Female from Delaware
2170/2400 & 1430/1600 SAT
3.84ish GPA
580 bio SAT2, 620 Math2 SAT2 but retaking this weekend (what should I aim for/how important are these?)
Taken hardest courses at competitive school, school doesn’t rank but top 10 percentish
Worked at pool over summer, volunteered at hospital
Common app essay about my 11 years playing piano
So from this, what are my chances with admission?
To improve my chances, should i be selective with the major I apply under? For example, will applying as engineering , being a female, help me out any? I am very between majors so I don’t really have a preference … engineering, bio, premed… which should I apply under.
I’m also applying to Villanova and UDel… just so that no one worries that I’m aiming too high everywhere.
Thanks for any input/recommendations
I plan on applying Early Decision too
Your stats definitely don’t rule you out.
I don’t know much about the admissions process, but I imagine that Subject Tests are basically an emphatic statement about your academic strengths, as the Hopkins website puts it, like “I’m smart and passionate about Biology, and this 790 is the proof,” lol. I imagine that engineering majors will value them a lot, particularly in math and physics or some other hard science.
As for what you should aim for, why would you aim for less than the maximum score, haha? But here’s an idea, I guess, of a “good” score: http://blog.prepscholar.com/what-is-a-good-sat-subject-test-score. Remember, though, the Subject Tests are optional, so they can only help you. The strength of your extracurriculars really depends on the depth of your involvement. And the strength of the essay just depends on how you wrote it.
Apply under whatever major you want. The major you choose doesn’t have a lot of weight in the admissions process (except Biomedical Engineering, since you apply directly to that major); adcoms recognize that many students will end up changing their minds. I don’t know for sure about whether being a female engineer will help you out in admissions (probably not), but I think a female with a strong STEM background and an interest in engineering does make you a little more interesting haha.
Overall, I definitely think you are qualified to be applying to Hopkins. But Hopkins keeps trying to lower its admissions rates, haha, so it will still be a reach. I wouldn’t worry too much about the stats; it’s the rest of you that will determine your competitiveness.
@OnMyWay2013
I don’t know if it’s just that I like what you are telling me, but that was such a nice answer haha, and helpful. It’s good to know I’m a legitimate candidate, and I’ll get to work on highlighting my other attributes! Thank you!
Honestly, I would not submit the 580 in Bio or 620 in math if you are planning on majoring in STEM at JHU. Those scores are in the 20-30th percentile and are not helping your case for being qualified to tackle more difficult college-level coursework. I agree with previous poster that your stats don’t rule you out at all and if you want to apply, why not?
You seem to have strong grades and (if anything) it’s standardized testing that is holding you back. I would let your grades (and maybe AP scores?) speak to your strengths in the sciences (and your SAT I score is still in the ballpark of 50th percentile for accepted JHU so that’s great!). Don’t provide what might be damning evidence that you are less competitive than other applicants, especially on standardized tests, which admissions love since they can compare apples to apples with you against other applicants. These subject tests are optional, and while they may be preferred, I think not providing any and claiming ignorance is better than providing evidence that few would argue is helping your case.
@NixonDenier you again… haha thanks for your help. So after I retake them, if i do a lot better on one and not on the other, should i submit the one and not the other (claiming just some ignorance I guess) or just none at all?
As long as you can select specific SAT subject tests to submit then yes, only submit the scores where you are at least in the 700s (750+ for Math IIC for similar percentile score). In my opinion, I would rather see someone who just didn’t take a test as opposed to someone who took a test (supposedly studied hard for it, since who takes a test and doesn’t study for it?) and did poorly on it.