Hopkins Insider

Lots of Little Things

Is there anything better than a beautiful Sunday morning, a nice cold glass of orange juice, your dog, and no commitments? Unfortunately that is just a fantasy right now for me -- instead I am "enjoying" a busy Sunday, a glass of cold water to counteract the sweltering heat, and lots of work. But at least I have the nice distraction of updating my blog with my dog (Sozë) snoring behind me.

Yesterday (July 29) was our second Summer Open House and outside of some faulty microphones the event was a spectacular success. As expected the turnout was quite large. We packed Shriver Hall and most likely surpassed the 1100+ visitors that we had for the first program earlier this month. For those in attendance, I hope you had a great visit, appreciated the cold water we provided at the end, and at least to some degree enjoyed the humor of myself and my colleagues during the Admissions panel. (And remember as I mentioned in my last update, if you didn't attend a Summer Open Houses you should consider coming for one of our Fall events.)

So, over the past few months I have been collecting post-it notes and scraps of paper with various blog topic ideas. None of the ideas actually ever seemed interesting enough to justify a full entry alone. But see the pile is getting quite large, so I thought I would just combine all these little notes into one full entry. Here we go, post-it note by post-it note:

(1) Often prospective students ask for examples of Hopkins undergraduates engaged in research. Just this summer I learned of a few amazing projects and I thought I would share:

• Four Mechanical Engineering students invented a lightweight, portable Braille writing device that requires no electronic components. For the full story and pictures, click here and/or here.
• Woodrow Wilson fellows pursue independent inquiries in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Some recent examples: here and here.
• The 11-member winning team at the last BME Design Day competition presented a less invasive prototype that may improve heart surgeries. To learn more about this provisional patent project, click here and/or here.
• Team of Hopkins researchers unearth a 3,400 year old Egyptian queen. Read their blog entry or the official story.
• Sophomore Physics student wins a Provost Undergraduate Research Award to assist in developing wireless monitoring system to work with ecosystem research. More here.
• First we had five students selected as Fulbright Scholars (here), and now we have two more (here).
• And oh yeah, the streak continues!!! For the 26th straight year, Johns Hopkins University leads all U.S. academic institutions in research funding. Read about how far ahead we are, here. 

(2) For Class of 2010 members stilling enjoying reading the Insider, I recommend checking out the most recent blog entries from the Hopkins Interactive students. Each student has posted an "advice" blog, providing you all with things to consider before arriving in Baltimore in about a month. Links: Laura, Esther, Julia, Michelle B., Stefanie, Michelle T., Rachel, and Phil.

(3) "We are much more than medicine!" I always say it, and I have even more proof now:

• New director of Africana studies; click here.
• Twin spacecraft built by JHU's Applied Physics Lab prepares for launch. Read more about the STEREO mission here.
• Mattin Art Center turns five years old. Article and slide show.
• New Head of the Peabody Institute; click here.
• New Museums and Society interdisciplinary program; click here.

(4) How cool is this? Our Dean of Student Life, Susan Boswell, along with the Student Life Advisory Committee has created a Faculty Associates Program which seeks to connect undergraduates and faculty in even more ways. Faculty have been invited to join an new program that will connect them to the student by using the residential communities. More to follow about this program, but my personal opinion is that this is a great idea. Read more here.

(5) To Do: Buy vacuum, change phone service provider, fix TiVo in bedroom -- oops sorry. That post-it note is in the wrong pile.

(6) Looking for an interesting book to read about College Admissions? I suggest College Unranked: Ending the College Admissions Frenzy edited by Lloyd Thacker. I am currently half-way through, and I know when I finish it I will be writing about it here. Just thought I'd pass the recommendation along now, before I share my thoughts in the future.

(7) What do you all think about this -- A "Rainbow" Approach to Admissions? Share your thoughts in the comments section. Would you be more or less likely to complete such an application?

(8) Here are three other articles I stumbled across a while back and thought I would share: 10 Mistakes Freshmen Make & Top Ten List of Things I Wish I Had Known About College Admissions & 10 Antidotes to College-Application Anxiety.

(9) Popular Science released their Fourth Annual Brilliant 10 list and one-fifth of the selections are Hopkins faculty: Hope Jahren and Nathan Wolfe.

(10) Ok last note -- hey cool, a perfect list of 10 (well except for #5, but we won't worry about that). Actually this is more of an announcement / teaser. For those who enjoy Hopkins Interactive and our blogs and message boards, please note that we are actively working on H.I. version 2.0. We hope to launch in September with a lot more content, new features, and many more interactive tools. Until the re-launch there will be few updates, outside of new entries to this blog. But when we do re-launch I think you all will be quite excited.

Last thought: I think this entry has broken the record for most links. I'm glad that cyberspace is chock full of so much information. Cheers!

Open Houses, Frisbees, and Bunnies

Greetings once again. I have returned to Baltimore after a few days of  summer recruitment travel in New England, specifically Providence and Boston. The trip was great not only because I got to meet over a thousand students as they attend summer enrichment programs at Brown, Harvard, and Phillips Academy, but more because my Mom actually took the trip with me. Good times, with the best moment having to be when we experienced for the first time our view from our hotel in Providence (see picture). Magnificent view!!! A close second would be seeing over 100 hundred extras for the new show on Showtime The Brotherhood crossing a street. The worst aspect - THE TRAFFIC!

About a week before my trip, July 8 to be exact, I also had the chance to meet with over a thousand people to discuss Johns Hopkins. This time though it wasn't just me and my Mom, but all my colleagues and a lot of great student volunteers. The event was the first of our two summer Open Houses and the turnout was impressive. The rough estimates were close to 1100 visitors, which nearly doubles the attendance at our first summer Open House in 2005. If you were there, I hope you had an amazing visit and learned a lot about JHU. If you are already registered for the July 29 program, than I look forward to seeing you on-campus. If the summer Open Houses didn't work for you, don't fret -- you can still attend one of our two fall Open House programs (here's the RSVP form).

[[[Please note: Due to an exceptionally positive response to our July 29 Open House, we can no longer accept new reservations for that program. We already anticipate over 1100 visitors and unfortunately can not accommodate additional reservations.]]]

I've always enjoyed our summer Open Houses for a number of reasons: (1) the program is only a half day; (2) no suits nor ties!!!; (3) and I get to moderate one of the panels. Just kidding (sort of). Seriously though, the Open House is a perfect chance to get a glimpse of Hopkins. There are so many options nowadays on what kind of campus visit you can have, my preference still remains that if you are able to you visit during an Open House . At Hopkins we actually offer three different types of Open Houses, and I recommend them all.

First, we hold two Open Houses over the summer that are tailored to the prospective student getting their first glimpse at Hopkins. These half-day programs are perfect for those who want the "big picture" look at JHU. During the morning sessions you get to hear from and ask questions of faculty, academic advisors, staff from various student life offices, and current students. As morning becomes afternoon we finish the program with a very helpful Admissions and Financial Aid panel (helpful mainly because I moderate - wink, wink) and then a campus tour. In just four hours you get a comprehensive introduction to Johns Hopkins and we hope it will help you make that decision about whether or not our university fits what you are looking for.

In the Fall, we once again offer two Open House programs geared to the prospective student but things are a bit different. First, these are full-day programs held on a Saturday in October. Second, each program is related to specific areas of studies. Our October 21 program will be for students interested in our engineering and natural sciences majors while our October 28 program will be tailored to students interested in humanities and social sciences majors.

The major difference though is that visitors get the chance to not only learn about Hopkins in broad strokes, but actually obtain a full view of the campus, the academic programs, and what life is like as a Hopkins undergrad. Faculty from the academic departments are available to provide a true understanding of what makes the programs of study at Hopkins special. Academic advisors, career center professionals, representatives from study abroad programs, and pre-professional advisors are around to discuss the experiential side of learning at Hopkins. Staff from a variety of student life offices, including the housing and dining offices, campus security, and student accounts discuss the administrative side of life at Hopkins. Tons of current students are available to discuss what it is actually like to live and learn in Baltimore, and at the end of the day we hold a fair for the variety of student activities one can get involved in while a student. Oh yeah, and we feed you!!! If the summer event is an introduction, the fall events are a detailed depiction of what makes Johns Hopkins unique.

The final type of Open Houses we offer are our spring accepted student programs. These program are a ways away right now, but simply they are three full weekday programs throughout April for any admitted student. You'll hear me to talk more about these programs next spring, as I did last spring (Our Deepest Congratulations!).

As I end my "promotion" of Open House programs, I thought I would share some pictures I took from the day. Enjoy them, and hope to see you all during an upcoming visit, possibly on July 29, or October 21 or 28.

Cheers!!!

*Nice shot of Shriver Hall and our Welcome sign.

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*Here is the most important staff member during our Open Houses - Felina!!!

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*Felina's job besides looking cute, is to play Frisbee while all of our visitors arrive. She worked quite hard on the 8th.

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*The auditorium in Shriver Hall quickly filled up in the morning.

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*Here's the boss, Director of Admissions, Dr. John Latting, getting the morning started.

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*If Felina is the most valued employee during the day, our student volunteers are what make everything run so well. And check out those cool T-shirts!

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P.S. My adventures with my new camera did not stop with just the Open House. I thought I would share a couple of pictures from my new hobby - photographing the BUNNIES OF HOPKINS! Yes, we seemingly have been invaded my rabbits and I have begun to keep a collection. Enjoy!

   

*These two are part of the "Fett clan" - Boba is on the bricks and Jango is on the grass. How cute?