Q&A

Here at Hopkins, we do our best to help. Whether it's explaining the pre-college admissions process over the phone or helping your luggage onto the BWI shuttle on move-out day, we work hard to be a solid support system for you. We get all kinds of questions every day, and this new Q&A section will serve as a place to to ask for guidance, voice your concerns or just check in to see what your peers are saying. For our first post, we sent a very popular question over to Erin in Residential Life.

Q: "I'm not sure which program is right for me...Discover Hopkins or Summer University. What are the differences in the experience and pros and cons of both? "

A: As a Discover Hopkins Resident Advisor, I can give a lot of insight to this question.

Although both programs are academically oriented, fall under the umbrella term “Pre-College,” and interact with each other on a daily basis, there are important distinctions that may determine which program you choose.

Duration: SU: Summer University lasts for five weeks. DH: Discover Hopkins has two sessions each lasting two weeks.

Age: SU: Is open to students turning16 by June 1st. DH: is open to students turning 15 by June 1st.

Housing: SU: Summer University students will spend their five weeks in Buildings A and B, suite-style dorms. Each suite contains two double rooms and one bathroom and are separated by gender. DH: Discover Hopkins students reside in AMR II, community-style dorms. Each floor of the dorms is divided into gender, and each floor shares a community bathroom. Each room on the floor is a double.

Food: Both Summer University and Discover Hopkins students dine at FFC- the Fresh Food Café- where they will have a meal plan.
Academics: SU: Summer University students take 2-3 classes over a five-week period. These classes are taken with current Hopkins undergraduates, and are thus at a higher level. Class times vary day-to-day and tend to be more spaced out. DH: Each Discover Hopkins student takes one class during their one or two week session. These classes are exclusively for Discover Hopkins students and resemble college “freshman seminars.” Discover Hopkins classes typically last from 9/9:30 am to 4/4:30 pm, Monday-Friday

Class trips: SU: Class trips for Summer University students, because their classes are also those of Hopkins undergraduates, are not guaranteed and are left to the discretion of professors. DH: Discover Hopkins courses begin each day with lectures and typically end with a guest speaker, field trip or class activity. Potential 2010 trips include The Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Sheppard Pratt, the Babe Ruth Museum, the BGE Incinerator, Washington, DC, a local yoga studio, and various Baltimore "field study" locations.

Large-scale programs: Both Summer University and Discover Hopkins students go on mandatory, large-scale weekend programs. Summer University students attend all weekend trips, while Discover Hopkins students attend the weekend trip that occur during their session. Weekend trips this summer will included Hershey Park, the Baltimore Artscape Festival, Orioles Games, and Washington, D.C. Also, each Friday night the lower quad is transformed into an outdoor movie theater- live music plays at 7:30 and the films begin at dark. Visit the film series site to see the 2010 line-up.

Please feel free to post any further questions you may have regarding this matter.