In accordance with the plans thus formulated, the students have included
those who have already taken an academic degree, and who have here
engaged in advanced studies; those who have entered as candidates for
the Bachelors' degree; and those who have pursued special courses
without reference to degrees. The whole number of persons enrolled in
these three classes during the first fourteen years (1876-1890) is
fifteen hundred and seventy-one. Seven hundred and three persons have
pursued undergraduate courses and nine hundred and two have followed
graduate studies. Many of those who entered as undergraduates have
continued as graduates, and have proceeded to the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. These students have come from nearly every State in the
Union, and not a few of them have come from foreign lands. Many of those
who received degrees before coming here were graduates of the principal
institutions of this country. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy has
been awarded after three years or more of graduate studies to one
hundred and eighty-four persons, and that of Bachelor of Arts to two
hundred and fifty at the end of their collegiate course.
Two degrees, and two only, have been opened to the students of this
University. Believing that the manifold forms in which the baccalaurate
degree is conferred are confusing the public, and that they tend to
lessen the respect for academic titles, the authorities of the Johns
Hopkins University determined to bestow upon all those who complete
their collegiate courses the title of Bachelor of Arts. This degree is
intended to indicate that its possessor has received a liberal
education, or in other words that he has completed a prolonged and
systematic course of studies in which languages, mathematics, sciences,
history, and philosophy have been included. The amount of time devoted
to each of these various subjects varies according to individual needs
and preference, but all the combinations are supposed to be equally
difficult and honorable. Seven such combinations or groups of studies
have been definitely arranged, and "the group system," thus introduced,
combines many of the advantages of the elective system, with many of the
advantages of a fixed curriculum. The undergraduate has his choice among
many different lines of study, but having made this determination he is
expected to follow the sequence prescribed for him by his teachers. He
may follow the old classical course; or he may give decided preference
to mathematics and physics; or he may select a group of studies,
antecedent to the studies of a medical school; or he may pursue a
scientific course in which chemistry predominates; or he may lay a
foundation for the profession of law by the study of history and
political science; or he may give to modern languages the preference
accorded in the first group to the ancient classics. In making his
selection, and indeed in prosecuting the career of an undergraduate, he
has the counsel of some member of the faculty who is called his adviser.
While each course has its predominant studies, each comprises in
addition the study of French and German, and at least one branch of
science, usually chemistry or physics, with laboratory exercises.
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy is offered to those who continue
their studies in a university for three years or more after having
attained the baccalaureate degree. Their attention must be given to
studies which are included in the faculty of philosophy and the liberal
arts, and not to the professional faculties of Law, Medicine, and
Theology. Students who have graduated in other institutions of repute
may offer themselves as candidates for this degree. In addition to the
requirements above mentioned, the student must show his proficiency in
one principal subject and in two that are secondary, and must submit
himself to rigid examinations, first written and then oral. He must also
present a thesis which must gain the approval of the special committee
to which it may be referred, and must subsequently be printed. All these
requisitions are enforced by a faculty which is known as the Board of
University Studies.
As an encouragement to the systematic prosecution of university studies,
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in this University is offered under
the following conditions.
A Board of University Studies is constituted for the purpose of guiding
the work of those who may become candidates for this degree. The time of
study is a period of at least three years of distinctive university work
in the philosophical Faculty. It is desirable that the student accepted
as a candidate should reside here continuously until his final
examinations are passed, and he is required to spend the last year
before he is graduated in definite courses of study at this University.
Before he can be accepted as a candidate, he must satisfy the examiners
that he has received a good collegiate education, that he has a reading
knowledge of French and German, and that he has a good command of
literary expression. He must also name his principal subject of study
and the two subordinate subjects.
The Board reserves the right to say in each case whether the antecedent
training has been satisfactory, and, if any of the years of advanced
work have been passed by the candidate away from this University,
whether they may be regarded as spent in university studies under
suitable guidance and favorable conditions. Such studies must have been
pursued without serious distractions and under qualified teachers.
Private study, or study pursued at a distance from libraries and
laboratories and other facilities, will not be considered as equivalent
to university study.
In the conditions which are stated below, it will appear that there are
several tests of the proficiency of the candidate, in addition to the
constant observation of his instructors. A carefully prepared thesis
must be presented by the candidate on a subject approved by his chief
adviser, and this thesis must receive the approbation of the Board.
There are private examinations of the candidate, both in his chief
subject and in the subordinate subjects. If these tests are successfully
passed, there is a final oral examination in the presence of the Board.
As an indication of the possible combinations which may be made by those
who are studying for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, the following
schedule is presented:
Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry; Animal Physiology, Animal
Morphology, and Chemistry; Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology;
Mathematics, Astronomy, and Physics; Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin;
History, Political Economy, and International Law; Greek, Sanskrit, and
Latin; French, Italian and Spanish, and German; Latin, Sanskrit, and
Roman Law; Latin, Sanskrit, and German; Assyriology, Ethiopic and
Arabic, and Greek; Political Economy, History, and Administration;
English, German, and Old Norse; Inorganic Geology and Petrography,
Mineralogy, and Chemistry; Geology and Mineralogy, Chemistry, and
Physics; Romance Languages, German, and English; Latin, Greek, and
Sanskrit; German, English, and Sanskrit.
While students are encouraged to proceed to academic degrees, the
authorities have always borne in mind the needs of those who could not,
for one reason or another, remain in the university for more than a year
or two, and who might wish to prosecute their studies in a particular
direction without any reference to academic honors. Such students have
always been welcome, especially those who have been mature enough to
know their own requirements and to follow their chosen courses, without
the incentive of examinations and diplomas.