The final days of 2010 are upon us and 2011 is less than a week away. Those of you who are frequent visitors to the main Admissions Web site http://apply.jhu.edu also know that less than a week away is the Regular Decision application deadline. As I wrote this the gold banner is gone, replaced with a red banner that reads “4 days until Regular Applications are due.”For this final entry of 2010 I thought I would share some helpful links for the application procrastinators.
Before the links, though, I also want to share a fun end-of-the-year “thank you” video produced by the University and shared with thousands of students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends who support Johns Hopkins every day. We truly are “the model of a modern university.”
As most people are enjoying the holiday week and most of the east coast is blanketed in snow, some of you reading this are stressing out big time. You are the application procrastinators. You are the students frantically emailing us on a daily basis with last minute questions before you click submit. In an effort to diminish the numbers of e-mails we will receive the rest of this week, I present a series of links that will hopefully provide answers that assist you in your last-minute haze of forms and looming deadlines. Just remember, next time when you have over three plus months to complete something, waiting until the last minute is never the best policy.
Now that the proverbial dust has settled from the release of Early Decision notifications on Wednesday, I thought I would provide some interesting and hopefully helpful follow-up information. First though, some interesting stats from the day. No, not statistics about the ED class as I already posted our press release during my live-blogging. These stats are actually analytics of Hopkins Insider blog activity on December 15.
Traffic to the Hopkins Insider blog was +198.39%
3,591 unique visits
1,970 unique visitors
7,597 page views (you all like to push refresh)
One week before, there were only 338 visits to the blog; 747 on Monday; and 1,188 on Tuesday.
The live-blogging of ED notification day 2010 equaled 2,645 words, 11 pictures, over 20 comments, 1 video, and one infamous pair of holiday socks. The only word that comes to mind is … whew!
As I briefly mentioned near the end of the blog on Wednesday evening there are three different groups to address follow-up thoughts to: denied students, deferred students, and admitted students. Over the last couple of days as reactions to our decisions were expressed I jotted some notes on things I would like to collectively say to each group.
First snowfall of the season descends on Homewood
To the Denied Students: As I wrote during the live-blogging, please know that I and all of my colleagues understand how difficult receiving such a decision from your first-choice school can be. We respect the frustration and anger you feel, but hope that you can understand the daunting task we are faced with selecting very few students from a truly outstanding pool of applicants. Many will deal with rejection by trying to determine where they fell short or focusing on statistics. That is understandable but it is short-sighted.
Our decisions are decisions of preference and fit, and not a rejection of an individual. I can attest to the fact that we extensively deliberate about the candidates for admission, especially during the ED review process. When reviewing a student’s application, we take into consideration a vast array of factors including academic achievement, extracurricular involvement, leadership, commitment to community, promise of future contribution, and fit. This may seem to be just rhetoric, and I can probably not persuade you that it’s not true, but honestly there is never one reason that leads to our decisions and the words holistic and comprehensive have true value to us. Our applicant pool is filled with qualified applicants, but unfortunately being qualified is not the only consideration. Our freshman class is small and we are unable to admit everyone who is capable of doing the work. Please do not receive this news as a judgment of your value and your ability, but rather understand the competitive nature of applying to a highly selective institution like Johns Hopkins.
My advice now is to forget about Johns Hopkins. Know that there is a college that is going to be uniquely enriched by your presence on their campus and that you will have an amazing undergraduate experience. If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it’s that the right college for you is the one that you select to attend and the one you commit yourself to fully from freshman to senior year.
Homewood at Winter
To the Deferred Students: Most say that this is the hardest of the decisions one can receive during the ED round of review because it feels like a state of limbo. And that is true. There is confusion about how to react. The news is not good, but it is also not a final decision. We understand that being asked to wait three more months is not the decision you were hoping for, but unfortunately defer decisions are part of the ED process.
The best message I can share with you all is that there is still hope. Every year ED defers are admitted during RD, and defers are provided the same chance of admissions as applicants who apply Regular Decision. Yes the competition remains tough, and yes we are going to focus on your progress in your senior year, but a defer decision is the admissions committee stating that there are still factors that are of interest once the context of the entire applicant pool is known.
It is important to note that we do not just politely defer ED applicants into our RD applicant pool to delay bad news, and the amount of denied applicants significantly outweighs those deferred. Those who are deferred still have a chance for admission; otherwise we would not have deferred the decision. However, your hopes need to be tempered. Being deferred does mean there were weaknesses in your application that raised concerns with the admissions committee.
So the question is what can you do? Well read this: Early Decision Defers – Read This!We have compiled an extensive list of advice and answers to frequently asked questions for the deferred applicant which we know will be helpful.
To the Admits: Congratulations! You are the first members of the Johns Hopkins Class of 2015 and we look forward to welcoming you to campus in about nine months. There will be a lot of things you will need to do between now and move-in dates at the end of August, but there is time to get to those items. Now is a time to celebrate, start wearing your JHU clothing, put the bumper sticker on the car, and get to know you future classmates via the special Facebook group. For right now the only date of importance is January 15 – you need to submit your candidate reply form (CRF) and enrollment and housing deposit before that date.
In late March you will be contacted and the next steps will begin. You will get your JHED-ID, set-up your @jhu.edu e-mail account, and gain access to the New Student Portal and your enrolling freshman to-do list. In the meantime, enjoy the holidays, continue to enjoy your senior year, and let January 1 pass without any stress.
One favor though … do not become infected with senioritis. Do not allow your admission to become in jeopardy by letting your focus in school lapse. Yes we admitted you now, but we will review your final transcript and please do not make our jobs difficult.
Regular Decision application components are flooding in.
Best wishes to everyone. Next week I will have a post for Regular Decision applicants and Admissions_Shannon is working on a special holiday post.
Our document scanner is looking forward to a mini-holiday break.
Good day Early Decision applicants. So here we are again. Six straight years. Starting in 2005, I began a tradition of live blogging on decision notification days and will continue today with the release of our Early Decision notifications for the Class of 2015. I will be “micro-blogging” through the day to provide you all with a first-hand look into what takes place in Mason Hall (home to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions) on the day we release decisions. You can also follow me on Twitter for regular 140 character updates — @AdmissionDaniel. For those looking for details on how the process will work today, please return to the blog entry I posted this past Monday. Check back throughout the day to follow the process and learn some inside details about this year’s Johns Hopkins Early Decision applicant pool and class.
5:56 a.m. -- Four minutes before my alarm clock will go off and I am up already. Since college I have always woken up just before my alarm clock goes off. It is nice to have an internal alarm clock in my head since I can’t stand the noise my actual alarm makes. Time to start my day. First up, is bundling up so I can walk my dog Soze. (Well really that was the second thing I will do as updating the blog clearly is more important today.)
6:06 a.m. - Dog walking FAIL. Soze doesn’t want to get up. This has been his way the last couple of weeks since the weather in Baltimore has become more frigid. He prefers to sleep in and then walk once the sun comes up. I am not complaining. I guess as he nears 10 years in age he is becoming much wiser. So instead of the walk Mike and Mike in the Morning is on in the background and I am going to do a bit of morning work before getting ready to head into the office. I just hope Greeny and Golic don’t talk more about Cliff Lee signing with the Philliesl; as a die-hard Mets fan that decision just saddens me greatly.
A lazy, yet wise, Soze preferring to sleep in rather then walking in the cold.
6:51 a.m. - Done with e-mail responses. Done with Facebook posts. Tweet’ed. To Do list set for the day and I am happy to say that I just have seven items on the list. My morning is moving along quite smoothly. Soze is still not up, so I am going to shower, shave (ha ha … inside joke again), dress, and head in to work. Oh yeah, I need to find an item in my house I am willing to re-gift for our “White Elephant” gift exchange at our Holiday Party later today. Hmmmm, what should I bring?
8:09 a.m. - Just got in the office. Pretty quiet here which is a good thing. Uneventful commute except for the fact that it is so cold outside that I think my mind finally understands the true meanings of the words frigid and bitter. Going to start my morning routine.
Despite frigid temp., Mason Hall always looks amazing as the sun rises.
8:21 a.m. - Pretty easy morning routine. E-mail accounts are clear. Voicemails returned. Social media sites monitored. Heck I even was able to solve my brain teaser of the day. That makes it 245 of 349. 70%. See if you can solve the puzzle.
Brain teaser of the day. Can you solve it?
9:10 a.m. - My day just got 100% more awesome for three reasons. (1) I created a great December 15 iTunes plalist -- a shuffle of all my Cure, The Killers, and Florence + the Machine songs. Strangely the mix works very well. (2) Reading the comments being posted put a huge smile on my face. Thanks for your kind words and I am glad you all appreciate the inside access I try to provide. AND (3) Admissions_Shannon just brought me holidays socks to wear. Check out how cool they are.
Holiday socks. Thanks Admissions_Shannon.
9:57 a.m. - Took my first foray to the third floor (our Operations center) to see how everything is moving along. We are in excellent shape for mailing by early afternoon at the latest. The admit packets are being sealed and stamped as I type this update and the next step is our last set of checks. No official word from Dean Latting yet that the class is sealed, but that should come shortly. Here are a couple of pictures of the “action” going on upstairs.
Sealing and stamping admit packets.
Letters awaiting one last check.
10:35 a.m. - They are still working on things upstairs and we are still waiting for the final confirmation from Dean Latting. In the meantime, I put the finishing touches on our official Class of 2015 Facebook group and took one last look at our special Admitted Student Web site. All looks good.
Check out the front page of the main Admissions site: http://apply.jhu.edu. So cool! The wait is almost over!And the story links directly to the blog. I love that.
I am going to have some BIG AND EXCITING NEWS in my next update. No it has nothing to do with an early release of decisions or anything even related to Early Decision. Just something related to Hopkins Interactive and an internal tradition that will continue today. Just going to make sure that everything is ready.
11:04. -- IT’S ALIVE!!! Go to http://www.hopkins-interactive.com. If you are a frequent visitor to our Hopkins Interactive site you will probably notice a major re-design. This is the BIG AND EXCITING NEWS I just mentioned. Hopkins Interactive and the Hopkins Insider blog launched in December 2005 just about the same time as the release of Early Decision notifications for the JHU Class of 2010. Ever since we have considered December 15 a big anniversary and we try to launch a new version of the site. Simply put, we have traveled light years from where we were five years ago.
I asked the mastermind behind our Hopkins Interactive design and implementation, JHU_Joe, to discuss the upgrade. Here is what he wrote:
The new Hopkins Interactive preserved many of the features of the first redesign I completed for Hopkins Interactive, mainly the thumbnails for each post that gets published, as well as the “news-ticker” featuring some of our most recent posts. This time we show posts outside of the “news-ticker” using their thumbnail as a form of identification which allowed us to free up the bottom half of the page for something we’ve been wanting to do for a while: advocating our blogs. Most students will make it to Hopkins Interactive or Hopkins Insider without discovering the rest of our blogs. Now we show the most recent post from each of our major blogs, AND we’ve added a Related Posts feature on all of our current blogs that obtains related posts from ALL of our blogs. Finally, the design itself is (at least in my opinion) 10x better than what it was a few days ago. The colors combine in a way we didn’t see on the old site, and this design is the final step in bringing HI into the modern world of web design. Not only did we completely redo the design from scratch, but we re-coded the entire backend of the site (which took about 20 hours). Enjoy everyone! And be sure to follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/JHU_Joe!
11:11 a.m. - The Early Decision Class of 2015 is set. Dean Latting just made the announcement. Time for one last check of all the decision letters and packets and then to the post office we go.
11:44 a.m. - EARLY DECISION NOTIFICATIONS FOR THE CLASS OF 2015 ARE IN THE MAIL. Photographic proof below.
Stacked and ready to ship out.
Waiting to be loaded.
Putting the new socks to work.
And off they go.
12:09 p.m. - Every year the most popular question we are asked after the release of Early Decision notification is what were the results. This year our communications specialist, the amazing Shelly Placek, worked with Dean Latting to create the following official press release:
Press Release
Office of Undergraduate Admissions
Johns Hopkins University
December 15, 2010
————————————————— Wednesday, December 15, 2010—The Office of Undergraduate Admissions officially admitted the first members of the Class of 2015 today, sending admit packets and e-mails to 518 accepted Early Decision applicants. These talented students were chosen from a record applicant pool of 1,330, a 15 percent increase in Early Decision applications from last year.
A snapshot of the accepted Early Decision class:
Early Decision applications received: 1,330
Early Decision students admitted: 518
Early Decision acceptance rate: 39%
Males/females: 54/46
Preliminary areas of academic interest:
Whiting School of Engineering: 31%
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences: 69%
Humanities: 13%
Natural sciences: 32%
Social and behavioral sciences: 21%
Top five home states: New York, New Jersey, Maryland, California, Pennsylvania
39 states represented, plus 48 international students from 20 different countries
Top five countries (other than US): South Korea, China, Canada, India, Turkey
“I’m excited about this class,” said Dean of Undergraduate Admissions John Latting of this year’s Early Decision admits. “You can measure them all you want in terms of their grades and test scores but, more importantly, I think they are just a great group of students in terms of what they will bring to our campus community. It’s a great beginning to the Class of 2015.”
The Class of 2015 will be completed with students selected from the Regular Decision applicant pool. Applications are due January 1, 2011, with admissions decisions being released by April 1. Regular Decision students are given until May 1 to enroll; official numbers for the Class of 2015 will be available in May.
12:15 p.m. - Time for some “radio silence.” Now that we are done the Admissions staff is going to celebrate and enjoy our Holiday Party. I’ll be back later (close to 6 p.m.) with an update. Enjoy your collective afternoons. My socks and I are going to have an amazing time duck-pin bowling with my colleagues.
4:13 p.m. - Just returned home after an awesome Holiday Party with my colleagues. We all enjoyed our second annual Duck Pin Bowling tournament and it was a blast. It was nice to let loose after a few weeks of stressful work. My team did awesome and though we did not win in the end, my teammate and co-blogger Admissions_Shannon had the highest score of anybody. I also did much better in year two nearly doubling my score to an 81, from a pitiful 42 last year. I am going to walk Soze and then take some Extra Stength Tylenol as my voice and throat are killing me. Be back soon with some important updates on how things will work after 6:00 p.m.
4:36 p.m. - I was going through my e-mail and came across a message from my colleague Sarah Godwin with an attached MOV.file. Sarah created a short little video re-cap of the mailing of ED notifications. I thought I would share it with you all. (By the way, this is a big deal because I personally can be seen in a couple of shots of this video. I usually refrain from every putting any photographic of video evidence of my existence on the blog, but Sarah is pretty proud of the video so I had to share it.) Enjoy.
5:00 p.m. - As my colleagues on the IT Team prepare to release the e-mail notifications there are a few important things I want you all to listen to and heed.
FIRST, we will start sending e-mails after 6:00 p.m. EST. Please note the bold, italic, underlined emphasis on the key words start and after. This means that not everyone will get an e-mail in their in-box immediately at 6:00 p.m. It will take a while for all the e-mails to go out and there is a good chance we don’t start sending exactly at 6:00 p.m. If you keep refreshing your e-mail in-box at 6:00, 6:01, 6:04, 6:10, 6:11, and there is no message -- DO NOT PANIC and do not assume anything. Be patient and allow the process to work properly.
SECOND, for the next hour (if not two hours) step away from the computer. Stop reading this blog. Stop refreshing your e-mail. Stop checking College Confidential (in fact you should stop that altogether for the future). Relax. Take a nap. Go do something that will calm you and distract you. Take your mind off of the clock.
THIRD, and most importantly, after you receive your e-mail decision my strong suggestion is that you log-off of your computer and go spend some time with your family. No matter what decision you receive, get off the computer after you receive your e-mail. This is a major milestone in your young 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 some online community. Your family is not Facebook. Your family is not some annonymous screenname. Your family is not this blog. Please heed this advice. Receive your decision and sign off. Don’t update your Facebook status. Don’t post a comment on this blog. Don’t go post your emotions on some Web site. 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.
I say it every year … let the news sink in first. React in the real world before entering the cyber world.
6:47 p.m. - All the e-mails have been sent. The process seems to have gone quite smooth this year (fingers remain crossed). Just two bounce-back e-mails so far and I was able to correct the e-mails and send them again. Will continue to monitor throughout the evening. Now that decisions have been received I wanted to share some quick thoughts to each group:
TO THE ADMITS: Congratulations! I hope you are all so excited and got some time tonight to jump around and celebrate. You will get your admit packets soon and there will be a ton of information you will go through. Also, remember to use the Admitted Student Web Site, Hopkins Interactive, and the Class of 2015 Facebook group. But also pace yourself — August is still 9 months away. I will have more to say to you all in the coming weeks. Time to put that bumper sticker on the car!!!
TO THE DEFERS: The main message is that this was not a “no.” Instead it was a delay of your decision for another three month. I strongly suggest that you all read the discussion thread that I have set-up for deferred applicants: Early Decision Defers – Read This.
TO THE DENIES: Please know that I understand how difficult receiving such news can be. My colleagues and I do not take pleasure in not offering admission to students, especially those where Hopkins is their first choice. A couple of years ago I wrote a post to denied applicants, and I recommend you all read it: A Posted for the Denied Applicant. I do wish you all the best of luck.
8:49 p.m. - As it approaches 13 straight hours of live-blogging I am going to call it a day. Thanks to everyone who commented and I hope this trek through the day was helpful. I will return on Friday with a new blog entry with reflections on notification day and what’s next. Cheers!
I had not planned on posting a new blog entry until this Wednesday, but it seems that many of you missed the information I posted a few weeks back on how Early Decision notifications will be posted (It’s Update Time posted November 24, 2010). Just since Friday we’ve received 37 e-mails to the gotojhu@jhu.edu account asking when ED notifications would be released and/or how ED applicants will be notified. So I’ve stepped away from our final admissions committee deliberations to share the following with all 1,330 anxious Early Decision applicants:
Early Decision notifications will be released on Wednesday, December 15.
Here is the plan for how everything will go on Wednesday:
* Class is confirmed: In the morning the Admissions staff will arrive at work and wait for Dean Latting to confirm that the Early Decision class is complete. Dean Latting usually spends the previous evening going over a statistical breakdown of the class and confirming final decisions on the most debated cases.
Admit packets waiting to be stuffed.
* Decisions are checked: Once the class has been confirmed, the Operations staff, along with assistance from the rest of the Admissions staff, will do one final check of all of our decision letters. Our office is very diligent in checking the right decision letter is going to the right applicants, and have a detailed triple-check process we take seriously.
* Decisions are mailed: Upon the completion of these checks, all admit packets and decision letters (defer and deny) are loaded into mail bins and taken directly to either the main Hopkins Mail Services station located in Mt. Washington, or the downtown Baltimore City Postal Office depending on the time of day. All the mail will enter the postal system by late afternoon on Wednesday, December 15. Admit packets are sent priority mail so they arrive typically within three days. Our decision letters are mailed first-class and can take 4-7 days to arrive. Please note international addresses will always take longer for both types of mail, and due to the holiday season the U.S. Postal Service does not guarantee any of these delivery estimates.
Priority mail envelopes awaiting labels and postage.
* Decisions are e-mailed: Sometime after 6:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, December 15, we will begin sending Early Decision notification e-mails. No decisions will be e-mailed prior to this time, and there is no exact time set when e-mails will begin being sent. Please do not ask for an exact time or how long it will take all the e-mails to be sent, as we cannot provide that information.
It can take up to an hour for all of our decision e-mails to be sent so don’t expect a new message in your in-box right at 6:00 p.m. Have patience. E-mail notifications are released in random order so there is no way to deduce the order that decisions will be released. Decision e-mails are sent only to those who included an active e-mail address with their application. (If an applicant does not receive an e-mail it is because either there was no e-mail provided with the application, the e-mail address provided no longer works, or a data entry error. Unfortunately, we do not re-send e-mails, so in such situations the student must wait for the mail to arrive.) We do not have a system of posting our decisions online or through a portal.
* No phone calls: We will not accept phone calls on Wednesday requesting the release of a decision over the phone. In fact, the office will be closed after decisions have been mailed as the entire Admissions staff will be attending a holiday party. It is our preference to not release decisions over the phone. If an applicant has not received their decision by Friday then he or she may call the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. We will only release the decision to the applicant, a parent or guardian of the applicant, or the applicant’s high school guidance counselor. Decisions will be released only if the identity of the caller can be reasonably assured. Please do not call asking why a certain decision was rendered as admissions committee decisions are confidential and we are unable to discuss the factors behind our decisions.
A scene from last year.
As I have been writing about our decision releases for a number of years now, I can always anticipate some of the most frequently asked questions:
Why are e-mails sent after 6:00 p.m.? The reason we wait to release decision notification e-mails until the evening is we feel that receiving your college admissions decision should be a personal experience that you share with your family. We do not believe students should be receiving this news in the middle of the school day. So we will wait until the majority of our applicants are out of school to send our e-mail notifications. (Yes we understand that this system does not work neatly for international applicants.)
What happens if I do not receive an e-mail decision on Wednesday? If an applicant does not receive an e-mail there a few things he or she can do:
(1.)Check your SPAM folders.
(2.) Check ANY and all e-mail accounts you have ever used during the college search process. We send the e-mail to the account you listed on your application. However, our database system does track all e-mail accounts that have ever been matched to your record, so on occasion the notification e-mail may be sent to old e-mail address. (So check e-mail addresses that you may have used when registering for the SAT/ACT for example.)
(3.) Have your parents check their e-mail accounts too. Not sure how that happens, but it has happened in the past. If none of those methods work, then unfortunately the student will need to wait to receive the decision in the mail, or can call on Friday.
Every year some e-mail notifications just don’t work. There are a number reasons for an applicant not receiving an e-mail notification including: no e-mail was provided on the student’s application, the e-mail provided on the application is no longer active, there was a SPAM filter blocking the message, or some error occurred that caused a bounce-back. WE ARE UNABLE TO RE-SEND E-MAILS. Once again, in such situations the applicant must wait. We understand how frustrating that can be, but unfortunately mistakes can happen when processing over thousands of applications.
I applied to the biomedical engineering (BME) program; how will I learn of my decision? BME decision e-mails will come as a second e-mail to all admitted students who selected BME as their first-choice major. Those notifications will also be sent on Wednesday following the release of all other decisions. Further details about your BME decision will be included in your decision packet/letter.
I was deferred. What does that mean? Stay tuned. I will post information for deferred applicants a couple of days after the release of decisions.
Regular Decision mail keeps stacking up.
I hope you all find his information helpful. Back to committee for me. Check back on Wednesday as I once again live blog ED Notification Day.
Greetings once again, faithful blog readers and welcome to those of you new to the Hopkins Insider Admissions blog. It’s been close to a month since the last time I personally composed a new blog entry and I thought it was time to return with a number of updates. Not blogging as frequently as I used to has been pretty strange, but I’m glad that the Hopkins Insider has not faltered in my absence. I’ve really enjoyed reading all the recent guest author entries from my colleagues and learning so much about their fields of expertise. As well, Admissions_Shannon’s entries about her travels, her office responsibilities, and her love of all things Baltimore have been a welcome addition to the blog. I hope you all agree with my completely biased opinion. But enough patting ourselves on the back … on to the updates.
Clearly, the first update many of you want to read about is where things stand with Early Decision. Other sources may have reported tentative totals for our 2011 ED applications, but the accurate number as confirmed by Dean of Undergraduate Admissions John Latting this morning is 1,330 applications. This is a 15% increase from our 1,155 total from last year and continues a nice trend over the last 10-plus years which the following chart displays:
The rise in ED applications to JHU.
We are all excited to see this continued increase in applicants stating that Johns Hopkins is their first choice school. Over the last few weeks there have been discussions of what led to the increase. Many agree that it is a combination of factors, including the rise of students applying early in general, the increased discussion of our Early Decision plan this year, and evidence that Hopkins continues to be a “hot” school. Personally, I think the increase has everything to do with Dean Latting deciding to write a guest blog on the topic of Early Decision.
Fall is upon us at Homewood.
My second update is to answer the two questions that are most frequently asked this time of year from Early Decision applicants, their parents, and their counselors. Hope these answers help clear up any confusion:
When will Early Decision notifications be released? The plan is to release ED notifications on Wednesday, December 15. When decisions are released they are mailed out (postal mail) during the day and then an email is sent after 6:00 p.m. EST. If our plans change, the first place you can find the updated details will be on this blog. To prepare yourselves, click on the Early Decision category tab on the left column and check out Decision Release entries for the last few years.
Is my Early Decision application complete? As you can imagine, it gets busy in the Admissions Office as we process application materials. Because of the volume of records being handled, it is not possible for us to confirm with each individual applicant whether their application files are complete or to identity which individual items have been received. We do email applicants an acknowledgment message after their application is received and processed.
Rest assured that application files are checked carefully for completeness. Starting next week our operations team will contact students whose ED applications remain incomplete. Those students will be given an opportunity to provide us with any missing items before we complete the evaluation of their applications. Often applicants ask if there is a way they can track their application online. Unfortunately, Hopkins does not have such a system. For that reason, our operations team is quite proactive in contacting applicants and guidance counselors to make sure all required application materials are received and processed correctly.
As always, if you have any questions, head on over to the Hopkins Forums. (By the way, check out the re-design—it’s pretty awesome.) There is an extensive 10-page discussion on Early Decision Questions that may be helpful.
The mail continues to pile up in Mason Hall.
Finally, for those of you who are eagerly awaiting the release of decisions on December 15, I encourage you to find a distraction for the next few weeks. One suggestion is to check out the updated student profiles we added to the main Admissions site: http://apply.jhu.edu/studentlife/meet.html. A second distraction could be all the amazing student blogs that have been posted over the last few weeks: http://www.hopkins-interactive.com/index.php. And third, I highly recommend catching up on some great television shows. Here are the shows I am currently watching each week: Glee, The Walking Dead, Modern Family, Community, 30 Rock, House, Chase, Hawaii Five-0, and definitely Boardwalk Empire.
Those of you who have been a frequent visitor to the main Admissions Web site (http://apply.jhu.edu/) over the past couple of weeks will know that we’ve had a countdown reminder to the Early Decision deadline of November 1. When I woke up this morning and went to the main site I noticed that there are just four days until Early Decision applications are dueand that the reminder bar is now red instead of the goldencolor it was previously. As well, if you have visited this blog since October 12, you’ve probably read Early Decision: the Pros and Cons, written by Dean of Undergraduate Admissions John Latting.
Obviously, Early Decision is on the mind of many prospective applicants right now. During our Open House program last Saturday, the majority of questions my colleagues and I received were about the Early Decision process. (By the way, if you didn’t get to attend our last Open House we are holding another one this Saturday and there is still room for visitors; full details here: http://apply.jhu.edu/visit/openhouse.html.) Easily 50% of the emails we have been receiving over the last two weeks to our main Admissions e-mail account (gotojhu@jhu.edu) have been about Early Decision. So I thought the best blog topic for today would be to provide answers to these frequently asked questions.
Time is running out ... ED deadline is fast approaching.
Is my Early Decision application complete? How can I track the status of my Early Decision application? Did you receive my tests scores / recommendations / etc.? As you can imagine, it gets busy in the Admissions Office as we process application materials. Because of the volume of records being handled, it is not possible for us to confirm with each individual applicant whether application files are complete or to identity which individual items have been received. We do e-mail applicants an acknowledgment message after their application has been received and processed. Rest assured that application files are checked carefully for completeness. At the end of the November we will contact students whose ED applications remain incomplete. Those students will be given an opportunity to provide us with any missing items before we complete the evaluation of their applications. Early Decision applicants may call the Admissions Office at (410) 516-8171 after November 30 to check if their application materials have been received, but once again we are not able to confirm the receipt of individual parts of your application. Often applicants ask if there is a way they can track their application online. Unfortunately, our office does not have such a system. For that reason, our Operations team is quite proactive in contacting applicants and guidance counselors to make sure all required application materials are received and processed correctly.
I know Johns Hopkins offers a binding Early Decision plan, but do you also offer Early Action or rolling admissions? No, we only offer Early Decision and Regular Decision processes.
If I apply to Johns Hopkins under the Early Decision agreement, can I also apply Early Action elsewhere? This is not the easiest question to answer. It is important to note that when you choose to apply ED to Johns Hopkins you, your parents, and your secondary school counselor will be required to sign an agreement/contract stating that you will enroll at Johns Hopkins if admitted and withdraw all applications to other schools.
The Early Decision agreement is binding, so you may not apply to any other school under an early decision plan. You also may not apply to any school through a Single-Choice Early Action (SCEA) plan because you will be breaking the contract of that SCEA school which states you cannot participate in a SCEA plan if applying ED elsewhere.
Applying to a non-binding Early Action school is allowed. However, when you apply early to a school you are stating to that school that it is your first choice, no matter if it is an ED, EA, or SCEA school. By applying through any type of early program, you are conveying a commitment to an individual school; applying early to multiple schools may make it seem like you have conflicting intentions.
Finally, please be aware that if a student does not abide by the ED contract then they forfeit their admission to Johns Hopkins and will not be able to enroll at a later date. We strongly urge students not to apply Early Decision if there is any possibility of later breaking the ED contract.
What my desk will look like in just a few weeks. Reading online!
How do I go about submitting the Early Decision Agreement? As stated above, all Early Decision applicants are required to submit the Early Decision agreement along with their signature, a parent/guardian signature, and the signature of their guidance counselor. Whether using the Universal College Application or Common Application, you may find the Early Decision agreement form as part of online application system or as a downloadable PDF. Just log-in to your account to access this form. If your school is submitting your application materials online, then you and your parent/guardian can sign the form online and pass it to your guidance counselor. They can submit their signature online and submit the form with the other required school materials such as the secondary school report and high school transcript.
We know that not all high schools are submitting materials online. In such situations, the student should print out the Early Decision agreement as a downloadable PDF and sign the form. After having your parent/guardian sign the form, turn the form into your guidance counselor. They should sign the form and mail it with all of your other school materials. If your application materials have already been submitted and mailed, then your guidance counselor can fax the form to our office at 410-516-6025.
Can I take October exams (SAT, ACT, SAT subject exams, TOEFL) and have those exams considered with my ED application? As stated on our standardized test requirements web site (http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/testreqs.html), Johns Hopkins requires that ED candidates complete their required tests no later than the end October of their senior year. Test scores need to be requested from the testing agencies prior to our stated application deadlines but may arrive after the deadline. Though October exam results may arrive past the deadline they will still be considered if requested in advance of the deadline. There is no need to rush score reports as they do not arrive any earlier.
Will November exam scores be considered? We cannot guarantee that November scores will arrive before the Admissions Committee evaluation. Past experience does suggest that exams taken in November usually arrive in time. Therefore, Early Decision applicants may only submit November testing if they are taking the SAT, ACT, or TOEFL a multiple time, or if they are taking the recommended but not required SAT subject exams. If the scores arrive before the evaluation then they will be considered with the application. We cannot guarantee that scores sent after our application deadline will be processed in time to be reviewed with the application and we do not delay the review of an application to wait for scores sent after the application deadline. Do note there is no need to rush scores from the testing agencies, as our office will not process them any quicker.
A unique way of delivering his ED application to JHU: I guess Conan is hedging his bets re: his new TBS show.
So these are the many questions we have been fielding lately, and I hope you find these answers helpful. To those of you who have chosen to apply Early Decision, good choice and good luck. Make sure to have all of your materials submitted online and/or postmarked by this Monday, November 1.
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest author is Dean of Undergraduate Admissions John Latting. Dean Latting expressed interest in writing an entry for those prospective applicants debating whether to apply through our early decision program. So read on to hear Dean Latting’s advice on the advantages and disadvantages to applying early decision to Johns Hopkins University.
As we near the deadline to apply “early” here at Johns Hopkins, we thought it might be helpful to explain the advantages and disadvantages of the process, at least from where we see things.
Our early application program, as an “early decision” plan, does require that students commit to attending Johns Hopkins if admitted. That’s the big thing to keep in mind. There is also a November 1 application deadline, and a December 15 notification date.
Dean Latting in the midst of applications.
So what are the advantages? First, there’s the timeline itself: You’ll hear from us in December, before the general January 1 deadlines. This allows you to make adjustments to where, and to how many, colleges you’ll apply by that time. Students who are admitted early decision don’t have to apply anywhere else. They’re done, and they can focus on other things beside college admission for the rest of their senior year.
For students not admitted, they, too have feedback in December. They can then proceed with the applications they were considering for regular decision elsewhere, knowing that a place in a college freshman class still has to be found.
A second advantage has to do with chances of gaining admission. I don’t want you to make too much of this point, but when we’re reading applications during the early process, we don’t feel nearly as constrained as we do during regular decision to bring the size of the freshman class down to our target (which lately has been 1,235 students). At the early stage there is more freedom to respond to students who make a great case. During regular decision there are times when, frankly, capacity in the class just doesn’t allow us to admit all the students we think are great. Admit rates in early and regular decision here have been about 40% and 20%, respectively. The difference reflects how we breathe a little easier in December than we do in March.
But here’s where I need to remind you of the terms of the whole process—not so much the “disadvantage,” but just the reality of early decision. Despite more favorable admit rates at Johns Hopkins (and often at other universities, too) the process remains sensible only for students who have a clear first-choice school , students who have done the research to get to that point, and students who would have no regrets about enrolling at their early decision school. If Johns Hopkins seems familiar to you, is something you believe you have prepared for (academically, in particular), meets your expectations for what a college should be, and is just where you really want to be next fall, then by all means apply early. You are the reason we have the option in the first place.
If there’s a disadvantage with applying early decision, it has to do with financial aid. No, you won’t get bigger grants from Johns Hopkins if you are admitted regular decision, rather than early decision. We use absolutely, precisely the same methods for calculating eligibility for financial aid no matter when you are admitted. And we admit students without regard to whether they apply for financial aid, and how much we think they might need. But what you can’t do is compare financial aid offers from more than one college or university. Each institution has its own way of determining how much a family can reasonably pay for college, and the outcome of that process is only revealed after you are offered admission. When you apply early decision, you just get that one offer of financial aid.
Mason Hall: Where your applications are processed.
Now, if you and your parents don’t like what you see there, or feel it isn’t reasonable, you can be released from any obligation to enroll (at least you can here at Johns Hopkins). Just let us know. It should be encouraging to hear that last year, out of 493 Early Decision admits here at Johns Hopkins, only six students felt that our financial aid offer wasn’t acceptable to them and their parents.
And this financial aid issue gets back to the point about the importance of whether you have a clear first-choice college or not. If you’re looking here, or somewhere else for early decision and wouldn’t be thrown off by a financial aid difference (which, by the way, you can estimate using a college’s net price calculator; here’s ours: http://www.jhu.edu/finaid/estimator.html), then, we say it again: It makes sense to apply early.
Good luck to all!
End Note: For additional perspectives on applying early decision to Johns Hopkins read these previous blog entries composed by Admissions_Daniel: October 2009 – Early Decision: Is It Right For You?and November 2006: To ED or Not to ED. As well, if you have questions feel free to post them on the Early Decision discussion thread on the Hopkins Forums.
A few weeks ago Dean of Admissions John Latting asked if I would attend an essay workshop at the Friends School in Baltimore since he would be on vacation. I immediately jumped at the chance for two reasons: I love Quaker schools and I love essay workshops. I know that they are both strange things to be so affectionate about, but after twelve years working in college admissions, I know what I like and I know what I don’t like. While preparing for the workshop I jotted down a list of points about the purpose and value of the admissions essay in the application review process and also a number of tips to best tackle the task. The workshop went extremely well and as I was getting ready to store my notes I realized that they would make a great blog topic.
You Don't Need This!
So as many of you begin to take on the task of writing your college essays and short answer questions, I will present my advice on essay strategies that I believe work. This is in no way the gospel about college admissions essays, but rather a list of tips I have compiled over my years. After nearly 20,000 essays read in my career (and that is a low estimate I think), I hope you all will find my tips helpful.
- Don’t think of it as an essay assignment, but rather a personal statement. I always start off any discussion of college essay writings with this re-imagining. The task of writing your college essay, I mean college personal statement, is not an assignment for your English class. Do not consider this a standard essay where you must have a thesis statement, supportive body paragraphs, and a conclusion that just re-hashes your original introduction. Your college statement needs to be personal and it needs to be thought of in a more creative and original fashion. In many ways we review these personal statements less for a true assessment of your writing ability (we have your English course grades for that) but more in terms of what you reveal about yourself.
- Essays do matter; in fact, they matter a lot more than you probably think. For highly selective universities that practice a holistic approach to the admissions review process like Johns Hopkins, the personal statement and any short answer questions carry a lot of weight. In admissions committee discussions the most popular section that is referred to in making an argument for or against a candidate is the essay and other personal writings. This part of the application is the chance for students to share their own voice in their application, and that matters greatly when determining whether a student is a strong fit for your institution. You have little control over the rest of their application: your grades are your grades, your activities you have already chosen, your test scores are complete, and your recommendations are not written by you. Your essays are the area that you still have control over.
- Don’t gloss over short answer questions—they also matter a lot. As I have been writing I have been directing my advice not just at college essays, I mean college statements, but also short answer questions. Most colleges nowadays have a supplement to the Common Application or Universal College Application, and the main part of these supplements are additional required writing statements. Hopkins is no different and this year we added a second short answer question that all of our applicants must answer. These are short answer questions with 250 word limits, but don’t assume because we are requesting a short length that we do not care about the answers you compose. We don’t just add questions to our application requirements to require you to do more work. If we are asking you for information there is a reason behind our inquiry and your responses will matter in the review process. One piece of advice—short answer does not mean one to two sentences. It stuns me every year how many applicants either ignore these questions or spend a grand total of two minutes compiling their responses.
- We want to hear (read) your personal voice.
I know I already mentioned this, but it is such an important concept that I thought it was imperative to repeat. Many admissions counselors think of the admissions review as a conversation with an applicant. As we move from section to section of your application we learn more and more about what makes you an individual and what is important to you. Your writings are your chance to share what is important to you directly with the evaluator. Your topic, the content, the tone, and the flow of your responses encompass the personalvoice we want to hear when looking through your application.
- Essays are about the all important concept of fit.
When evaluating applications of so many highly qualified students, the question of fit becomes paramount. So many of the applicants we evaluate have what we are looking for: they have the grades, have the test scores, have the leadership abilities, have the commitment to community, and have challenged themselves. Because of that, admissions readers have to delve deep into each application, and especially the personal statements, to determine which select students are the best fits for the university. This means that, while reading your essays, the evaluators are thinking about such fit questions as will this student contribute to Hopkins, will they benefit from attending a distinct school like Hopkins, will they make the most of their Hopkins experience, and will Hopkins benefit from having such a student. Though your essays should not address these questions directly, when choosing your topics and composing your content you should have these questions in the back of your mind.
Are you a fit?
- Present your true self.
I always say that one should present self-awareness and confidence in their writings, but most significantly one must present their true personality. Do not create a new persona in your essays as such a strategy will back-fire. In fact, don’t have a strategy but rather be yourself. If you are funny, then be funny. If you are not funny, then obviously don’t try to be funny. We read thousands of essays each year and have become experts in telling when a student is not being true to themselves. Also, remember we have the rest of your application to match up to your essays. It can be confusing, and detrimental, when reviewing an application and the portrait of a student painted in the recommendations, activities sheet, and transcript is completely different than what is presented in the essays.
- Do not over-think the essay prompts.
These are not trick questions to start. They are open-ended allowing you to create personal statements and have the flexibility to go in a multitude of directions with your responses. I have a folder on my desk with the most impressive essays I have read in my career. There are about 25 essays in that folder and what they all have in common … the topics of the essays are pretty mundane. There are essays about the big game, about the death of a grandparent, about friends, about family, about performing in the school musical—pretty much my favorite essays of all time tend to tackle the most basic of responses. It seems to me that students spend so much time stressing about the right topic that they don’t have the energy when ultimately compiling the content of their essay. Also, note there are no wrong topics to write about. Nothing is too mundane, nothing is too common, nothing is too political to not be attempted. Choose a topic that means something to you, but know in the end it is not the topic that makes an impressive essay, it is the content.
In addition to these suggestions, I also have a few additional bullet point thoughts that I often share:
Attempt to have a killer introduction and compelling conclusion. It is best to grab your audience right away and leave them with a powerful note at the end.
Be creative, be original, be yourself. Write these words down on a post-it note and stare at that often when composing your essays.
Take risks, but make sure they are calculated risks.
Avoid spelling mistakes. Obviously!
Avoid incorrect word choices. Not so obvious. Read your essays aloud and make sure you are using the correct their, there, they’re.
Avoid vulgarity, inappropriate language, and anything offensive.
And finally, my best piece of advice for when you think you have your final draft: make three copies and distribute them to (1) a parent / relative; (2) a teacher or guidance counselor; and (3) a close friend. Ask each person to read your essay and instead of providing suggested content edits ask them to answer the following questions, “Does this essay represent me? Is this me?” If a related person, an educator, and friend all answer yes to these questions, then you have written a wonderful college essay, I mean college personal statement.
I would be remiss if I didn’t finish this blog entry by promoting our wonderful “Essays That Worked” Web page on the Admissions Web site. Each year my colleagues and I select four impressive essays from the past admissions cycle and post them on the site for future applicants to review. In addition to posting the essay, one of the admissions counselor comments about why that particular essay “worked.” Check out the site and I hope you will gain some inspiration: http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/essays.html.
Note on this entry: Last month I was contacted by the Editor of Imagine magazine through the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. She is a fan of the Hopkins Insider blog and was inquiring if I wanted to write an article for the September edition of the magazine, specifically for their “Planning Ahead for College” section. I jumped at the chance and we decided I would tackle the issue of college admissions interview. I enjoyed writing the article and thought I would re-publish it here for all that read the blog. You can see the article in print here as well: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20100910QTVS1/index.php#/41. While you visit the site to read my article, I encourage you to stay there and read through the entire magazine as there are other great articles written for middle and high school students.
The College Admissions Interview
by Daniel G. Creasy, Associate Director of Admissions, Johns Hopkins University
One of my most vivid memories from my college search is a bizarre interview experience that took place at the home of an 80-year-old Ivy League alumnus, retired physician, and noted British literature expert. Let’s just say his beliefs and interview style did not mesh well with mine since at that time I was a nervous 17-year-old high school student interested in politics and grunge music.
Throughout my 12 years as a college admissions professional, I often reflect on the awkwardness of that experience when discussing the role of interviews with prospective applicants. The interview ranks right up there with the application essay as causing the most anxiety for high school seniors each year. Much of that stress stems from an uncertainty about the role of the interview in the admissions review process and how a student should prepare. Even with full preparation, there would have been a disconnect between me and my interviewer. But I think if I had known the things I’m about to share with you, it might not have been so awkward.
The College Admissions Interview
The first thing to do is read the interview policies for the colleges you are applying to. Every school has a different policy: a handful require them, some do not offer them, and most recommend but do not require them. For those that recommend or require interviews, note whether the interviews are primarily evaluative, informational, or a mixture. Note also who will conduct the interview; this can vary from admissions counselors to trained current students to alumni.
Once you have compiled all of this information, you will need to decide whether an interview is in your best interest. My advice is simple: If you have the chance to schedule an interview, then you should pursue it, even if just the thought of an interview makes you nervous. If nothing else, interviews can provide you with more details about a specific school you are considering. More often, though, interviews provide you with the opportunity to present your individual personality and match that to your application.
The next step is to prepare for your interview. It is important that you research the schools where you are interviewing. There is no need to know everything about a school—you won’t be asked trivia—but a working knowledge of a school’s defining characteristics will aid you significantly. During your research, compile a list of questions that you want to ask your interviewer and try to anticipate questions they might ask. You should also consider in advance what you will wear. For most interviews, you should toe the line between formal (a suit is not necessary) and casual (no sweats or flip fl ops). I usually suggest a semicasual outfit that will make you comfortable and also represent you well. This preparation of knowing about the school, compiling questions, and making conscious clothing decisions will display to your interviewer sincere interest and an organized presentation, qualities that certainly will be noted. But avoid being too strategic with your decisions. The interviewer wants to speak with the real you, not some fabrication of you that you think will best suit your application.
The best piece of advice I can offer is to not think of it as an interview at all. The college interview is a conversation. Your interviewer will create a casual environment for you to have a friendly discussion. Rather than a back-and-forth Q&A session, what will transpire is a chat about who you are, who you want to be, and how you see that college helping you along the way.
There may be some strange questions, like what kind of tree best represents you, but the goal is to make you feel comfortable in revealing your personality, your strengths, and any struggles. A successful interview is one where you are most true to who you are, present genuine responses, display sincere interest in the conversation, and overcome any nerves by showing confidence in your answers.
One final note I feel is crucial and is one of my cardinal rules: Always send a thank-you note to your interviewer. Even after my strange interview experience years ago, I heeded my mom’s advice and sent a thank-you card. I ultimately got into that school, and to this day I think that card sealed the deal. But even if it didn’t, I know it didn’t hurt.
If you are interested in learning more about interview options for undergraduate applicants to Johns Hopkins University click on the links below. Do note that interviews are an optional part of the admissions process and are treated much more as casual conversations with representatives of the University rather than evaluative discussions.
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.
Just three e-mails left to write and then I can head home feeling like I accomplished a lot today. Still tons to do before vacation begins.about 8 hours agofrom webReplyRetweetFavorite
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December 28 2010 | 
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