An application deferred: Hopkins and the Ivies

Hopkins is a unique school. Unique because we have no grade inflation. Unique because many of our departments are more difficult than at other, comparable colleges. Unique because our students seem to work harder and longer than their peers at, say, UPenn or Harvard. Unique because, no matter how hard we try, we can't seem to get up to that Ivy League status when we are ranked.

We have long sniffed the Ivy League steak always waved in front of our noses, but have never tasted it. Some students take the annual U.S. News rankings seriously and look at Hopkins as their disappointing back-up school when they don't get into higher-ranking Ivies. Has this made students bitter?

"Fuck you. I'm not bitter," says Jesse Himmelstein, a senior computer engineering major. It seems many students share in these sentiments.

When asked to comment on the recent drop in our ranking, junior Martin Marks had this to say: "I'll tell you something - I'm not surprised in the least. For a university that operates with the efficiency of an Eastern European nation, they [Hopkins] sometimes lose track of such trivial details as the most-important college ranking scale in the United States today. I don't blame anyone.

"Sure, [Ivy League colleges] may have a high ranking," he added, "but [...] I think it all balances out in the end."

"I came to Hopkins because other schools are too uptight and too competitive," said Roy Lirov, a senior in the a cappella group the AllNighters.

"But, seriously," he later added, "this was the only school I got into." Hopkins does have a significantly-lower selectivity ranking than most other comparable schools.

Students come to Hopkins for a variety of reasons. Indeed, there are those who come because they didn't get into Ivies, but many have come seeking the acclaimed educational programs and resources that this school has to offer.

"I didn't want to go to an Ivy League school," said junior Melissa Grober. "None of them had what I was looking for - a good Cognitive Science program and an excellent school of music"

Many students here get overwhelmed their freshman year with the intense regimen of studying. However, this can be beneficial in some ways. "People at Hopkins don't appreciate the great survival tactics they're learning," said senior Jenn Smolin. "[They're learning] How to function with a lack of sleep, lack of food and an immense amount of caffeine."

It seems a great deal of premeds would gain an advantage for med school with these skills - skills that too few Ivies can offer. The average number of "all nighters" a student has in a given semester is usually a telling sign of how hard their school is. Most Hopkins students are generally up near the 7 - 12 range and significantly more if they are engineering majors. On the other hand, students at Brown or Yale can only claim a mere fraction of these days, with some even remaining "all-nighter virgins."

But is how much we work really a telling sign of the quality of our education? Professors here would probably disagree - then assign more homework. Indeed, we will likely never claim to be an Ivy League school. But do we really want to be in that ever-exclusive club? Maybe, maybe not.

It all depends if you get your transfer application in by Dec. 1.