Transfer Decision Release

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Hello again from the JHU Office of Undergraduate Admissions! This post is just for our transfer applicants. Each year, we welcome a group of highly talented transfer students into our sophomore and junior classes. (Interested in applying as a transfer student next year? See http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/transfer.html for details.)

As you should know, we will be releasing admissions decisions for transfer decisions TODAY. Please see below for more details:

• Decisions will be released in batches starting this afternoon. You will receive an e-mail letting you know when your decision is ready to view.
• You will access your decision through the decision release site, https://mydecision.jhu.edu/. In order to get the log-in information for that, you’ll need to set up your account through the Johns Hopkins University Integrated Student Information System (ISIS). At this point, all applicants should have received instructions on logging into ISIS, either through our office or the Office of Student Financial Services if you’ve applied for aid. We’ve sent several e-mails throughout the month with the subject “Important Information about JHU Transfer Decision Release.”
• Follow the instructions in the log-in e-mail carefully. If you get stuck or run into problems, call our office at (410) 516-8171 and we’ll talk you through it. Some things you can try if you are having issues: Refresh your browser. Close out completely and re-open the page in a new window. Or, even if you think you haven’t been able to set a password, try the password recovery link anyway.
• Once you receive the e-mail letting you know your decision is ready to view, follow the link to mydecision.jhu.edu and use the ID and password you set up to log-in. There, you’ll see your decision and will be able to follow any pertinent instructions.
• There is one exception to this process: A small group of students have been chosen to remain on a wait list for transfer applicants. Those students will receive an e-mail informing them of their decision and will receive instructions on how to remain on the wait list if they would like to do so.
• If you haven’t yet received your e-mail with log-in instructions, try the following things:
  • Check all e-mail accounts, including your parents’ and any others you might’ve used throughout your college application process. We’ll send all official communications to the e-mail you supplied on your application.
  • Check your spam/junk folders. Sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) our e-mails get caught up in spam filters.
  • If you still don’t have the e-mail, call or e-mail us at gotojhu@jhu.edu and we’ll get it figured out.

Good luck to all of our transfer applicants!

Where have we been??

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If you know us, you know that I’m not a fan of the double punctuation mark. BUT (I’m also not a fan of needless capitalization, for the record) I think it’s warranted in this case. Many of our regular followers have probably been wondering where we’ve been for the past month or so. There are a few answers to that:

–holding events for admitted students

–reading transfer files

–traveling to different areas of the country to give presentations

–preparing for summer and fall visits

Those are just some of the fun things we’ve been working on during our little hiatus. But now we’re back and excited to catch you up on happenings in the JHU Office of Undergraduate Admissions!

Check back tomorrow for information just for transfer applicants, and keep reading soon for updates from the road, information on visiting us this summer, and random musings on admissions life here in Baltimore.

Thanks for your patience!

Live Blogging on Regular Decision Release Day (Class of 2017)

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Hello again and welcome to Regular Decision Release Day 2013! Throughout the day, stop back here to read updates from Admissions_Shelly, Admissions_Shannon, and Admissions_Ardi as we give you a behind-the-scenes look at decision release day for the Class of 2017.

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Admissions_Shelly

8:40 a.m.

It’s a beautiful morning here in Baltimore as everyone starts to make their way into the office for one of our biggest days of the year. Of course, by the time I got here, our Operations staff was already doing one more check of the admit packets and starting to stuff them into their FedEx envelopes for final mailing.

 

This is a busy but exciting day for the whole staff. We know that our applicants have been eagerly waiting to hear from us, and we appreciate your patience. Over these past few months, our admissions counselors have spent many (many, many) hours reading your files, talking about the class, and figuring out who would be the best fit for JHU–and who JHU is the best fit for! It’s almost as exciting to the counselors who have gotten to know you through your application to see these packets all lined up as it will be for those students who get them in the mail.

For now, things are quiet in the office but that won’t last long. Soon there will be a flurry of activity as we make final checks and prepare for mailing and decision release.

 

If you haven’t already, please read this blog about how the decision release will work to make sure you’re all ready to get your decision this evening: http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/blog/2013/03/an-update-on-regular-decision-notification-release/.

Thanks for tagging along with us today and talk to you soon!

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Admissions_Shannon

9:42 a.m.

I can’t believe this is my 8^th decision release! It’s crazy to think about how much things have changed since I first began at Hopkins – from stuffing and checking thousands of envelopes to an online system, our process has really developed with changing technology…not to mention we get to live blog now too.

In honor of Throwback Thursday, here is a shot of me during my first decision release.

 

 

On top of releasing decisions today, our office is getting ready for our Admitted Student Events in the month of April. In just a few minutes I will be chatting with one of our students to coordinate all of the tour options we have to offer families.

Oh, we also have over 400 visitors here for our information session and tour this morning. You can definitely tell it is spring break for high school students!

 

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Admissions_Ardi

11:28 a.m.

In the same vein as Admissions_Shannon’s live blog post, I can’t believe I’ve reached my 1st decision release!  As a Hopkins alum, I remember exactly when I got my admit decision and packet (to this day, my packet and letter are still in my bedroom at my parent’s house).  In looking for a picture for this post, Admissions_Shelly and I were lucky enough to find an old copy of my 2008 envelope, and it’s exactly as I remember it (very eye-catching, but very sturdy…which is pretty important because your entire family will be grabbing, twisting, and bending it to see the news).  Here’s my admit packet in honor of Throwback Thursday (#TBT).

It was quite a journey to get here.  As a first time counselor, the past three months have been a whirlwind of applications, student essays, and all the snacks that got me through them (Freshmen 15 anyone?).  It was quite a grueling process…which I’m so happy I went through.  Reading all these applications and seeing all the great things that the Class of 2017 has done already makes me proud to be a Hopkins Alum and makes me excited to meet the new additions to the Hopkins family.

Keep checking in on the blogs.  Admissions_Shelly, Admissions_Shannon, and I have plenty more in store for you all.

Signed,

One Proud Alum

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Admissions_Shelly

12:58 p.m.

An exciting update: the admit packets have left the building! The folders are now headed to their forever homes with the JHU Class of 2017! Here they are, starting their journey to admitted students in all 50 states and 51 different countries (well, the international envelopes are mailed separately, but you  get the idea):

 

 

As Admissions_Shannon mentioned earlier, there are also many people visiting today. Just think–some of those people could be reading this blog next year! These are the times when being in college admissions gives you a really interesting perspective. It’s so fulfilling to wheel out bins of admit packets through a lobby filled with perspective students who might be getting a packet themselves in a year or two–and those students are being helped by our admissions student workers, who were perspective students themselves not too long ago. If you’re reading this now and are an applicant, it must seem crazy to think about yourself as a college student, living in a dorm and walking the same paths to class each day, hanging out with friends you haven’t met yet.  Whether it’s at JHU or another school, you’ll be in a totally different place (physically and probably mentally, as well!) in one short year. To our current student friends who are following along, do you remember being a senior and waiting anxiously for your decision? Do you remember wondering what it would be like to be a freshman? Were you nervous/excited/scared?

 

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Admissions_Shannon

2:00 p.m.

Just got back from a late lunch – you have to squeeze things in whenever you can this time of year! Food trucks are out on campus, so students and employees are scattered everywhere, trying delicious treats from all around town. Admissions_Ardi made a quick stop at the Brazilian truck to get some Yucca Fries.

 

Now it is time to get back to planning for the coming month – with events for our admitted students, spring travel (yes, we are heading back out on the road with our Explore Hopkins programs!), and campus events like Spring Fair and Homecoming right around the corner, we are super excited for spring. At the end of this month, I will be making a stop in Los Angles to talk to prospective students about the university, and then joining admissions counselors from all over the country for a case studies event (a program where we meet with some schools and go through how the application process works). Hopefully it will be warmer in LA than it is here in Baltimore.

Only a few hours left to decision release…I can’t wait to welcome the new members of this year’s class!

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Admissions_Ardi

3:06 p.m.

As the old adage goes, “There is no rest for the weary,” and for us at Admissions, the show goes on after RD Decision Release.  As Shannon mentioned above, the Admissions staff is working hard with plans for the rest of the academic year.  While she works on plans for her travel in the spring, we all are meeting today for our first Transfer Reading Training for the season. Yes, there are more applications to read, and the admissions world is now entering the Transfer Reading Season. For all our readers interested in the transfer process for themselves or others, here is a good link on our website about our transfer process: http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/transfer.html.  As we continue with the transfer process, please keep up with our blogs and forums for all of your information and questions.

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Admissions_Shannon

3:57 p.m.

As we sit here and prep ourselves for the final hour before decision release, one of our student workers, Ian Han, was reminiscing about how he felt when decisions came out…

“I remember sitting by my computer refreshing my email, waiting for the email from JHU to pop up. It seemed like I was waiting forever, and then the news came. I found out I was accepted. I read, and reread the email…just to make sure that I was reading it correctly. I was so happy to find out that I was a Blue Jay and immediately shared the news with my family and friends. At first, I played a trick on them, by coming downstairs and looking really sad. Then, I told them I was accepted and they were super excited for me. It couldn’t have been a better day!”

We are so excited to welcome our new Blue Jays soon!

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Admissions_Shelly

4:46 p.m.

Greetings again from Admissions_Shelly. This will be our final post of the day, as we sign off to either head home or to man the phones and help any of you who may have technical difficulties accessing your decisions. (Note: Our extended phone hours today, until 7:00 p.m., are really geared towards helping applicants sign into the decision site; we’ll be happy to speak with everyone else tomorrow during normal business hours.)

Here’s what you can expect this evening:

–All RD applicants will get an e-mail from us with a link to the decision release site. Decisions will be released here: https://mydecision.jhu.edu. You can check it out now, but there won’t be anything to see until we officially release decisions.

–Once decisions have been released, you’ll see a log-in screen where you’ll use the ID that we sent you via e-mail earlier in the month and the password that you hopefully have set up by now to log in and view your decision.

–An important note: Because everyone will be logging in at the same time, there may be a bit of a lag time. Just be patient. Give it some time to load; if you get an error message, simply close all open browsers, reopen one browser, and try again.

–If you haven’t yet set up your ISIS account, you should do that. Like, now-ish, because you won’t be able to access your decision until you set up your account. Instructions were included in an e-mail from us earlier in the month. If you never received that, first check any and all e-mail addresses that you may have used during the admissions process. Check your spam folder, also. If you still don’t see it, give us a call at (410) 516-8171 or e-mail gotojhu@jhu.edu and we’ll talk you through it.

–If you applied for Financial Aid, awards will be available to see around 8:30 p.m. EST. You can log into ISIS, isis.jhu.edu, and check under “Financial Aid”> “Summary” to see your award.

–As I mentioned, we’ll be available by phone or e-mail until 7:00 p.m. tonight to help anyone who has problems logging in.

Finally, I’ll end with some sound advice that my former colleague Admissions_Daniel used to give applicants each year, and that we gave to Early Decision applicants also—and he says it so well that I’ll just quote rather than trying to reword it:

“After you receive your decision, my suggestion is that you log-off and go spend some time with your family. No matter what decision you receive, let the news sink in and do it off-line. This is a major milestone in your life, and you should share your initial reactions and emotions with your family and those closest to you. These people have been there since the first moment of your life, and they will be there FOREVER. Your family is not an online community. Your family is not Facebook. Your family is not some anonymous screenname. Your family is not this blog. Please follow this advice. Receive your decision and sign off. Don’t update your Facebook status immediately. Don’t post a blog comment. Don’t go post your emotions on some Web forums. Share your thoughts and emotions in the real world first. The virtual world will be there later for you to provide a social media spin on your news.”

A truly heartfelt thank you to all of our applicants for considering Johns Hopkins, and many more thanks to those of you who have been following us today and every day. From all of us here at the Hopkins Insider and the entire Office of Undergraduate Admissions, best wishes to you!

An update on Regular Decision notification release

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Hello, friends! As you may have guessed, it’s been a busy, busy few months in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. For our Regular Decision applicants who have been eagerly awaiting information about decision release, here it is!

• Regular Decision notifications will be released around 5:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 28, 2013. 
• You will access your decision through a decision release site. In order to get the log-in information for that, you’ll need to set up your account through the Johns Hopkins University Integrated Student Information System (ISIS). At this point, all applicants should have received instructions on logging into ISIS, either through our office or the Office of Student Financial Services if you’ve applied for aid. You should log in now for two reasons: one, to make sure you’re all ready to access your decision once they’re released on the 28th; and two, by logging into ISIS, you’ll be able to check the status of your financial aid application and see any outstanding items. (Note: We don’t currently have a way to check your admissions application status online. At this point, we have already contacted those students who were missing any items from their applications. If you haven’t heard from us, your application is complete and you’re good to go!)
• Follow the instructions in the log-in e-mail carefully. If you get stuck or run into problems, call our office at (410) 516-8171 and we’ll talk you through it. Some things you can try if you are having issues: Refresh your browser. Close out completely and re-open the page in a new window. Or, even if you think you haven’t been able to set a password, try the password recovery link anyway.
• We’ll send out an e-mail on March 28 letting everyone know when the decisions are ready. That e-mail will contain a link to the decision release site. Once you get there, use your ISIS (or, for some students, your JHED) ID and password to log-in and receive your decision and follow any pertinent instructions.
• On March 28, our office will have extended hours until 7:00 p.m. ET to assist students who are having problems accessing their decisions. Any other questions will be addressed during normal business hours the following day.
• If you haven’t yet received your e-mail with log-in instructions, try the following things:
  • Check all e-mail accounts, including your parents’ and any others you might’ve used throughout your college application process. We’ll send all official communications to the e-mail you supplied on your application.
  • Check your spam/junk folders. Sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) our e-mails get caught up in spam filters.
  • If you still don’t have the e-mail, call or e-mail us at gotojhu@jhu.edu and we’ll get it figured out.

Good luck to all of our applicants!

360 Degrees of Homewood

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Hi everyone!

First, let me apologize for the delay in our posts. We’ve been reading, reading, reading all of your fantastic applications and planning, planning, planning our admitted student events and spring travel programs. Winter is a very busy time here in the office.You can be sure we’ll have more application-related info and travel plans available for you soon.

Speaking of winter–if it’s too chilly to venture out to Baltimore for a visit to our Homewood campus (although today it’s a very manageable 50 degrees), check out our newest video:  http://www.gopano.com/video/MTM0NjU. It’s our first 360-degree video tour of campus! You’ll see some snow on the ground because it was filmed a few weeks ago. This is definitely the best way to get a tour if you can’t come for the real thing. This video is student produced and your guide, Ian, is a veteran tour guide who has lots of great information about Homewood for you in a full-length campus tour. The best part? As he’s talking, you can use your mouse to pan the camera around to get a good look at campus just like you could if you were really here.

You can see all of our videos–all written, produced, and edited by our students!–here: http://www.youtube.com/hopkinsvideoblog.

Enjoy…and we’ll be writing to you soon!

FAQ Friday: Application Mania

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Well. It’s been quite a month here at the Hopkins Insider. We welcomed the first members of the Class of 2017, then took a little break for the holidays, and now our counselors (including Admissions_Shannon, Admissions_Ardi, and Admissions_Laurin) are right in the thick of reading applications. Elsewhere in the office, we’re gearing up for spring events and travel, preparing print publications, and having important lunchtime conversations about reality television.

What’s that? You wanted to know about your application? Are you sure you wouldn’t rather talk about the new American Idol judges? We’re concerned about who will be able to fill Steven Tyler’s wacky platform shoes.

Anyway…So you did it! You stayed up late and fretted over your essays and made sure all of your information was correct. With a quivering hand, you clicked “submit,” and now you’re officially a Class of 2017 applicant. (Hopefully your application experience wasn’t quite that dramatic.) And now we’re sure you have a few questions, which we’ll try to answer below.

1. Is my application complete?

This is the most common question we are asked this time of year. We don’t currently have a way to check your application status online, so we understand that applicants get a little nervous about their status. Here’s the deal: We are processing hundreds of documents every day, so the sheer volume of items we’re receiving this time of year makes it difficult to respond to each application status check request we get. But, we’re not leaving you in the dark. Applicant files are checked thoroughly for completeness. In late January or early February, we’ll send out a “missing items” e-mail to all students who are, go figure, missing items. That e-mail will give you time to submit any outstanding items that might be missing from your application. (This is another reason we need to have a current e-mail for you, so make sure you’re checking the e-mail account you used on your application.)

2.       But, can’t you just tell me if my application is complete?

Please see above. Give us a few weeks to process all of the materials we have so that we can give you an accurate answer to that question. If you don’t receive the missing items e-mail, you can call or e-mail us in February to check on your application.

3.       I submitted my materials at 12:02 a.m. on January 1. Will I still be considered for admission?

While it’s important to submit your application and supporting materials as close to the deadline as possible, we continue to take materials through mid-January. This isn’t because we don’t care about deadline—deadline appreciation is a core value to most admissions professionals—but we realize that some items, like your recommendations and school reports, are coming from outside sources, and that international students might need more time to complete the additional required materials. So, yes, we’ll accept your materials after Jan. 1, and yes, you will still be considered for admission, and yes, please try to get them all in as soon as possible. Your file won’t be read until it’s complete, so get that stuff in!

4.       When will I hear from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions?

We won’t have the answer you really want from us—whether you were admitted—until around April 1, but in the meantime, we will have some important information for you. This month, you should receive an e-mail from us that talks about Financial Aid deadlines and the Woodrow Wilson application process, which is open to all applicants. Then, around the end of January, we’ll send out the above mentioned “missing items” e-mail. After that, any communications you get from us will be about the process of checking or receiving your admissions decision.

Hopefully those answers help out a little bit. We know this can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if you are applying to different schools that all have different methods for tracking applications, different deadlines, and different procedures. The best advice for you now is to just relax and enjoy the rest of your senior year. If you’re curious what happens to your application after you submit it, we’ll post an entry about that in the near future. Rest assured that your application takes quite an electronic journey after you’re finished with it. (And now we have a techno version of “Don’t Stop Believin’” in our head.)

Be well and stay tuned!

An Update on Early Decision Notifications

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This is a quick update for all of our Early Decision applicants who have been eagerly waiting since submitting their applications. Here’s what you need to know:

• Early Decision notifications will be released around 6:00 p.m. EST on Friday, December 14, 2012.
• You will access your decision through a decision release site. In order to get the log-in information for that, you’ll need to set up your account through the Johns Hopkins University Integrated Student Information System (ISIS). Never heard of that? Don’t panic. We’re sending out an e-mail to ALL applicants on December 7 that will include detailed instructions for accessing ISIS (or, if you have already attended CTY or a summer program here, you’ll be directed to re-activate your JHED ID.) You should log in now for two reasons: one, to make sure you’re all ready to access your decision once they’re released on the 14th; and two, by logging into ISIS, you’ll be able to check the status of your financial aid application and see any outstanding items. (Note: We don’t currently have a way to check your admissions application status online. At this point, we have already contacted those students who were missing any items from their applications. If you haven’t heard from us, your application is complete and you’re good to go!)
• Follow the instructions in the log-in e-mail carefully. If you get stuck or run into problems, call our office at (410) 516-8171 and we’ll talk you through it.
• We’ll send out an e-mail on December 14th letting everyone know when the decisions are ready. That e-mail will contain a link to the decision release site. Once you get there, use your ISIS (or, for some students, your JHED) ID and password.
• On December 14th, our office will have extended hours until 7:00 p.m. EST to assist students who are having problems accessing their decisions. Any other questions will be addressed during normal business hours the following week.
• If you don’t receive the e-mail on December 7 with your log-in information, try these things before calling us:
  • Check all e-mail accounts, including your parents’ and any others you might’ve used throughout your college application process. We’ll send all official communications to the e-mail you supplied on your application.
  • Check your spam/junk folders. Sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) our e-mails get caught up in spam filters.
  • If you still don’t have the e-mail, call or e-mail us at gotojhu@jhu.edu and we’ll get it figured out.

Good luck to all of our applicants!

FAQ Friday: What classes should you take?

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Back when some of us Hopkins Insider contributors were young lads and lasses, choosing our high school schedules was simple. We’d call or pass a carefully folded note to our bff (text? E-mail? What are these strange things you speak of? What’s this face book? And get off our lawn!) and see what classes he or she was taking. Then, using our No. 2 pencil, we’d carefully write the same classes down on the appropriate paper and get back to trying to beat our own high score for Snake on our TI-82s.

We realize that the high school experience has changed a little. There’s more focus on college applications and test scores and class selection and, sadly, less attention paid to sneaking your Walkman into class or trying to figure out coded messages on your beeper, which was also snuck into class. This shift has led to this FAQ Friday’s topic: What classes should you take?

This is an easy one. We can’t tell you. Thanks for reading!

What’s that? You want more information? Here’s what we can tell you about your high school course selection:

1. In general, recommended preparation for all students includes four years of each of the following subjects: English, mathematics, foreign language, science with laboratory, and history/social science. It is recommended that students take five core academic courses each year throughout high school, focusing on academic core classes over elective classes. This also applies to questions about dropping an academic class—if you need to do that, you should make sure that you’re replacing an academic class with another academic class rather than an elective.
2. We also recommend that students pursue the most advanced level courses offered at their school. Johns Hopkins University considers AP and IB programs to be the most rigorous available to students, but we don’t have a preference of one program over another. These are only recommendations and not requirements. We have no specific course requirements for applicants. In fact, the application requirements we do have can be found here: http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/deadlines.html.

Seem like generic advice? That’s because every prospective student has an individual record from his or her high school, so it’s not possible for us to suggest specific enrollment options. When you apply, you’re considered as an individual and your regional counselor will be familiar with your high school and all of the options available there, which means the person reading your file will have a better context for reviewing your course selection. The application also gives us a much more complete picture of you. Your extracurricular interests, full high school record, recommendations, and essays will tell us a lot about you and your academic choices. We can’t get that from an e-mail that says, “So should I take physics?”

We can’t tell you whether you should take physics (although if you’re considering applying here, we do have an amazing physics department. Ahem…nobel prize winning faculty…no big deal or anything) but we can give you some advice. First, your college or guidance counselor is a great resource for you as you try to select your classes. He or she should know what academic paths are available at your particular school and the best classes for you to take to stay on track with your goals. Second, you can do a little research on y our own. If you’re interested in a specific program at JHU or any other school, check out the academic catalog and see what kinds of courses are offered in that program. Read up on what topics are covered and what students are learning at a college level. That might help you determine how you can best prepare yourself. After all, you know yourself better than we do, so you know what you still need to learn and what your school offers that might help you with that.

 

So, in short: we’ve given you the bare basics as a suggestion, and now you should go talk with your guidance counselor and then do some research so you can give yourself good advice. For that last part, maybe just don’t give yourself advice out loud. You might scare people.

Now, where did we put that No. 2 pencil? Our NKOTB cassette tape is unwinding and we need the pencil to crank it back in place…

Have a great weekend!

FAQ Friday: The Question of Interviews

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Welcome to another FAQ Friday brought to you by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Are you ready for a super fun, rapid-fire, crazy awesome breakdown of the admissions interview process? Well, are you?? (Pro tip: there is rarely ever never a reason for using multiple punctuation points.) Hold on to your hats—we’re bringing out the numbered list.

1. We offer two kinds of interviews for applicants: on-campus interviews and alumni interviews. On-campus interviews are held here on the JHU Homewood campus and are conducted by current student Admissions Representatives. Off-campus interviews are held in cities around the country and, to much more limited extend, internationally. Visit the websites to learn more about each.
   

   Did you know that Admissions_Laurin used to be an Admissions Representative? And now she's a fancy lady with her own desk and post-it notes!

2. The most important things you need to know about interviews at Johns Hopkins (sub-numbered list, coming at ya!):
   1. Most importantly, interviews at JHU are optional. This means that if you’re not able to schedule an interview, or maybe you just don’t feel like it, your application will NOT be negatively impacted. Just because other schools required interviews, or your best friend did an interview, or you have some really bizarre interest in being interviewed by a stranger, none of that means that you have to have an interview here; you should be requesting an interview because you feel it will really benefit you. If you do have an interview, it’s included in your application file and considered along with the rest of your materials. If you don’t/can’t/choose not to, it’s not a strike against you.
   2. Our interviews are informative rather than evaluative. You should look at admissions interviews here as your chance to learn more about the university and ask your interviewer any and all questions you might have about Johns Hopkins.
   3. How does one sign up for an interview, you ask? Why, online, of course! For both types of interviews, we only accept online requests.
   4. Because we have a limited number of interview spots and alumni interviewers, we can’t always guarantee availability. In general, students can request on-campus interviews from February of their junior year until February of their senior year; for seniors, alumni interviews can be requested beginning in mid-October and running through the end of January.
   5. What if the interview slots are all full? Don’t worry about it. See above—availability is limited and spots do tend to fill up fast. Right now, at this moment, we do not currently have any on-campus interview spots left. If this happens, and you really, really, really, like, more than you wanted that cat when you were seven, want an interview, you can keep checking back. The website is updated in real time so if someone cancels, you’ll see a spot open up online. There isn’t a wait list for interviews, so they are a first-come, first-served kind of deal.
   6. What if you’ve requested an alumni interview and haven’t heard back? If you are an Early Decision applicant, you should allow up to three weeks from your request to hear back (also, the opportunity for Early decision students to request interviews has now closed.) If you’ve recently made an alumni interview request, e-mail nasc@jhu.eduand they can fill you in on the status. For Regular Decision applicants, the scheduling process will begin on November 26 so you should hear back soon. In any case, please don’t request an interview multiple times—it just slows the whole process down.
      

      What should you wear to your interview: wedding dress or bathrobe? There has to be a happy medium in there somewhere.

   7.  What should you wear? What will you talk about? Should you fake a British accent (or, if you already have a cool accent, try to talk like a robot?) Let’s address that last one first: No. Please….no. For the others, here’s a great blog to give you an idea of what an on-campus interview is like: http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/blog/2010/11/the-johns-hopkins-on-campus-interview/. You can expect something similar for alumni interviews, as well.
   8.   Already did the hard part and got an interview scheduled? Then relax. You might even enjoy talking to the Admissions Representative or alumni interviewer who conducts your interview. Hopefully, you’ll leave the meeting with a better understanding of what makes JHU such a great place and your interviewer will be excited about the possibility of having you as part of the Johns Hopkins community.

Hope this is helpful. Now get back to work perfecting that robot voice, just in case you ever need it.

FAQ Friday, Second Edition: The Essays

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Hello again and happy Friday from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. The hot topic this week that we know has been on your mind: What should you be for Halloween?? Great question. The possibilities are endless.

What’s that? You already know that you want to be the blue power ranger (good choice!) but what’s really on your mind is your application essay? I guess we can help with that, too. (And a note to our readers who are not quite application-ready: We know you’ve got questions too. I promise we’ll address some general, not-application-related questions soon.)

So. The application essay. There you are, all ready to submit your application and go about your business, except for the small matter of you versus the blinking curser. When it comes to application essays, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that the essay is an important part of your application. The good news? Your essay is an important part of your application! (Did you just do a cartoon double-take?) What this means is that your essays should be something that you spend some time on, because it’s your chance to show a little bit of your personality to the counselors who are reading your application. Admissions_Shannon already covered a lot of this in a post earlier this month: http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/blog/2012/08/the-write-stuff-essay-strategies-that-work/, and you can always read examples of previous essays that we liked on our “Essays that Worked” page: http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/essays.html. What we’re here for today are your FAQ about essays, so here goes…

#1. Are those, uh, word counts, like, totally set in stone, orrrr….??

We get it. By the time you’re asking this question, you’ve probably already got a 3,000-word masterpiece polished and ready to go. Good for you! There are tons of students staring at an empty page who hate you right now. Here’s the deal: the word counts are put there for a reason. Writing isn’t just about what you have to say, but how clearly and concisely you can communicate it when asked. (Do as we say and not as we do, as this “very brief” blog rambles on and on every week.) The essay form won’t cut you off, and your regional admissions counselor is not a robot programmed to self-destruct after the 500-word or 250-word limit, so don’t prematurely age yourself fretting over those last few words. BUT—and it’s a big but, which is why we made it bold and capitalized—the person reading your application has no obligation to read past the posted word limit so it’s in your best interest to get to the point quickly. In the words of John Mayer, say what you need to say, while keeping an eye on the word count limits. (Can we get #JohnMayerCollegeEssay trending on twitter? Anybody?) If you’re way over the limit and stuck on what to cut, employ your friends, family, counselors, dog, whoever, to help you whittle it down.

#2 What makes an essay stand out?

Again, visit Admissions_Shannon’s excellent advice for essay writing or our Essays that Worked page for examples, but, in general, essays that are well written, interesting, and creative stand out. Essays that are heartfelt and genuine, or show a real passion for learning (or more specifically, learning at Johns Hopkins) or commitment to a social/extracurricular endeavor are memorable. Remember, the person reading your application is just that—a person. What kinds of things would stand out to you if you were reviewing essays all day? Think about that as you write your own piece. Which brings us to…

#3. What’s the appropriate amount of curse words in a college admissions essay?

Um. Ahem. Let us distract from the question at hand.  We’re not trying to stifle your creativity, but you should keep in mind that you’re writing for a specific audience. Things like excessive curse words, explicit descriptions of things that might make the common reader blush, etc., may not be your best choices. If you choose to talk about a controversial topic—which many students do, very successfully, every year—you should make sure your essay is constructed in a thoughtful way that reveals something about you  as a writer and as a scholar. You want your essay to be memorable because it was well written or thought-provoking, not because it made the application reader cringe. That being said, Johns Hopkins is a creative place and we have big hearts for the arts (trademark!) here, so you should feel free to get creative in the way that you’re delivering your essay. Not sure if your essay falls under “brilliantly creative” or “offensively off-putting”? Fair enough…some of the finest art in the world has gone through that dilemma. Check with your college counselor or a trusted teacher and they can help to steer you in the right direction.

To sum up: Be yourself. Be creative. And, try to stick to the listed word counts, even if you really don’t want to. Happy writing!