Hi everyone!
This may be a really obvious question, but oh well! I am currently a junior in high school and I want to go to Hopkins (which my guidance counselor says if I apply ED as undecided I will get in). Can I switch into pre-med my sophomore year of Hopkins? Is it a thing students do with ease? And do a lot of students do it? I am presuming I need to have at least a 3.5 GPA to switch in, but other than that is it simple?
Thanks so much!!
Pre-med isn’t some thing you “switch into” at Hopkins; it’s just something you decide on your own. You don’t need to tell the school or have a certain GPA to decide to be pre-med. Many students do decide they want to be pre-med after their freshman years; I decided to be pre-med my sophomore year.
At Hopkins, if you’re pre-med, you register for courses required for many med schools, which includes a year of biology, a year of inorganic chemistry, a year of organic chemistry, and a year of physics, as well as two math classes, a semester of biochemistry, two English/writing courses, and two social science courses (with some variations from school to school). This is why you can be any major and pre-med at the same time.
If you’re unsure about being pre-med, Hopkins has a Pre-Professional advising office with advisors that can help you decide whether or not you should pursue clinical medicine. You can make an appointment with them as a freshman.
As stated above, pre-med isn’t really a major. If you do decide to be pre-med sophomore year, depending on how many AP credits you came in with and what classes you took freshman year, you’ll probably have to take a gap year or even summer courses.
Your GC cannot promise you an admit. Nor is undecided some special tip. You need some research into what your target colleges look for and other details.
@lookingforward Hi! It is just that my GPA, test scores, and resume are very competitive for Hopkins but I did badly in chemistry hence applying as pre-med would hurt my application. I 100% understand I am not being guaranteed an admit, I was just wondering how it works to change to pre-med later on. Thanks!
@vrhou98 Hi! If I get into Hopkins I would like to double major in neuroscience and public health studies. Especially my freshman year I would already be signing up for courses that would fit the pre-med requirements. In your opinion, would I still have to take summer courses? I would presume not because I would be going in with the ideology of becoming pre-med eventually. Thanks!
As said, you don’t apply as “premed.” You’d be applying as neuro/PH. (If asked.) And an adcom can look at Undecided, your transcript/courses, ECs, plus possibly, comments in your LoRs, and guess STEM.
More than that, if you want a med future, it’s hard to find the smoking gun about how many freshmen get weeded out of med dreams. But one old study suggests Johns Hopkins is fiercely competitive in that track. You’d need to learn what you can, now, but that old figure was more than 200 started wanting a med school future and roughly 20% made it to the vital committee support. (It’s not how many approved seniors get into med school that matters. It’s how many make it that far to actually apply, with the full picture and support needed.)
If you struggled with chem (was it even AP?,) you need to consider if a JHU is the right “dream.” Or if you’d be weeded. Just getting an admit is not the whole path.
@lookingforward Hi, sorry my GC had said I would apply as a pre-med, thanks for the clarification! If I apply as undecided major do you think that would help? And then declare a major later on.
That is actually my one worry about Hopkins, that due to it being cut throat I will not do well. I am also looking at several LACs (specifically Barnard).
For my chemistry class (my school does not have AP), there are reasons (problems with the teacher as well family problems) why I got a lower grade. Thanks!
@ariariari
Being Pre-med is NOT a major. The Pre-med track is just a series of courses that you take during your four years here. It does not affect your major at all because anyone can hypothetically take all the pre-med classes with any major. I know medical students at JHU that were bio/neuro majors, and I know some that were dance/french/english majors.
Hopkins is also not cutthroat. It is a very common misconception many people have that is incredibly untrue and has been refuted by many current students on this forum. Because of the difficult curriculum, students come together, not against each other, to help each other with studying, homework, etc…
Your GC sounds like they are incredibly inexperienced. I don’t know where they got this whole “pre-med major” or that you need a 3.5 to transfer to the “major”, but what they have said so far is very untrue. Also, regarding your chemistry grade, even if there were extenuating circumstances and you’re actually very good at chemistry, if it means that your GPA is under-par, then it won’t even matter. Your best chance of seeing your chances of admission is to post a chance thread here to see what your rough chances are.