Hello Johns Hopkins
Last December, I learned that I had been selected to go on an exchange to Johns Hopkins University (JHU) for the 3rd and final year of my bachelor’s degree. JHU is renowned for its biomedical engineering prowess, so as a life sciences engineering student at my home university EPFL, I was obviously thrilled. A long list of questions ensued including “What courses am I going to take?”, “How am I going to organise this?”, “When’s the last time I renewed my passport?!”. And so began the long and sometimes confusing process of applying to be an exchange student in the US for a year.
I will spare you most of the details (like how it took me around 5 hours to fill in a single form!), so here is the TLDR: I had to…
- Take a language test
- Spend multiple days filling in forms
- Renew my passport
- Choose my courses, get them validated by EPFL, and apply for them at JHU
- Sit back and relax?
Well… Not quite. I still had to visit the US embassy in Bern to get my visa, get the proper health insurance, organise accommodation… Didn’t I say I would spare you the details? Bref, it wasn’t all fun and games, but now I have the paperwork, I have the accommodation, and I am ready to temporarily say goodbye to EPFL and say hello to Johns Hopkins!
Why an exchange?
The main reason I decided to apply for an exchange was the number of doors it might open. Different courses, different country, different people, different experiences, different opportunities. Additionally, the partnership between EPFL and JHU, as well as subsidies from the Swiss government, make this exchange year possible – I wanted to grasp this unique opportunity.
I was also curious about experiencing a different assessment system. For reference, the majority of EPFL undergraduate courses consist of 14 weeks of courses with one large exam at the end, determining your mark for that course. From what I have researched, assessment at JHU is performed at more regular intervals, with assignments to hand in, midterms, etc. I look forward to comparing both systems.
Why Johns Hopkins?
EPFL has a partnership with universities all around the world, so choosing one was challenging in the beginning. I had to decide whether I wanted to pick universities based on their courses, their locations, their research goals, etc. I ended up with a shortlist of two universities: JHU and the University of Toronto (U of T). I would have been thrilled to go to either.
I envisioned studying at U of T not only because they seemed to provide a great selection of courses in the field of biomedical engineering, but also because I really enjoyed visiting Toronto the last time I was there. However, I am quite glad I was selected for JHU. This is because a month later Canada changed its policy around exchange students, which ended up restricting the maximum duration of that exchange to 6 months.
JHU was a very compelling option to me due to its reputation as a leader in biomedical engineering research, as well as its connections with the Johns Hopkins Hospital. They seemed to provide an extensive list of courses taught by inspiring professors, with a lovely campus. I have never been to Baltimore, where JHU is located, and I look forward to discovering the city and its surroundings.
Let’s go already!
I land in Washington D.C. mid-August, with classes beginning a few days later at JHU. There are still some administrative procedures I need to deal with, but most of the paperwork is hopefully behind me. After all of this, I just cannot wait to arrive at JHU and learn as much as I possibly can during my exchange year.
If you’d like to travel with me, you can follow my blog using RSS or on LinkedIn, Mastodon @kalankaboom@defcon.social, and Telegram. Please send me feedback at info@kalankaboom.net or on the dedicated Telegram chat.
I look forward to what is to come, and to bringing you along for the ride.