Homewood Library: Fill & Download for Free

Lack of respect among the student body for non-STEM majors. There seems to be a stigma attached to majoring in the humanities or even the social sciences, even though most of programs in those areas are some of the best in the country. Writing Seminars, for instance, is the second-oldest creative writing program in the United States and has consistently been a leader in its field. With non-STEM JHU institutions like SAIS (School of Advanced International Studies) becoming world leaders, I’m hoping the lack of respect subsides.Average, edible food. The campus dining options are fine, not terrible but not great. I will applaud JHU for making sure there are plenty of Kosher and vegan/vegetarian options. Last year, I lived off of chicken and pineapple, which wasn’t terrible! This year, though, I decided against a dining plan and made my own food.JHU campuses are spread across the city. All undergraduates take classes on the Homewood campus in Charles Village. However, if you want to head downtown to the medical campus to work in your lab, you have to take a 20 to 30-minute bus. If you want to go to Peabody to work in the library (see picture below), you have to take a 15-minute bus. Not only is this set up inefficient and wastes time, but it also creates a lack of unity. In contrast, UChicago, another school that I applied to, has its undergraduate campus and medical campus right next to each other. I thought this created a better culture of collaboration, unity, and cohesion.Here are some milder issues I have:Administration often goes against what students want (i.e. hiring a private police force, opting for universal S/U this semester instead of double-A, etc.)The city of Baltimore has a mild disdain toward the university and its students.Students are often approached by scammers and asked for money.Local crime.Despite the issues I have with the university, I am very satisfied with the rigorous education I am receiving and the opportunities at hand. The culture is competitive, but that’s not necessarily a terrible thing as it makes you want to be your best. I miss Hopkins and am excited to return once we get COVID-19 under control. Comment below if you have any questions/objections.—KH

I actually like Pittsburgh with warts and all, but here's the worst things about living here:Nightlife. Your only bet, really, is around Southside or the waterfront. Once you've been to the main two bars in Shadyside a million times they become tiresome, Squirrel Hill is dormant, Oakland has a small number of mediocre places. The nightlife sucks. To further the point, I come from a village in Yorkshire, England where there are at least twice the number of good places to go out on a Saturday night.Lack of a center. This is the first city I've lived in where you can get the bus downtown and be almost guaranteed there is absolutely nothing going on there. Usually downtown is a hub of great shops, restaurants, festivals and other people. Downtown in Pittsburgh rarely has any of those, it's kind of a ghostly financial district with a small number of chain restaurants, and two concert/theater halls. It is beautiful though.Lack of eccentric/calming/quirky spaces. This one is the hardest to explain but it's my biggest issue. In Pittsburgh there's not many relaxing, beautiful spaces. Frick park, Phipps conservatory and Squirrel Hill library are the main ones. Previous cities I've lived in have contained arty districts where there are lots of independent, quirky cafes, sculptures & public spaces. Places that you can read a book on a Saturday afternoon and feel like you've escaped the city.Roads are crazy. The road planning in Pittsburgh is without a doubt the craziest and most dangerous I've ever seen. Stop signs that aren't stop signs, entrances to highways that have barely any visibility and no start-ramp etc. Think I'm exaggerating? Read this, The Nonsensical Roads of Pittsburgh. People also drive like lunatics.Some neighborhoods look like they've been left to rot. Drive into Homewood or Wilkinsburg... Some of the roads look like they've survived a nuclear holocaust.However I can't trash a place without refuting some points other people have made.Public transport is bad. It's really not for the size of the city, there are loooads of buses and you can go from any two points within the inner city without too much hassle. During the day the buses are not on time but they're super regular on all the routes that I take.The people. From everything I've heard and experienced, one of its strong points is that Pittsburgh has many amenities of a large city but the feel of a small town. People are much friendlier than in central London, New York, DC. From the locals, I've received many acts of kindness and amongst my peers at CMU I've heard many more. All you have to do is tell them you support the Steelers and suddenly you've made 250,000 new friends in the local area.It's ugly. Pittsburgh looks very cosmopolitan and modern from various angles:From Mt WashingtonFrom the PNC Park... You could do worse.

I can speak to my experience in the present day as a rising junior at Johns Hopkins (Homewood campus) regarding its safety.General Safety of the Campus:Of nearly all places in Baltimore, it is most unlikely that you will run into dangerous activity near the JHU Homewood campus.During the day, there are consistently many people within the area going about normally, making it incredibly unlikely that anything would happen. There are many shops and eateries as well. Even if you live in Homewood Apartments or Wolman/McCoy, which are across the street from the Homewood Campus, you’ll see at least 40 people milling about. JHU also reports most crime around the area to students when there is activity, and very little crime is reported by JHU in the campus area at any time of day.At night, there are naturally many less people walking about. However, as a student who’s frequently out at the hours of 10pm - 4am either coming back from the library or from having fun with friends, there has only been one instance where I have personally felt unsafe (described below). People will rarely bother you at these hours as well. However, it’s still generally recommended to be walking with at least one other person this late at night.Moreover, Hopkins has security vehicles with campus security (“Hop Cops”) on pretty much every corner within 2–3 blocks of the campus. There are also cop cars on the corner of St. Paul & 33rd and N Calvert & 32nd more often than not during the late night hours. Similarly, Hopkins installed ‘Blue lights’, which are alarm systems placed on every block immediately surrounding the campus. These alarm systems are hooked up to cameras, and if you hit the big red button on them, Hop Cops will be immediately en route to where you are in order to document what is occurring (while the alarm is blaring, and the blue light flickers rapidly).Something you’ll also pick up on as Hopkins sends you crime reports is that crime is much more frequent during hotter days (e.g. late spring, summer, and early fall), as opposed to colder days (early spring, winter, late fall). It is important to be more vigilant at these times. This is actually backed up by statistical evidence as well and is not unique to Baltimore. [1] [2] [3]I hope that I’ve sufficiently showed that the JHU campus itself is safe. It is only when you get to further outside of the campus that you’ll likely run into issues (described below).My Experience:Recently, three of my friends have been robbed of their items.In the first of these three, one was out at a bar roughly 15 minutes outside of campus and was mugged while heading back; he was quickly rushed to the hospital and learned that he’d received a concussion from the altercation. Note, however, that this was far away from the campus, and there were no HopCops around to deter attackers.In my own personal experience, I was walking back to campus from about 3 blocks away and noticed a man in a hoodie following me. He was tailing me from about 50 ft behind me, and I don’t believe he was aware that I’d noticed him. Whenever I would cross the street (which I did arbitrarily 3 times to make sure), he would cross the street with me - only 50ft behind. I continued to walk down these blocks, keeping an eye on my back, and when I turned a corner and he wasn’t able to see me, I immediately ran towards my building. Thankfully, I was safe.Keep in mind, however, that these experiences are rare around campus, and there is rarely any real crime in the area, as the area has been locked down by both JHU and BPD (Baltimore Police Department).TL;DR:The only times where you need to be very alert is when:(1) You are more than a few blocks away from the JHU Campus - outside of the view of most police and HopCops that frequent the area surrounding the campus(2) You are walking alone, usually late at nightThank you David Mulata for requesting my answer.