Welcome to your first year at Hopkins! We know picking classes can be overwhelming and confusing, so here’s some advice from six upperclassmen.
Name: Anjani Patel
Major: Applied Mathematics
Class: Introduction to Probablilty
What made it special?
“On my first day in class, I learned that Dr. Wierman went to the University of Washington (UW), a school close to my hometown. Over the course of the semester, I loved hearing Dr. Wierman talk about UW and his favorite haunts in Seattle, because I had spent most of my life going to those places myself.
“Getting to know Dr. Wierman outside of the three hours a week I spent with them in lecture made me more engaged in class. As a result, I learned more. Win-win.
“From a quantitative perspective, there are far fewer assignments in a Hopkins class than in a typical high school class.
“As a result, these few assignments are worth way more than high school homework ever did.”
Name: Jon Hochstein
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Class: Systems Bioengineering
What made it special?
“I appreciated Dr. Shoukas’s experience and teaching style. And the material was super interesting.
“Utilize your resources by explaining your situation to upperclassmen and advisors and get their feedback. But always to take it with a grain of salt since everyone is different. Don’t overload, and don’t take too many easy classes. Balance it out so you don’t hurt yourself now or later.”
Name: San Tripathi
Majors: Psychology and English
Class: Forms of Moral Community
What made it special?
“The texts were thought provoking while remaining accessible, and I thought that the class discussion led by Professor Ong’s questions were excellent as well. Overall, I just thought she was a wonderful professor who approached every text and the idea of moral community with a fresh perspective that I really appreciated.”
Name: Remi Kessler
Major: French
Class: Organic Chemistry I
What made it special?
“This particular class was special because of Dr. Falzone’s instruction and dedication. Not only is he gifted at teaching the complex subject of organic chemistry in a way students can relate to and understand, but he also offers a more in depth analysis and discussion of the course material beyond the textbook if students are interested.
“When it comes to selecting classes for your first semester at Hopkins, I recommend choosing at least one, if not two, courses in subjects that are completely divergent from your presumptive major. Placing yourself in an academic setting with individuals who study topics that are far-off from your frame of reference will expose you to those who view the world in an entirely different manner than you do.”
Name: Brynda Tsai
Major: Public Health Studies
Class: Ethics of Obesity Prevention
What made it special?
“This class was a part of the Gordis Teaching Fellowship program in the undergraduate public health curriculum, which allows graduate students from the Bloomberg School of Public Health to teach their own class. They’re generally seminar-size classes with 19 or fewer students, and the classes change every semester. I really enjoyed the interesting topic of the class, and the small class size that fostered great discussions.
“The final project for this class was a group presentation in which we had to develop our own ethically sound obesity intervention for college students. We used an ethical framework to evaluate the ethical aspects of our program, and then we provided recommendations that address any potential ethical pitfalls that we identified.
“It was a challenging, but memorable assignment that pushed us to think about real world problems and how we could fix them.”
Name: David Gong
Major: Computer Science
Class: Expository Writing: Politics and Violence
What made it special?
“I wasn’t very comfortable with writing when I matriculated here, but my expository writing class helped me develop a reliable method to find my voice. After that class, I felt much less anxious when confronted with written assignments.
“I think that this is true for any university. Professors can’t be expected to hound students to do the readings and assignments. Whereas, depending on the school, high school teachers are expected to inspire their students to stay on top of the material.”
