Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated asJohns Hopkins,Hopkins, orJHU) is aprivateresearch university inBaltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, Johns Hopkins is considered to be the first research university in the U.S.[8][9]
The university was named for its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur andQuaker philanthropistJohns Hopkins.[10] Hopkins's $7 million bequest (equivalent to $166 million in 2024)[11] to establish the university and the affiliatedJohns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore was the largestphilanthropic gift in U.S. history up to that time.[12][13]Daniel Coit Gilman, who was inaugurated asJohns Hopkins's first president on February 22, 1876,[14] led the university to revolutionize higher education in the U.S. by integrating teaching and research.[15] In 1900, Johns Hopkins became a founding member of theAssociation of American Universities.[16] The university has led allU.S. universities in annual research and development expenditures for over four consecutive decades.[17][18] TheSchool of Medicine, established in 1893, has achieved international recognition for its pioneering biomedical research.
On his death in 1873,Johns Hopkins, aQuaker entrepreneur and childless bachelor, bequeathed $7 million (equivalent to $166 million in 2024)[11] to fund a hospital and university inBaltimore.[25]
At the time, this donation, generated primarily from theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad,[26] was the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the United States,[12] and endowment was then the largest in America.[13] Until 2020, Hopkins was assumed to be a ferventabolitionist, until research done by the school into hisUnited States Census records revealed he claimed to own at least five household slaves in the 1840 and 1850 decennial censuses.[27][28]
The first name of philanthropist Johns Hopkins comes from the surname of his great-grandmother, Margaret Johns, who married Gerard Hopkins.[26] They named their son Johns Hopkins, who named his own son Samuel Hopkins. Samuel named one of his sons for his father, and that son became the university's benefactor.Milton Eisenhower, a former university president, once spoke at a convention inPittsburgh where themaster of ceremonies introduced him as "President ofJohn Hopkins". Eisenhower retorted that he was "glad to be here inPittburgh".[29]
The original board opted for an entirely novel university model dedicated to the discovery of knowledge at an advanced level, extending that of contemporary Germany.[30] Building on theHumboldtian model of higher education, theGerman education model ofWilhelm von Humboldt, it became dedicated to research. It was especiallyHeidelberg University and its long academic research history on which the new institution tried to model itself.[30][failed verification] Johns Hopkins thereby became the model of the modern research university in the United States. Its success eventually shifted higher education in the United States from a focus on teaching revealed and/or applied knowledge to the scientific discovery of new knowledge.[31]
Gilman launched what many at the time considered an audacious and unprecedented academic experiment to merge teaching and research. He dismissed the idea that the two were mutually exclusive: "The best teachers are usually those who are free, competent and willing to make original researches in the library and the laboratory," he stated.[33] To implement his plan, Gilman recruited internationally known researchers including the mathematicianJames Joseph Sylvester; the biologistH. Newell Martin; the physicistHenry Augustus Rowland, the first president of theAmerican Physical Society, theclassical scholarsBasil Gildersleeve, and Charles D. Morris;[34] the economistRichard T. Ely; and the chemistIra Remsen, who became the second president of the university in 1901.[35]
Gilman focused on the expansion of graduate education and support of faculty research. The new university fused advanced scholarship with such professional schools as medicine and engineering. Hopkins became the national trendsetter indoctoral programs and the host for numerous scholarly journals and associations.[36] TheJohns Hopkins University Press, founded in 1878, is the oldest Americanuniversity press in continuous operation.[37]
With the completion ofJohns Hopkins Hospital in 1889 and themedical school in 1893, the university's research-focused mode of instruction soon began attracting world-renowned faculty members who would become major figures in the emerging field of academic medicine, includingWilliam Osler,William Halsted,Howard Kelly, andWilliam Welch.[38] During this period the university further made history by becoming the first medical school to admit women on an equal basis with men and to require aBachelor's degree, based on the efforts ofMary E. Garrett, who had endowed the school at Gilman's request.[39] Theschool of medicine was America's first coeducational, graduate-level medical school, and became a prototype for academic medicine that emphasized bedside learning, research projects, and laboratory training.
In his will and in his instructions to the trustees of the university and the hospital, Hopkins requested that both institutions be built upon the vast grounds of his Baltimore estate, Clifton. When Gilman assumed the presidency, he decided that it would be best to use the university's endowment for recruiting faculty and students, deciding to, as it has been paraphrased, "build men, not buildings."[40] In his will Hopkins stipulated that none of his endowment should be used for construction; only interest on the principal could be used for this purpose. Unfortunately, stocks in TheBaltimore and Ohio Railroad, which would have generated most of the interest, became virtually worthless soon after Hopkins's death. The university's first home was thus in Downtown Baltimore, delaying plans to site the university in Clifton.[25]
In the early 20th century, the university outgrew its buildings and the trustees began to search for a new home. Developing Clifton for the university was too costly, and 30 acres (12 ha) of the estate had to be sold to the city as public park. A solution was achieved by a team of prominent locals who acquired the estate in north Baltimore known as theHomewood Estate. On February 22, 1902, this land was formally transferred to the university. The flagship building, Gilman Hall, was completed in 1915. TheSchool of Engineering relocated in fall of 1914 and theZanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences followed in 1916. These decades saw the ceding of lands by the university for the public Wyman Park and Wyman Park Dell and theBaltimore Museum of Art, coalescing in the contemporary area of 140 acres (57 ha).[25]
Prior to becoming the main Johns Hopkins campus, the Homewood estate had initially been the gift of Charles Carroll ofCarrollton, Maryland, a planter and signer of theDeclaration of Independence, to his son Charles Carroll Jr. The original structure, the 1801Homewood House, still stands and serves as an on-campus museum.[41] The brick and marbleFederal style of Homewood House became the architectural inspiration for much of the university campus versus theCollegiate Gothic style of other historic American universities.[41]
Since 1942, theJohns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has served as a major governmental defense contractor. In tandem with on-campus research, Johns Hopkins has every year since 1979 had the highest federal research funding of any American university.[44]
The early decades of the 21st century saw expansion across the university's institutions in both physical and population sizes. Notably, a planned 88-acre expansion to the medical campus began in 2013.[47] Completed construction on theHomewood campus has included a newbiomedical engineering building in theJohns Hopkins University Department of Biomedical Engineering, a new library, a new biology wing, an extensive renovation of the flagship Gilman Hall, and the reconstruction of the main university entrance.[48]
These years also brought about the rapid development of the university's professional schools of education and business. From 1999 until 2007, these disciplines had been joined within the School of Professional Studies in Business and Education (SPSBE), itself a reshuffling of several earlier ventures. The 2007 split, combined with new funding and leadership initiatives, has led to the simultaneous emergence of theJohns Hopkins School of Education and theCarey Business School.[49]
On November 18, 2018, it was announced thatMichael Bloomberg would make a donation to his alma mater of $1.8 billion, marking the largest private donation in modern history to an institution ofhigher education and bringing Bloomberg's total contribution to the school in excess of $3.3 billion.[50][51][52][53][54][55] Bloomberg's $1.8 billion gift allows the school to practiceneed-blind admission and meet the full financial need of admitted students.[56][57]
In January 2019, the university announced[58] an agreement to purchase theNewseum, located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, in the heart ofWashington, D.C., with plans to locate all of its Washington, D.C.–based graduate programs there. In an interview withThe Atlantic, the president of Johns Hopkins stated that, "the purchase is an opportunity to position the university, literally, to better contribute its expertise to national- and international-policy discussions."[59]
In late 2019, the university's Coronavirus Research Center began tracking worldwide cases of theCOVID-19 pandemic by compiling data from hundreds of sources around the world.[60] This led to the university becoming one of the most cited sources for data about the pandemic.[60]
In February 2019, Johns Hopkins University requested permission from the Maryland General Assembly to create a private police force to patrol in and around the three Baltimore campuses, a move that was immediately opposed by several neighboring communities,[62][63] Seventy-five percent of Johns Hopkins undergraduate students, and at least 90 professors who signed on to an open letter opposing the plan.[64][65] In early March, it was revealed[66] that "on January 9, 2019, nine senior administrators and one retired hospital CEO...contributed a total of $16,000" to then Baltimore MayorCatherine Pugh's re-election campaign, shortly after which a bill to institute a Johns Hopkins private police force was introduced into the Maryland General Assembly at "request [of] Baltimore City Administration." On April 8, 2019, the Homewood Faculty Assembly unanimously passed a resolution requesting that the administration refrain from taking any further steps "toward the establishment of a private police force" until it could provide responses to several questions concerning accountability and oversight of the proposed police department, fears of Black faculty that the police department would target people of color, and alleged corruption involving Mayor Pugh.[67] The Community Safety and Strengthening Act passed the Maryland General Assembly and was signed into law in April 2019,[68] granting Johns Hopkins University permission to establish a private police department. In response to perceived corruption, a group of protestors staged a sit-in of Garland Hall, the building housing the office of university presidentRonald J. Daniels.[67][69][70] After a month-long sit-in, the protestors "took over the building – locking its doors with chains."[69] They held the building for a week until May 8, 2019, when "[a]t 5:50 a.m., at the request of Johns Hopkins University," Baltimore police surrounded the building and arrested "three community members, one undergraduate and one graduate student"[69] who were occupying the building.
In the wake of the May 2020murder of George Floyd and thesubsequent protests, a group of Hopkins faculty along with 2,500 Hopkins staff, students, and community members signed a petition calling on president Daniels to reconsider the planned police department.[71] The office of public safety issued a statement on June 10 saying "the JHPD does not yet exist. We committed to establishing this department through a slow, careful and fully open process. No other steps are planned at this time, and we will be in close communication with the city and our university community before any further steps are taken".[72] Two days later, president Daniels announced the decision to "pause for at least the next two years the implementation of the JHPD."[73][74] Despite this announcement, the next summer Johns Hopkins announced the appointment of Dr. Branville Bard Jr. to the newly created position of vice president for public safety.[75]
The Community Safety and Strengthening Act requires the university to establish a civilian accountability board as well as a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the Baltimore Police Department. A draft MOU was made public on September 19, 2022[76] in advance of three scheduled town halls and a 30-day period to solicit feedback from the community. A message posted the same day as the draft MOU said that the document "will be modified to reflect what we hear and learn from our community."[77] However, community members remained skeptical that the university is operating in good faith. A September 2022 article from Inside Higher Ed portrays the sentiment from the community, quoting a Johns Hopkins physician and professor who said "Hopkins engineers very closed and stage-managed town halls and does not execute any changes based on these town halls."[65] The Baltimore Sun reported that the Coalition Against Policing by Hopkins planned to continue to obstruct the formation of JHPD, but that it must resort to "shutting down more university events," referring to the 2019 Garland Hall sit-in.[78] The group proceeded to shut down the first town hall. According to reporting by the Baltimore Sun, the event "was moved to an online-only format after a crowd of chanting protesters took over the meeting stage."[79] The MOU finalized on December 2, 2022, grants the JHPD primary jurisdiction over areas "owned, leased, or operated by, or under the control of" JHU as well as adjacent public property.[80] Despite continued protest from university faculty[81] calling for more oversight and clearly defined jurisdictional boundaries in accordance with the law,[82] officer recruitment and training began in spring of 2024,[83] with officers starting active duty in the summer of 2024.[84]
Hopkins was a prominentabolitionist who supportedAbraham Lincoln during theAmerican Civil War. After his death, reports said his conviction was a decisive factor in enrolling Hopkins's firstAfrican-American student,Kelly Miller, a graduate student in physics, astronomy and mathematics.[85] As time passed, the university adopted a "separate but equal" stance more like other Baltimore institutions.[13]
The first black undergraduate entered the school in 1945 and graduate students followed in 1967.[86] James Nabwangu, a British-trained Kenyan, was the first black graduate of the medical school.[87] African-American instructor and laboratory supervisorVivien Thomas was instrumental in developing and conducting the first successfulblue baby operation in 1944.[88] Despite such cases, racial diversity did not become commonplace at Johns Hopkins institutions until the 1960s and 1970s.
Hopkins's most well-known battle for women's rights was the one led by daughters of trustees of the university;Mary E. Garrett,M. Carey Thomas, Mamie Gwinn, Elizabeth King, and Julia Rogers.[89] They donated and raised the funds needed to open the medical school, and required Hopkins's officials to agree to their stipulation that women would be admitted. Thenursing school opened in 1889 and accepted women and men as students.[90] Other graduate schools were later opened to women by presidentIra Remsen in 1907.Christine Ladd-Franklin was the first woman to earn a PhD at Hopkins, in mathematics in 1882.[91] The trustees denied her the degree for decades and refused to change the policy about admitting women. In 1893, Florence Bascomb became the university's first female PhD.[89] The decision to admit women at undergraduate level was not considered until the late 1960s and was eventually adopted in October 1969. As of 2009–2010, the undergraduate population was 47% female and 53% male.[92] In 2020, the undergraduate population of Hopkins was 53% female.[93][94]
On September 5, 2013, cryptographer and Johns Hopkins university professorMatthew Green posted a blog entitled, "On the NSA", in which he contributed to the ongoing debate regarding the role ofNIST andNSA in formulating U.S.cryptography standards. On September 9, 2013, Green received a take-down request for the "On the NSA" blog from interim Dean Andrew Douglas from the Johns Hopkins UniversityWhiting School of Engineering.[95] The request cited concerns that the blog had links to sensitive material. The blog linked to already published news articles fromThe Guardian,The New York Times, andProPublica.org. Douglas subsequently issued a personal on-line apology to Green.[96] The event raised concern over the future of academic freedom of speech within the cryptologic research community.
View of Gilman Hall from the Levering Plaza on the Homewood Campus
For its first two decades of existence, university was based in Downtown Baltimore. In the early 20th century, the trustees acquired the Homewood estate of Charles Carroll, son ofCharles Carroll of Carollton, a signer of theDeclaration of Independence. Carroll'sHomewood House is considered one of the finest examples ofFederal architecture, which most of the university's buildings are modeled after. Most undergraduate programs are on the Homewood Campus.[97]
Whiting School of Engineering: The Whiting School contains 14 undergraduate and graduate engineering programs and 12 additional areas of study.[98]
Collectively known as Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (JHMI) campus, the East Baltimore facility occupies several city blocks spreading from theJohns Hopkins Hospital trademark dome.
School of Nursing: The School of Nursing is one of America's oldest and pre-eminent schools for nursing education. It has consistently ranked first in the nation.
Peabody Institute: founded in 1857, is the oldest continuously active music conservatory in the United States; it became a division of Johns Hopkins in 1977. The Conservatory retains its own student body and grants degrees in musicology and performance, though all Hopkins and Peabody students may take courses at both institutions.
Carey Business School: The Carey Business School was established in 2007, incorporating divisions of the former School of Professional Studies in Business and Education. It was originally located onCharles Street, but relocated to the Legg Mason building in Harbor East in 2011.
In 2019, Hopkins announced its purchase of the formerNewseum building located at 555Pennsylvania Avenue, three blocks from theUnited States Capitol, to house itsWashington, D.C. programs and centers.[100] In 2023, the building was officially reopened as the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, a 435,000-square-foot education facility that would house several divisions of the university.[101]
TheApplied Physics Laboratory (APL), inLaurel, Maryland, specializes in research for theU.S. Department of Defense,NASA, and other government and civilian research agencies. Among other projects, it has designed, built, and flown spacecraft forNASA to the asteroid Eros, and the planets Mercury and Pluto. It has developed more than 100 biomedical devices, many in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.[103] Akin to theWashington, D.C. campus for the School of Arts and Sciences, APL also is the primary campus for master's degrees in a variety of STEM fields.
The Johns Hopkins entity is structured as two corporations, the university and The Johns Hopkins Health System, formed in 1986. The president is JHU's chief executive officer and the university is organized into nine academic divisions.[107]
JHU's bylaws specify a board of trustees of between 18 and 65 voting members. Trustees serve six-year terms subject to a two-term limit. The alumni select 12 trustees. Four recent alumni serve 4-year terms, one per year, typically from the graduating class. The bylaws prohibit students, faculty or administrative staff from serving on the board, except the president as an ex-officio trustee.[108] The Johns Hopkins Health System has a separate board of trustees, many of whom are doctors or health care executives.[109]
The full-time, four-year undergraduate program is "most selective" with low transfer-in and a high graduate co-existence.[110] The Princeton Review rates the selectivity of Johns Hopkins as 99/99. As of 2025, the cost of attendance per academic year without financial aid is approximately $89,000.[111] However, 51% of full-time undergraduates receive financial aid covering 100% of their need.[112] The admit rate of Hopkins undergraduates to medical school is 80% and to law school is 97%, some of the highest rates in the US.[113] The university is one of fourteen founding members of theAssociation of American Universities (AAU); it is also a member of theConsortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE) and theUniversities Research Association (URA).
As of 2024–25, Johns Hopkins University was ranked the 6th best university in the nation (tied) and 13th best globally byU.S. News & World Report.[115][121]
SAT Range (middle 50th percentile, 2028 data)[137]
1530–1570
ACT Range (middle 50th percentile, 2028 data)[137]
34–36
The university's undergraduate programs are highly selective: in 2021, the Office of Admissions accepted about 4.9% of its 33,236 Regular Decision applicants[139] and about 6.4% of its total 38,725 applicants.[140][141][142] In 2022, 99% of admitted students graduated in the top 10% of their high school class.[113] Over time, applications to Johns Hopkins University have risen steadily; as a result, the selectivity of Johns Hopkins University has also increased.Early Decision I is an option at Johns Hopkins University for students who wish to demonstrate that the university is their first choice. These students, if admitted, are required to enroll. This application is due November 1. There is also another binding Early Decision II application due January 3. Many students, however, apply Regular Decision, which is a traditional non-binding round. These applications are due January 3 and students are notified in mid-March. The cost to apply to Hopkins is $70, though fee waivers are available. In 2014, Johns Hopkins ended legacy preference in admissions.[143] Johns Hopkins practicesneed-blind admission and meets the full financial need of all admitted students.[144]
The Johns Hopkins University Library system houses more than 3.6 million volumes[151] and includes ten main divisions across the university's campuses. The largest segment of this system is the Sheridan Libraries, encompassing theMilton S. Eisenhower Library (the main library of theHomewood campus), the Brody Learning Commons, the Hutzler Reading Room ("The Hut") in Gilman Hall, the John Work Garrett Library atEvergreen House, and theGeorge Peabody Library at thePeabody Institute campus.[152]
The main library, constructed in the 1960s, was named forMilton S. Eisenhower, former president of the university and brother of former U.S. presidentDwight D. Eisenhower. The university's stacks had previously been housed in Gilman Hall and departmental libraries.[153] Only two of the Eisenhower library's six stories are above ground, though the building was designed so that every level receives natural light. The design accords with campus lore that no structure can be taller than Gilman Hall, the flagship academic building. A four-story expansion to the library, known as the Brody Learning Commons, opened in August 2012. The expansion features an energy-efficient, state-of-the-art technology infrastructure and includes study spaces, seminar rooms, and a rare books collection.[154]
The Johns Hopkins University Press is the publishing division of the Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously runninguniversity press in the United States.[155] To date the Press has published more than 6,000 titles and currently publishes 65 scholarly periodicals and over 200 new books each year. Since 1993, the Johns Hopkins University Press has runProject MUSE, an online collection of over 250 full-text, peer-reviewed journals in the humanities and social sciences. The Press also houses the Hopkins Fulfilment Services (HFS), which handles distribution for a number of university presses and publishers. Taken together, the three divisions of the Press—Books, Journals (including MUSE) and HFS—make it one of the largest of America's university presses.
The Johns Hopkins University also offers theCenter for Talented Youth program, a nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying and developing the talents of the most promising K-12 grade students worldwide. As part of the Johns Hopkins University, the "Center for Talented Youth" or CTY helps fulfill the university's mission of preparing students to make significant future contributions to the world.[156] The Johns Hopkins Digital Media Center (DMC) is a multimedia lab space as well as an equipment, technology and knowledge resource for students interested in exploring creative uses of emerging media and use of technology.[157]
Johns Hopkins offers a number of degrees in various undergraduate majors leading to the BA and BS and various majors leading to the MA, MS and PhD for graduate students.[158] Because Hopkins offers both undergraduate and graduate areas of study, many disciplines have multiple degrees available.Biomedical engineering, perhaps one of Hopkins's best-known programs, offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.[159]
The opportunity to participate in important research is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Hopkins's undergraduate education. About 80 percent of undergraduates perform independent research, often alongside top researchers.[110][160] In fiscal year 2020, Johns Hopkins spent nearly $3.1 billion on research, more than any other U.S. university for over 40 consecutive years.[17] Johns Hopkins has had seventy-seven members of theInstitute of Medicine, forty-threeHoward Hughes Medical Institute Investigators, seventeen members of theNational Academy of Engineering, and sixty-two members of theNational Academy of Sciences. As of March 2025, 34 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with the university as alumni, faculty members or researchers, with the most recent winners beingGregg Semenza andWilliam G. Kaelin.[161]
Between 1999 and 2009, Johns Hopkins was among the most cited institutions in the world. It attracted nearly 1,222,166 citations and produced 54,022 papers under its name, ranking third globally afterHarvard University and theMax Planck Society in the number oftotal citations published in Thomson Reuters-indexed journals over 22 fields in America.[162] In 2020, Johns Hopkins University ranked 5 in number of utility patents granted out of all institutions in the world.[163]
In 2000, Johns Hopkins received $95.4 million in research grants from theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), making it the leading recipient ofNASAresearch and development funding.[164] In FY 2002, Hopkins became the first university to cross the $1 billion threshold on either list, recording $1.14 billion in total research and $1.023 billion in federally sponsored research. In FY 2008, Johns Hopkins University performed $1.68 billion in science, medical and engineering research, making it the leading U.S. academic institution in total R&D spending for the 30th year in a row, according to aNational Science Foundation (NSF) ranking.[165] These totals include grants and expenditures of JHU's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
Charles Village, the region of North Baltimore surrounding the university, has undergone several restoration projects, and the university has gradually bought the property around the school for additional student housing and dormitories.The Charles Village Project, completed in 2008, brought new commercial spaces to the neighborhood. The project included Charles (now Scott-Bates) Commons, a new, modern residence hall that includes popular retail franchises.[177][178] In 2015, the university began development of new commercial properties, including a modern upperclassmen apartment complex, restaurants and eateries, and a CVS retail store.[179]
Hopkins invested in improving campus life with an arts complex in 2001, the Mattin Center, and a three-story sports facility, the O'Connor Recreation Center. The large on-campus dining facilities at Homewood were renovated in the summer of 2006. The Mattin Center was demolished in 2021 to make room for the new Student Center scheduled to open in the fall of 2024.
Students and alumni are active on and off campus. Johns Hopkins has been home to severalsecret societies, many of which are nowdefunct. Blue Jay Supper Society is the only active secret society with open applications.[180] Membership is open to undergraduate and graduate students as well as alumni.
Fraternity and sorority life came to Hopkins in 1876 with the chartering ofBeta Theta Pi fraternity, which still exists on campus today.[181] As of Spring 2025, Johns Hopkins is home to seven social fraternities and five social sororities, as well as ten culturally-based sororities and fraternities.[182] The seven social fraternities at Hopkins all belong to the nationalNorth-American Interfraternity Conference and are locally governed by the Interfraternity Council (IFC). The five social sororities at Hopkins belong to theNational Panhellenic Conference and are locally governed by the Panhellenic Association at Johns Hopkins.[182]Alpha Phi Alpha, a historically black fraternity, was founded in 1991,Lambda Phi Epsilon, an Asian-interest fraternity, was founded in 1994, andLambda Upsilon Lambda, a Latino-interest fraternity, was founded in 1995.[183][184][185] Rush for all students occurs in the spring. Most fraternities keep houses in the nearbyCharles Village orOakenshawe neighborhoods, while sororities do not.
While it has been speculated that Johns Hopkins has relatively few traditions for a school of its age and that many past traditions have been forgotten, a handful of myths and customs are ubiquitous knowledge among the community.[186] One such long-standing myth surrounds the university seal that is embedded into the floor of the Gilman Hall foyer. The myth holds that any current student to step on the seal will never graduate. In reverence for this tradition, the seal has been fenced off from the rest of the room.
An annual winter event is the "Lighting of the Quads", a ceremony each winter during which the campus is lit up in holiday lights. Recent years have included singing and fireworks.
The Spring Fair has been a Johns Hopkins tradition since 1972 and has since grown to be the largest student-run festival in the country.[187] Popular among Hopkins students and Baltimore inhabitants alike, the Spring Fair features carnival rides, vendors, food and abeer garden. Since its beginning, Spring the fair has decreased in size, both in regard to attendance and utilization of space.[188]
Alumni Memorial Residence I, a freshman dormitory on theBaltimore campus
Living on campus is typically required for first- and second-year undergraduates.[189] Freshman housing is centered around Freshman Quad, which consists of three residence hall complexes: The two Alumni Memorial Residences (AMR I and AMR II) plus Buildings A and B. The AMR dormitories are each divided intohouses, subunits named for figures from the university's early history. Freshmen are also housed in Wolman Hall and in certain wings of McCoy Hall, both located slightly outside the campus. Dorms at Hopkins are generally co-ed with same-gender rooms, though a new policy has allowed students to live in mixed-gender rooms since Fall 2014.[190][191]
Students determine where they will live during sophomore year through a housing lottery. Sophomores in university housing occupy one of four buildings: McCoy Hall, the Bradford Apartments, the Homewood Apartments, and Scott-Bates Commons.[192]
Most juniors and seniors move into nearby apartments or row-houses. Most are located in the neighboringCharles Village community. Forty-five percent of the student body lives off-campus while 55% lives on campus.[193]
The school's most prominent team is its men's lacrosse team. The team has won 44national titles,[197] nineNCAA Division I titles in 2007, 2005, 1987, 1985, 1984, 1980, 1979, 1978, and 1974, and 29USILA championships, and six Intercollegiate Lacross Association (ILA) titles.
On June 3, 2013, it was announced that the Blue Jays would join theBig Ten Conference for men's lacrosse when that league begins sponsoring the sport in the 2015 season (2014–15 school year).[199]
The women's team is a member of theBig Ten Conference and a former member of theAmerican Lacrosse Conference (ALC). The Lady Blue Jays were ranked number 18 in the 2015 Inside Lacrosse Women's DI Media Poll.[200] They ranked number 8 in the 2007 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Poll Division I. The team finished the 2012 season with a 9–9 record and finished the 2013 season with a 10–7 record. They finished the 2014 season 15–5.[201] On June 17, 2015, it was announced that the Blue Jays would join the Big Ten Conference for women's lacrosse in the 2017 season (2016–17 school year).
Hopkins has notable Division III Athletic teams. JHU Men's Swimming won three consecutiveNCAA Championships in 1977, 1978, and 1979.[202] In 2009–2010, Hopkins won 8 Centennial Conference titles in Women's Cross Country, Women's Track & Field, Baseball, Men's and Women's Soccer, Football, and Men's and Women's Tennis. The Women's Cross Country team became the first women's team at Hopkins to achieve a #1 National ranking. In 2006–2007 teams won Centennial Conference titles in Baseball, Men's and Women's Soccer, Men's and Women's Tennis and Men's Basketball. Women's soccer won their Centennial Conference title for 7 consecutive years from 2005 to 2011. In the 2013–2014 school year, Hopkins earned 12 Centennial Conference titles, most notably from the cross country and track & field teams, which accounted for six.[203]
Hopkins has an acclaimed fencing team, which ranked in the top three Division III teams in the past few years and in both 2008 and 2007 defeated theUniversity of North Carolina, a Division I team. In 2008, they defeated UNC and won the MACFA championship.[204]
The men's swimming team has ranked highly in NCAA Division III for the last 20 years, most recently placing second atDIII Nationals in 2008 and 2022. The water polo team was number one in Division III for several of the past years, playing a full schedule against Division I opponents. Hopkins also has a century-old rivalry withMcDaniel College, formerly Western Maryland College, playing the Green Terrors 83 times in football since the first game in 1894. In 2009, the football team reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III tournament, with three tournament appearances since 2005. In 2008, the baseball team ranked second, losing in the final game of the DIIICollege World Series toTrinity College.[205]
The women's field hockey team has reached the NCAA semifinals for the last four seasons (2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022); the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and has been theNCAA Division III National Championship runner-up the last 2 years (2021 and 2022) losing toMiddlebury College both times.
The Johns Hopkins squash team plays in the College Squash Association as a club team along with Division I and III varsity programs. In 2011–12 the squash team finished 30th in the ranking.[206]
In athletics, Johns Hopkins is primarily known for its long and historically dominant lacrosse tradition. Many of the most influential figures in the early history of the sport played at Hopkins, including the namesakes of the NCAA'sSchmeisser Award for defensemen andJack Turnbull Award for best attackman. More recent graduates of the men's lacrosse program includePremier Lacrosse League founderPaul Rabil andTewaaraton Award winnerKyle Harrison, both considered among the greatest players of their generation. In other sports,Wes Unseld Jr., assistant coach for theNBA'sChicago Bulls and formerWashington Wizards head coach, played college basketball at Hopkins.[226]
As of March 2025[update], there have been 34 Nobel Laureates affiliated with Johns Hopkins as students, faculty, or researchers.[227][228][229]Woodrow Wilson, who received hisPhD from Johns Hopkins in 1886, was the university's first affiliated laureate, winning theNobel Peace Prize in 1919.[227][230]
The school's reputation has made it a frequent reference in media.
The Hopkins Lacrosse Story (1992): With an unprecedented 43 national championship titles, Johns Hopkins has one of the most successfulcollege lacrosse programs in the world. Thisdocumentary film traces the team's numerous historical accomplishments: its first championship in 1891, its wins at theAmsterdam (1928) andLos Angeles (1932) Olympic Games, and the current runs for the NCAA title.[239]
Hopkins (2008): A seven-part documentary series on theJohns Hopkins Hospital produced by ABC shows the real life dramas taking place there each day for doctors, nurses, residents, and patients.[240]
^Laura Vozzella (December 15, 2006)."Cheesecake on the Tart Side".The Baltimore Sun. Archived fromthe original on March 20, 2007. RetrievedJanuary 10, 2007.: "University spokesman Dennis O'Shea checked with Ross Jones, who was Eisenhower's assistant. And Jones confirmed it... Ross told O'Shea: 'I remember him telling me about it first thing after he got back. He was tickled with himself for picking up on it so quickly with that response. And then it became a legend! He would love the fact that it still has legs.'"
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