I am a high school sophomore. My absolute dream is to go to Johns Hopkins for pre-med. Since I still have a fair amount of time before applying, what can I do to significantly increase my chances of being accepted? I have 100+ hours volunteering at hospital, a major internship at the American Cancer Society, Red Cross High School Leadership Program, along with many other community service hours. I also have a 4.0 unweighted GPA at the moment. Thank you!
Why do you want to go to JHU for premed?
@mom2collegekids not only do I love that it’s in an urban setting, it has some of the best opportunities for research and shadowing. I also love the “work hard, play hard” attitude of the student body.
Start studying for the sat
@2023doctor That made me lol so hard. I would not describe Hopkins as “work hard, play hard.” That’s more like Duke, or maybe MIT. In my opinion, we’re all “work hard” here, and back when I was visiting, the one thing everyone stressed was that Hopkins students make academics their top priority. Of course, we have social lives and have enough time to have fun. But, arguably, there isn’t as much work-life balance for pre-meds at Hopkins as there might be at other schools. People who went into Hopkins not knowing this or expecting this have become resentful as a result. But people like me who enjoy staying busy and feel fulfilled spending most of their time studying and engaging in extracurriculars like research thrive here.
As for what you need to do to put yourself in the best possible position to be accepted, eager little pre-pre-med:
[list]
[]Do well on the SAT/ACT and Subject Tests
[]Continue to show passion for serving the community (there are so many ways to get involved in Baltimore)
[]Getting involved in a lab or something at this point in time may not be possible, but showing initiative in pursuing knowledge and having a demonstrated interest in research is always helpful
[]Other than those basics and the standard strong LORs and essays, you just need to be an interesting person, lol. Think about what makes you more than a cookie-cutter candidate and capitalize on it. Note: I’m not saying that you need to “stand out” or “be unique.” A. That’s really hard to do, and B. This isn’t something that you need to do. You’re already an interesting person; you just need to convey it. This “X factor” could be an extracurricular, a hobby, an aspect of your culture, etc. Ideally, it should be something you already do, but if you’re a workaholic like I was, it would benefit you to gain some new life experiences and stretch yourself in ways that aren’t academic or professionally-motivated.
@2023doctor That made me lol so hard. I would not describe Hopkins as “work hard, play hard.” That’s more like Duke, or maybe MIT. In my opinion, we’re all “work hard” here, and back when I was visiting, the one thing everyone stressed was that Hopkins students make academics their top priority. Of course, we have social lives and have enough time to have fun. But, arguably, there isn’t as much work-life balance for pre-meds at Hopkins as there might be at other schools. People who went into Hopkins not knowing this or expecting this have become resentful as a result. But people like me who enjoy staying busy and feel fulfilled spending most of their time studying and engaging in extracurriculars like research thrive here.
As for what you need to do to put yourself in the best possible position to be accepted, eager little pre-pre-med:
[list]
[]Do well on the SAT/ACT and Subject Tests
[]Continue to show passion for serving the community (there are so many ways to get involved in Baltimore)
[]Getting involved in a lab or something at this point in time may not be possible, but showing initiative in pursuing knowledge and having a demonstrated interest in research is always helpful
[]Other than those basics and the standard strong LORs and essays, you just need to be an interesting person, lol. Think about what makes you more than a cookie-cutter candidate and capitalize on it. Note: I’m not saying that you need to “stand out” or “be unique.” A. That’s really hard to do, and B. This isn’t something that you need to do. You’re already an interesting person; you just need to convey it. This “X factor” could be an extracurricular, a hobby, an aspect of your culture, etc. Ideally, it should be something you already do, but if you’re a workaholic like I was, it would benefit you to gain some new life experiences and stretch yourself in ways that aren’t academic or professionally-motivated.
@OnMyWay2013 I didn’t realize that about student’s social lives! While I’m definitely a driven person who wants to succeed in college, I’m also very social and want to have a fun college experience. Is that not the case at all? Again thank you!
Hopkins is definitely fun and can be work hard play hard if you want it to be. It is what you make of it, however the proportion of students that are is lesser than Duke, MIT, etc.
@2023doctor your time at Hopkins is definitely what you want it to be. Sure, I spend dozens of hours per week in Brody studying, but there is still time to enjoy yourself on the weekends or even weeknights. You can have the social life and experience that you want as long as you realize the sacrifices you need to make.
Where are you from OP?
@ClarinetDad16 west coast
Your home state might have your strongest pre-med option. I understand you are just a sophomore but how many AP and dual enrollment credits do you anticipate to graduate with?
Yeah, I’m not saying it’s hard to have fun here or that everyone’s antisocial. But like vrhous98 said, a typical Hopkins courseload demands a lot of your time, and there’s only a certain level of leisure you can have before you need to start making sacrifices. “Playing hard” isn’t as easy to do here.
Even if you do find an optimal work-life balance, it will still be hard to hang out because most of your friends will be studying, especially when midterms start. My freshman year, there was a lot more time to relax and hang out and get the typical “college experience.” But the administration is potentially taking away the covered grades policy (all first-semester grades show up as pass/fail on official transcripts). So I’m not sure how the freshman experience will be affected.
Also, the friends I have from the west coast have all been a little let down (some, very let down), since the environments they came from tend to be more relaxed and social.