Hopkins Goggles: fact or fiction?

Regardless of what you may have done for your spring break vacation, I’m sure any respite from the craziness that us Hopkins students call daily life was a welcome one.

Getting away, even if it is just for a week, really does make a difference. Not only do you get a break from the constant assignments due, and those ever-present “midterms” (what a misleading term), but you also meet different people for a change.

Last week, my friends and I actually went down to New Orleans for our Spring Break. It was no Florida, but there were still a significant amount of college kids living it up in NOLA. Kids came from different colleges across the country, and it seemed insane to me how a ridiculously high percentage of them were actually really attractive. My first thought was that this was just some weird coincidence, and we happened to just be lucky enough to be in the middle of it. This is real life – college kids can’t all look like they’ve walked off the runway. However, perhaps this has less to do with how attractive other college-goers are, and more about what we’re used to here at Hopkins. Maybe Hopkins Goggles are a legitimate thing we all get during our four years here – whether we realize it or not.

For those who still have no idea what I’m talking about, “having your Hopkins Goggles” on basically means being so accustomed to the people around here that we find most of them attractive. We don’t feel like we’re missing out at all when it comes to having good-looking students, but outsiders looking in may be doubtful.

According to College Prowler, Hopkins guys’ attractiveness is rated a B- while the girls are slightly behind at a C+.

Let’s just set aside the whole argument that rating a stranger presumably based on their outer appearances is fundamentally wrong, and talk about this: as much as I hate to admit this, I’m not that surprised by the results.

I believe that Hopkins Goggles are a very real thing that we all have, but I don’t think that this is a bad thing at all. Obviously kids who go to NYU or anywhere in the state of Florida are going to look good - because that is one of their priorities.Ask around, no one in Hopkins goes to school here for the guys or girls if we’re being completely honest. Each of us got accepted here because we have done something outstanding, and can contribute to the wealth of diverse experiences and mindsets that make up our student body.  Looks can attract someone, but it’s the personality that keeps them hooked. Cliché, but true. Once we have been in Hopkins long enough, we learn to subconsciously take into account other aspects of the person besides just his or her appearance, hence us finding more people attractive, and having the Hopkins Goggles.

Besides, I don’t think we’re as visually unappealing as others make us seem. Most people here at least make an effort to look good, and their sexy intelligence and wit makes up for the rest. So here’s to embracing the Hopkins Goggles – it’s at least one experience that most of us can say we’ve shared during our four years here.