Class of 2020 visits campus for SOHOP

Prospective students and their families participated in the first day of the Spring Open House and Overnight Program (SOHOP) on Wednesday. SOHOP is an annual admitted student information and immersion event planned by the Hopkins Hosting Society to give prospective freshmen a glimpse into college life at Homewood.

Students and families explored the campus, community and dining facilities through a series of campus tours, attended information sessions about student resources, clubs and organizations and were also provided the chance to attend a variety of classes.

Freshman Sophia Szu, a member of the Blue Key Society, a student group that regularly conducts tours of the Homewood campus for prospective students and families, explained the responsibilities of a SOHOP tour guide. Different from the standard campus tours that occur regularly throughout the year, SOHOP offered an array of tours, each concentrating on different aspects of life at Hopkins.

“SOHOP tours include the regular, general tours that Blue Key tour guides give. However, we also give additional dining tours to the FFC and Charles Village Tours around campus for the students to have a chance to see the restaurants and housing options around campus,” Szu said.

Tasked with introducing prospective students and families to the many aspects of the Homewood campus, Szu hopes that the tours are actually insightful and immersive.

“Hopefully the tours we give are engaging,” she said. “But when there are larger groups, the students and parents tend to talk more amongst themselves.”

Other than opportunities to learn about student life and academics, SOHOP also featured an admitted student dinner, with sample food provided by Bon Appétit and a Hop Culture Show made up of campus arts groups.

At night, prospective freshmen were matched with their Hopkins student hosts to attend the Hopkins Night Festival. Hosts then offered prospective freshmen their dorm rooms to sleep in for the night and one-on-one insight about their personal experiences at Hopkins.

Freshman Katie Sanders, a student host, explained why she wanted to participate in SOHOP.

“I decided to be a host because I really love Hopkins even though it can be hard, and I want to show other people how great it is so they might love it too. For example, sometimes, if I have time, I’ll leave early for a class just so I can walk the long way to see all the pretty parts of campus,” Sanders said.

As a former SOHOP hostee, Sanders talked about her experience from the prospective students side.

“The best part for me, since I had already decided to come here, was that I was able to ask my host questions just about student life here. I am still grateful that she told me to go on Pre-O, because that was a great experience and I am still friends with my group. I’m also very grateful that she told me to go out of my way meet people and participate in everything the first two weeks of school, because that is the most important time for making friends,” she said. “As for improvements, I think I would have liked to have had a little more time with my host on Thursday, perhaps even going to class with her, just to see more of Hopkins.”

Freshman Brianna So wants to introduce her hostee to events that stray from the SOHOP schedule. As a Student Advisory Board member, So hopes to get her hostee involved in the numerous food and arts events organized by the Residential Advisory Board, such as Frisbee decorating and a free smoothie program.

“As a host, I’m expected to be with my student throughout the night and to drop them off at breakfast. Once I am matched with my hostee we’re going to the night festival. After that a bunch of RAs have night programs going on.”

Having hosting experience from the fall semester, So hopes to show prospective freshman how much she enjoys her life at Hopkins and influence their ultimate college decisions.

“I previously hosted for the fall open house and it was really fun. I also wanted to host for SOHOP because I wanted to share why I love Hopkins so much with the admitted students and to help them with their college decisions,” she said.

Prospective students commented on their experiences at SOHOP, sharing very positive reviews of the program.

“Before I came here, Johns Hopkins was in my top four. I wasn’t really considering it and it was kind of dropping off my top four. But then, coming to SOHOP I had so much fun. I heard that Johns Hopkins was cut throat in BME and pre-med, but I talked to my tour guide and group guide, and they informed me that it wasn’t that cutthroat and that they don’t do the grade deflation thing with the bell curve. That really reassured me,” prospective student Michelle Zhao said. “I feel that the people here are just great. Johns Hopkins is probably my number one now. SOHOP was amazing. You guys do such a good job advertising the school.”

Muhammad Umer Janjua, also a prospective student, enjoyed the event.

“I was already pretty inclined towards Hopkins. I’m from Pakistan, and we don’t have a cappella groups over there. Just seeing so much a cappella groups up front was very interesting. That made me consider joining some a cappella group one day. Other than that, the people here are very nice and communicative. It seems like the admissions have put together a very nice class and not only the class, the upperclassmen are very nice, open and helpful,” he said. “I do a lot of academic research, and I feel like Hopkins is very open. It lets you explore yourself and develop and grow. The flexibility to study pretty much whatever you want and this whole go get it, go do it mentality is great. I really like this attitude and that’s what helping my make up my mind.”