April 2023 Spotlight: Christopher Sandino
Christopher Sandino (Class of ’20), Johns Hopkins University, Graduating in 2024
Degree: Neuroscience and biology
Career Goals: To become a sport physical therapist
What has been the biggest surprise about the college experience? The biggest surprise about the college experience for me was how much free time you have outside of classes compared to high school. The actual time spent in class is minimal, however, the amount of work outside of class is way more than high school.
Most challenging coursework in college: I was taking a course sophomore year on the nervous system and it was just an info dump about everything you could possibly know about the nervous system. Each class was memorizing different molecules, anatomical structures, and pathways. The grade was comprised mostly of test grades which were closed note, covered everything we learned, and only contained short and long response answers.
Accomplishment most proud of: No award sticks out in particular, however, I did realize how much easier it was to get scholarships simply for going to a top ranked university.
Can you provide any advice to our current Knights? When looking for schools to apply to as a high schooler, I would mainly look at rankings, median GPA, average SAT scores, etc. for colleges to determine if they were good for me. Doing so got me into a competitive school that I enjoy attending, but I didn’t do as much research as I should have. My strongest piece of advice when looking for a school to attend is to see how convenient daily life is. Try to research things such as “how far are the classes are from the dorm”, “is there good public transportation in the area,” “is there a grocery store nearby,” “how safe is the surrounding area,” “how long am I required to live on campus” etc. A lot of schools will have a program that you like and will provide good education, but I feel that daily convenience can make or break a school. Additionally, looking at newsletters can help give you an idea of all things bad and good going on at a school.
I paid for college with…: I’m currently living off campus and JHU is giving me $3,500 each semester to help with living expenses.
Fondest memory from high school: One thing I look back on with Jose Marti was how the small size of the school ended up being beneficial for the student teacher relationship. For most classes, the teacher will know you on a personal level to some degree, whereas in college, most professors don’t even know you exist.