Chances on Johns Hopkins ED Please :P

Colleges and Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
1

Hi everyone!
I was wondering about my chances of applying early decision to Johns Hopkins class of 2021?
Hopeful major in Biochemistry or chemistry…

SAT (new one out of 1600): 1320 (not sending in)
ACT: 31 (33M, 33E, 28R, 30S)
SAT 2s: 790 in Chemistry, 680 on US History, taking math 2 this upcoming senior year (hoping for over a 700)
Unweighted GPA: 3.8/4.0
Rank: Not 100% sure yet but definitely in top 10 out of 500
AP scores: 5 on AP chem, 4 on AP Lang and comp, 4 on APUSH, the other two are 3s which are histories and won’t report
Course load over the past 3 years has been as heavy as could be,
Junior course load: AP Chem,
AP Lang,
AP US History,
Calculus w precalc (duel seating in SUNY). My first class ever to actually receive 100s on every test.
Anatomy and phys.,
Wind ensemble
Spanish 4 Honors (duel seating in SUNY)
Junior year GPA alone was about 98.6 I believe

Senior course load: AP Physics (haven’t taken physics before in my life so I’m studying up prior to this class),
AP Bio,
BC Calc AP,
AP Lit,
IB Communism,
Wind ensemble…

Extracurriculars/job experience:

I’ve tried to find as many different volunteering opportunities around my area
Summer Biomedical research program at local college around me; LOVED IT. Got to present our findings to a group of grad students at the end!
Volunteer at local hospital emergency room
Occasionally shadow and observe a general surgeon at my local hospital. So lucky to be able to do that
Active member in a Jewish federation in my area. Actually took a trip to Israel and volunteered in the farming communities there to improve farming techniques.
Piano lessons for about 10 years or so. I’m very good if I say so myself…Lol. I play a lot of classical, LOVE Chopin
Wind Ensemble in my school, along with the theater ensemble for the musicals and plays our schools put on
Active member in key club at my school. Have actually only done this 10 and 11th so far but I usually go to all the activities such as breast cancer walks, thanksgiving equinox, gala volunteering, raising money for medical departments for local hospitals
Camp counselor during summer at a camp
I am also a CPR certified lifeguard and work at local pools around my area both during the school year and during the summer

Essays: Still working on both the Common app essay and supplemental. Hopefully will be pretty good and will show my love for science and blended it with my other traits. I have four sisters and one brother… Also something I would like to talk about in my essays lol
Recommendations: Most likely will be stellar. My AP chemistry teacher LOVES me and my AP Lang teacher and I know each other very well. Probably will also ask my mentor from my research internship which will be amazing as well
Counselor rec: I got a new one half way through my sophomore year so I don’t know him that well. However he knows I am very ambitious and determined to get into my top schools. Should be good as well

State: New York
School Type: Public, very diverse inner-city school’
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: About 70k

Additional Info: Johns Hopkins is my top top top school and I would love to study science there, as well as hopefully medicine in their medical school. Other top school is Cornell. Target schools are BU, U of Rochester, Safe school is SUNY Binghamton
My two older sisters both go to SUNYs and my parents are Russian american, however they both have masters in sciences

Why Hopkins?
Mainly, the tremendous opportunities there such as the wide variety of research and the knowledgeable people I would meet and make connections with.
Chemistry labs and technology there is cutting-edge.
Also has a BEAUTIFUL campus. One of the most beautiful campuses I’ve ever seen both online and in person
Both the school and the city are very diverse which I love and am very used to.

I am mainly worried about test scores. Any response as to what you think my chances are would be great! Thanks!

2

Bump??

3

TL, DR: Your chances don’t look very good at all. A controversial opinion, but one that I believe to be true. Even ED, your chances are very slim.

  1. Test Scores: 790 Chem is very good, don't send that terrible 680, and aim for OVER 750 on Math 2. Over 700 isn't really that impressive. Your ACT and SAT are both below par and are the things that will destroy your chances. Send the AP scores if you want, but most colleges don't place much emphasis on them.
  2. GPA: 3.8/4.0 is about average, but with your test scores, a little low. You seem to be taking challenging classes, so those will help your case.
  3. ECs: Research, shadowing, and volunteering are all very good. With regards to piano, have you received any state or national awards? 10 years is impressive, but 10 years without anything to show for it is a little lackluster. It seems like you are lacking a little with leadership positions.
4

Thanks for your reply and advice! With regards to SAT/ACT, I seem to be doing a lot better on the ACT practice than SAT. Would you recommend I study only for the ACT and only send in those scores? Based on practice I think I can bring my score up to a 33.
For piano, I didn’t do many competitions or receive any hotshot rewards, however I played piano with my school band in NYSSMA majors (a musical competition in NYS if you’re not familiar) and we received gold. Would that count?

Again, any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

5

At this point, I would study and take whichever test you are more comfortable with as much as possible. I know that Hopkins lets you send in scores received after the ED application deadline, so you should definitely do so. The thing about your application is that your test scores really bring it from, say, an 8.5/10 to a 6.5/10.

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Hopkins’ interquartile range for the class of 2020 was 1480-1560 for the 25th and 75th percentiles respectively. You should definitely aim for 1500+ to stand a chance nowadays because I believe they’re placing even more emphasis on test scores and GPA than in the past. However, you have a few months to retake whichever test you want and write a really solid personal statement to really bolster your chances!

7

Thank you! I’ve decided to not send SAT scores to Hopkins actually and focusing on the ACT actually. I can’t seem to find the class of 2020 act score ranges. Would you happen to know them?

8

By the way, I think I was a little off about my GPA. My final high school GPA is around 97.9. Does anyone know what that is in the 4.0 scale? My school doesn’t weight GPA btw.

Sorry if I’m asking a lot of questions, any response or thoughts would be much appreciated! :slight_smile:

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I don’t know them off the top of my head, but the safe score to have on an ACT is at least a 34 on all sections.

10

I just found out I miscalculated by GPA to 4.0 scale. I actually have UW 4.0/4.0. I don’t know if that would change much about my application