Senior Blog: Class of 2009

Wrapping up four years at Hopkins

Posted by Tanmay G.

As the last week of classes starts tomorrow morning, the realization that I won't be coming back to Hopkins next semester is just finally starting to set in. This weekend was Spring Fair, an annual campus festival with food vendors, arts & crafts stalls and carnival rides. It was actually the first time in the past four years that we went all 3 days (Friday-Sunday) with only minimal rain (a quick downpour on Saturday evening before the Roots' concert, but nothing during the day)!

I've been a member of HERO, the campus EMS unit, for the past 3.5 years, and when I was on the Board of Directors last fall, we decided we wanted to organize a free community CPR training session to give back to our campus community. We set out planning the event, hoping to train about 90 Hopkins students, faculty and staff in CPR and AED use.We realized how important it was for people on campus to know what to do in case of an emergency - even though we have a crew of three EMT's on call 24/7, it's vital that bystanders know how to call for help and provide initial care before we make it to a patient. We applied for a grant from the Alumni Association, which gives out over $75,000 in grant money to student groups each year, and also worked closely with the University's Occupational Health office and the Baltimore City Fire Department to setup and organize the class.  Over the past few weeks, a number of the instructors that teach our First Responder courseeach semester got certified as American Heart Association CPR instructors, and along with other HERO members, put together all the details to run the course.

This weekend, we taught three CPR/AED training sessions. On Thursday morning, three of us checked out a van from the Office of Student Life (vans are available to all students groups for a minimal per-mile fee) and drove down to the Medical Campus to pick up CPR training manikans and other training supplies from the Occupational Health office, and then headed to the Baltimore City Public Safety Training Center to pick up additional supplies from the City Fire Department. On Friday morning, as Spring Fair vendors were setting up their stalls on the freshmen quad, we setup our classroom in a large multipurpose room in one of the freshmen dorms. We taught a class on Friday afternoon, one on Saturday morning and another Saturday afternoon. We trained about 90 students in CPR and the use of Automated Extrenal Defibrillators - skills that could help save a life if someone on campus were to go into cardiac arrest.

All our instructors and TA's had a great time teaching our fellow students as well as a few faculty and staff members. The students seemed to enjoy the class as well, and if an unfortunate situtation were to ever come up where one of them had to use the skills we taught them, I hope they'll be ready to act.   

"My Very First Easter"

--Posted by Laura P

So, I love Easter. Well, I love Easter Egg Hunts. Growing up, my dad would hide plastic Easter Eggs, filled with candy, all over our backyard. As my sister and I got older, the eggs were hidden in increasingly harder spots, in tree branches, under planter pots, inside the drain pipes.... And despite the majority of our Easter Egg Hunts occurring in the rain (I grew up near Seattle), they were always one of the most fun mornings of the year!!

However, we kind of fell of the easter egg hunt bandwagon once my sister left for college, and now that I am in college, I hadn't actually done anything for easter until this year.

My roommates are all Jewish--which means that over the past few years I have learned about Yom Kippur, Passover, how to make matza ball soup and how amazingly delicious challah is.  Now, Jewish holidays are great--minus the whole no wheat/bread thing on Passover, but, no Easter Egg Hunts??? When I realized that my roommates had never experienced the wonder that is Easter Morning, I realized that I was obligated to show them an Easter Morning in style (but Kosher, because, of course, it was also passover.)

So, before Easter I bought chocolates, jelly beans, and a big chocolate rabbit, and filled plastic eggs with the candy.  Then, not having any baskets, I made my roommates "easter baskets",  and woke up extra early on Easter to hide eggs around our apartment and make brunch.

When they woke up, I explained the rules of Easter to them: In the common space there are 31 Easter Eggs hidden. Everyone gets a basket to put their eggs in. They are all visible from some angle (which may include lying on the floor upside down...), which really just means don't go through cabinets or drawers. Whoever finds the most eggs wins a prize! Yay prizes!

So, of course they all rushed into the room to find easter eggs!!

After they had searched for a while, they managed to find most of the eggs, however, there were still about ten left to find when we realized we needed to have a coffee break so that they had enough energy to find the rest of the eggs before breakfast was all ready... 

After our coffee break, they finished searching for the eggs--it got pretty dramatic when Rena, Matt and Sam all had 10 eggs, and there was only one left. I actually had to institute a rule so that no one would injure anyone else....

At the end, Sam found the last egg, so he won the chocolate easter rabbit!!

Fortunately, My roommates really liked that easter tradition, and now they can throw Easter Egg Hunts for all of their friends who may not have experienced the magic that is easter morning!

Where to now?

Posted by Tanmay G.

Right now, many of you all are in the same situtation that I am in, trying to decided where to spend the next four (or in my case, at least 7) years of our lives. I was in the same situtation as well four years ago, trying to decided what college I thought would be my best choice. I had the hardest time deciding, and didn't actually make a decision until the day the reply cards were due, but I'm very happy with the choice I made. I wanted to share a couple thoughts on how I made my decision then and what I'm considering now:

1. Ignore the stereotypes
Each college you will look at has certain stereotypes associated with it, and, as Wafa mentioned in her latest post, most of these come from people who have visited the campus or met anyone from the school. So don't cross schools off of your list because you've heard that they're "too boring", "too nerdy", "too Southern", "too hippy" or the like. Make these judgments for yourself, not based solely on the words of others

2. Don't give up if you're rejected from your "first choice" school  - it may be a blessing in disguise
To be perfectly honest, Hopkins was not my first choice school when I applied - it didn't even make my ranked list of schools that I had applied to. I applied to Hopkins on a whim because of the strength of the BME program, but knew absolutely nothing about the University in general. I had a clear first choice school that I didn't get into, and this rejection prompted me to reconsider all my other choices. I initially ignored my Hopkins acceptance, but once I decided to come visit campus, stay overnight and learn more about the University, I was convinced this is where I wanted to be. Having visited friends at my first choice school, I'm kind of glad I was forced to reconsider all my choices. While I may have been happier four years ago if I got into my first choice school, I think I fit a lot better into the culture and environment at Hopkins and I'm glad I ended up coming here. (I'm not just saying this to convince you to come to Hopkins. Hopkins is not the right school for everyone - and the same is true of every college out there. I just encourage everyone to consider all their options carefully before settling on a final choice)               

3. Visit the schools you've been accepted to if there's even a 0.01% chance you might want to go there
Continuing on my previous point, if you're even remotely considering attending a school, try to visit the campus and see how you feel there. I think the gut feeling you get when you step on a campus is a major factor in consdering where to go. If it's at all financially possible, try to visit as many schools as you can. While it may seem expensive to visit, I think it's worth making the investment now to ensure you're happy for the next four years. You may find that the school you thought was amazing and perfect for you just doesn't feel right when you visit and a school that you weren't sure you would like seems like the perfect place when you spend a night on campus. When you visit, don't just stick to the activities planned by the Admissions office. While these are always informative and useful, it's also useful to just wander around campus if you can. Sit in on a class and see how the students and teachers interact (you can get a course lists from the Admissions Office). Talk to students after class to see what they like and don't like about their school. Don't be afraid to talk to the current students - I know most would be happy to talk to you about their favorite and least favoriate parts of their experiences.

In conclusion, I guess all my three points are saying kind of the same thing - consider all your choices very carefully, visit as many as you can to get a feeling for campus, and then make your own judgements on where you think you will fit best.

Why I'm Still Glad I Chose Hopkins

Posted By Laura P.

Congratulations to the class of 2013!!!!!

Now is such an exciting time for all of you!! I can't believe that I am a senior now too, because making my decision to come to Hopkins really doesn't feel like it happened that long ago... I remember getting my letter/acceptance package in the mail (no I didn't get an e-mail!), and ecstatically opening it at the mailbox!

I loved Hopkins from the first time I visited; I even considered applying E.D. here, so I was excited to get that letter---and pretty set on going to Hopkins once I got in.

After nearly four years here, I am still happy that I chose Hopkins. I LOVE the school for so many reasons!!
Here are the top three:

1. The Classes are GREAT.
I LOVE my classes here. Each semester I get incredibly excited to peruse the course listings and pick out the 15 or so classes that I am interested in--the hard part is always narrowing it down! I think it is a good sign when there are always too many classes that I want to take, rather than too few. Not only do the classes sound great in the catalog, most of them turn out to be great! This is generally a combination of great Professors, engaged classmates, and, of course, interesting subject matter. Some great classes I've taken have been: Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Hemingway with Professor Irwin, Comparative Freedom Struggles (Comparing the South African Anti Apartheid to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement) with Professor Shell-Weiss, Feminist Epistemology with Prof. Tumulty and Gender and Health with Prof. Goodfellow.

2. The People
Even more than the great Professors and Classes that are offered at Hopkins, the people here are what make the school so great. Having great people in your classes can even turn an okay class into a really fun one.  But more than that, the people that you become close to here really do become your best friends, your support group, and your family. I don't know what I would do without my amazing roommates or my great group of friends. They help you out when you are sick, go out with you on the weekends, and are always up for coffee breaks when you are tired of studying.

3. Extracurriculars
Being involved on campus makes life on campus a LOT more fun and a LOT more interesting. When you're involved, you know what's going on (because you hang out with other involved people), you get to meet a ton of people who don't live on your floor or aren't in your major, and you get to have something to look forward to other than going to class each day.  Over the past four years I have been involved in a ton of different stuff, but my favorite groups, and the one's I've been most involved with, are the Student Admissions Advisory Board (SAAB), and the Johns Hopkins Outdoors Club (JHOC). I've been involved with both of these groups the whole time I've been at Hopkins, and have become really great friends with other members in the groups, and have had a ton of fun working with the groups. I can't imagine a complete experience here without doing SAAB and JHOC, or any other slough of student groups, because they really have been a huge part of my time here.

Now, while at any college you'll take classes, meet great people, and be involved in extracurriculars, the most important thing is finding a college that fits well for you--in all of those ways. I love the classes here because students are engaged and the professors are great teachers.

The people here are a great fit because they are driven to succeed but still want to enjoy life and what is going on around them. Furthermore, everyone here tends to be passionate about what they do--and it is great to get to share peoples passions with them.

And the student groups are wonderful because people are generally committed to their activities, because they want to be a part of what they do--which makes being involved a lot more fun.

So, while I may have fallen in love with Hopkins because the first day I visited campus, it was sunny and warm and the cherry trees were blossomming--I am glad I chose to come to Hopkins for so many other reasons.

Good Luck on your Decisions!!!