A view from the upper quad.

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

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

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

Good luck to all of our transfer applicants!

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

–holding events for admitted students

–reading transfer files

–traveling to different areas of the country to give presentations

–preparing for summer and fall visits

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

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

Thanks for your patience!

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

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Admissions_Shelly

8:40 a.m.

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

Admit packets, almost ready to go...this is just one row of about 10!

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

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

Empty mail bins, ready to take those admit packets to their owners!

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

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

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Admissions_Shannon

9:42 a.m.

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

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

my first decision release!

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

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

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Admissions_Ardi

11:28 a.m.

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

This envelope is a JHU tradition for admitted students and it's actually pretty similar to this year’s. Can you spot the differences?

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

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

Signed,

One Proud Alum

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Admissions_Shelly

12:58 p.m.

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

The mail bins, all filled with admit packets and waiting for their ride on the elevator.

Carefully packed up and ready to go!

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

Looking for the Class of 2018 and beyond--our lobby is packed with visitors today!

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Admissions_Shannon

2:00 p.m.

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

Admissions_Ardi fits in a quick lunch.

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

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

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Admissions_Ardi

3:06 p.m.

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

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Admissions_Shannon

3:57 p.m.

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

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

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

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Admissions_Shelly

4:46 p.m.

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

Here’s what you can expect this evening:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good luck to all of our applicants!

Hello Insider readers! It’s been awhile since I checked in, so I wanted to share some quick thoughts on my first reading season with you this morning. It’s hard to believe that we’re nearly at the end of application review. In some respects, it feels like we’ve been reading for-ev-er, and in others, it feels like we’ve just begun. However, there is one thing that I can say with confidence as a first time reader– this process has been unlike any other I’ve experienced. I (along with my fellow counselors) have now read hundreds upon hundreds of Common App essays, supplemental questions, activity summaries, and teacher recommendations. We’ve been wowed by the creativity, honesty, worldliness, humor, maturity and passion reflected in the prospective members of the Class of 2017. We’ve laughed at some very hilarious essays, cried during a few heartbreaking ones, and been reaffirmed in our belief of the incredible power of young people with big ideas.

Here’s a look at life as a reader. I spend a lot of time here, at my little at-home desk…

My "office away from office"

…with my constant companions of hot tea and water.

Hydration station

My yoga mat is perpetually rolled out for random stretch breaks and spontaneous sun salutations…

Yoga and reading... they're all about going with the flow

…and my shoes are always ready to go for a run, my ultimate sanity-saver.

Ready, set... RUN

Oh, and I’ve been knitting too.

The fruits of my reading-break labors thus far

Hi everyone!

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

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

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

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

Rachel Reed '14 captures the sunset on the Homewood campus. See more photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/hopkins-interactive.

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

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

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

1. Is my application complete?

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

Bins of materials for counselors to review

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's just good advice for everyone, provided by a staff member's granddaughter.

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

Be well and stay tuned!

Hi all!

In case you didn’t notice by the title of this blog, today is Early Decision Release Day! Throughout the day, we will be putting the final touches on the Class of 2017. To keep you posted on how things are going, we will be LIVE BLOGGING . So, check back, and check back often to see how we are doing.

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Admissions_Shannon

8:45 AM – As Tracy Turnblad from Hairspray would say, “GOOD MORNING BALTIMORE!”

Federal Hill in Baltimore

Inner Harbor

I am up, on the move, and have finally arrived to work. Slowly, but surely, the staff is settling in and getting ready for the big day. There are checks to be done and some last minute details that need to be taken care of, so we can release our decisions later this evening. It seems like just yesterday we were traveling throughout the world and meeting potential students. Now, after some hard work over these last few weeks, I know my colleagues and I are super excited to welcome our first members to the class of 2017.

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Admissions_Shelly

9:58 AM

Happy decision release day from Admissions_Shelly!

My day started as usual, with a prompt 5:56 a.m. wake-up call from my daughter Stella. She must’ve known it was decision release day and wanted to wake up to tell you all (or yell to you all) good luck.

Good luck from Stella, JHU Class of 2033?? (Yikes!)

After dropping her off, I headed into the office and got ready for a busy day. I’ve already had one and a half meetings—the half was a morning chat that turned into talk of the day ahead. We’re doing our best here to make sure that the decision release process goes smoothly for all of our applicants. If you haven’t already, If you haven’t already, check out this information on accessing your decision this evening: http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/faq_decisions.html.

A frosty morning on Decker Quad

Right now, I’m heading into another meeting to chat some more about the decision release process. Our phones will be open until 7:00 p.m. EST tonight to help any students who are having log-in issues. (We’ll help you out with any other questions next week during normal business hours.) And don’t worry—we multitask around here, so Early Decision release isn’t the only thing on our minds. We’re also thinking about our Regular Decision applicants; if you’re still working on your application or thinking about applying, the Regular Decision deadline is coming up on January 1. We’re also looking way ahead to the Class of 2018 and beyond, so we’re talking about spring programming and our outreach efforts already.

Some of us are also feeling great today after winning a prized item in our office’s silent auction to benefit the United Way. This is a popular (and competitive) event that our office holds every year that raises lots of money for a great cause. Yours truly walked away with a “tour of Charles Village” set of gift cards to some of my favorite spots in the nearby Charles Village neighborhood, where many of head for lunch most days. Lunch is on me, Admissions_Shannon! (Just kidding…although you can come with :))

Another sweet score from the United Way auction!

Hope everyone is hanging in there while waiting for your JHU and other decisions. I share Admissions_Shannon’s excitement in welcoming the first members of the Class of 2017! Also, keep in mind Admissions_Laurin’s wise words from a few days ago: http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/blog/2012/12/tis-the-season/.

Off to another meeting…I’ll check in soon!

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Admissions_Ardi

11:34 AM

Greetings HI readers.  It’s Ardi again, and I’ll be live blogging with the best of them for ED Decision Release Day.  I also happen to be the admissions officer giving the information sessions today (shhhh…I’m sneaking away for a few minutes to keep you all updated).

We are all anxiously awaiting for the mail to get picked up, as you can see in the previous post.  I would have loved to pose with the rest of the group, but I was downstairs giving the first information session.  However, as I was talking to today’s visitors, I couldn’t help but think about how cool it was to give the session with decisions waiting right up stairs.  For me, it is always really interesting to see the whole picture when you get to the end of something.  All of this reminds me of the time I applied, went to information sessions, and waited for my decision.  In the end, it all gets me really excited to see the next class of Hopkins Blue Jays come onto campus and do great things here, which is a feeling I’m sure we all share in the Admissions Office.

Well, duty calls…even on ED Decision Release Day.  I’ve got another session at 1 PM today, so I’m going to grab a quick lunch and get ready for that.  I’ll be sure to snap many more photos over the course of the day.  Be back soon.

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Admissions_Laurin

12:27PM

Hi everyone! I’m in the middle of my first my first decision release day, and I couldn’t be more excited! I just went to a meeting with Admissions_Shannon and Admissions_Shelly—we received updates on the website our applicants will be using to check their decisions this evening so that we can assist with any issues that may arise. We’ll be available by phone until about 7 p.m. tonight if you’re having technical difficulties, but please note that we won’t we discussing any decisions over the phone.

Meeting time!

Decisions, decisions!

Miranda, one of the senior SAAB bloggers/my student worker, is sitting in my office putting the finishing touches on the Class of 2017 Facebook group! We create one of these every year as a place for future Blue Jays to connect with one another. If you’re admitted, you’ll receive information about requesting membership in the group. You’ll see a post with some guidelines for participation in the group, so be sure to check those out before you join the conversation.

Miranda hard at work!

We’re off to enjoy a homemade chili lunch by our very own Bryan. I’ll be checking in again around 2 p.m., when the Postal Service comes to pick up admit packets! See you then…

Paul and Bryan with the chili

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12:45 PM

Admissions_Shelly

I joined Admissions_Ardi, Laurin, and Shannon for a quick and delicious chili lunch–another United Way fundraiser, btw!–that turned into a fun, family-style gathering. Say hello to the JHU Undergrad Admissions staff!

Grabbing a quick lunch during busy ED Release day!

You might see some familiar faces there, including your favorite bloggers and maybe even your regional admissions counselor. Hope your day is going well, wherever you are…stay tuned for more updates!

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Admissions_Shannon

2:00 PM – The call has been made…everyone to the third floor to grab a bin! This year, we are doing things a bit differently – rather than brining all of the admit packets to the Post Office, the Post Office is coming to us. We’ve combined bins to carry them all downstairs and await the arrival of the truck. The mail is about to be sent on its way! Two of our colleages, Sarah and Katie, are already headed across the streat to drop some packets for international students in the FedEx bins.

Admissions_Pat - "What do I do? This is my first mailing!"

Admissions_Ardi - clearly excited to send off his first bin!

Admissions_Laurin - first bin as a new counselor!

down the stairs we go!

...and more to go down the stairs!

Crossing our fingers the mail truck is here :)

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Admissions_Laurin

3:00 PM

…And it was! We made our way down to the circular driveway in front of Mason Hall, where the mail truck was waiting patiently for us. All of the staff converging from different doors made it look like we were part of a choreographed musical. Maybe we should have titled this blog “Admissions: Live!” What followed was a perfectly orchestrated display of teamwork– we created an assembly line and had those bins loaded up in no time flat! But first, we had to take a few pictures– can’t forget to document this momentous occasion.

Here we come!

 

Bins and grins

 

Great teamwork by Bryan and Dana!

Then it was over– our admit packets were on their way to their new homes. It was pretty awesome to see our weeks of reading and discussion manifested in the form of hundreds of thick envelopes. We waved goodbye (well, I did, because I’m kind of weird like that) and then headed back inside to continue our preparation for this evening!

And they're off!

I’ve been keeping an eye on our Google analytics page for the Insider blog– it’s fun to see how many of you are reading from all over the world! Check back soon for more updates!

 

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4:03 PM

Admissions_Ardi

Ardi back again.  The second info session is done, and luckily, I was able to catch the group moving all of the decision packets before they were mailed out.  We loaded all of them on the truck and saw them ship out to all the eagerly waiting ED applicants.  Let me tell you, I feel like a proud new admissions officer.

ED Release is coming up fast.  However, there is no rest for the weary admissions officer.  Even now, I just came out of a meeting to talk about regular decision applications coming up in a few weeks (eeeep!).  Here in the office, we are all getting ready to work with the new batch of applicants coming when January 1^st hits.  Even farther beyond that, I am starting to plan out my spring travel back out to San Francisco and the West Coast (some tell me it’s called the Best Coast?  Confirm or deny).

As a newbie in the office, I have to say that it has been a great first ED cycle.  I definitely feel like I learned a lot from everyone and saw so much about what goes on behind the scenes.  Hopefully, these blogs give you a little sense of that too.

I also wanted to take a moment out of the excitement of this day and say how heavy all of our hearts are here after hearing of the school shooting tragedy in Connecticut. What a sad day for so many, and it certainly puts things in perspective. Our thoughts go out to all of those impacted there.

Thanks to everyone who has been following us so far. Admissions_Shelly will be back in a few minutes with an important update!

 

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4:42 PM

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

Here’s what you can expect this evening:

–Around 5:00 p.m. EST, all ED applicants will get an e-mail from us with a link to the decision release site. Decisions will be released around 6:00 p.m. at that site, which is here: https://jhucrf.applicationsonline.com/. You can check it out now, but there won’t be anything to see until 6:00 when we release decisions.

–Around 6:00 p.m., you’ll see a log-in screen where you’ll use the ID that we sent you via e-mail last Friday and the password that you hopefully have set up by now to log in and view your decision.

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

–If you haven’t yet set up your ISIS account, you should do that. Like, now-ish, because you won’t be able to access your decision until you set up your account. Instructions were included in an e-mail from us on Dec. 7. If you never received that, give us a call at (410) 516-8171 or e-mail gotojhu@jhu.edu and we’ll talk you through it.

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Holidays from Johns Hopkins University! Here in Mason Hall, we’ve been celebrating the season by playing our Pandora Christmas music stations non-stop, hosting student group holiday parties, and wearing our favorite green and red sweaters and neckties. There’s an undeniable energy in the air, but for us Admissions professionals, it’s not coming from a gingerbread and candy cane overload (although that may be part of it, too). For us, the holiday season coincides with another wonderful time of the year: Early Decision season. In the past month and a half, we reviewed over 1,400 applicants who wowed us with their unique experiences, passions, and voices. On Friday evening, we’ll be releasing notifications and welcoming the first members of the Class of 2017.

There is perhaps no time of year as emotionally charged as the holidays. There’s the excitement of reunions with loved ones, the joy of giving and receiving gifts and sharing good food, and the reflections that inevitably accompany the end of one year and the start of another. But feelings of stress can be compounded in such a high-intensity time, especially if you’re a high school senior about to receive a decision that seems so huge in magnitude to many of the situations you’ve faced up to this point. Although these may seem like weak words coming from someone sitting in an Admissions Office far away from you and all of your hopes and dreams, I’ll write them anyway: Everything will be fine. You are not defined by your admissions decision. Although this may feel like the moment that will decide the course of your life forever and ever, it’s not.  We talk about the idea of “fit” a lot in our office, and we believe that there are many schools that can serve as a good fit for each student. Trust that you will end up in a place that is a good fit for you, whether that’s JHU or another institution.

             Speaking of admissions decisions, if you are an Early Decision applicant and have not yet logged into your ISIS account, please do so. You’ll need to set up your password to access your decision once they are released this Friday, December 14, at 6:00 p.m. EST. See more info in our previous post: http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/blog/2012/12/an-update-on-early-decision-notifications/. An e-mail with instructions on how to log in was sent to all applicants last Friday, December 7; a reminder was sent to those who hadn’t yet logged in yesterday, December 11. If you haven’t received an e-mail, please let us know at gotojhu@jhu.edu or (410) 516-8171 and we’ll help you out!

             One last note: this entry marks our 400^th Hopkins Insider post. This is quite a milestone in and of itself, but it gets better: the very first Hopkins Insider blog was posted by Admissions_Daniel on December 12, 2005—exactly seven years ago. During that time, H.I. has been viewed by thousands upon thousands of prospective students searching for an open and ”behind-the-scenes” perspective on the college admissions process. We hope to continue to bring warmth, humor, and lots of important information to those navigating their college searches, and we thank our readers for your support and thoughtful comments. Here’s to another 400+ blogs and many, many more years of the Hopkins Insider.

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

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

Good luck to all of our applicants!