Should I bother applying
1600 SAT out of 2400
3.75 W which makes me 29/103
8 college level classes including AP
Taking SAT subject in Dec and took SAT again in Oct
Taking ACT at end of month
Only one at in my school’s history to apply so far, it seems but we have had a few ivy students
EC: work for all years, Taft prep school summer school in 10th, and volunteer for 10th & 11th
It’s hard (and in my opinion wrong) to outright tell someone they have no shot of getting in and they shouldn’t even bother applying. Hopkins has accepted students with far worse scores and grades. It’s silly to have the mindset that you’ll be the exception when applying, but you never know. Are you a minority applicant? Would you consider your high school, city, and/or family life disadvantaged? These are huge factors colleges consider that can compensate for lower test scores and GPA. Working all four years, especially if you were helping support your family, is also considered by college committees. There is still time to improve your odds with better test scores, a stellar semester of senior grades, strong LORs, and strong essays. I wouldn’t recommend ED in your case since the added benefits would be marginal compared to RD. Either the committee considers you to have extenuating circumstances which helps you get accepted despite your stats or you don’t - the marginal improvement in admissions between ED and RD would probably be better spent somewhere else you have in mind that is less competitive.
More importantly, has Hopkins always been a dream school for you? Do you see yourself living with regret if you never applied or it is just a spur-of-the-moment whim? Would being formally rejected from the school ruin your self-confidence or would you brush it off and move on? Would the additional application fee be a burden on you or your family? Do you intend on applying to just a few schools or is Hopkins one of the 20 schools you anticipate applying to? Can you devote the time to filling out an additional application?
It’s clear you’re being honest with yourself and you know that Hopkins with your stats would be a very high reach, but that alone shouldn’t stop you from applying if it’s that important to you. Consider the questions above and decide if the regret of not applying and never knowing is more important to you than the hurdles of applying to a school with a slim chance of acceptance.
My list of 20 has a lot of reach schools tbh because of my low SAT scores but I tend to be a stellar student. Honestly, I’m not to worried because I always have UCONN as a safety. I am a minority application (Indian). I wouldn’t really say that it is disadvantaged at all since we are upper mid - class. I am doing well so far (senior year), should have strong LoR (had both teachers for 3 yr in a row), and am currently working on my essay (check it out, if you have time?). I’m not sure if Hopkins dream school because I literally just got interested yesterday. Honestly, I have so many schools that I would just brush it off. I plan on applying to Hopkins as one of the 20 (Georgetown is another since I will go for Pol Sci). Yes, I can make time for as many applications as I need.
On a side note, my SAT was low due to my math
On a super side note, does JHU super score?
Hopefully you have more than one safety school and 20 schools overall seems like a lot. I would narrow down your list and add fewer reach schools so you can focus on quality essays and can devote adequate time to studying for school and standardized tests. Indians typically aren’t considered minority students when it come to education, so it sounds like the chances of you being an exception to the stats is unlikely given your socioeconomic situation. Make sure you give a good look at “second-tier” schools that are less competitive. There are great programs at many of these schools. Haphazardly applying to a few safeties and focusing all your energy on extremely competitive schools will likely ensure you enroll at a school you’ll be less than thrilled with a year from now given you don’t get accepted to any of your reach schools (which is a reasonable assumption). You can PM your essay if you’d like and I can give some general feedback. In general, be specific and convey your passion and individuality. Focus on something that matters to you. Is that abstract enough? Lol.
Will respond to the rest later but can I send you my college list as of the moment?
Yeah, send me whatever you like and I’ll eventually get to it
Alright thanks, anyways out of curiosity, what is you’re major and how is the pol sci program at JHU
I graduated in 2013 with degrees in neuroscience and art history. I’m currently in medical school. I’m more familiar with the International Studies program at JHU since it is a very popular major and many students apply/enroll in the dual-degree five-year BA/MA program with the renowned JHU SAIS in Washington DC: http://krieger.jhu.edu/internationalstudies/bama-programs/bama-program-with-sais/ If your focus is more on domestic politics, etc. then I believe the Poli Sci program would be more up your ally. Given the stellar status of the International Studies program I’m sure the Poli Sci program is great too, though I’m not too familiar with it. You can always email or call admissions and they can put you in contact with a current student in the program or you can directly contact a professor (google provides their emails) as long as you’re professional and ask specific questions about their research, classes they offer, etc. Just make sure that you do a thorough Internet search first so as not to waste their time with questions whose answers are readily available online.
Makes sense, I’ve heard that JHU is more of a science school so I’m not even really sure if I should waste my time and energy due to it’s close proximity to DC or it would just be better to consider DC schools such as Georgetown (nearly impossible to get into but better then JHU), American, and GWU? Also I have sent my college list as a screenshot.
While JHU is known for its science and engineering programs to the general public, in academia its creative writing and international relations programs are very well respected (as in some of the best). Just so you know, International Relations/International Studies is the second most popular major at the school (6% of students are IR majors), second only to BME (7%). I agree that DC schools are also well-respected in this discipline (logically, given the location).
Is their a table or something which shows acceptance rate per major (doubt it)?
No since most students officially change their major two to three times in undergrad, so it becomes silly for schools to keep track.
Wow, that’s alot of times but I guess it makes sense.
UCONN is not a safety. My son had higher SAT, AP’s,tons of extracurricular (academic, music and varsity athletics)
Top 5% of class, great recommendations etc and did not get into the main campus. I think his SAT’s were the issue…
@shoddy I am in-state so it is def a safety
Huh? You have roughly a 3.3 UW GPA and a 1600/2400 SAT and UCONN is a safety? I did not know UCONN was that easy to get into.
UCONN is not a safety with those stats. Also, assuming that you mean Asian Indian you are NOT an underrepresented minority.
I am in - state, my school has this thing were I can go to a local campus for two years before moving on to Storrs. Furthermore, I also have Quinnipiac.