Friday Favorites: The Big Number

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I need to keep this entry short for reasons that will become clear as you read on.

Always at this time of year the big question on the minds of applicants, parents of applicants, guidance counselors, the media, peer institutions, and anyone somewhat connected to higher education is … what is your applicant total? Throughout the month of January, newspapers and education blogs are constantly posting stories of which schools are up .. which schools are down … and why? Just do a search of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, college newspapers, and the dreaded College Confidential and you will find ample reading about application numbers. I even had a poll up on the Hopkins Insider blog for the last month, since I know this is such a popular topic to discuss. So, what is Hopkins application total for the 2009-10 application cycle?

Earlier this week Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Dr. John Latting revealed the total to the whole Admissions team during our weekly staff meeting. And the total is:

18,349

For the staff this is a big announcement for two reasons: (1) It lets us know how much work we need to accomplish between now and the end of March. And with nearly 2,200 more applications (a 13% increase) over last year, we all are aware of the daunting task ahead of us. & (2) We find out which staff member wins the $50 gift certificate for coming the closest to the final total. This year it goes to Operations Staff member Wanda Roberts who had the highest guess of all staff members and was the only one to guess in the 18,000s. It shows that predicting application numbers is a difficult task — only 13.3% of you got it right (as of today).

So now I need to get back to reading those applications.

Just a final note about the pictures. I chose to post an old picture of stacks of files because it is such a better image than a picture of a computer monitor with a filled queue. And then I also had to include a picture of Soze, my puppy, who turns 9 years old this weekend. Snow is in the forecast for Baltimore, so I think Soze got his birthday wish.

Friday Favorites:Become a Fan(on Facebook)

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One of my favorite television shows of all time is The West Wing. Throughout the show’s run the tales o f the Bartlet administration were always “must see TV” for me. During the early seasons of the show I was living in D.C. and I feel that always added a bit to my enjoyment of the show. Though at times C.J., Sam, Toby, Leo, Donna, Charlie, and Josh were a bit over the top with their fast walking down halls and quick dialog, and Sorkin’s scripts could become a bit too liberal and preachy, I still would recommend The West Wing to anyone look for a good drama of the recent past.

So why do I start this blog by extolling the virtues of a retired television show? No, this is not going to be a blog about my addiction to television, and no, this is not my way to comment about NBC and the mess they have made with late night TV and how they totally mistreated Conan. The reason I bring up The West Wing is that in deciding how to write about today’s Friday Favorites topic, I was thinking of one of the very popular phrases used throughout the show. President Bartlet (played magnificently by Martin Sheen) was always known to use the phrase, “What’s next?” whenever moving on to a new topic. “What’s next?” became a common phrase simply because there was always so much going on in the fictional White House, and they always had to follow one great accomplishment with the next one.

This “What’s next?” mentality is something that I have incorporated into my occupational philosophy, especially when it comes to new ideas related to our Hopkins Interactive project. I often connect with the current students who volunteer with me and ask “What’s next?” Right after we complete a project it is time to move on to the next project. There is no resting on our laurels. We launch a new freshman blog, and then it is on to launching our awesome Academic Blog. We start with a new Twitter account, follow that up with new videos for our YouTube page, and continue with our Guest Blog Google Map. As we work on one project, we are always brainstorming or planning a variety of next projects. It is time for me to once again ask “What’s next?” as last Friday we launched our next big accomplishment and my Friday Favorite for today.

Last Friday after a few months of hard work by a number of Hopkins Interactive students, especially my current student intern and in many ways my executive assistant Mandy Stein, we launched a Facebook Fan Page – Johns Hopkins University – Undergraduate Admissions. The Facebook Fan page is for us the next evolution of using the most popular forms of social media to connect with a variety of audiences. In the past we used Facebook groups to connect with prospective audiences, but it became clear that Facebook was “forcing” its membership to embrace Fan pages instead. We will still use the Facebook group function to connect with specific groups of students, such as our Class of 2014 Facebook group currently populated with recently admitted Early Decision students (the first members of the JHU Class of ’14) and will expand in the spring with Regular Decision admitted students who choose to enroll at Hopkins. But, it became clear that a Facebook Fan page was a next logical step for us.

Johns Hopkins University – Undergraduate Admissions

One question I do anticipate getting in the future is whether being a fan of the Fan Page will improve one’s chances for admissions? No it will not.In fact, we will not be tracking which applicants “become a fan” and those who choose to lurk or never use the resource. The Fan Page, as well as all of our social media devices (Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Hopkins Forums, etc.), are a means to dispense information and allow prospective students and applicants to connect with the Office of Admissions (me!) and current JHU students. We provide these tools to help you all navigate the admissions process and to educate yourself about the “real” Johns Hopkins University – hopefully assisting you in the end with determining whether Hopkins is the right fit for you. In no way do we provide these tools as a way to track an applicant’s interest or to “stalk” our applicants. We do not have the time or the interest to do anything like that.

So enjoy the new Facebook Fan Page and know that I have already asked the “What’s next?” question of the Hopkins Interactive students and there are some amazing new projects on the horizon.

Friday Favorites: ED Stats

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Typically the most popular topic following a decision release day is always what did the “stats” look like. So I thought for this Friday Favorite I would look back on a variety of statistical breakdowns from the release of Early Decision notifications from this past Tuesday.

First, I thought I would re-post the official admissions statistics for the Early Decision Class of 2014. I posted these during my Live Blogging post on Tuesday, but I decided to re-post since they may have gotten buried in the middle of that long entry.

• LARGEST ED APPLICANT POOL EVER = 1,155. Up 10% from last year.
• Over this past decade our Early Decision applicant pool has risen 138%.
• The acceptance rate has dropped to the second lowest rate for the last ten years. We admitted 43% of the applicants. 493 applicants will be the first students welcomed into the Class of 2014.
• The male/female ration is 54%/46% which is impressive and a rise for women in the class.
• We have 53 under-represented minority students in the admitted class which is our largest number ever.
• As far as academic interest, 32% interested in Engineering (+2% from last year); 12% are interested in Humanities (+1%); 34% interested in Natural Sciences (-4%); 19% interested in Social and Behavioral Sciences (-7%); and 3% Undecided (-2%).
• All of our academic markers are either a slight bit up, the same as last year, or the slightest tick down. The quality of our ED admits just based of academic factors continues to amaze us all.
• New York is the top state (76) for admits, New Jersey is second (71), and Maryland is third (50). Pennsylvania (47) and California (29) round out the top five. 36 states are represented in our admitted ED class.
• 41 international students from over 17 nations – both records for our ED class.

Second, I always like to share some statistics as it relates to the use of our social media tools during the relase of notifications. And by social media tools I mean this blog, our student blogs, our Facebook group, and other such tools associated with the Hopkins Interactive Web site.

• Hopkins Insider Blog stats:

– During the week leading up to the release of ED notifications, the blog averaged 925 hits a day. That is just up from the average 800 hits per day during a normal time frame.
– On the Monday before (12.14) the number of hits rose to 1525.
– On Decision release day (12.15), over a 24-hour period, there were 8899 hits.
– The last two days the hits per day is back to about the 800 average.

• Class of 2014 Facebook Group stats:

– Within 24 hours, we approved 186 newly admitted students into the Facebook group. That is 37% of the admitted 493 students.
– By this post, we have approved 63% (313 students) of the admitted students into the group.

Finally, the next big STAT question is going to be what is the total applicant pool for the Johns Hopkins Class of 2014. We won’t know for more than a month, but I thought I would continue a blog tradition and have the readers vote on what they think the total will be. Look to the right and you will find the poll. To help, last year’s applicant pool was 16,123 … will this year be up or down??? Vote now.

Friday Favorites: The Amazing Guest Blog

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Back when we launched Hopkins Interactive and the Hopkins Insider blog in December 2005 one of our initial ideas was to include a "Guest Blog" along with the blogs written by current students. Here is what we wrote when we debuted the Hopkins Interactive Guest Blog in January 2006:

Did you ever wonder what it was like to explore a foreign country through a study abroad program? play lacrosse at Hopkins? participate in a theater group? study engineering? apply to law school? be an international student? join a sorority or fraternity? write for the student newspaper?

Well then, you've come to the right place! Welcome to the latest addition to Hopkins Interactive: Guest Blogs. In addition to our current student blogs, we are adding this fun and new way to learn even more about Hopkins. Each Monday, the guest blogs will feature a new student who will post on a different topic, allowing you to gain a "bird's eye view" of life at Hopkins. Posts will focus on academics, extracurriculars, and social life at Hopkins – all aspects of college life here at the Homewood campus. So, be sure to check back frequently to make sure you don't miss anything!

Next month will be the four year anniversary of the Hopkins Interactive Guest Blog and though there have been changes to design and the frequency we post (normally twice a week now), the mission of the blog remains the same: Featuring a different Johns Hopkins student each week.

To celebrate we created a fun Google Map with links to hometowns (or study abroad sites) for our nearly 150 posted guest blogs. Check it out below, and click on the link for the full map:

Pretty cool, huh? Curious about the meaning behind the different color pins … here is your key:

Blue = Traditional Guest Blogs
Yellow = Current Members of Hopkins Interactive who have written Guest Blogs
Red = Blogs of our Current Members of Hopkins Interactive as well as Retired Alums
Airplanes = Study Abroad Guest Blogs

The Hopkins Interactive Guest Blog remains one of my favorite projects we have ever created, as each week I truly enjoy getting to know another one of the amazing Hopkins students. The Guest Blog even spawned other blog types, including our Alumni Blogs, our Parent Blogs, and our Faculty and Staff Blogs all part of our Blue Jay Buffet compilation blog. You can even check out a JHU Gazette article from last spring that talked about our Guest Blog, Blogging a Big Hit for Admissions.

Enjoy the map and enjoy the great variety on our Guest Blog … I know I will.

Friday Favorites: Admissions – The Musical

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It's Friday and that means another Friday Favorites entry for you all. Actually, today is going to be a double dose of Friday Favorites … woo hoo. I am working on an entry that will be posted later today, but when I stumbled upon this video earlier in the week I knew I had to share it.

Drum roll please … ladies and gentlemen prepare for …

ADMISSIONS: THE MUSICAL

Did you enjoy that? I wonder if this is the type of humor only people who have worked in Admissions get. Oh well, the guys from the University of Delaware did an amazing job and I just had to share it.

Back to reading files for me … hmmm, I am thinking that today's musical selection to accompany my reading should include some Broadway tunes. I wonder why?

Friday Favorites: Twitter and YouTube

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When I introduced the concept of my Friday Favorities a few months ago, I said that one of the frequent topics would be updates on the new and unique projects associated with Hopkins Interactive. Well the Hopkins Interactive students and I have been working diligently these past few months and I think we have launched some exciting new projects and have a number of great ideas soon to come. Last week I introduced the new Academics Blog and the response to that project has been tremendous. So, this week I though I would let you all know how we have been using Twitter and update you with a few of our newest YouTube videos.

When we first started to use Twitter in conjunction with Hopkins Interactive we created the @HopkinsInsider account. The main purpose was to have a vehicle to inform our followers of new blog entries posted by myself, the student bloggers, or to any of our other University bloggers. Then shortly after I launched my own personal Twitter account @AdmissionDaniel as I was hearing from people that they would like to see tweets from an actual Admissions professional. (Darn Twitter and its character limits with names prevented me from using the more consistent AdmissionsDaniel moniker – I guess you add the “S” to get Johns Hopkins but drop the “S” when finding me on Twitter.)

Though the number of followers for each of these Twitter account remains low – 187 for the main account and 134 for me – they do seem to be another form of communication that prospective students and families enjoy. It also seems a number of higher education professionals have also found the accounts. Stemming from this mild success, we decided at the start of this semester to ask three of the Hopkins Interactive students to create Twitter accounts that we would link to through the main site, forums, and blogs. So now you can follow, @JHU_Saznin, @JHU_Brian, and @JHU_Keith. Here is a bit of a description about each account with links:

@HopkinsInsider: The main Hopkins Interactive Twitter account. When a new blog is posted a new tweet will be posted so you can check out the new entry. In the coming weeks, we plan to make this Twitter account more active as we highlight some of the most popular threads on the Hopkins Forums, link to some of the best blogs of all time, and share recent Hopkins news.

@AdmissionDaniel: This is my Twitter account. I attempt to update every day or so with a mixture of updates on what is going on with work, my thoughts on admissions, retweets of cool Hopkins stuff, and as normal for me, random deep thoughts.

@JHU_Saznin: Saznin is a current Hopkins sophomore focusing her studies on Public Health. From Virginia, her family has just moved to Africa so she is in some ways re-defining where her home is. Saznin is an involved student with a unique sense of humor … and oh yeah, she is not pre-med.

@JHU_Brian: Brian is an Environmental Engineering sophomore from New Jersey. Everyone who has ever come in contact with Brian is amazed at how intelligent, how friendly, and how creative a person he is … I guess that is why he is the Westgate scholar for his class.

@JHU_Keith: Keith is one of the newest members of the Hopkins Interactive team and roommates with Brian (yes, it is strange when they communicate with each other through Twitter!). He is also a sophomore and is studying Hopkins newest major, Global Environmental Change and Sustainability or as well all call it = GECS.

So follow us, retweet us, and if you ever have suggestions of what we should be doing on Twitter let us know.

The Hopkins Interactive team also continues to create YouTube videos and upload them to both our Video Blog and YouTube page. To encourage you all to check out our videos I thought I would share two videos: (1) A Day in The Life of JHU_Greco one of the new Hopkins Interactive freshmen & (2) a re-post of the Hopkins Interactive LipDub from last spring. Enjoy!

Friday Favorites: Introducing our Academics Blog

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It’s Friday and I am not on the road … so that means the return of the Friday Favorites. Sorry for not posting any Friday Favorites entries over the last month and a half, but I promise that this entry and the ones to follow in the coming weeks will completely make up for the delay.

Probably the most frequently discussed topic in the college admissions search process is something along the lines of what’s your major going to be? Or equally common is the prospective student asking a college admissions professional how is such-and-such major at your university? It is pretty clear that one of the primary ways students choose which university to attend is by evaluating the academic opportunities (namely majors and minors) that each institution provides.

With this in mind, the team behind the Hopkins Interactive Web site set out on a seemingly-impossible project: to collect blog entries from a student of every single major and minor offered here at Johns Hopkins. We realized that prospective and admitted students must not only be aware of the majors and minors that we offer, but also get as close to and as familiar with them as possible. And what better source of information than current students or recent alumni of those programs of study.

This project became known as our Academics Blog Project and over a year and a half it was a major undertaking. Earlier this week we put the finishing touches on the project and are proud to launch:

Friday Favorites: Two Articles & an Infamous Picture

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I have hit the recruitment road once again. Currently I am up in New England and will be here for the next 16 days. I will blog about my recruitment travels sometime in the near future, and I also plan to a post a two-part re-cap of my NACAC Conference experiences later this week. So stay tuned.

For this Friday Favorites post I have a couple of interesting articles to share. This past week the Baltimore Sun posted an article entitled “College Learn to Live With Social Media” which featured quotes from yours truly and some of the Hopkins Interactive students. Click here to read the full article. An excerpt:

For admissions counselor Daniel Creasy, that story sums up how social media have changed the way colleges recruit, enroll and orient new students.

“Before they ever get to campus they can put their shoes into what it feels like to be a Hopkins student,” said Creasy, who steers the university’s use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media in admissions. “I hear from people all over campus that with every progressive year, the newest class is the most together and connected group that has ever showed up. They’ve already known each other for months.”

Facebook and other social media sites have invaded college admissions in a big way. But the great rush to use social media also raises questions about privacy and appropriate relations between administrators and students. Desperate applicants might attempt to improve their admissions chances by “friending” counselors. Conversely, counselors might use social media profiles to search for red flags on certain candidates or to assemble information for targeted recruiting pitches. In 2008, a company created false Facebook sites for many universities in hopes of grabbing personal information for marketing purposes.

In my opinion, this article is one of the better ones published recently about how colleges are using social media to connect with prospective, admitted, and enrolled students — and I am not just saying that because they interviewed me.

The other article I wanted to share is a recent New York Times piece about Admissions Student Blogging. Though it doesn’t feature any details about the amazing Johns Hopkins blogging program — Hopkins Interactive — it is a good piece that discusses how blogging can help an admissions office recruit. The article entitled “M.I.T. Taking Students Blog to Nth Degree” is a good re-cap on how one school is using blogs and raising a number of questions including whether blogger should be paid. Click here to read the full article. Discussion on this piece continued on the New York Times Educational Blog “The Choice” with this posting: Student Bloggers Find an Unlikely Home, on Their College Web Sites. 

Enjoy these articles, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on Admissions blogging in the comments section.

As I wrap-up this entry, I must fulfill a promise I made to some of the students who volunteer for me. More will be explained about this infamous picture in my coming entries about the NACAC Conference. For now just enjoy this embarrassing picture of myself:

Friday Favorites: Installing a New President

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For this second installment of my Friday Favorites, allow me to reflect back on the events of last weekend. I had the pleasure to participate in a number of programs related to the installment of Ronald J. Daniels as the 14th President in the 133 year history of Johns Hopkins University. To be honest, going into the weekend I wasn’t expecting too much of the installation events. But once the weekend was over it was easy for me to state that I had enjoyed one of the most memorable Johns Hopkins experiences in my six years with the University. And once again, Ronald Daniels had surpassed my expectations.

Before sharing my reflections on Installation Weekend, I want to flashback to March of this past year and the first official days of our new President’s tenure. This was the first time Ron Daniels shocked me. As Daniels began his service to Hopkins one of his first ideas was to have a series of lunches and dinners with various student groups and campus leaders. One of the first groups he invited to dinner at his new home, the Nichols House, was the members of the Student Admissions Advisory Board (the students behind Hopkins Interactive). So on his third day as President of Johns Hopkins University, Ron Daniels had dinner with 20 current Hopkins undergraduates and myself as well. The evening was lovely, and the most memorable part is how President Daniels was able to address the group as a whole and also connect with each student individually. He was a gracious host, an engaging conversationalist, and right away you could see he was going to be a compelling leader. The night was so memorable that the SAAB students and I still reminisce about the dinner and hope we all get invited back soon.

Read President Daniels first letter to the Hopkins community dated March 2, 2009.
Review an official biography of Ronald J. Daniels.
Reflect back on Daniels first day in this March 2nd Gazette article.

President Daniels did begin his tenure with Hopkins six months prior in March, but I think in many ways it was this September when he really started his presidency. He even remarked back in April at an Admitted Student Open House that he will always see himself linked to the enrolling Class of 2013. This really impressed me about Daniels, spending his first months on the job learning all he can about the operations of Johns Hopkins University, and hearing the opinions of ALL linked to this grand institution. All of this preparation, all of the conversations, and a myriad of good meals led up to the events of last weekend and all the pomp and circumstance that surrounded the installation of Ronald Daniels at the 14th President of Johns Hopkins University.

The calendar of events over Installation weekend were extensive … just see this complete list posted in the JHU Gazette. The weekend was a mix of mingling events with faculty, staff, and students, a 2.5K Fun Run, A President’s Day of Service, a neighborhood block party, and the official installment on Sunday afternoon. The following links provide full coverage of the entire weekend of events, and also the video is a great reflection:

Gazette article on the Installation of President Daniels.
2.5K Presidential Fun Run Photo Gallery.
Day of Service Photo Gallery.
Community Block Party Photo Gallery.
Baltimore Sun’s article of President Daniels’ installment.

For me the two big events over the weekend were the 2.5K Presidential Fun Run around the Homewood campus, and then the official installment and reception on Sunday. As I often do, I took my camera with me and snapped a ton of photos. Enjoy this slideshow of the events of the weekend from my point-of-view:

And to finish, I come back to what I said at the beginning … President Daniels continues to surpass my expectations. As I listened to his Inauguration Address I was quite inspired. Instead of me re-hashing the speech, here it is in its entirety for you to enjoy:

 Check out the special Inauguration Website for additional information.

Friday Favorites: Premiere Edition

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Frequent visitors to the Hopkins Insider blog may have noticed some big changes recently. To coincide with the start of the 2009-2010 academic year, I’ve been making some changes to the design and layout of the blog. And when I say “I’ve been making” the changes, I actually mean I asked my student assistant Lauren Carney to make the changes. She is my web guru and is the behind-the-scenes force in the design of many of our Hopkins Interactive projects. [Thanks Lauren!]

The biggest change you will see is to the mast-head (is that what you call it???). I asked Lauren to work on the colors, the description of the blog, and to add a collage of photos that are used frequently here. There is also an introductory post for new visitors, and we have even linked to my personal Twitter feed: @AdmissionDaniel. I hope you all like the changes, and keep checking back as there are more to come. And as always, if you ever have any suggestions, use the comments section and let me know.

Besides the re-design of the blog, I also have some plans for additional “NEW” features that I will roll-out throughout the year. As this blog nears its 4 year birthday (REALLY!!!), I thought it was time to move from the infant and teenage stages of the blog to adulthood. It is my theory that blogs age like dogs … so Soze has been with me for 7 and a half years so he is about 54 or 55, and the blog is nearing its 4th year so it is about 25 or 26. (O.K., I honestly have no idea what I am talking about … so let’s move on.)

One of these new ideas is what I am calling FRIDAY FAVORITES. As often as I can, I will post a new blog entry on Fridays that feature some of my favorite Johns Hopkins related links. Sometimes I will post links to the best new blog entries posted to Hopkins Interactive. Other times I will share some a collection of my favorite photos from around the Homewood campus. I also envision sharing interesting and newsworthy stories that take place nearly every day at Hopkins. And yes, there will probably be some of those infamous AdmissionsDaniel pop-culture favorite lists. (Let’s see how long I can go with out posting a Friday Favorites entry about the best television shows … if GLEE continues to be as awesome as the pilot and first episode, it might not be too long.) I know these entries will be fun for me to post and I hope you will all enjoy them. If you have any suggestions for a Friday Favorites topic, let me know.

So for the premiere Friday Favorites edition, I thought I would share links to a series of blogs posted to the Guest Blog last month. These seven blog entries were the winning entries of our Class of 2013 Summer Blogging Contest. This was the third year where we challenged our incoming freshmen to submit blog entries during the summer before their arrival at Hopkins. We received the most submissions ever, and narrowing down the list to the seven winners was quite tough. I think you will agree as you review these seven entries, that the JHU Class of 2013 is filled with unique and talented students, who all have a different perspective on the start of their undergraduate years. ENJOY!

“Yes Woman”
Alexandra Guttentag
Hometown: Palo Alto, CA
Alexandra vows to be a “Yes Woman” as a Hopkins freshman, making the wise decision to never let the fear of trying something new get in the way of making incredible memories.

“I Don’t Want to Have to Learn To Count … I Don’t Want to Grow Up”
Tyler Dougherty
Hometown: Ocean City, NJ
While we might think rushing to become serious adults is the “right” thing to do, Tyler reminds us that going to college does not mean automatic adulthood: maturity will come in time.

“The Most Disorganized Catalogue”
Miriam Grossman
Hometown: West Orange, NJ
Miriam, nervous about leaving behind the comfortable details of home, presents “The Catalogue” – a collection of opinions on Johns Hopkins from those who know her best (and a few strangers, too) that comfort and inspire her.

“You Can Find a Nice Doctor to Marry”
Miranda Baxendale
Hometown: Culver City, CA
Miranda experiences many different reactions to her choice to attend Johns Hopkins University, forcing her to deal with the pre-conceived ideas and stereotypes of others.

“Reading Between the Lines”
Charlie Tsouvalas
Hometown: Arcadia, CA
It took his grandmother’s extensive college shopping list to make Charlie realize that no matter how big of a change moving to college will be, family and home will always be important parts of life.

“The List Goes On (and on, and on)”
Rebecca Krishnan-Ayer
Hometown: Dallas, TX
Rebecca resorts to the trusty to-do list to organize the things she must buy, the tasks she must complete and the ways she must grow in order to be ready for freshman year.

“Establishing a Connection: The Chronicles of a Future Freshman”
Name: Aishwarya Rajagopalan
Hometown: Newtown, PA
Aishwarya tackles getting ready for college in India while trying to settle the nerves and the inevitable doubts in her head as she prepares for this big change