<p>I've heard that Johns Hopkins is somewhat easier to get into if on your application you say that you will be studying something other than pre-med. Can anyone who applied recently that said they would study something other than pre-med say what schools they were accepted/waitlisted/declined at in addition to whether they were accepted/waitlisted/declined at JHU?</p>
<p>well pre-med isn't a major at Hopkins anyway. but from what i heard from AdmissionsDaniel at the info session, you don't apply to a major, or to a certain school. Instead, you apply to JHU in general. the exception is BME though. </p>
<p>Although this may sound cliche, vague, and not very helpful, AdmissionsDaniel also said that the admissions committee is looking for students who are the right fit for JHU and who will contribute something to the university. Maybe applying with an unpopular intended major falls under that "contribute" category, but I doubt it.</p>
<p>If you are applying for BME, you have a separate screening process. Otherwise, they don't care if you want to study biology or anthropology.</p>
<p>The major you pick matters in so much that they want to see how that lines up with your interests and your activities in high school</p>
<p>Lgellar:
You have heard wrong. The assumption that it is “easier” to be admitted to Hopkins by not applying pre-med is incorrect (or vice versa that it is “harder” for pre-med students to be admitted). I’ve answered this question many times before, but since it is a popular one once application season begins I think it is necessary to answer it again.</p>
<p>Here is a link and quote from my previous posts:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/johns-hopkins-university/397034-harder-get-neuroscience-majors.html?highlight=humanities%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/johns-hopkins-university/397034-harder-get-neuroscience-majors.html?highlight=humanities</a></p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Except for BME, you do not apply to a specific program of study when applying to JHU, so it is never more difficult to be accepted into one program over the other. And even for BME, since you may be accepted to JHU and not the major, it is only more difficult to get accepted into the major.</p>
<p>The applicant pool of Hopkins has many, many qualified applicants interested in all four of our academic areas: humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. We do not have to "lower standards" to make our class academically balanced. Additionally, since students can switch their intended majors at any time, we do not admit students to specific programs of study. </p>
<p>Do not believe what you read in books about how Hopkins admissions works. Many people make assumptions about how we make decisions, but these are just assumptions. These "authors" have not seen the data on the JHU applicant pool, have not sat-in on discussions about our applicants, so therefore they really can not be considered a reliable source.</p>
<p>When applying to JHU you are applying to the whole school, so list the majors you are considering and complete your application. It is that simple!
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>But let’s expand on that answer now:</p>
<p>First, you can’t apply to a pre-med program as it does not exist (pre-med is not a major but just an advising program). </p>
<p>Second, applicants do not apply to specific majors (BME is the exception) so when the Admissions Committee is admitting students we are admitting them to the full University. Since all admitted students can change their intended majors after being admitted we can not have varying standards for academic programs – every admitted student must be held to the highest standard. </p>
<p>Third, “pre-meds” do make up a large portion of our applicant pool but so do students to our most popular majors like International Studies, Public Health, Writing Seminars, etc. It would be unfair and too difficult to hold standards for certain programs that are not held for other programs. </p>
<p>Fourth, some students do try to “game” the system when applying. They apply for a smaller program such as Romance Languages or Classics even though everything in their application points to a student interested in the medical sciences. We are very adept at reading between the lines in such cases. Just be honest when you apply.</p>
<p>Fifth, there are goals to improve the enrollment in certain majors across all of our disciplines but we spend our time and resoruces on improving recruitment of those students. We try to increase the applicant pool for smaller majors so we have more to choose from rather than lower standards to meet some arbitrary quotas for majors – such quotas do not exist. Yes we would love to have more Computer Science students, or Math students, or History of Art students, or Anthropology students (to name a few) --- but first and foremost those students need to meet the standards of what it is to be a Hopkins student. </p>
<p>Sixth, what tanman stated is important to note. The reason we ask what an applicant’s two possible intended majors are is so that we can read the application in the context of the student’s interests. We should be reviewing a Classics or History of Art student differently then a Chemistry of Chemical Engineering student. </p>
<p>Finally, you can review all the admissions decisions of College Confidential students who got in or did not get in to JHU and it will reveal nothing. Our applicant pool is over 16,000 students … you won’t find a trend by getting posts from 10, 15, 20 students, especially those on CC. And even then, admissions stats say nothing of what the applicant will contribute to the University and whether they fit our non-academic criteria. </p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>