Hi all,

My name is Greco and I'm a current JHU junior studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. It's really hard when someone asks me where I'm from, because I was all over places before I came to Hopkins. Well I was born in South Korea and was raised there for about 10 years, and then I moved to Canada and lived there for a while, moved back to Korea, and then to California where I graduated high school.

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Why Hopkins?

I got accepted to several schools in California and Hopkins was the only east coast school i got accepted to. I guess I could have just stayed in California and live close to my parents, but then I thought that would defeat the whole purpose of going to college: learning how to be independent, having new experiences, and meet people from all over the country! I knew Hopkins had a very high brand value, so i thought I would be able to get better opportunities after I graduate. And I was really interested in doing research as an undergrad, so Hopkins was pretty much a natural choice for me. I also liked the fact that it's not a huge school where I will be basically no existence...

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My Classes

Fall 2011
*Applied Physical Chemistry
*Transport Phenomena II
*Cellular Engineering
*Cell & Tissue Engineering Lab
*Bioengineering in Regenerative Medicine

Spring 2010
*Cell Biology
*Cell Biology Lab
*Transport Phenomena I
*Application of Molecular Evolution to Biotechnology

Fall 2010
*Thermodynamics for Chemical Engineers
*Biochemistry
*Biochemistry Lab
*Modeling and Statistical Analysis of Data for Chemical Engineers
*The Artist in the Museum: Making Books

Summer 2010
*Organic Chemistry I
*Research

Spring 2010
*Calculus 3
*Differential Equation
*Process Analysis for Chemical Engineers
*Fiction/Poetry Writing II

Fall 2009
*Physics II
*Physics II Lab
*Introduction to Digital Photography I
*Fiction/Poetry Writing I
*Freshman Seminar: Tuberculosis
*Introduction to Physiological Psychology

AP Credits
*AP Calculus AB
*AP Calculus BC
*AP Biology
*AP Chemistry
*AP Physics C Mechanics

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My Extracurriculars

JHU Vocal Chords
Vocal Chords is an on-campus co-ed a cappella group. We sing a wide variety of songs including Pop, modern/classic rock, R&B, Jazz, and even Electronic. I love being part of this group because everyone is so talented both artistically and academically. We take our work very seriously, and it's a great way to relieve stress. It really helped me adjust to the college environment when I was a freshman. Check out my blog post about it
here.

Research
I'm currently working in a lab over at the medical campus. It's a orthopaedics lab that basically works with Mesenchymal Stem Cells to make bone materials. It's a very good environment where I get to have close relationship with the PI and learn a lot of innovating techniques in tissue engineering. Read my blog post about it here and here.

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Dorm Life

Currently I'm living in Charles Commons, the newest dorm. I was really lucky to get a good lottery number last year. I really like how Nolan's is inside the building, and the campus is right across the street. It's also close to Charles village, which is another plus. It's a big upgrade for me because I lived in AMR I last year which had no AC and barely had heating during the winter. It's nice to have my own thermostat and also have my own bathroom. I live with 3 other people and we share a living room and a kitchen. I only cook instant meals, but it's nice to have a kitchen. It also comes with a full-size refrigerator! Last summer, I lived in Bradford for 2 months. Check out my cribs post for AMR I here and Bradford here.

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That's it, guys. If you have any questions, post it here and I'll answer them as soon as I can! Also, follow me on twitter and check out my freshman blog entries here!

Hey allen516! haha yea thanks I do have a cool name :P

Ehh yes there are about 8-9 a cappella groups here that you can choose from and they all vary in terms of how good they are. I should say they are all equally talented groups, but that's not really true... but I mean, we are not like professional a cappella groups so I don't think you have to be super talented although it would be very nice if you are super talented haha don't worry about it too much. I don't know about other groups, but us Vocal Chords try to make audition process as comfortable and friendly as possible for the auditioners. When I auditioned, we started with some warm-ups. you do have to prepare a short solo piece and this is true for all the a cappella auditions. I sang Rehab by Amy Winehouse :) ehh and if you get call back then you prepare another solo and they also see how well you can sight-read music pieces = you get to sing with the whole group :) !
So yea. Personally, I prefer people with strong solos, but I mean, a cappella is all about harmony so when you are not doing the solo, you should be able to blend in your voice with the rest of the group.

I LOVE GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
omg i can't wait till Aprilll!!

Check out some of these links for more info:

JHU Student Art Groups - http://web.jhu.edu/studentlife/homewood_ar....html#acappella

Vocal Chords! - http://www.jhu.edu/~vchords/

Hey, bluejay527

Yes, I feel like AP Physics C Mechanics helped me a lot but this is also because my AP physics in high school was taught way harder than it was supposed to be.
There were a lot of freshman in my Physics II class last semester and I'm sure you'll be fine if you study. Something to keep in mind is that we have two physics 2 classes, Physics II for physical sciences majors and Physics II for biological sciences majors. If you are not an engineer and not really into physics, then you might wanna consider taking the latter, which is usually easier. But the Physics II for biological sciences majors is only offered during spring semester, which means you'll have to wait a semester to take it.

Hope this helps!

Hi, csicat93.

Basically, you check out the websites of the labs you are interested in and keep emailing the professors until you find a place that has a space for you! It's really not that difficult. Just to let you know, yes, Hopkins have a tremendous research opportunities but that doesn't mean the opportunities are just gonna come to you. You have to be really active and sometimes, you just might get lucky. Check out the blog entry i wrote a year ago about the research application process: http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/03/research-research-research/

Hi saallyhwaang,

No, I did not attend either school.

I think a lot of people mistaken Hopkins students' high motivation to competitiveness. I think a lot of people are highly motivated, but that does not necessarily mean they are trying to do "better" than other people. And I love being around people who are as motivated as I am. Sure, there are some cut-throat people here and there, but there are cut-throat people EVERYWHERE. I saw a bunch even in my high school. Most of the classes at hopkins curve in a way that students don't have to compete with each other, but rather help each other. And that's what you see in the library. A lot of students at hopkins like doing group studying in small groups and although I myself am not a huge fan of group studying, I heard it helped a lot of people. So I don't know how competitive the students are in your high school, but at Hopkins, it's more of high-motivation than competitiveness.