Upcoming Travel Season by Mark Butt

Editor’s Note: For this entry, Admissions_Daniel and Admissions_Shannon have asked their Admissions colleague Mark Butt to discuss his upcoming (and quite hectic) fall travel schedule. If you are in New Jersey, Delaware, Florida, Germany, or Southern France you may get the chance to meet Mark.

Travel season is always an exciting time of year. It takes a lot of preparation and time to create a new schedule that is conducive to as many university goals and initiatives as possible. Of course, this is not a free-for-all, as there are two serious constraints placed on us admissions officers – time and money. In fact, I would assume for almost any industry, those are the most popular constraints placed on people.

Each admissions officer has a region that he or she manages and nurtures. For me, I have New Jersey and Delaware domestically and I am one of three admissions officers who have an international region as well. Traditionally, I spend a full week in New Jersey and I conduct a combination of high school visits and evening programs. Many of our Hopkins alumni attend local college fairs in my region throughout the year. Our alumni serve as an incredible resource for meeting and speaking with prospective students and families. They attend college fairs nationally and internationally for us.

Johns Hopkins University

My travel season this year is a little different than in the past but still has some consistency with previous years. I will be conducting 10 Explore Hopkins programs nation-wide. These programs are regional presentations open to students, families and guidance counselors and can serve as a great introduction for the university. I speak for about an hour on Johns Hopkins University, who we are as an institution, and then about the admissions process and financial aid. This year, I have five in the state of New Jersey, and all are happening the week of September 19. I also have one in Delaware the following week in New Castle County. These programs can attract anywhere from 80 to 200 people (including parents). I try to plan them at convenient times (avoiding PSAT dates, Giants games in NJ on Monday nights) so that people can attend at a time that works best for their families.

During travel season my days are very long; I get up early in the morning and often have four or five high school visits a day and often an Explore Hopkins program from 7-9 p.m. Email is usually on triage mode and emergency only situations during my travel seasons. My school visits are are planned in advance so that I can be at the school at a convenient time for the students to meet with me. I also try to plan the visits such that they make sense geographically – meaning that I “don’t drive in circles”. I try to make sure that I can follow a route that makes sense and is the most efficient time-wise for me. I remember when I first started in admissions, I had literally driven by one high school FOUR times and never had it on my visit schedule for some reason – total n00b move! I kept passing the school over and over and in fact it was taunting me! I did a visit the next year.

Florida Travel

New this year are a few things. I have a guidance counselor breakfast in Delaware which is where I do a mini-presentation for guidance counselors over breakfast. I talk about updates about the university and our most recent facts and figures and answer questions from the guidance counselors. I have never done one of these before but some other members of our admissions officers do these programs. I can meet many guidance counselors in a short amount of time and I think that’s great – it’s important that they stay up-to-date on what’s happening at Hopkins so that they can properly advise their students. This is a great venue to do so. Secondly, I will be conducting the travel in Florida this year. I have four Explore Hopkins programs happening there in Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami/Dade County. These will all be happening the week of October 10. I will also be doing some college fairs there and also school visits. I will spend about eight days total in Florida, seven days in New Jersey and three days in Delaware. I’m very excited about my travel to Florida, as there are some amazing students. I also have friends that work in Florida that I haven’t seen in a long time so I am looking forward to reconnecting with them.

International Travel

So, it’s going to be a very busy fall but man I am excited. When people say “I don’t ever want a desk job,” I know exactly how they feel. I love the excitement of going new places and trying new things – learning cultures, languages, foods, schooling systems, etc. I love being a life-long learner and I feel the admissions profession is very conducive to those with inquisitive minds. I love representing Hopkins and, more than ever, I love meeting prospective high school students who are eager to pursue higher education. Hopefully, I will see some of you on the road if you’re in Germany, New Jersey, Delaware or Florida. Wish me luck!

Explore Hopkins From Afar

In the next few weeks, my colleagues and I will be packing our bags and hitting the road. Fall recruitment travel season is upon us and there is a good chance a member of the Admissions staff will be coming to a location near you. Throughout the fall, the Admissions staff will hold Explore Hopkins programs in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. With the masterful assistance of our event planner extraordinaire, Cheryl Janowsky, the Admissions counselors are prepared to visit 37 locations and host our amazing “road show.” Our programs feature presentations by Admissions staff (and occasionally recent alumni) and provide information about the university, the admissions process, and financial aid. These events are the perfect chance for people who want to Explore Hopkins but can’t make it to Baltimore.

With the help of my student intern, JHU_Mandy, we have put together a Google map that details the location of all of our off-campus recruitment events. The first event is September 12 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the final event will be held on November 4 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Space is limited at these events so we require reservations. Full program details including date, time, exact location, and the online R.S.V.P. forms can be found here: http://apply.jhu.edu/visit/explorehopkins.html.

View JHU Admissions Off-Campus Events Fall 2010 in a larger map

As you review the map you will notice a few additional sites marked with red pin-points. In addition to our Explore Hopkins program, we will also be participating in two Group Travel programs. Dean Latting will be traveling to four locations in Texas with representatives from Davidson College, Swarthmore College, and Wesleyan University in mid-September. That same week, I will join colleagues from Northwestern University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Virginia for programs in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Full details on these group travel programs can be found here: http://apply.jhu.edu/visit/grouptravel.html.

As we prepare to come to your “neck of the woods,” my colleagues and I are looking for suggestions of what to do when we are in your hometowns. So if we are coming to your city, let us know where you suggest we eat and also what should we do / where should we visit during our free time (which is unfortunately sparse). Use the blog comments section to share your suggestions. I know I am always looking forward to restaurant suggestions in New England, and my colleagues will enjoy hearing from you.

We look forward to seeing you this fall and helping you Explore Hopkins.

Welcome Back Gilman: The Heart of Homewood

I bought my first Hopkins lacrosse t-shirt at the bookstore in Gilman Hall. I mailed my first electric bill in the basement of the building, where the university post office was located. I directed lost families through its eight stairwells during our Open Houses. And, I heard about its archaeological collection, but never got to see it, because it was hidden away in storage.

A Gorgeous Shot of Gilman by JHU_Greco

However, everything now has changed!

Named after the university’s founding president Daniel Coit Gilman, Gilman Hall was first opened in 1915. With seminar style teaching being invented at Johns Hopkins University, the building was created to foster this type of environment – one where students and faculty could work closely together and continue their discussions outside of the classroom. As time passed on, though, it became clear that upgrades to the building were necessary.

After an 85 million dollar renovation, Gilman Hall has reopened its doors as the first LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and green building on campus. (LEED certified = high performance in five areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality).

Now, for the first time in many years, Gilman is home to ALL humanities departments: Classics, English, German and Romance Languages, History, History of Art, History of Science and Technology, Humanities Center, Near Eastern Studies, Philosophy, and Writing Seminars. Museums and Society, Film and Media Studies, and the Expository Writing program have all moved back under the Gilman roof. Each of these departments has its own seminar room, including ceiling-mounted digital projectors and screens, DVD players, document cameras, speakers, and dimmable lighting. With nearly 11,000 additional square feet of space, the number of seminar style classrooms has increased from 15 to 29!

In addition to the increase in space and reuniting of the humanities, Gilman opens with many other exciting changes:

- If you would have visited the old Gilman, you probably would’ve gotten lost! With eight stairwell — all of which led to different floors – confusing corridors, and hallways that came to dead ends, it was extremely difficult to navigate the building. In the new Gilman, three stairwells have united all floors of the building, a new corridor from the north to south end has been created to allow you to pass through the center, and two elevators have been added to create a handicapped accessible facility. If you take the stairs, you will find a department office when you arrive to each floor. The space has been laid out as such so that visitors to the university can pop in and ask questions if needed!

- In the entranceway of the building, know as Memorial Hall, you will find four restored class windows. These windows represent the four institutions where President Gilman worked during his career: Hopkins, Yale, University of California, and the Carnegie Institute of Washington.

Vessel Field

-  With the renovation, a new space has been opened up in the center of the building, creating a three story atrium area which is absolutely gorgeous! The atrium is now a useful group gathering and study space for students to use. Hanging from its glass roof (made up of 154 glass panels, each one weighing about 500 pounds) is Vessel Field, a nine piece sculpture created by Virginia artist Kendall Buster.

- In the past, our archaeological collection was hidden in storage. Now, you can find it just below the atrium. Over 8,550 objects will not only be displayed in glass cases, but also be used by students and faculty for classes and research. The collection includes thousands of Greco-Roman and Near Eastern objects dating from pre-dynastic Egypt to the Byzantine and Islamic periods.

- The Hutzler Reading Room, know by our students as “the Hut,” is located in the back of the building and was formerly a darker study space with worn tables and rugs. Revamped and ready to go for students this fall, this 24 hour study space is now bright (the walls are green!) and has two interior glass walls to define three distinct study spaces.  One of these spaces contains the Writing Center, where office hours will be held for students throughout the year. The highlight of this space is the newly restored 19 stained glass windows. These windows were dedicated in 1930 to a former trustee, Francis T. King, and display the marks and logos used by European printers from the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

- Formerly, the Nolan Room was designated as the film and media studies screening room. With tall glass windows along the back wall, this space was not ideal. During the reconstruction, the Nolan Room was restored to a classroom space with a view of the Wyman woods, and the Fisher Lecture Hall was created as a new screening space. Fisher Lecture Hall, located on the ground floor, is a 1,500-square foot auditorium which can seat up to 145 people. Enclosed in wood and metal acoustic panels, the room has a full projection booth, motorized projection screen, whiteboard, and “smart” podium.

The Hut

All in all, the newly renovated Gilman Hall is beautiful. As students arrive on campus, some are ready to see all of the changes, while others can’t wait to see the building for the first time! Professors have returned to their offices, classrooms have been decorated, and seminar tables eagerly await their new students and faculty. We are all excited that the home of the humanities and heart of campus has returned!

So, if you decide to visit campus, you can buy your Hopkins lacrosse t-shirt in the Barnes and Noble Bookstore located in Charles Commons on St. Paul Street. You can mail your bills at the post office in Wolman Hall. You can easily navigate the stairwells of Gilman to visit the various humanities departments during our Open Houses. And, you can view the archaeological collection right underneath Gilman’s atrium.

Stop by soon, and experience Gilman for yourself! (Visit for an Open House for a chance to see Gilman and the rest of the Homewood campus.)

What’s New: 2010-11 Application Changes

Thankfully applications are now online.

At the start of every summer the Admissions staff has an in-depth discussion where we reflect back on the recently completed admissions cycle and begin to discuss the next cycle. This year’s discussion was held in early June, followed by subsequent meetings, and by the end of July, consensus was reached on what changes would go through and what changes the Admissions counseling staff will consider down the road.

I am a big advocate for these discussions because implementing some changes every year means that during the long days of winter, when my life is taken over by application reading, there is some “newness” to the process. Also, having these discussions soon after the admissions review process has been completed – allows all of us the chance to raise concerns about new or different information that could help in our committee deliberations. As I review the updates we have made to the application process for the 2010-11 admissions cycle, it is clear that there will be “newness” when reviewing applications and some of the information gaps will be filled.

For those of you just beginning your senior year in high school, you are also probably beginning to review application forms, deadlines, instructions, essay prompts, and all that other business. This blog entry will present to you the changes in the application process to Johns Hopkins University for freshman admission to the fall 2011 semester, and also go over a few reminders. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to post them on the Ask Admissions section of the Hopkins Forums.

Reminder About Application Forms and Deadlines: 

Just like last year, freshman candidates to Johns Hopkins must apply by using the Universal College Application (UCA) or the Common Application (CA), along with the Johns Hopkins Supplement. No preference is given to one application format over the other but it is important to remember that you have to apply with the UCA & JHU supplement OR the CA & JHU supplement. All of these forms can be found online and we encourage students to submit their applications online. If you must file a paper application, please review the information on our Application Web page.

Universal College Application

Common Application

As far as deadlines, I first refer you to our very helpful Deadlines and Requirements Web page. As has been the case for as long as I have worked at Hopkins we offer two decision plans. Our Early Decision plan is binding – and has a November 1 application deadline; Early Decision notifications will be released on or around December 15. Our other decision plan is Regular Decision, with a January 1 deadline and decision release at the end of March. We have no other decision plans – no early action, no rolling admissions, no single-choice early action, no early decision plan II, no third-choice early rolling action plan VII. Just ED and RD. Pretty simple.

A Change to Required Application Materials:
O.K. A challenge. Here is the list of required application materials for all freshman applicants. See if you can see what is different this year from last year.

- Common Application or Universal College Application
- Johns Hopkins Supplement
- $70 application fee or fee waiver
- CA or UCA Essay / Personal Statement and both short answer questions on the JHU Supplement
- Secondary School Report (includes HS transcript, school profile)
- Guidance Counselor letter of recommendation
- 2 teacher letters of recommendation
- SAT Reasoning exam OR ACT with Writing (SAT subject exams recommended)

So what is different? Give up? Look at the second to last item – teacher letters of recommendation. This year that category is plural. While in previous years we only required applicants to obtain one teacher evaluation – this year the Admissions committee wants to review three recommendations for each applicant – one from your counselor and two from your teachers. Recommendations are an important part of our holistic admissions review process, especially during committee discussions, so requiring a second teacher recommendation this year was an obvious change. If you have questions about letters of recommendation feel free to ask them on the Recommendations thread of the Hopkins Forums.

Our New Essay / Short Answer Policy:
Eagle-eyed blog readers would realize that there are several answers to what is different in the requirements list. Not only did we make an adjustment to the letters of recommendation requirements but we made a change to the essay and short answer requirements too. Our new instructions are listed in the Johns Hopkins Supplement – Question #8. This year, applicants are required to respond to the essay/personal statement part of the Common Application / Universal College Application and then also reply to both of the short answer questions listed on the Johns Hopkins Supplement. I recently posted a more complete explanation of this policy on the Hopkins Forums which also includes the prompts for each essay / short answer question. Check out that post on the Hopkins Forums here.

Pretty simple: COLLEGE

A New Policy Related to Biomedical Engineering for ED Applicants: 
This next change only relates to applicants who are interested in the Biomedical Engineering major at Johns Hopkins and are choosing to apply Early Decision. If you do not fit both of these categories then skip to the next section. For those of you who are ED applicants and who will select Biomedical Engineering as your first choice major on the Johns Hopkins Supplement, please read and re-read the following so you understand our new Early Decision policy clearly.

As always, applicants to Johns Hopkins who want to be considered for admission to our only limited enrollment major, Biomedical Engineering, must select BME as their first-choice major on the Johns Hopkins Supplement. Applicants will be reviewed for admission to the University first and then subsequently for selection to the BME major. Applicants may be admitted to the University and the BME major, or admitted to the University but not the major. This policy is in effect for both ED applicants and RD applicants.

The new policy impacts the cases of Early Decision applicants who selected BME as their first choice major and were admitted to the University but not the BME major. In such cases, the applicant is released from the Early Decision contract to enroll at Johns Hopkins and may apply to other colleges. However, these students must make a decision about enrollment at Johns Hopkins and return their Candidate Reply form by January 15. Here is how we explain the policy on our Web site:

Early Decision applicants who applied to but were not admitted to the BME major are released from the Early Decision contract to enroll at Johns Hopkins and may apply to other colleges but must make a decision about enrollment at Johns Hopkins University and return their Candidate Reply Form to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions by January 15.

If you were not accepted to the BME program but still want to attend Johns Hopkins, you can choose to enroll by submitting the Candidate Reply Form and enrollment deposit. You do not need to select a new major at this time, but you should inform us of your academic interests when completing the Candidate Reply Form. All other majors and programs at Johns Hopkins are available to you and you may change your intended major over the summer if you choose.

If you choose not to enroll, check the appropriate box on your Candidate Reply Form and return it to us. Your application will be withdrawn from Johns Hopkins University.

More simplified … ED students admitted to the University but not to the BME program are required to do one of the following actions by the response date of January 15:

1) Select to enroll at JHU under the ED contract and select any other intended major other than BME.

OR

2) Break the ED contract and withdraw from the applicant pool. One cannot delay their enrollment to consider offers from other institutions and one’s admission will not be held past January 15.

This new policy is more direct and encourages students who apply Early Decision to Johns Hopkins to do so because Johns Hopkins is their first choice as a University, not because of a single major.

A New Word Added to our Standardized Test Requirements Page:
For the coming admissions cycle we have not changed our standardized test requirements; however, we have added an important word to our instructions. We still require all applicants to submit either the SAT Reasoning exam or ACT with writing. No change there. We also still recommend but not require applicants to submit three SAT II subject exams. The change here is that we have added the word “strongly” in front of recommended when speaking about subject exams. We have added this emphasis because we want applicants to strongly consider submitting SAT subject exams. We do not require them because we do not want the submission of subject exams to prevent a student from applying to Hopkins, but it is our preference that students take subject exams, submit them with their application, and take three exams.

To elaborate, there is no stated advantage or disadvantage to submitting SAT II subject exams. It is the choice of each individual student whether he or she wants to submit subject exam scores and how many exams they want to submit. However, we want applicants to consider our recommendations seriously; therefore, submitting such scores will make a difference in the application review. There is no way to predict whether submitting scores will impact the review of the application positively or negatively, as they will be part of the comprehensive review of an applicant’s file.

The Quest for the YES Begins

So a few new things for you applicants to the Johns Hopkins Class of 2015 to mull over. I hope this entry helped and I wish you all the best as you start the application process. Check back throughout the fall as Shannon, myself, and our colleagues post additional blog entries about the application process, components of the application, and even provide some advice along the way.

Summer Blogging – Meet the Class of 2014

Back in the summer of 2007, all of us in the Johns Hopkins Admissions Office were celebrating another National Championship for the Men’s Lacrosse team, were getting excited about our impending move into the newly constructed Mason Hall, and were quickly reading through “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” to find out how the series would end. Personally, my work agenda primarily included planning an upgrade of the two-year old Hopkins Interactive Web site. This included endless brainstorming with colleagues and a number of current students who worked for me. One of the ideas that came out of these brainstorms was a suggestion to get the incoming Class of 2011 excited about blogging for Hopkins Interactive by holding a contest over the summer before their freshmen year would begin. I honestly can’t remember whose genius idea this was, but one thing is for sure – it was not mine but I do enjoy taking credit for it.  

The incoming freshman Summer Blogging Contest is now in its fourth year and after posting the winning five entries this past week it is clear to me that this idea ranks in the top five best Hopkins Interactive related ideas ever. (If curious, in my opinion the other four ideas that are on that list in no particular order are: our Academics Blog, our Guest Blog, our Hopkins CRIBS page, and our Insider’s Guide to Hopkins.) So in case you missed them this week, here are the winning entries for the JHU Class of 2014:

"I'd Rather Be a Bluejay"

Name: Marina Gaeta
Hometown: Ithaca, NY
Intended Majors: Writing Seminars and Neuroscience
“I’d Rather Be a Bluejay”

"A Letter from the Future"

Name: Fatimah Alkhunaizi
Hometown: Qatif, Saudi Arabia
Intended Majors: Cognitive Science and Neuroscience
“A Letter from the Future”

"You Have Arrived at Your Destination"

Name: Sydney Rooney
Hometown: Elm Grove, WI
Intended Major: Biomedical Engineering
“You Have Arrived at Your Destination”

"Finishing My Summer Bucket List"

Name: Devin Alessio
Hometown: Manalapan, NJ
Intended Majors: Writing Seminars and Romance Languages
“Finishing My Summer Bucket List”

"As Long As You're Sure This is What You Want"

Name: Clint Hall
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Intended Major: Global Environmental Change & Sustainability
“As Long as You’re Sure This is What You Want”

Here are links to winning entries from the previous three years:

Summer 2009 – Class of 2013

Alexandra Guttentag – Palo Alto, CA – Public Health Studies
“Yes Woman”

Tyler Dougherty – Ocean City, NJ – International Studies
“I Don’t Want to Have to Learn To Count … I Don’t Want to Grow Up”

Miriam Grossman – West Orange, NJ – Writing Seminars
“The Most Disorganized Catalogue”

Miranda Baxendale – Culver City, CA – History
“You Can Find a Nice Doctor to Marry”

Charlie Tsouvalas – Arcadia, CA – Chemistry
“Reading Between the Lines”

Rebecca Krishnan-Ayer – Dallas, TX – History of Art
“The List Goes On (and on, and on)”

Aishwarya Rajagopalan
“Establishing a Connection: The Chronicles of a Future Freshman”

Summer 2008 – Class of 2012

Hannah Joo – Kirkland, WA – Neuroscience
“An Ode to Thumbtacks”

Emily Sucher – East Brunswick, NJ – Writing Seminars
“Ready or Not College, Here I Come!”

Trang (Diem) Vu – Baltimore, MD – Biology
“The Day Marked on the Calendar”

Lauren Pennachio – Dalton, PA – Neuroscience
“The Ending and the Endless”

Rohit Dasgupta – Centreville, VA – Biomedical Engineering
“Head Shake by Mr. Johns Hopkins”

Summer 2007 – Class of 2011

Joshua Gleason – Park Ridge, NJ – Film and Media Studies
“The Quiet Things No One Ever Knows”

Jessica Kraus – Tenafly, NJ – Public Health Studies
“Metamorphoses: (n) A transformation, as by magic or sorcery”

Celeste Lipkes – Tampa, FL – Writing Seminars
“Slippery marble, Crab cakes, and Dropped s’s: Oh my!”

Lauren Carney – Westmont, NJ – Writing Seminars
“You, Your Bed, and Your World”

“Summer time and the livin’ is easy…”

… or so my colleagues told me when I first started working at Hopkins five years ago.

It's me ... Admissions_Shannon

Greetings! Admissions_Shannon here and I am excited to write my first offical blog entry as co-author of the Hopkins Insider. During my undergraduate years at Gettysburg College, I spent a lot of time in the school’s Admissions Office. I was a tour guide, office receptionist, day and overnight visit coordinator, and intern. After graduating in May of 2005, I realized how much I loved what I was doing and decided I wanted to continue on in the field. I began my job search, got an interview at Hopkins, and was hired by the university in July. I made the move from my hometown of East Brunswick, New Jersey to Baltimore Maryland, and started working on Monday, August 8th. And now I am a blogger.

In my first few days of work, my new colleagues introduced me to the Admissions Cycle – in the fall we travel and recruit, in the winter we read applications and make decisions, in the spring we put on admitted student events, and in the summer we relax and get ready for the new year. However, I have found that summers are anything but relaxing!

With a 33% increase in applications since I have been here (from 13,768 who applied in the fall of 2005 to 18,459 who applied in the fall of 2009…yikes!), Hopkins is always a busy place to be! During the fall, I am charged with visiting high schools, going to college fairs, and conducting Explore Hopkins presentations throughout my region of California, Alaska, and Hawaii. Although I do not get to visit every state each year, I am the office expert on schools in these areas. When winter rolls around, I read over 1,400 applications for first reads from these areas. I then move onto the committee process with my colleagues to make decisions on who will be a part of next year’s class. By the time spring has arrived, I am into campus visit mode. While I am the advisor of the Blue Key Tour Guide Society year round, this is one of the most important times for tours of campus, as many students are deciding which college or university is the best fit for them.

Not me ... but rather my favorite B'more delicacy

Finally, when the summer is here, the whirlwind begins once again. New tour guides need to be hired, trained, and scheduled. Travel needs to be set up – flights booked, hotels selected, visits planned. Weekend programming needs to be organized. Projects need to be completed.

This summer has been no different! In May, I hired, trained, and scheduled over 50 guides to conduct tours throughout the summer. I’ve been busy arranging my fall travel to North Carolina (I’ll be helping out a colleague this year who is about to have a baby), California, AND Hawaii! We have successfully conducted five weekend programs with over 3,100 visitors, including student panels and tour guides…those are my pieces to organize. And now, I am starting up new projects. I am revising our tour route with the reopening of Gilman Hall, preparing to welcome our new class and get them involved in volunteering for the admissions office, and starting to blog too.

Baltimore during Snowmageddon

This brings me here, posting my first blog on Hopkins Interactive. I am excited to share not only my admissions knowledge, but also information on student life and the city of Baltimore. Having worked closely with students for my last five years as the Blue Key Tour Guide Advisor, manager of office student workers, and supervisor of our student interns, I have some great insight on life on the Homewood campus. As Admissions_Daniel also mentioned, I am one of Baltimore’s biggest fans.

So come back soon, and come back often. Ask questions, suggest topics you would like to learn more about, and let me know how I can help!

Me with two amazing JHU alums: Amy and Elena

Who and What is the Hopkins Insider? (Rebirth)

Greetings from Baltimore and welcome to the “Hopkins Insider” blog.

Back on December 12, 2005, I (Admissions_Daniel) first typed those words and posted my first Admissions blog ever. The Hopkins Insider blog was born that day. (Check out that first entry here.) Then on September 16, 2008, it was time to reintroduce the blog so I rewrote those same words in my 142nd blog post and the Hopkins Insider blog was rebooted. (Read that entry here.) My readership had grown exponentially and there were so many new prospective students and parents visiting the site that I felt after three years a new introduction to the Hopkins Insider was necessary.

Inside Gilman-The quintessential Hopkins image.

Now four years and eight months since my first blog entry and a couple of years after the reboot, it is time for the Hopkins Insider blog to once again be reborn. As the admissions cycle commences for 2010-11, the Hopkins Insider blog will be, for lack of a better term, maturing. Frequent visitors to the blog will notice we have made some significant changes this week to the design and color scheme. [When I say "we" I actually mean JHU_Joe who is a genius and the main designer of so many of the Hopkins Interactive blogs. (THANKS JOE!)] The changes to the blog are not just aesthetic though. So for this 258th blog post, I thought it was once again time to detail Who and What is the Hopkins Insider blog.

WHAT IS THE HOPKINS INSIDER BLOG?
The purpose of the Hopkins Insider blog is the same it was in December 2005 as it is today. The Hopkins Insider is an Admissions blog that provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the Admissions process works at Johns Hopkins University. The blog is an access point for information about the sometimes unknown operations of the undergraduate admissions office of a highly selective, private institution of higher education. It has always been the mission of this blog to work as a resource for answering questions about Johns Hopkins and the admissions process, and become a personal window into how applications are reviewed for prospective students and their parents.  

The blog has evolved greatly over the last four plus years. In the beginning, entries primarily touched on frequently asked questions, deadline updates, and newsworthy happenings at the Homewood campus. Over the years, entries have moved beyond the basics, now providing advice, suggestions, and opinions. Entries began to break down the barriers of the hidden admissions process, creating a better understanding of how highly selective admissions works. Readers were introduced to the members of the Admissions Committee and learned how different parts of an application are reviewed. By displaying the mix of chaos and sanity that exists in our Admissions office, the blog is able to present a transparent view of how a Johns Hopkins class comes together each year. Additionally, the blog has often been used to promote the University to all audiences, often helping to dispel some of the large misconceptions about Hopkins (i.e. Hopkins is much more than medicine, fun flourishes at Homewood, and Baltimore is a great college town).

As another admissions cycle begins and the future Class of 2015 dives into the college application process, know that the Hopkins Insider will remain the place that INFORMS / DISPELS / UNCOVERS / HUMORS / DEBUNKS / CLARIFIES / EXCITES / and ENTERTAINS as much as possible.

WHO IS THE HOPKINS INSIDER?
Earlier this summer Shannon swung by my office and proposed becoming a co-author of the blog. I jumped at the chance, not just because it would be a bit less work for me, but also because I knew that the blog needed a new voice. While I will continue to write regular entries that shine a spotlight on the admissions process and the happenings in Mason Hall (the home of Admissions), Shannon will take a different route with her entries. Shannon will add a “pulse” to the blog, posting entries that focus on life in Baltimore and in-and-around the Homewood campus, as well as featuring snapshots of student life at Hopkins. Shannon will post an introductory entry early next week, and then get straight to work by researching her next blog entry by attending Baltimore Restaurant Week. Stay tuned.

Admissions_Daniel as a bluejay.

Up until today this was a pretty easy question to answer. The Hopkins Insider has been me, Daniel G. Creasy – a twelve year Admissions professional, Associate Director of Admissions at Johns Hopkins University, and a five year Admissions blogger who likes to write as much about my dog Soze, my niece and nephew, the New York Mets, and popular culture as much as I do about college admissions and Johns Hopkins. But starting early next week the Hopkins Insider will have a co-author, Shannon Miller. Shannon is a Senior Assistant Director of Admissions and a five year colleague of mine. Shannon recruits in California, Alaska, Oregon, and Hawaii, oversees the Blue Key Tour Guide Society, and is one of the most passionate fans of the city of Baltimore that I have ever met.

Admissions_Shannon as a bluejay.

Another benefit of having Admissions_Shannon joining the Hopkins Insider team is that she will help me motivate our other Admissions colleagues in posting guest entries throughout the year. Already we have signed up Mark to write entries about his upcoming fall travel and the double-degree admissions process with the Peabody Institute. Sarah has agreed to write about her top ten favorites things about living in Baltimore and Dana will write about her impressions of the new Gilman Hall. Chloe will write about Hillel at Hopkins, and our newest colleague Zak will write about the Baltimore Scholars program and being the new guy in the office. I am also quite excited for a guest entry from one of our marketing geniuses, Shelly, who will discuss the process that goes into creating our annual Viewbook and how it is easy for her because of her love affair with Hopkins.  And that is just the tip of the iceberg. (Heck, I got a huge white board in my office now that provides an extensive outline of future blogs – and no one will be able to resist the power of the white board.)

The new white board.

EVEN MORE NEW STUFF
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one of the other reasons for reintroducing the Hopkins Insider blog. Around 4:30 p.m. this afternoon the main Johns Hopkins Office of Undergraduate Admissions Web site was re-launched (http://apply.jhu.edu). This is the first significant upgrade of the Admissions site since I joined the Admissions staff nearly seven years ago. IT IS AWESOME. It is a huge leap forward, and the impetus behind the visual redesign of this blog. We got so motivated by the upgrade of the Admissions site that we updated Hopkins Interactive as well.

New JHU Admissions site

So enjoy the new Admissions site, the revamped Hopkins Interactive site, and Shannon and I hope you all become frequent visitors of this next version of the Hopkins Insider blog.

An Ode to the Class of 2014

So it is the middle of July and I am sitting in the lobby of Mason Hall all alone. You may ask, why am I alone? Well, because it is a Saturday. You then may ask, what am I doing at work on a Saturday in the summer? Well, because today was my day to run the Hopkins Preview event for visiting prospective students. You may then finally ask, why don’t I just go home after the event is over? And my response is why are you asking questions of a blog? Just kidding. I am actually currently waiting for our 20 or so tours to get back and want to be available in case any of our visitors have final questions.

As I sit here in the quiet confines of Mason Hall I am pondering the calendar, the events of the last couple of months, and what lies ahead. See for me in my twelfth year of adhering to the abnormal calendar of college admissions, my summers have always been split into two. The first half of the summer begins pretty much right after we have finalized the enrolling freshman class in early May and runs through the middle of July. I take a lot of vacation during this time and when I am in the office I tend to procrastinate a bit too much. So far this summer I have taken two extended vacations to see family, one to Paradise Island in the Bahamas and then a second time to the Florida Space Coast. I also have spent many hours in the office watching sports on ESPN3.com … the World Cup, U.S. Open golf, Wimbledon, and now the British Open. And oh yeah, I do occasionally get some actual work done.

Vacation in Paradise

The second half of the summer is when I plan, and for this year that period will begin in earnest next week. I will plan my fall travel in New England. I will plan the consortium travel I will be doing in New England with representatives from Northwestern University, the University of Virginia, and the University of California, Berkeley. I will work with colleagues from UVa and MIT on an educational session regarding the use of social media in college admissions which we will collectively present at the NACAC National Conference in St. Louis. I will work with returning members of the Student Admissions Advisory Board (SAAB) planning the big projects for Hopkins Interactive in the coming year. And I will work on some other exciting projects that I will keep under wraps until the big reveal in the coming months. Basically, during the second half of the summer I only take a couple of mini-vacations, I cut the procrastinating by 75%, and get organized and prepared for the coming admissions and recruitment cycle.

The true representation of the break in my two summers is when I realize I have to turn the proverbial page and close the book on the Johns Hopkins Class of 2014 as it relates to topics on this blog. For the last 12-18 months the primary audience I have directed blog entries to has been the prospective, admitted, and ultimately enrolling members of the JHU Class of 2014. But as the admissions calendar turns to a new cycle, it is time the blog goes in a new direction and begins to address new audience, namely the prospective students for the JHU Class of 2015 and beyond.

But before the next phase of the Hopkins Insider begins, I have one more entry that I want to dedicate to the Class of 2014. This entry does not look back, does not report statistics, and does not provide any important updates. Rather this blog is in the style of an advice blog, my favorite kind of entry to compose. Below I present to all students entering college as the Class of 2014, whether it is at Hopkins or somewhere else, AdmissionsDaniel’s top ten bucket list items to get the most out of one’s college years.

– To be continued –

Composing a bucket list

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O.K. truth be told, I started writing this blog this past Saturday but then got distracted as the tours got back and I had a ton of questions to answer. Then I went home and fell asleep. Then I went to see Inception on Sunday and well my mind has been filled with theories on that film for the past few days. Now it is Thursday evening and I just finished enjoying So You Think You Can Dance. I am not tired for some reason, so I decided to finish this blog.

So where was I? Oh right, my bucket list of advice items to get the most out of one’s college years. It is over 13 years since I graduated college and for nearly all those years I have been witness to thousands of students going through the motions of the undergraduate experience. Though in no way do I consider myself an expert on this topic, I do feel that my experiences and observations do make me somewhat knowledgeable on this subject. So without further adieu, here is my advice to the incoming members of the Class of 2014, to help make the next four years of your life the most enjoyable, dynamic, memorable, and worthwhile.

1. Be Worldly
No matter what your future plans entail, gaining international experiences will benefit you. Every student I have known that has studied abroad raves about the experience and are better students for it. With the chance to study during the traditional academic year, as well as during summer and winter breaks, there are no excuses for not gaining a world perspective to your undergraduate education. And don’t stop with just studying abroad. Everyone should strongly consider pursuing foreign language classes, as well as cultural studies courses.

2. Explore a New Subject Every Semester
The biggest mistake I made in my undergraduate years was failing to explore the vast majority of subjects, majors, and classes offered to me. If I could go back and do it all over again I would make it a rule that I took one class every semester from a brand new subject area. Just look at the variety of classes offered to you: Cognitive Science, Biophysics, Anthropology, English, Applied Mathematics, East Asian Studies, Sociology, and so on. There is true value in an interdisciplinary approach to your education and truth be told, your undergraduate years is really the only time in your educational history you will have the chance to explore. Who knows, you may find a new field of interest and something you may end up minoring or majoring in.

3. Journal Your Experiences
I know suggesting to a college student to add another writing assignment to their daily agenda may seem a bit sadistic. However, take my advice; you will truly appreciate keeping a journal of your college years to reflect on in 10, 20, 30 plus years. These will be some of the best years of your life and they will go by so quickly. More importantly, your beliefs and opinions will change frequently during these years, and jotting down your thoughts regularly will be both cathartic and stimulating. Oh yeah, and I recommend this be a private journal, one in which you are honest with your emotions. This is not an assignment of tracking your Facebook statuses or some live blog journal that anyone can access. This is for your eyes only – an experiment in learning more about yourself during the most self-educating time of your life.

Write down your thoughts

4. Do Not Judge a Book by Its Cover
This relates to so many things. Don’t be so quick to judge the faculty, the classes, and the academic challenges. Don’t be so quick to judge your peers, your acquaintances, and your roommates. Don’t be so quick to judge extracurricular activities, campus events, and city-wide opportunities. Having an open-mind and spending time experiencing all that crosses your path before making ultimate decisions will benefit you greatly. You may think that Economics is the most boring subject matter ever, and then later realize that the knowledge gained in Econ classes is applicable to so many other fields. You may think the Quidditch team is filled with socially-awkward geeks, and then find your best friends while chasing the Snitch. You may think that Baltimore is too dangerous a city to explore, and then have the time of your life in Fell’s Point during the Halloween parade. Take chances.

5. Get Involved and Give Back
Allow me to let you in a little secret; college is not just about learning in a classroom. Shhhhhhh. Don’t share this with others. A good part of your “learning” during college happens outside the classroom and occurs in your extracurricular life. Don’t lock yourself in the library for four years; you absolutely will be wasting the chance of a lifetime if you do so. Get involved. Pursue your passions or develop new ones. Try out for the Freshman One Acts. Write an editorial for the JHU News-letter. Join an intramural team. Go to a concert at Peabody. Attend events put on by the HOP. Consider rushing, or find another social network through any of the 300+ activities available to you. And while pursuing your passions, don’t forget to give back to the Homewood and Baltimore communities that you will be taking so much from. Stop by the Center for Social Concern and learn of the myriad of ways you can get involved with service. There is something for everyone … don’t be lazy because you will absolutely regret it.

6. Have Fun, Your Way
In high school you are educated about peer pressure and to avoid it every turn. Well in college there is just an assumption that you have learned to not fall into the patterns of others and establish clique mentalities. However, it can be easy to just fall into a crowd and ignore you own personal proclivities. Don’t do that. Make sure you don’t do that. It is your college experience, and live it by doing what you personally want. Explore the things that you find most interesting. Pursue you own passions. And at every turn remember to HAVE FUN. Having fun should be a core principle of your entire collegiate experience.

7. Use All the Resources Available to You
As an incoming freshman you are probably super excited to use all the resources and take advantage of the opportunities available to you. But as you progress through your first year and on to subsequent years you will begin to forget about everything that is out there for you. It is natural to forget, but I advise you to fight it as much as possible. Make sure to remind yourself to use the Career Center, the Study Abroad office, your Academic Advisor, faculty office hours, the Counseling Center, the Office of Student Life, the Center for Social Concern, the Interfaith Center, the Athletic facilities, and everything else in between. If need be, hide post-it note reminders in your day planner or add them to your bulletin board to remind you to continue to explore the avenues in front of you.

To Do List

8. Don’t Fall Into Routines
This is another easy thing to do after the excitement of the start of your freshman year wears off. Once you are knee deep in your classes and activities, it is easy to fall into a daily routine and forget to explore new things. I challenge you to make a pact with yourself to try something new at least once a month, and continue this throughout all four years of college. Something new can be anything and everything: go to the general body meeting of a new club, go hear a speaker, explore a new restaurant, go to a concert or theater production, go to a sporting event that doesn’t turn out many fans, try a new route for your jog, go to an interesting professor’s office hours, volunteer, skip to class rather than walk. Just keep changing things up.

9. Be Flexible
Of all the items on this list this is the one I wish someone had told me before I went to college. When I arrived in college I knew I had enjoyed studying history and that my interest was in political science. So that is what I studied, every semester, every chance I had. Even in my sophomore year when I realized I really didn’t enjoy the subject matter, I still stuck with it. I stuck with it all the way through graduation. And now my entire professional career has been in education though I took zero education classes. I loved a sociology class I took as a freshman but I never pursued any more classes in that subject. I enjoyed film and architecture electives but only took a handful. Basically, my academic plan was a linear Point A to Point B strategy. No diversions. No flexibility. And oh was that a bad decision. Be open to new avenues, new directions, new concepts, and new options. Do not close any doors. You may start at Point A and end up Point B ultimately, but your path should have numerous twist and turns.

10. Accept the Fact That You Will Makes Mistakes
OK, yes you are all perfect, you are all amazing, you are all brilliant, and you all will never have missteps in college. Yeah right! Some of that may have been true as you dominated your way through high school, but everyone, and yes I mean EVERYONE, will make mistakes and possible even fail at something (or multiple things) while in college. Be ready for this, and realize that rebounding from a mistake or a failure makes you ultimately a much stronger individual. You will get a bad grade occasionally, you will argue with your roommates, you will have conflicts with a faculty member, you will miss a deadline, and you will face struggles. It is accepting these difficulties, embracing the experiences, and coming back stronger that will define you.

Can't wait for JHU 2014 picture

I could elaborate so much more on each of these points, and probably come up with ten more ideas. However, I want to keep these thoughts a bit unfinished so you all can interpret them your own way. Make your own bucket list and stick to it over the years. Add new items as you move along and enjoy fully crossing off items as you complete them. Simply put, make the most of these years … don’t form regrets by letting time fly by, because it will.

Final Wait List 2010 Update

Later today (Friday, June 25, 2010) we will be contacting all wait-listed applicants who selected to remain on the wait list with final decisions. During this week the Admissions Committee met for a final time to make decisions regarding the wait list for the Class of 2014.

If you have been keeping up with this wait list discussion thread you will know that in late May and early June we admitted a handful of students off the wait list. Since then the Admissions teams has been very methodical and carefully tracking the size of the enrolling class. Though we had anticipated more fluctuation this year then in years past due to the volume of wait list movement by our peers, in the end our class size has not dropped below our enrollment goals. Therefore the decision was made not to admit any more students off the wait list. In the end, we selected 32 students for admission from the wait list.

The vast majority of you who remained on our wait list will be receiving correspondence today that states we do not intend on admitting any additional students from the wait list this year and that we have now met our enrollment target for the fall. This is our wait list release message and though a disappointment, it does end the waiting process. We wish you the best in your college career and appreciate the interest you showed in Johns Hopkins.

A small handful of those students who remained on the wait list (~100) will receive a slightly different correspondence. This group of students was selected by the Admissions Committee to receive an offer to remain on an extended summer wait list. This message states that although we have met our enrollment targets, in the event that space might become available, we will consider the students on this extended wait list. For those selecting to remain on the extended summer wait list from this group, an official final decision will be rendered no later than July 31st. Further instructions about the extended summer wait list will be included in the e-mail message that this select group will receive later today.

Two important things to note about the extended summer wait list: (1) the chances for admission remain slim and only will occur in the rare cases that more spaces become available. And, (2) the Admissions Committee selects the students to be offered a spot on the extended summer wait list, it is not something a wait-listed student may request.

I hope all this makes sense. As always, if you have any questions please feel free to post them on the Wait List Discussion Thread on the Hopkins Forums. We understand that this process can be frustrating and at times the waiting seems as if we were “stringing you along.” We appreciate your patience, and assure you that the time line was necessitated by our need to be careful and methodical in our decisions. Every year these decisions are quite difficult to make, and I hope you understand how much we agonize over these decisions. Best of luck to each and every one of you.

Additional May Updates: Wait List, Transfer, and Vacation

I was looking back over the past four plus years of this blog and specifically entries posted in the month of May and there are two common themes: (1) frequent updates on wait list and transfer; and (2) discussion of my first vacation of the summer. Well, since those entries have worked so well in the past I thought what better blog topic then updates on wait list, transfer, and my pending vacation.

Wait List Status Update
Earlier this week my Admissions colleagues initiated step two of our wait list process. In my previous wait list update, I explained that the staff had previously selected and contacted approximately 30 students for admission from the wait list. Those phone calls were made on May 14 and May 17 and we have received the responses we were waiting for. After reviewing the numbers, it was decided that an additional 20 or so students would be contacted this week by phone (step two) and be offered a place in the Class of 2014. As of this morning (Friday, May 21) all of our phone calls have been made and about 50 students have been offered admission from the wait list.

Now we move into another waiting phase. It is important to note that we have a certain number of spots to fill in our class but that number changes throughout the early summer as students are admitted from other wait lists and remove themselves from the JHU Class. We are able to predict that movement in general, but we also need to meet specific enrollment targets. It is our belief that the wait list decisions we have made the last two weeks will enable us to hit our target but there is still uncertainty in that. Therefore, at this time we do not have plans to release our wait list, nor are we stating that we will not admit any additional students from the wait list. We have made offers, now we wait for responses, and wait to see if any other students withdraw. In early June, we will re-evaluate everything and see what next steps are necessary.

As I stated previously, it is our expectation that if we need to admit any other students from the wait list it will only be a handful at best. It is fair to say that if you have not yet been contacted, the chances for your admissions from the wait list are slim. We have essentially met our enrollment targets now, and though we are not releasing the entire wait list at this time it does appear that will most likely be our next step. I do wish I could provide a more concrete and definitive timeline but unfortunately this is how the wait list selection process works. As always, keep an eye out on our Wait List Discussion Thread for further updates.

Transfer Update
It was just determined that the transfer decision mail date this year will be Wednesday, May 26. The Transfer Admissions Committee is using the next few days to finalize all decisions and then turn the process over to our Operations team to generate all the letters. As typical, decision letters will be mailed on May 26 and in the late afternoon e-mail decisions will be sent to all applicants who provided a working e-mail.

Please note that the Admissions Office will be closed on Thursday, May 27 for Commencement ceremonies, again on Monday, May 31 for Memorial Day, and once again on Tuesday, June 1 for an office retreat. There will be a skeletal staff in the office on Friday, May 28 so please understand that we will not be accepting phone calls about transfer decisions until Wednesday, June 2.

Best of luck to all the transfer applicants and thanks for your patience.

Vacation Time
This will be the last update for the next few weeks. I have actually been out of the office since Friday of last week down in Florida with my family. Tomorrow I depart for a much need vacation in the Bahamas. Though my laptop will be making the trip with me, I plan to only use it to add music to my iPod and watch DVDs on the plane ride. I’ll be back in Baltimore in early June and will post a blog update when I am all caught up with the work I am ignoring while on vacation.