Prospective students visit to experience Hopkins

The Hopkins Hosting Society(HHS) has been in full swing for the past month, hosting hundreds of prospective students seeking to experience life at Hopkins. The HHS is actively working to make the program better. “ [A current priority] is accepting more prospective students to be hosted in the hope that more of them would apply to our beloved Hopkins,” HHS board member and sophomore Hieu Tran said.

In the past few weeks, many hosts have hosted prospective freshman successfully, trying to influencing their decision to attend. “Hosting definitely influences [students’ decisions to apply],” freshman and first-time host Rachel Cohen said. “I felt a lot more comfortable accepting [admission to] Hopkins after doing an overnight [last spring]. [I was able to talk] to my host, and [see] what campus was like outside of an info-session and tour.”

Prospective Student Emily Glickman of Scarsdale Senior High School supported Cohen’s view. “I felt that I truly got to experience the campus, and in a completely different way than I did on the admissions tours,” she said. “The hosting experience made me feel like a student, which meant that I got the full insider’s view.”

Prospective Student Lindsey Nemshick of Mount Saint Joseph Academy agreed. “[I had a] new found sense of belonging on the campus,” she said. “[I was glad to] get a taste of such a colorful and academically enthusiastic community.”

Hosting  seems to have an impact on students’ decisions to apply to Hopkins. “I knew that I wanted to apply early decision, but the overnight made me 100 percent sure,” Glickman said.

“Hosting definitely adds to the experience,” Freshman host Nicket Dedhia said. “It allows students to see all of Hopkins life, not just the academic [parts]. This makes the student more aware of the implications of applying early decision or just deciding even to apply.”

“I was very glad to have had the priliege to have an overnight visit because I truly feel that one cannot get a true sense of the school until it is seen through the eyes of an ‘insider’,” said Nemshick.

Both hosts and prospective students alike have given the overnight hosting program very positive reviews. “The experience itself was awesome,” Dedhia said. “It definitely reminded me of how awesome this place is and how much I’ve learned in my short time here. The program is run extremely well. [All the members of the HHS were] organized and had ample experience, making the process flawless.”

Many activities were also offered for students visiting campus. “Both [activities] available and attended were interesting,” Dedhia said. “[However, they were] not indicative of a normal night at Hopkins.”

Nemshick attended Sigma Chai’s “Derby Days’ with her host.

“[I] found it remarkable that a large group of college students would spend a Thursday night playing trivia games for charity. It was a wonderful experience,” she said. “I honestly feel that I saw everything I needed to see while at Hopkins to really get the most out of my visit.”

Prospective students were also able to attend classes with their hosts. “I found the opportunities to go to different classes most accommodating, and discovered the professors to be very intriguing characters, who I could picture myself easily learning from,” Nemshick said.

However, while many activities were planned, it was hard for some hosts to figure out exactly what to do with their prospective students.  “[While] I was able to show [my hostee] around the main areas...there weren’t many activities to do,” Cohen said. “If they don’t come with questions, it can sometimes be hard to figure out what to do with them other than introduce them to your friends.”

“[There should be] more planned activities to attend to,” Cohen said. “[When I came for the spring open house, there were] tons of planned things like showcases for a capella groups, so it was easy.”

Dedhia suggested that a tour could be added of all the dorms instead of just the hosts’ rooms. “That [way], pre-frosh could see more of what housing options Hopkins has to offer,” she said.

Glickman agreed that her time could have been managed better.  “[I] spent about an hour and a half in the AMR I multipurpose room,” she said.

Though she was able to get to know people and talk to them, she wished could have participated in many other activities.  “[I could have stayed in the multipurpose room for] half an hour, or even less.”

Nemshick expressed a desire to  have some off-campus outing. “[There should have been]  some off-campus outings to get a feel for life outside of the heart of Hopkins,” she said.  “[However]. the current host program is managed very well.”

The HHS is still working on figuring out how to handle the amount of prospective students. “There were some difficulties in dealing with such a large amount of prospective students, but nevertheless, we always try to be on top of things and fix problems as soon as they arrive,” Tran said. “HHS will continue to work and prepare for its big event hosting for accepted students in the spring.”

While most hosts and prospective students would like to see more planned activities, overall the program seems to be going very well from all sides. “On the whole, it was great, and I was so happy that I went,” said Glickman.”

Nemshick was also pleased with her experience. “I found everyone at Hopkins to be extraordinarily amiable and most welcoming,” she said. “[They made] my experience a great way to remember JHU.

“Everyone that I talked to seemed to enjoy their experience,” Cohen said. “I will be hosting again.”