It's not
common knowledge, but Hopkins receives more money and does more research for the
Department of Defense than any other school in
America (much of which is done in the "
Applied Physics Lab" in
Laurel, "applied physics" being a euphemism for weapons research). They have had repeated offers to join the
Ivy League, but refused every time, because they'd have to share the DoD bounty with the other schools. Supposedly there is a floor in the
Bloomberg Building--a well-hidden floor--which, if a mere student ever sets foot upon, said student will be instantly expelled.
Hopkins donated the land to the city of Baltimore upon which the Baltimore Museum of Art is built. The BMA's grounds, the Hopkins campus, and Wyman Park all run together pretty much seamlessly.
Hopkins--not Cornell University, as is often claimed--has the highest suicide rate of any college in the United States. This may be attribuited in part to the crushing stress and competition of Hopkins academics. This is, after all, the school that gave us the lovely term "throating," meaning to sabotage someone else's coursework to make your own look better.
Hopkins is also the home of the Space Telescope Science Institute, the ones who offered me a really cool job, waited a week, and then retracted the offer.