Demographics
US Citizen, NJ, Upper-middle class (family income around 200-250k without tax deductions), Indian
Type of high school * Competitive Public high school
Intended Major(s)
Psychology GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.9
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.38 ( 5- A in AP 4.5- A in honors classes)
Class Rank: school DOES NOT give
ACT: 35
Coursework
APs: AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Psych, AP Lit, AP Lang, AP Micro, AP Macro, AP Calc AB, AP Enviro, AP Stat
-Dual enrollment business class in community college
-Honors: honors org.chem, honors anatomy, honors english I, honors english II, honors french III, honors french IV, honors physics, honors gov, honors global studies
Awards
(various athletic conference awards+ team MVP)
High Honor Roll
National Honor Society
Science Honor Society
Business Honor Society Extracurriculars
Varsity XC/TF (4 years): Team has won many championships year after year (top ten in state), I have won individual awards like all-conference, gone to state, team MVP, etc. (around 15-20 hours a week year round)
Research (submitted independent study which is published to Harvard’s Journal of Emerging Investigators on RPE Levels and neural mechanisms (around 2 hours a week for 10 months)
Head of Research and Publications for online organization with 13k followers focusing on mental disorders (around 2 hours a week, have been continuing since my sophomore year)
Mentored by Assistant Professor at University of Buffalo in the neuroscience department (around 2 hours a week for a month for the past two summers)
Letters Against Depression ( spent about 20 hours over the summer going into senior year and continuing writing letters for those struggling with depression)
Chem/Bio Tutor for low-income students living in foster homes (have done since freshmen year. Did during school year and have around 50 hours of this)
Online supporter/listener for those struggling with anxiety and OCD and depression on an online platform called 7Cups of Tea that is reputable (had to go under listener training, etc. Started this summer and around 10 hours or so)
-Summer Camp for Psychology: intensive coursework and research projects along with discussions ( 1 week long and spent around 25 hours)
Competitive piano for 11 years. Numerous awards. Spent around 8-10 hours a week all four years of high school.
Assisted disabled kids in playing soccer from 10-12th (around 1 hour a week for probably four months)
Summer Job at local baker this summer (20 hours a week for 3 months)
Essays/LORs/Other
LOR: AP Bio and Global Studies teacher (Bio one will be REALLY good,super close and global studies one might be a little above average but not as special)
Essays: Started writing, I consider myself a good writer, but obviously idk what the AOs will think
Reach - based on lack of rigor. Well it’s a reach for anyone - so make sure you have a solid list of reaches, targets, and safeties.
You don’t list your cost constraints. Are there any? It’s psychology and you’ll need grad school so you should definitely be concerned about $$, even if full pay. You can get a great education for much less.
All the Honor Societies don’t count - they are just “given”. If you do activities in them, then add them as activities - but you don’t get points toward admissions for an Honor Society…it’s just fluff.
It seems like you have great ECs though and are very well rounded. So you will get into wonderful schools. Will Hopkins be one? Likely not - but I would tell everyone the same thing. In your case, they are a foremost school - and you don’t have the foremost rigor - so that makes it a reach (to me).
If you’re in NY, be sure to include Buffalo and Binghamton as Safeties - and you can go from there to plenty of other wonderful schools such as Duke, Emory, Pitt, Case Western, Rochester, Wake…and for more safeties - Dickinson and Lafayette - two strong LACs.
Good luck.
To me, i’d go to a cheaper public school - and you have lots of in and out of state options.
I agree with @tsbna44 about rigor. For your senior year, could you take BC instead of Stats? Maybe AP Euro/ World or US instead of the Econs? Maybe CS instead of APES?
What were your scores for those APs already taken?
Also, were any of your awards for piano at the state or national level? You may want to consider submitting an arts supplement for piano. JHU reviews its arts supplements at the AO level, meaning it does not go to a music professor at Peabody. If you’re at a high performance level, this could significantly strengthen your application.
I’m looking again - the OP has 10 APs…so actually very good. I was looking at the weighted GPA but I see they have the A- thing…so that might have brought it down. Most schools give a 4 for an A, 3 for a B, etc.
Love your feedback. I think in general, JH is a reach, especially in neuroscience. And yes you need the strongest classes.
I’m just hopeful this is their reach school (or one of a few) and they have great targets and satisfying safeties as well.
Agree with the others about JHU being a reach. Many of your AP’s are considered “light”. No APUSH; no AP French ; no AP Calc BC. If possible, can you take Calc BC senior year? Keep in mind you are in a competitive demographic and going to a competitive high school which most likely offers the more rigorous AP’s. There are many students with 4.0UW in the most rigorous courses offered in their school, and perfect test scores - and many of them get rejected.
From my own experience with my rising senior, finding match schools has been the most challenging. So start there and add some safeties too. You can still apply to a few reaches, but have realistic expectations.
Thank you! Yup Hopkins is my reach. It’s the hardest school on my list haha. I’m not applying to any of the ivies or Stanford, MIT. Thanks for the advice.
Hi! Thanks for your response. It is my reach adn the hardest school on my list, and was just wondering to get perspective. I’m not applying to any ivies or Stanford, MIT, etc. The other hard schools are NYU and Northeastern on my list. Rest are safeties like UMD, Rutgers, TCNJ, UPitt and UMass Amherst. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for your response! Hopkins is actually the hardest school on my list! I was just wondering to see how I compared for my hardest school haha. The only other reaches I have are NYU and Northeastern. The rest are Pitt, Rutgers, TCNJ, UMD, and Umass Amherst. Thank you so much for your advice and I was just wondering if it was worth applying lmao because I don’t really want to waste time and energy for a school I basically have 0 chance of getting in.
Thank you for your response! Unfortunately, I don’t have the room to do so. I wanted to really focus on taking every science class my school offers, and unfortunately, that means not getting in history classes or CS. I also wanted to stay consistent because I had been taking econ/business classes since my freshman year. I got a 5 on all of my APs taken already my sophomore year-- chem and micro. But most of these I took my junior year and have to take senior year so obviously not sure. I did have awards at the state level. Thank you, and I might consider submitting them! I also want to submit the research I had published as well as a supplement. But Hopkins isthe hardest school on my list, and I honestly know I have no chance of getting in lmao, this post was just to see if its worth applying!
It is definitely worth applying! Don’t sell yourself short—you have a 3.9 and a 35. Is it a high reach? Yes, but it is a reach for everyone.
Getting a 5 on AP Chem is no small achievement. If you get mostly 5s when scores come out Wednesday, that will certainly strengthen your app. Great essays and letters (maybe rethink the global studies teacher?) could be the determining factor.
The research is great, and of course list is prominently, but I think a fabulous arts supplement could make you standout. Lots of people take piano, but show the AOs the talent and confidence you’re going to bring to campus that others won’t.