Congratulations on your acceptance!!
Not being accepted into BME isn't the end of the world. In fact, outside of the world of Hopkins ChemBe's and BME's are viewed as essentially the same. In fact those with a BS in ChemBE will make more than those with the degree in BME. Us ChemBE's kind of like to brag about that.
I applied ED last year as an intended ChemBE, and even mentioned wanting to work on protein engineering in my essay. Since then I have been confronted with a lot of inner conflict about what exactly I want to major in. Now that the semester is over, I realize that I am exactly where I want to be. I love the department! All of the faculty are so nice and friendly. My adviser Marc Ostermeier works specifically on engineering proteins (which is great because that is what I want to do!), but he is also a marathon runner and in a rock band! I am sure you've been to the ChemBE website, but if you haven't check it out here:
http://www.jhu.edu/chembe/. Read up about what some of the faculty are researching and what they've discovered! Tis professors work is particularly interesting, and I know a couple of undergrads in his lab.
http://www.jhu.edu/chembe/faculty-template/DavidGracias.html I'd check out the lab page, its pretty awesome! Also, Hopkins actually just got a $15 million grant for a lab on the physics of cancer. Can I say research opportunity?
JHU has a very active AICHE chapter as well. Check it out here:http://jhuaiche.org/. We are hosting the national conference this year, which is a huge deal! There is also a chemical engineering car club, which I am a part of. This is pretty much the highlight of my week! You should check out my most recent blog to see what the department organizes for fun.
In terms of workload, of course it is a lot. Pretty much every engineering discipline has a heavy course load. ChemBE is sometimes rumored to be the hardest major, maybe more difficult than BME. Honestly, I don't really know, and frankly that stigma doesn't affect how I feel about my major. People say a lot things just to say them, but I wouldn't always take everything to heart. I just want to do this program so bad that I try not to think about how "hard" it is. If you put your mind to it you can do anything! Engineering isn't for the faint of heart or party animals, but that is for a very good reason. The world did not intend on these types of people becoming engineers.
Check out the major requirements here:
http://www.jhu.edu/chembe/undergraduate-programs/. There are 3 concentrations: mol/cel, nanotech, and none. I wouldn't worry too much about this yet. They really overlap a lot, and for the most part are pretty much identical. The easiest of the 3 is no concentration, and this is more like your "classical chemical engineering." You can always choose chemical engineering as a major and then switch out. You don't declare your major until freshman year spring, and even after that you can always change. You can see from the four-years plans that you are never required to take more than 18-credits at a time. Of course it is an option if you like challenging yourself.
I am on the mol/cel track. Although I don't want to go to med school, I know it fulfills most of the requirements. For the major you are not required to take Physics 2 lab, Orgo 2, or Gen Bio. However, you may need to take these based on the med school you want to go to. Advisers are very good about getting kids on track for med school since a fair number of their students are on the premed track.
As far as the move out east, I don't know if I experienced much culture shock. There were moments I really just wanted to go home more than anything, like when I got food poisoning or when things seemed to be getting too difficult. However, going home for a weekend is just not possible. Overall, Baltimore is a pretty decent sized city. But you can really view your situations one of two ways, or maybe a little of each. One way would be to say I am living in this big city with tons of people I don't know, and I feel small and insignificant. Another way to see it would be that you are in your own little world at the Homewood campus, which pretty much consists of Homewood and Charles Village. Then things don't seem so big, and you're very sheltered. I see things both ways. I always have the opportunity to go explore the city and get that feeling of hustle and bustle that accompanies good-sized cities, but then there are stretches of days if not weeks where I don't tread far from campus. Homewood is really sheltered from the city, which is great because then you can live your life in two ways. I really love this dichotomy, and it really sets Hopkins apart from other schools.
At first, after moving to Baltimore, I wasn't sure if Hopkins was the "right fit" for me. Now I see that it is, and I am sooooo happy with my decision. Even though the workload is tough at times, there are always ways to make it fun. I am really looking forward to the next 3.5 years I have in the department. Now I just have to get through these next 4 weeks at home...
