Hopkins has a diverse student body, with 14 percent of international students from 61 different countries at the undergraduate level. In all, there are a total of 2,600 international students across the University’s five campuses.
Scott King, director of the Office of International Services (OIS) elaborated on how the University’s prestige and college ranking seem to attract international students the most.
“We’re 17th in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Out of 980 schools, 17th. So, that’s what attracts people.” King said. “University education is supposed to expand everybody’s horizons, their ability to work across cultures, and understanding the world. That’s why we recruit our students from very different backgrounds. There isn’t one type of person that we try to attract to campus. We want a gender mix, and we want people from different economic and ethnic backgrounds. ‘International’ is part of that.”
Sophomore Eren Aldis, an international student from Turkey, explained that curriculum flexibility was one of the major traits that drew him to Hopkins.
“I knew I didn’t want to stay in Turkey for my undergraduate education because of the system of university entrance exams. I didn’t really know what I wanted to study, so the U.S. seemed like the best option because you can easily switch majors,” Aldis said. “I’m currently an applied math major, but I’m also taking drawing and philosophy and those are my favorite classes. You don’t get that anywhere else in the world.”
Sophomore Miyu Tada, an international student from Japan, echoed these sentiments, adding that such flexibility was not available at her institutions in her home country.
“I wanted to be able to explore different fields of study and have the freedom to widen my areas of studies, and to be able to learn in an environment full of diverse motivated students,” Tada said.
Freshman Hyo Jin Ha, an international student from South Korea, stated that she came to Hopkins for its robust writing curriculum.
“I wanted to learn writing in English, and Korea’s not the most ideal place to pursue creative writing,” Ha said. “I hope to get a job in the states, so it’s probably better to go to college in the U.S. in that sense.”
While the OIS is primarily responsible for assisting students with legal services, such as visa paperwork, it also aims to build and foster an international community through its International Student Orientation, which takes place in the beginning of the academic year. However, rather than keeping international students separate, Hopkins aims to integrate international students into the student body.
“One of the big differences between Hopkins and many other schools is that the international students and domestic students are not separate here,” King said. “It’s not like many other schools, where the regular orientation doesn’t pay attention to the different backgrounds. Here, we primarily focus our orientation on getting students to feel welcomed.”
King elaborated that the OIS helps create a space for international students to share the unique experiences that set them apart from other domestic students.
“One of the purposes of the International Student Orientation was to meet a small group of other international students who had experienced the visa stuff, the travel, the language, the fact that you can’t get food that tastes like home no matter what they say on the front of the restaurant,” King said.
International students agreed that they have a set of different perspectives on American customs and food.
“The international people have seen many different things from what Americans are used to. Food is much more greasy and the portions are huge. I still haven’t been able to finish a Chipotle bowl,” Aldis said. “In general it wasn’t too hard to adapt, but these small things still keep surprising me.”
Tada echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the added perspective she gains as she travels back and forth between Baltimore and her home in Japan.
“I travel home during breaks, and packing and flying is such a struggle,” Tada said. “It’s so interesting to fly back to such a different environment. It feels like I have two totally different lives between which I switch back and forth.”
The international students agreed that they appreciate that the community at Hopkins was accepting of cultures from all backgrounds.
“I love how everyone’s so accepting here,” Aldis said.
Tada spoke to the supportive environment she felt at Hopkins.
“I find it comfortable being in an environment here where people are accepting of differences and there is so much diversity on campus yet we’re all united by our academic passion,” Tada said.
Junior Tim Cho, an international student from South Korea, gave his perspective on the importance of having an international community at Hopkins.
“Having an international community is so important because the diversity changes the experience of our education so much,” Cho said. “I think it widens our academic experience and makes it applicable globally because classrooms have diverse people, opinions, backgrounds, and views.”
Cho believes that exposing students to people of other cultures with different customs and ideas allows them to become both critical and open-minded to different issues.
“Any time a person exposes him or herself to something new and different, it’s a good thing,” Cho said. “It fosters understanding between people, empathy for those who are unlike themselves, and sparks interests and knowledge they never would have had otherwise.”
King emphasized the value of a college education abroad.
“It’s almost as important — or even more important — than what you learn in the classroom,” he said.
