The Department of Political Science provides undergraduate and graduate training in American politics and law, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. It offers a rich and diverse understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of politics, including the processes through which policies, rules, institutions, and political cultures are established, contested, and changed.

The programs of the political science department are designed to help students attain a deeper understanding of politics in its various dimensions. The department encourages students to become analytically sophisticated, to study politics in global and comparative perspectives, and to appreciate how citizens can be responsibly assertive in the community.

A broad and diverse faculty offers a range of courses about politics and government at local, state, national, and international levels. The university's proximity to Washington, D.C., provides a wide variety of internship opportunities.

What can you do with your degree?

Political science majors pursue a diverse range of careers in law, public service, finance, policy research, media, international development, and academia.

Related Programs and Centers

• International Studies
• Institute for Health and Social Policy
• Racism, Immigration, and Citizenship

Johns Hopkins is one of a few universities with a Department of Cognitive Science. Cognitive science is the study of the human mind and brain, focusing on how the mind represents and manipulates knowledge and how mental representations and processes are realized in the brain. Cognitive scientists explore functions such as perception, memory, and language using a variety of methods, such as behavioral studies, functional neuroimaging, linguistic analysis, and computational modeling.

The department provides theoretically oriented research and training opportunities in a focused environment that is dedicated to the multi-disciplinary intellectual challenge of integrating contemporary approaches to the study of the mind/brain.

Programs in cognitive science at Johns Hopkins University reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the subject, requiring students to approach the study of the mind/brain from several different investigative perspectives. The programs in cognitive science draw on courses offered by several other departments, as well.

What can you do with your degree?

Graduates of the Department of Cognitive Science typically go on to graduate, medical, law, or business school, or directly into jobs in health care, information technology, or other fields.

The major provides excellent preparation for PhD programs, not only in cognitive science, but also in psychology, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, neuropsychology, and speech pathology.

Either before or after additional study, our graduates pursue careers in academia, health care, information technology, law, technical writing and publishing, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.

Related Programs and Centers

• Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience
• Science of Learning Institute
• The Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute

The goal of every program of the Department of Mathematics is to provide the highest quality education in mathematics at all levels, including the most recent developments and discoveries in mathematical research.

Johns Hopkins has a long history of preeminence in mathematics research and education, dating back to its founding in 1886 by J.J. Sylvester. In fact, the oldest running mathematics journal in the Western Hemisphere, the American Journal of Mathematics, is directed and edited by the Department of Mathematics and is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

Today, a vibrant scientific environment continues through the interaction of our faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and visiting mathematicians. Our areas of expertise include analysis, partial differential equations, algebraic/complex/differential geometry, mathematical physics, number theory, and algebraic topology. Seminars take place weekly and address a range of topics, and lecture series and conferences bring in top experts from around the world. The department is also home to the Japan-U.S. Mathematics Institute, which sponsors visitors and seminars throughout the year.

Whether you are in our undergraduate BA program, our four-year bachelor’s/master’s program, our doctoral program, or our Future Scholars Program (for outstanding high school students), you will engage with internationally renowned department faculty, two of whom were recently awarded Simons Fellowships, and nine of whom are Fellows of the American Mathematical Society.

What can you do with your degree?

While our PhD graduates go on to conduct research at major institutions around the country, undergraduate math majors at Johns Hopkins finish with a degree that prepares them for PhD programs in mathematics, as well as a wide spectrum of career opportunities. Our graduates have worked in fields as diverse as business and management, education, operations research, data mining, and finance. Our undergraduate program, when supplemented by courses in other departments, also prepares students for graduate or professional programs in other fields, such as economics, physics, engineering, and medicine.

Related Programs and Centers

• Future Scholars Program
• Japan-U.S. Mathematics Institute

Chemistry is an interdisciplinary subject with natural, robust ties to the other sciences and engineering that, in general, involves the study of matter and the changes it undergoes. Advances in chemistry will be required to meet global challenges of clean air, safe water, healthy food, dependable medicine, advanced materials, eco-friendly products, and sustainable energy.

Our understanding of the fundamental nature of the world is grounded in chemistry. Molecular transformations are central to the production of food, medicines, fuel, and a countless array of materials. Chemists seek to understand the fundamental nature of matter and the changes it undergoes on a molecular or atomic level. While this goal was once limited almost exclusively to chemists, there is an increased effort toward molecular-level characterization in most areas of science and technology. Chemistry has therefore emerged as the "central science."

The Department of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University has a long tradition of excellence that began with Ira Remsen, the discoverer of saccharin, dating back to the inception of the University in 1876. Today, Hopkins chemistry is made up of internationally recognized faculty involved in contemporary chemical science, including interdisciplinary areas that interface chemistry with the fields of biology, medicine, physics, materials, and environmental science. Chemistry faculty train students interested in pursuing Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees in the classroom and in the laboratory.

What can you do with your degree?

The central nature of chemistry affords its majors more flexibility in careers. Fields of employment include medicine, industry, education, business, law, health services, and much more.

Graduates of the chemistry department have gone on to assume positions of scientific leadership in private industry, as well as in some of the finest academic institutions in the world. The success of the department in attracting and training outstanding students can be measured by the distinguished careers of our recent graduates and postdoctoral fellows.

Related Programs and Centers

• Chemistry-Biology Interface Program

The Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy combines a strong research program, world-renowned faculty, and state-of-the-art facilities. The instruction and research programs within the department reflect two features which have a long tradition at Johns Hopkins: an emphasis on graduate study and research, supplemented with a strong undergraduate program; and a flexibility that is possible only in a department of our size.

Our undergraduate and graduate courses are purposefully designed to provide a core group of basic subjects at the appropriate levels, which naturally lead to courses in a variety of specialized areas. All students are encouraged to engage in independent work outside of the classroom, such as special projects or independent study. The atmosphere is enhanced by the presence of NASA’s Space Telescope Science Institute—home of the Hubble Space Telescope—located just across the street.

Research in the Department of Physics and Astronomy primarily centers on three areas: astrophysics, condensed matter physics, and particle or high energy physics. The Center for Astrophysical Studies comprises areas within the discipline: cosmology, extragalactic astronomy, galactic astronomy, numerical simulations, large datasets, and instrumentation. The condensed matter physics group maintains active experimental and theoretical research programs at the forefront of both hard and soft condensed matter physics. The particle physics group conducts research in both theory and experiment.

What can you do with your degree?

A degree in physics can lead to many diverse career paths. Many of our students apply and are admitted to graduate school, either here at Johns Hopkins or at another one of the nation’s top universities. Others want to pursue research and teaching positions. Physics and astronomy graduates can also be found in the fields of engineering, law, and medicine. Still others secure employment in government or industrial laboratories.

Related Programs and Centers

• Institute for Quantum Matter
• Space Science Telescope Institute

The Department of Sociology concentrates its teaching and research on two broad areas: global social change, which focuses on cross-national, comparative research; and social inequality, which primarily focuses on family, education, work, race, gender, policy, and immigration.

These concentrations trace back to the department’s founding in 1959 by renowned sociologist James Coleman. The department has since earned a reputation as one of most selective, personalized sociology departments in the U.S. Its small size creates an intimate scholarly atmosphere, in which faculty and students interact and collaborate frequently. Through the department’s two areas of concentration and its honors program, highly motivated students can customize a program of study and engage in self-initiated, original research.

What can you do with your degree?

A major in sociology offers undergraduates a variety of post-graduation opportunities. Graduates from the department have found positions in financial institutions, education, non-governmental organizations focusing on international development, research departments of major corporations, and local government social service agencies. Others continue to graduate school in sociology, public health, law, urban planning, or education.

A major in sociology can also be combined with the pre-medical course sequence, resulting in a medical school candidate who is well versed in the hard science of the human body and the social science of the human experience.

Related Programs and Centers

• Joint Program in Applied Mathematics and Statistics
• Arrighi Center for Global Studies
• East Asian Studies

The Department of English at Johns Hopkins is an intimate, highly selective department with a long history of innovative scholarship, research opportunities, and superior teaching.

The department’s distinction begins with its renowned faculty. Every professor teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, and they all teach primarily in small seminars, so undergraduates get the best of what a research university has to offer while getting the kind of personal attention ordinarily only possible at a small liberal arts college. Courses provide both the core of a liberal arts education and the basis for the advanced study of literature.

Faculty members’ specialties range from early modern to contemporary, with particular strengths in critical theory and interdisciplinary approaches to literature.

Courses provide the core of a liberal education in the humanities and, for those who intend to pursue careers in teaching and scholarship, the basis for advanced study of literature. These range from historical surveys of English and American literature and introductory courses in critical methods to advanced courses and seminars in particular periods, authors, genres, and literary questions.

What can you do with your degree?

Earning a degree in English at Johns Hopkins will enhance your appreciation of some of the world’s finest literature and help you develop a variety of skills. Through reading and writing about literature in classes led by distinguished scholars, you will learn to think critically and argue persuasively about complex issues, while also having the opportunity to pursue independent research. Many of our undergraduates go on to pursue graduate studies in English or in fields such as history, philosophy, psychology, and education. Others choose to pursue professional careers in medicine, government, law, business, publishing, and media.

Related Programs and Centers

• Department of Comparative Thought and Literature
• Film and Media Studies Program
• Expository Writing
• Jewish Studies
• The Writing Center

The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences offers programs of study and research in the basic earth sciences, including: geology, the science of the solid earth; geochemistry, devoted to understanding the chemistry of the solid earth and natural waters; geophysics, concerned with a quantitative description of physical processes in the earth and planetary sciences; physical oceanography, the study of ocean currents and waves, and their role in climate; atmospheric sciences, particularly the dynamics of atmospheric circulation both on Earth and other planets and their satellites; and ecology and paleoecology, the study of the relationships between organisms and their environment today and in the geologic past.

The department offers two majors: students can choose to major in earth and planetary sciences (EPS) or in environmental science and studies (ENVS).

The EPS major is for undergraduates interested in the study of the physical, chemical, and biological processes that shape the Earth and the other planets, drawing on the disciplines of geology, geochemistry, hydrology, ecology, geobiology, oceanography, and atmospheric science.

The ENVS major is an interdepartmental program introducing students to the science of the Earth and its living and nonliving systems, as well as how humans interact with Earth and its natural systems and how humans can use powerful tools, such as policy and communication, to harm or help those systems. The goals are to advance awareness of the magnitude and consequences of these issues and to train the next generation of problem-solvers who will address the effects of global environmental change.

What can you do with your degree?

Graduates of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences use their skills and knowledge in fields such as environmental consulting, government agencies, and natural resources industries. Students are also well prepared for professional school.

Related Programs and Centers

• Undergraduate Program in Environmental Science and Studies
• Johns Hopkins University Water Institute
• Center for Environmental and Applied Fluid Mechanics

In the 21st century, new fields of scientific inquiry are emerging at a breathtaking pace.  In the biological sciences, emphasis will be increasingly on quantitation and prediction of living systems—precisely the focus of biophysics. Biophysics is a discipline that sits at the interface between biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computation, and engineering. It is uniquely well suited for the study of biology in the post-genomic era. Besides its role in contributing fundamental understanding of the properties of molecules, cells, and complex biological systems, biophysics is also central to the development of novel medical technologies and to the bioengineering and biopharmaceutical industry.

Biophysics was first established as an independent discipline at Johns Hopkins. The Thomas C. Jenkins Department of Biophysics has a remarkable tradition of excellence in research and teaching and of developing leaders in the scientific community.

The undergraduate major in biophysics constitutes a rigorous program of study that will help students develop the broad set of skills in science, math, and computation necessary to compete in the interdisciplinary environment of modern science, medicine, and engineering.  The biophysics major emphasizes independent thinking and critical reasoning, problem-solving skills, and it teaches students how to move with ease across disciplines.

What can you do with your degree?

Biophysics majors follow many different professional paths after leaving Hopkins. A very large number of biophysics majors are accepted each year to medical schools in the nation. Biophysics majors also enter highly ranked graduate programs in biophysics, cell biology, public health, physiology, computational, quantitative and systems biology, biomedical engineering, and neuroscience. Many of our graduates are active in biomedical research, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical R&D. Others pursue degrees in law or environmental sciences, or become involved in consulting, governmental regulatory agencies, science education, science journalism, and other fields.

Related Programs and Centers

• Program in Molecular Biophysics
• Program in Cellular, Molecular, Developmental Biology, and Biophysics

The Johns Hopkins Biology Department is home to 25 research laboratories investigating a wide range of biological problems, with the unifying goal of obtaining explanations or models in quantitative and molecular detail. As one of the first biology departments in the United States, it has a long history dating back to the inception of Johns Hopkins University in 1876.

Biology faculty train students and researchers pursuing bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, as well as postdoctorals and visiting scientists. In addition to the BA in biology, the department offers a BS in molecular and cellular biology, a five-year combined BA or BS/MS program, and a PhD program.

The department emphasizes molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, biochemistry, and biophysics. Department members use the Integrated Imaging Center, the BioNMR center, the X-ray crystallography facility, and many other university resources to pursue their research and teaching objectives.

The Department of Biology plays a prominent role in training and educating undergraduates,  graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, and visiting scientists to prepare them for the next steps in their careers.

What can you do with your degree?

The requirements of the biology major satisfy all the requirements for admission to medical school.

In addition to medical school, graduates of the program are prepared for graduate school and a variety of professions.

Related Programs and Centers

• The Program in Cell, Molecular, Developmental Biology, and Biophysics (CMDB)

Philosophy poses such fundamental questions as: What can we know? How should we live? and How do the results of human inquiry, obtained so far, hang together? It is an excellent preparation for professional studies such as law and medicine; it provides perspective on other disciplines such as psychology, mathematics, literature, and political science; and it centers on a set of questions that thinking people cannot avoid. At Johns Hopkins, philosophy can be studied in a variety of ways.

When Johns Hopkins University was founded in 1876, it was the first university in the United States designed as a center for research and doctoral education. Among its earliest graduate students were Josiah Royce and John Dewey; C.S. Peirce was an early faculty member.

The Department of Philosophy maintains a distinctive character, providing its students with a broad but analytically rigorous philosophical education. Continuing a long Hopkins tradition (the tradition of Dewey, Lovejoy, Boas, Mandelbaum, and Schneewind), we offer programs that combine the systematic study of philosophical problems with sensitivity to their history.

What can you do with your degree?

The philosophy major is excellent preparation for professional studies such as law and medicine.

Graduate students are prepared to make original contributions to the field and to pursue careers in college and university teaching.

Related Programs and Centers

• Berman Institute of Bioethics

The Department of History offers students the opportunity to work intensively in the classroom and with individual faculty to discover the richness and complexity of history. The department emphasizes European history, United States history, and the histories of Africa, Latin America, and China.

Undergraduates begin with general courses, but progress quickly to courses that explore topics in depth and provide experience in researching, analyzing, and writing about the past. Graduate students work independently and with faculty advisers on reading and research in their fields of interest, while departmental seminars bring them together to discuss their research, forging a collegial intellectual culture.

History at Hopkins is both a social scientific and humanistic discipline, and for this reason history courses are coded both "H" (for humanities credit) and "S" (for credit in the social sciences). In practice, students will find that the "hard" side of history (demographic and economic history, and certain aspects of social history as well) mixes quite well with the "soft" side, with its emphasis on cultural and intellectual history.

What can you do with your degree?

The history major offers strong preparation in writing, reading, and the critical analysis of inconsistent information and data. Our graduates find these skills valuable for a variety of careers, including business, law, public service, and teaching.

Related Programs and Centers

• Center for Africana Studies
• Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise
• Arrighi Center for Global Studies
• Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Program in Jewish Studies
• Program for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality
• Program in East Asian Studies
• Program in Latin American Studies