The Whiting School of Engineering provides academic instruction in a wide range of disciplines in nine undergraduate departments, 10 graduate departments, its Engineering for Professionals programs (part-time), and the Center for Leadership Education.

Johns Hopkins University was, in 1947, among the first major academic institutions in the United States to create a degree for writers.

The department of the Writing Seminars, distinguished by 60-plus years of teaching by prominent American writers, is characterized by the quality of its faculty, small classes, and a broad liberal arts curriculum as part of the major. More than 30 introductory writing classes are offered each semester, with an additional 20 reading seminars and writing workshops for majors and non-majors.

For the BA, students work primarily in fiction and poetry but may take courses in nonfiction prose, editorial writing, screenwriting, playwriting, and science writing. An array of internships and a visiting writers’ reading series offer wider opportunities.

For the two-year MFA, students concentrate in either fiction or poetry. The Writing Seminars’ success at all levels is confirmed by an extraordinary record of prizes for, and publications by, our alumni.

What can you do with your degree?

Write! With skills learned at The Writing Seminars, countless students have gone on to publish novels, short stories, poetry collections, and nonfiction articles and books. Our graduates also excel simultaneously in fields such as teaching, editing, arts administration, and a variety of other professions ranging from law to business to medicine.

Related Programs and Centers

• Film and Media
• Theatre Arts
• The Hopkins Review

The ancient Near East is where the first crops were sown, the first cities were built, and the first writing was invented. The origins of Western culture are found in its great civilizations, from the three main monotheistic religions—Christianity, Islam, and Judaism—to things we use every day and take for granted, such as the alphabet and marking time by hours and minutes.

The Johns Hopkins Department of Near Eastern Studies offers a wide range of courses on the cultures and languages of the ancient Near East, including Egypt, Israel, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, and the Arabian peninsula. Archaeology is also an option for students, and the department carries out excavations in Egypt, Syria, Oman, and Ethiopia. Courses cover archaeology, history, religion, art, language, and literature of the ancient civilizations of the Near East.

The department uses modern tools of analysis to study ancient Near Eastern civilizations, utilizing ancient written records and physical evidence as primary data. The study of language and script allows for an ability to access sources in the original, while historical and archaeological study facilitates an understanding of context and relationships with surrounding cultures. 

What can you do with your degree?

A degree in Near Eastern studies can be used as the basis for a career in Near Eastern history, languages, art history, or archaeology, teaching or conducting research at a university, college, museum, seminary, or research institute. In addition, the grounding in humanistic, social science, and natural science techniques as well as in the study of different cultures prepares graduates for careers in a wide diversity of fields beyond Near Eastern studies itself.

Related Programs and Centers

• Program in Archaeology
• Umm el-Marra Joint Expedition
• Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum

The civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome continue to delight and engage us with their history, literature, art, philosophy, and perennial relevance. Students of the Classics ground their enthusiasm for the ancient world in the study of the languages, thought, and physical remains of these amazing societies.

The Department of Classics offers a rigorous yet flexible BA program, while also accommodating a variety of interests in and approaches to the ancient world. Classes are small and students work closely with their professors and instructors.

The department offers courses in ancient Greek and Latin language and literature at all levels, as well as a variety of courses on the history, civilization, religion, art, archaeology, philosophy, and mythology of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Students are also encouraged to spend a semester or summer overseas in Italy or Greece.

Undergraduates have the option of working toward a five-year BA/MA co-terminal degree.

What can you do with your degree?

There are many possible professions and career paths for Classics majors. The ability to speak other languages can lead to positions all over the world. In addition, the knowledge of languages such as ancient Greek and Latin is a rare skill that sets you apart in a competitive job market. Many doctors, lawyers, politicians, and historians have a background in classical studies.

Some students go on to do graduate work in classics or related academic areas. Others apply to professional schools, especially law and medicine. Some students elect to enter the workforce directly after graduation in fields such as publishing, museum work, or government service.

Related Programs and Centers

• Archaeology
• Program in Museums and Society

In 1883, G. Stanley Hall founded the first psychological laboratory in America at Johns Hopkins University. Since then, the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences has played a key role in the evolution of the field, investigating the most fundamental questions of behavior, mind, and brain.

Dedicated to research, the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences is one of the top-ranked psychology departments in the world. The program stresses methodology for the investigation of the biological and psychological processes underlying human and animal behavior and cognition.

The intimate size of the department gives students and faculty significant flexibility to design individual training programs, and promotes an atmosphere of exceptional collegiality. At the same time, the department has at its disposal all the resources of a major research university, as well as the advantages of its connection to one of the world's leading medical institutions.

Students have many opportunities for research, both with the Arts & Sciences faculty and in the labs at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Internship opportunities are available at Sheppard Pratt Hospital, Kennedy Krieger Institute, and other local institutions.

What can you do with your degree?

Psychology can be applied to a broad range of fields, including health and human services, management, education, law, and sports. Psychologists might work with business executives, performers, or athletes to reduce stress and improve performance, or they recommend psychologically ideal jurors to lawyers during the jury selection phase of a trial. They team with law enforcement and public health officials following disasters to analyze the cause, or by helping the victims or witnesses recover from trauma. Psychology is applicable in a variety of real-world settings, as well as preparation for graduate work in psychology or related fields such as business, medicine, law, or computer science.

Related Programs and Centers

• David S. Olton Program in Behavioral Biology
• Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience
• The Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute
• Science of Learning Institute

Thanks to the university’s proximity to remarkable collections in Baltimore and Washington, the Department of the History of Art offers unique opportunities for the study of art history. Students work closely with a faculty of research scholars on aspects of European and American art. In small classes and informal excursions, they integrate their direct experience of works of art with knowledge acquired through historical research.

The department’s faculty members are among the most distinguished in the fields of ancient Roman, medieval, Renaissance, baroque, and modern art history; in addition, Johns Hopkins routinely welcomes visiting scholars and museum curators to offer courses on the arts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Internationally renowned artists and art historians visit campus to discuss their work in lectures and seminars. Intensive classroom study is complemented with excursions to world-class museums in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Access to these collections supplements undergraduate course work with the excitement of direct interactions with great works of art.

The university also maintains an extensive art library, which includes the Fowler Collection of treatises on architecture. Research materials in numerous regional libraries and museums and in the Library of Congress are also accessible to art history students.

What can you do with your degree?

Because the department emphasizes the historical, cultural, and social context of art, art history is an excellent program for undergraduates interested in a humanistic education as well as for those preparing for a career in the field.