. What's worked for me is (on Sundays) to write out every specific thing I want to do for each day of the week. It's not set in stone, but it gives me an idea of what I need to get done to stay on track. There is an infinite number of resources if you need help! All professors have office hours, during which you can pop in and ask a question, and I'd say pretty much all of them would be happy to make an appointment with you if you can't go during their office hours. Also, bigger classes have a teaching assistant or several (also known as a TA). They also have office hours if you'd rather approach them than the professor. In addition, for the large science classes, the pre-health honor society hosts free tutoring sessions. For Organic Chem, they host one a couple of weeks before each exam, though they might host more for different classes. Also, Academic Advising offers tutors. If you have a group of 2-4, it costs $30/semester. There's also a ton of those study-type books that you can buy or use in the library (i.e. Schaum's outlines, the .."for dummies" series, etc.) Another thing to keep in mind is that we have an excellent health center and counseling center. If you are having a difficult time, the counseling center is free and completely confidential. They could even just help you learn how to deal with stress and that sort of thing. They're great, don't be afraid to use them as well. 2. The library is open quite late. A-level is open until 12 am, and then the other levels are open until 3 am. Next school year, when Gilman has closed (it used to have a 24-hour reading room), M level of the library--which is the main floor--will be open 24/7. And YES, you can get a security escort. They'll tell you all about that service and others like it during orientation. They REALLY encourage you to use that service and are more than happy to escort students. It's a very safe campus, but they do everything in the world to keep it that way. 3. You have to wait a certain waiting period before you can get a new roommate, I believe it's 6 weeks. During that time though, you can have meetings with your RA (resident advisor) who can help you and your roommate resolve any conflicts you have. The reason for the waiting period is so that you can try to resolve it on your own instead of just instantly moving out. I know someone who switched roommates between the first and second semesters and it worked out just fine for everyone.
Pre-med is not a major at Hopkins, it is an "advising track." If you want to go to med school, you can major in ANYTHING you want, but there's a few advisors who you can see during your time at Hopkins to make sure you're on the right track and meeting all the requirements. While you can major in anything, there are some courses you do need to take in order to get in to medical school, which are: 1 yr. of general chemistry with associated labs 1 yr. of organic chemistry with one associated lab 1 yr. of biological science coursework with associated labs 1 yr. of general physics with associated labs 1 yr. of English (composition and/or literature) 1 yr. of mathematics (calculus and/or statistics) 1 sem. of biochemistry (required by 30+ schools) with associated labs Up to 24 credits in social sciences and humanities from the office of pre-professional advising, here: http://web.jhu.edu/prepro/health/overview.html Let me also direct you to this other message thread where there's more discussion on the pre-med track. http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums...p?showtopic=244 You can also take a look at the Pre-professional advising website (the first one linked to above), just to get an idea of what it's all about. Also, if you're interested, here's a list of all the majors at Johns Hopkins: http://apply.jhu.edu/academics/majors.html
The average courseload for Arts and Sciences students is 15 credits per semester, which is usually about 5 classes. (I say 15 credits "usually" amounts to 5 classes because some science classes are 4 credits, some labs are 2, some labs are 1, it really varies...but many of the social science and humanities courses are 3 credits each). For Engineering students, the credit average is 16-18 credits, and I'm not exactly sure how this translates (into a number of classes), because I think the courses over in those departments are generally for more credits. I'd imagine it's just about 5-6 classes though. There is a credit limit for students, though you can get permission to go over it. For Arts and Sciences freshmen, you can only take 16.5 credits (without getting special permission), and freshmen engineers can take up to 18.5 credits. Arts and Sciences upperclassmen can take up to 18.5 credits, and Engineering upperclassmen can take up to 19.5 credits. (this is all from the Academic Handbook), http://www.advising.jhu.edu/images/handboo..._Manual_08.pdf |
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mandy jhu class of 2011 public health studies read my blog! | |
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| TellyMonster | Apr 8 2010, 07:07:56 PM Post #3 |
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Im so excited about coming to Johns Hopkins , going to the lacrosse games, and enjoying all the activities on campus but that's after I'm done with my homework  My major is behavioral biology, which I found interesting. When I first applied to JHU I was like Im going to do PRE MED all the way then it wasn't on the supplement lol... I am really curious about classes I'm gonna have to take. How does class scheduling work? I'm sure it's not like high school when your counselor just made your schedule and delivered it to you, or is it that way???? |
Thinking logical to me was illogical so I took impossible and turned it into optical. ♥ On my way to success 
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| JHU_Mandy | Apr 8 2010, 08:49:52 PM Post #4 |
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I love picking classes, browsing through the course listing is very fun. Basically, what you'll do is look at the requirements for your major, and this link from academic advising is tremendously helpful--it has a link to the major requirements and a sample first-semester schedule. So take a look at those things for starters, then go through the course listing, which can be found HERE for Fall 2010. Start making up some possible schedules and thinking about what possible options you'd like as back-ups. You'll register for your classes in July, and afterwards, your advisor (who is assigned to you alphabetically) will provide you feedback to make sure everything looks okay. You'll get some materials from Academic Advising prior to registration that basically tell you all of this (and more!) so you have some idea of how the process works, but it's much different from high school! It's really up to you to take whatever you'd like! Congratulations on your acceptance to Hopkins
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mandy jhu class of 2011 public health studies read my blog! | |
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| hopcopsarecool:) | Apr 5 2011, 11:16:03 PM Post #5 |
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Hi Mandy! I was admitted to JHU with public health as my potential major but since I haven't taken any classes of that subject yet, I'm not sure if I'll like it! How does the changing majors process work? I'm not saying I want to switch now haha but I'm just curious |
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| JHU_Mandy | Apr 6 2011, 07:59:30 AM Post #6 |
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First of all, congratulations on your acceptance to Hopkins! Changing majors is very easy (of course, I'm a pro, but I think even first-time-changers find it to be a simple process). First, note that freshmen cannot declare a major until the end of the freshman year (at the earliest) and can wait until the end of the sophomore year. So if you were to come in freshman year, take some public health classes, some other classes and decide at the end of the year that you want to be a public health major (or any other major), you just fill out the "add/change majors" form. You write in your basic information, which major to add (or change), you sign it, and you get an advisor to sign it (I think...I'm trying to remember if you even need an advisor's signature to add a major, but we'll just say that you do). Since you were admitted to the university overall, rather than to a particular major, you can come in and choose anything you'd like! (Exception here is BME, which you have to specifically apply for when you're applying to the university). If you decide after you've declared a major, at any point, that you want to change majors, add a double-major, add a minor, or anything else, you simply fill out the form again. You'll want to talk with an advisor if you're thinking about changing majors, but they're only here to help and won't keep you from doing what you want to do. Also, if you have declared a major, you'll have a faculty advisor in that department (otherwise you have a general freshman advisor). So, if you do want to change your major, and you're feeling awkward about talking to a faculty member in the department you're getting out of, you can go back and see your freshman advisor or go see someone in the new department -- any signature is fine! That's kind of a long-winded response, I hope it helps! Let me know if you have any other questions and congratulations again! |
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mandy jhu class of 2011 public health studies read my blog! | |
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