Meet JHU_Tabitha - Oxford, England, Cognitive Science / Philosophy Majors

Hi everyone, I’m Tabitha, and I’m a junior from Oxford, England. I’m double majoring in cognitive science and philosophy, and minoring in bioethics. I am also the dreaded pre-med! I really like the way that Lauren laid out her post, so I think I’ll do the same thing.

So first for the classes I’ve taken. It’s a strange mix considering I came in as a psychology major, declared a neuroscience major, and have now finally decided on cognitive science, although I still want to do a few other majors! My blog on my addiction to looking at different classes will explain how strange I am!
http://hopkins.typepad.com/guest/2009/03/classaholic.html

Fall 2007
Biology Workshop I
Organic Chemistry I
Bioethics
Philosophy of Mind
Intro to Frontier Physics
Abnormal Psychology

Spring 2008
Organic Chemistry II
Cognition
Expository Writing
Cognitive Neuroscience
History of Modern Philosophy

Summer 2008
Organic Chemistry Lab

Fall 2008
Biochemistry
Cognitive Development
The Buddhist Experience
Nervous System I
Research
Philosophy of Religion

Intersession 2009
Recognition as a Philosophical Problem
Free Will and Determinism

Spring 2009
Social History of Languages
Statistics I
Language and Mind
Organism and Machine
Moral Philosophy
Philosophical Implications of Clinical Neuroscience
Careers in Psychology

Summer 2009
Positive Psychology

Fall 2009
Genetics
Philosophic Classics
Physics I
Physics Lab I
Brain Myths and Folk Psychology
Medical Tutorial

So with my strange mix of classes, you might be asking whether I have time for a social life, and extracurriculars, but yes I do! There are a few main groups that take most of my energy; although there are so many others that I’d love to have time to do.

Active Minds
This group is relatively new here at Hopkins (about 5 years) although it is a nationwide group. The point of active minds is raise awareness about mental illness, and reduce stigma towards people who have mental illnesses. One thing I love about the group is the activities we do. Every year at finals time we have had a “Screamfest” where everyone can just stand in the quad and scream to relieve tension. We also watch movies, and are thinking of doing volunteer work. I enjoy it.

Admissions Representative (AR)
I have just started working as an admissions rep because they only accept juniors and seniors. Essentially, the ARs are the people who do the on-campus interviews, and are often involves in the student panels during open houses.

Pet and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
This group had it’s first year when I was a freshman, my suitemate dragged me along, and now she is president of the group! This group is basically about animals. They volunteer at local animal shelters, and are also involved in fostering and adopting out animals to students (only of campus students of course!) It’s a lot of fun, and if you miss your babies at home it’s nice to get to play with the poor babies who have no one.

Student Admissions Advisory Board (SAAB)
SAAB is what means that I am writing this post write now. We are essentially a group that helps high school students learn more about Hopkins, and what Hopkins is really like. We are here to answer your questions!

Witness Theater
So, I’ll be honest here, the only reason I got involved in theater is because my boyfriend is. He is involved in almost all of the theater things (there are a lot) so if you have any theater/comedy questions I am sure I will be able to answer them! Anyway, Witness theater is the only student written, run, and directed theater group on campus, and that’s part of why I like it. They tend to put up one act plays (not many people have a full length play they wrote lying around!) and we have one act show cases three times a year, and a full length play at intersession. I really like the student-run aspect of it because it means whatever you’re interested in you can do: lighting, tech, directing, wrting, anything.

Research
This semester I am also starting this thing called a medical tutorial http://web.jhu.edu/prepro/health/tutorials.html it’s essentially an internship that’s organized by the pre-professional advising office. They send you a list of everything that’s available and you just have to email people. Mine is going to be working on research on Tourette’s and Tic disorders, which means I get to actually work in a psychiatric unit, and I get to do research. I’m really looking forward to starting!

So, I’ve rambled a lot, is there anything else to say about me?
Well, I lived in Wolman as a freshman, and I loved it, I would recommend Wolman to everyone. Sophomore year I lived in a double in Charles Commons, and that was great too. Now I live off campus in a great 4 bedroom house with some friends (one of whom was my suitemate freshman year). I have been really lucky with housing; so far every place I have lived has been great. Read my cribs blog and my cribs video from last year to look closer at Wolman and Commons.
http://apply.jhu.edu/hi/athopkins/cribs.html

Now for the big question: Why Hopkins?
To be honest, I don’t really know. I wasn’t one of those people who applied early decision and have known forever that I wanted to be here. When I was applying to colleges I knew very little about the programs and options available to me. If I had I would probably have taken Hopkins more seriously because it has a ton of programs in areas that interested me (as can be shown by my many majors!) I must say, the thing that made Hopkins stick in my mind was when I came to visit. It was in the summer, and we were all dying from the heat, and out of all the colleges I went to Hopkins was the only one that gave out free bottles of water. That really impressed me.

Enough of my rambling, hopefully I’ve said something you’ve found interesting, and if I haven’t I’m impressed you made it through this entire thing even though nothing interested you!

If you have any questions feel free to ask me here.

Tabitha

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I know exactly what you mean about the common app, i had the same fears myself.
However, i was told when i was applying, and have been told since i've been here, that admissions works very hard to judge students on how well they did given the opportunities they were given, and as we don't have all the same opportunities in the UK school system that is taken into account when admissions reads your application.

I have to say, seeing that you are taking 6 A levels, when the average is 3, shows a lot of effort.
Personally i do not think you need to but it is possible to take AP exams if you're in the UK, i think you can take them at the American School in London, the information should be on the college board website, in the same area where you sign up for SATs.


Okay, the differences between the two systems.
Interestingly enough i have stayed home for intersession, and have been visiting friends at their UK universities, it's been very interesting!
In terms of course work load, i think it seems pretty similar, apart from people in the UK doing medicine (which is what i would have done had i been in the UK). My friend in london doing medicine seems to have a lot more work to do that we do. But my friend doing biology seems to have a pretty similar amount.
I do think that in the USA (at least here at Hopkins) we have a lot more research opportunities, and also job opportunities. It seems to me that here at Hopkins we have a lot of information of jobs, and ways to get them, but from what i've seen of my friends the universities don't seem to have much information, and they're having a hard time getting jobs.
That was something else i found interesting, i can't compare with every UK university, but a lot of my friends have some long commutes to classes already (some days up to an hour on a bus) and for me my longest walk is to Hodson, which takes less than 10minutes.