ED Chances and Questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
1

JHU has been my first choice for over a year now, and with the ED Application deadline only a little over a month away (eek!), I had two questions regarding acceptance.

Personal Description:
White, Male, from San Diego CA, Mid-High Class Family (No financial aid needed), No JHU Legacy in family, Not the first to go to college, no fancy ethnic history

I’ve visited the school, as well as gone to information sessions, all registered for.

ACT (breakdown): 34C (35E 34M 33R 35S 32W)
SAT II: 740 Math II, 650 Bio M
Weighted GPA: 4.58
Rank: 5/431

APs (First Semester Grade, Second Semester Grade, Test Score):

Freshman Year: AP Human Geo (A, B, 4)
Sophomore Year: AP Chem (A, A, 2) AP World (A, A, 4)
Junior Year: AP Bio (A, A, 4) AP US (A, A, 4), AP Lang (A, A, 4)
Senior Yeah: AP Physics C, AP Lit

Accelerated College Classes (Class Description, Grade):

Junior Year: Mesa College Math 150 (Calculus/Analytic Geometry l, B), Mesa College Math 151 (Calculus/Analytic Geometry ll, B)
Senior Year: UCSD BILD3 (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology), Mesa College Poli Sci 101, Mesa College Math 254 (Linear Algebra)

Senior Year (First Semester) Course Load:

BILD3
Poli Sci
Math 254
Advanced Band
AP Physics C
AP Lit

In summary, I took the hardest classes available, (Minus Band and an elective course in 10th grade), got straight A’s except for a few whiffs in 2nd Semester 9th grade, and both semesters in math 11th grade.

Major Achievements:
Selected for a high chair in the City Honor Band - 9-11th
AP Scholar, Principals Honor Roll - 9-11th
David Pugh Award for Leadership (Local Award) - 11th
Movie Poster Featured for the FIDM DIY Poster Contest - 10th
Stamp of official Bi-literacy (Spanish) - 11th

Extracurriculars, Jobs, and Volunteerism:
Marching Band - 9-12 - Front Ensemble leader 11-12th
Wind Ensemble - 9-12 - Top 5 Chair every year
ADLA Drumline - 9-12 - Front Ensemble leader 11-12th, won 1st place in 9th, placed at finals 9-11th
Some Miscellaneous school clubs, no leadership
Academic League - 9th Grade
CSF Member - 9-12th
Flag Club - 11th-12th - Co-Chancellor 12th
Computer Programming course at MIT (Summer of '13 and '14)

Youtube Channel partnered with BroadbandTV
Some paid work for creating graphic art and music for Youtube Channels as well as local companies
Wrote multiple apps for Dolan/Xitco Consulting

Worked with the local Thursday Club
Worked with the local Rotary
IFRE Volunteer in Ecuador - March 2013

Teacher Recs: 1 from Math 150, 151, 254 teacher; 1 from AP Bio teacher; both probably 7-9/10
Counselor Rec: Close with Counselor, probably 8-10/10

Essay: 8-10/10

Questions:

My main question obviously is as my resume stands, what are my chances for ED Johns Hopkins? I’m presuming it’s at least a High to Mid Match school, but I’ve got no clue.

My almost as important question is, with the SAT October test quickly approaching, I decided to sign up for the SAT II Physics test (plus the Math II if I’m feeling up for it). How vital is it that I score well on that test, or do I need to take it at all? Is the rest of my resume good enough where that 650 on Bio isn’t that bad?

The reason I’m so caught up in this is because that last time I took Physics was freshman year, and to study for the SAT II, I’ve just been grueling through the Barron’s and Princeton Review, which has been awful. It’s not how I learn, and it’s certainly putting a lot of stress on me for a test that may not even matter.

Any help would be amazing, thanks!

2

I’m assuming you’re applying as a science major (engineering, biological sciences, etc.) which means (duh) you need to demonstrate you have the science competency to succeed at Hopkins. For anyone who is reading this and wants to assess themselves, just step back and be as objective as possible. Remember that the committee is made up of people, and people like patterns, stories and want to quickly reduce a candidate down to a few main bullet points. Sure it’s wrong and misleading, but this is how people operate and anyone who is dealing with thousands of applications to go through will eventually have to generalize and make some rational assumptions, etc. Here is how I would approach selecting a candidate. Keep in mind this is how I would go about selecting someone, and while it could be completely wrong, imagine you are someone who only has the application to work with and has to select a limited number of the many applications in front of you:

When I look at your stats I definitely see you’ve challenged yourself and got high marks. I think it is odd though that a student who earned A’s in many of his classes didn’t get 5’s on the AP exams, exams that are highly curved, where, on average, only 60-70% of the material (http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/212187.html) you should know needs to be answered correctly on the exam for you to get a 5. Here’s a student who took a class preparing him for an exam, he did well in the class and yet underperformed on the exam. Is he a nervous test taker? Probably not, he earned a 34 on the ACT, a great score, and does well in his classes. I’m left thinking maybe your school isn’t as competitive and that if I’m going to compare your GPA to another school’s GPA your grades are probably inflated in comparison. Look at this guy here, he scored a B- in multiple AP classes but got 5’s on each of those exams. Is he more qualified (based on GPA) since in a standardized test he performed better even though he has a lower GPA?

Breaking character here, you can see what I did there was reductionist and I made some assumptions, but already you can see how someone could reason your high GPA, high rank, etc. is inflated and should be taken with a grain of salt because of your AP scores. If JHU has consistently accepted students from your high school over the years then they are probably familiar with your school and may not need to play these games, but you don’t want to give someone a logical pathway to reach these conclusions. Even without playing these games, the 2 in AP Chem (40-50th percentile, http://www.totalregistration.net/AP-Exam-Registration-Service/2014-AP-Exam-Score-Distributions.php) and the 650 in Bio (50th percentile, http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/SAT-Subject-Tests-Percentile-Ranks-2012.pdf) are most likely red flags that will probably be brought up when the committee is going over your application. How is someone with such high marks, a high ranking, and someone taking college-level biology and math classes not able to score well on standardized exams in bio and chem - topics related to (or fundamental to) a major you are probably pursuing?

By all means disagree with me and consult higher beings than myself, but I think submitting the bio subject test is only hurting you. It reinforces the story I started to tell that the 2 in AP Chem raises. You want high standardized test scores to reinforce your high marks, not to negate them. The ACT score is phenomenal and helps you. A 750 is competitive for math, great. I think a subject test in physics or chem with a 750+ would do wonders for you. The JHU website says you do not need to rush November subject tests for ED (https://apply.jhu.edu/apply/faq/early-decision/), which means you can view the score and decide whether or not to submit it. If you aren’t ready by October then by all means wait until November (just don’t procrastinate unnecessarily). If it doesn’t go well then you studied up and reviewed physics, which you’re most likely going to need in college anyway. The only downside is that preparing for this exam may take time away from your other courses, and senior year first semester GPA is critical for RD admission (and always think big picture, not just ED with Hopkins).

I despise actually “chancing” people and issuing out their fate giving either false hope or false doom. I don’t know the detailed process by which these committees operate. If the process was so easy that I could quickly reach a decision, then why do we have these committees with trained professionals in the first place? Admissions is a complex process and I’m not in the business of hurting people’s feelings either now or later if they get rejected (I’ll leave the mean stuff to the application committee). Furthermore, Hopkins’ admission stats change rather drastically one year to the next, and there’s no way that people from previous years can accurately determine acceptance for an applicant in the next cycle. Who knows how competitive this upcoming applicant pool will be? I do know it will probably be more competitive (given the long-standing pattern), but as for how much more, I don’t know. Given the (meaningless?) move-up in the rankings for Hopkins to the top 10 (USNWR) and the 15% acceptance rate that is advertised (admissions from two cycles ago), Hopkins looks like a great school that is “easier” to get into. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a huge jump in the number of applications to the school and a significant increase in the competitiveness of the application cycle. All speculation, but that’s my two-cents.

As for anyone reading this, be objective and see what stories you can tell and weaknesses you can find when you just look at your application. Assume this is all the committee knows. I won’t chance you but I will say that I believe the Physics Subject Test (and doing well) would make a big difference in rejecting the assumptions a logical person can make about you as an applicant. I don’t have the time to do this for every person who posts their stats on this forum, but hopefully my approach shows how someone who has limited information can quickly (and possibly falsely) try and compare apples to oranges (GPAs from different schools in this case). Yes, you are more than your GPA and test scores, and yes, this is nowhere near the full extent that committees analyze an applicant, but I’d like to think I’m a logical person, and I reached this conclusion. What’s to stop someone else from doing the same, someone on the admissions committee perhaps?

3

I think you have a very strong chance of getting accepted… And if it were up to me, you would get in…

Best!

QS

4

@NixonDenier
Thank you for the extremely well thought out response. I’m kinda shell shocked by it, but it’s honest and I needed to hear it, despite how much it scares me. I suppose the pressure is on to do well tomorrow.

5

For the record you are clearly a great student and I didn’t even discuss your ECs, which show a passionate commitment to music and some great, unique experiences in computer science, videography, etc. I didn’t mean to be dramatic, but I think it’s important that people look beyond the details only they would know (e.g. that “B” in Chem was hard-earned, that teacher never gives "A"s!). Best of luck tomorrow and don’t worry about what you don’t have control over. If what I said is bothering you, dismiss me as a crazy, anonymous person! You undoubtedly will get into a great school, but know there are always steps you can take to improve, and you are clearly taking them.

6

@NixonDenier Your response was really helpful not only to OP here, but to me as well. I have multiple 4s on my AP tests. Is really that bad as you say it is? Generally everyone tells me that 4s are excellent scores on AP tests. And the difference between 4 and 5 can really be minute. For example in Bio AP a 5 is getting around 75% right while 4 is 65% right.

7

4’s are great scores! I didn’t mean to devalue your efforts or accomplishments (and anyone else who is reading for that matter). I was trying to demonstrate that while you may be a top student at your school, you are moving from a pond to an ocean of other applicants. I’ve met students who were confident in their chances of getting in to the best schools since they were at the top of the class, valedictorians, 4.5+ GPAs etc., and they were floored when they didn’t. In the OP’s case he was debating if he even needed to take another subject test since he felt it might be unnecessary given his other stats - and he has great stats - but I wanted to show how admissions could begin to deflate his GPA, rank etc. based on standardized test scores when compared against other students. 4’s are great scores, but normally 10-20% of students get 5’s on any given AP exam (and you’re right, there is always a cut-off and a single question in theory will separate a 4 from a 5). Schools love standardized tests because they are designed to level the playing field and take the subjectivity out of some aspects of this confusing, abstract process of selecting candidates from a large pool of qualified applicants. If I meant to give a take-away it’s to value your efforts and accomplishments, but always strive to improve and be aware that if you can do something (within reason) to improve your chances you should attempt it. The last thing you want is to grow content and later regret it in hindsight as you wonder if a little more could have made all the difference.

For the record, nothing would please me more than all of you coming back to this thread on December 15th and posting that you got accepted and that I am nothing more than a fearmonger with poor self-confidence and paranoia.