<p>How does Johns Hopkins undergrad compare to the likes of Princeton, Harvard and Yale?
I hope I don't sound to pretentious, but I am considering Johns Hopkins as a safety school, but I do not know very much about the actual quality of the school/campus/facilities short of its great reputation. If any could shed some light as to what this school is about, please reply.
--Daniel</p>
<p>As a disclaimer, I perform college interviews for Hopkins and Stanford engineering. </p>
<p>This will be harsh but as you know absolutely nothing about Hopkins save for likely its ranking and reputation less than a month before the deadline, you won’t be getting in. You’re not so much pretentious as ill-informed (at best) to treat any school that has an acceptance rate less than 20% with comparable test scores to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton as a safety school. </p>
<p>The applicants I’ve interviewed who have gotten into Stanford or Hopkins can tell me without hesitation why they are applying to the schools they are applying to with VALID reasons, demonstrate genuine passion in their intellectual goals, and show surprising promise for their age (as measured by their specific insightful questions to me, their extremely unique accomplishments, and their explanation of how the school could drive their growth). </p>
<p>In the past 3 years, I’ve interviewed 20 applicants for both Hopkins and Stanford (roughly 11 and 9 for each, respectively). Despite writing good recs for most of the people I’ve interviewed, I’ve only had 3 people admitted to Hopkins and 1 to Stanford. The rejected pool to Hopkins included 7 vals and sals, while the rejected pool to Stanford contained 8 (most of the rejects to either school were national merit semi-finalists/AP scholars with honors/along with other random merit awards, I might add). The overarching theme among the rejects, besides almost immaculate academic credentials however, was a lack of passion and research concerning how either Hopkins or Stanford could really benefit them besides the reputation and professors. There are unique qualities to each school (besides majors and classes) that should shine through in essays and responses assuming the applicant has done the research.</p>
<p>For your sake, do more research on the schools you actually apply to, Daniel. Again, don’t worry about Hopkins and likely Stanford and other schools as well.</p>
<p>Blah2009,</p>
<p>Agrewe with u that Hopkins is a safety for no one. My child last year got wait listed despite top 5% at strong public in NOVA, great interview (interviewer wanted to go to bat for him after decision by JHU), solid but not spectaular SATs (1400, 2130), and very advanced standing in math calc b/c with 5 on AP as junior, phycis c and mvc senior year. </p>
<p>Interesting take re specificity about how Hopkins can help the student as a leg up in the amdissions process. What about the studnets who have not made a career choice? Is your point that Hopkins wants kids who have already laid out a career path or, as I suspect, just that they should be familiar with specific programs at Hopkins that can help them pursue their academic interests (ie know of great books program for kids who love LACs; or for a physics science person about JHU’s physics/astronomy professor winning a nobel last year for work re dark matter, or that a JHU astronomer just discovered ice on mercury, for example).</p>
<p>I started conducting interviews for Hopkins last year (I graduated in 2011) and I plan to interview for Princeton once I’m finished here. I interviewed four people last year and none of them got in. This included one candidate who I absolutely loved and whom I strongly recommended for admission. It is a complete crapshoot. And as Blah2009 said, if you can’t clearly and persuasively articulate why you want to go to a school, an interviewer like me with not as much experience will have no trouble seeing right through you; just imagine what a seasoned admissions committee member will see.</p>
<p>That said, if you seriously want to know differences between Hopkins and Princeton (the only other school I have real knowledge of), here’s the gist: most of the student body at Hopkins is comparable to most of the student body at Princeton. The difference is in the top and bottom 10 or so percent. The top students at Harvard and Princeton are better than the top students at Hopkins and the bottom students at Harvard and Princeton are better than the bottom students at Hopkins (sorry, it’s true). The middles are comparable. And while intro courses are comparable at the schools, intermediate and advanced undergrad courses, and graduate courses at Princeton are faster, more technical, and harder than those at Hopkins. This does NOT mean that Hopkins is easy: these classes at Hopkins are faster and harder than the corresponding classes at 99% of other schools.</p>
<p>Hopkins and Princeton have very different atmospheres for undergrad life. Princeton is more undergrad-focused, but despite what Princeton advertises, it still is a very aristocratic and preppy school with much of the social scene centered around eating clubs. There are other things to do but unless the prospect of being in an eating club and being surrounded by prep school kids is heaven, you may feel a little out of place. I was speaking to my friend (in my Hopkins graduating class, grad student at Princeton) and neither of us would have been very happy as undergrads here. Hopkins has elements of this, but not to nearly the same extent. And most people would argue that outside of frat parties, social activities are somewhat lacking. I’ll let other people expand on the social aspect.</p>
<p>That was probably pretty incoherent so I’ll stop…</p>
<p>Based on the above posts by the Hopkins interviewers, it seems reasonable to assume that one’s interview is not as important as other parts of the application (as it should be).</p>
<p>Are interviews mandatory for JHU undergraduate applicants ?</p>
<p>Interview works for JHU only where it is available. </p>
<p>It is not easy to get into JHU.</p>
<p>Daniel: Contact the soccer coaches at all Ivies & other schools that are of interest to you. Although your numbers are solid for Harvard, Yale & Princeton, a member of the US national soccer team might receive a sufficient boost to almost ensure admission. Are you currently being recruited for soccer ?</p>
<p>P.S. As noted above, don’t bother with JHU unless genuinely interested. Also, consider contacting the coaches at Duke & Northwestern. Good luck !</p>
<p>OP: Just noticed that you’re only a junior in high school. Stay healthy & keep your grades up & you should get into a couple of Ivies.
The University of Virginia should be a safe bet for you. Also, consider some LACs.</p>
<p>Does JHU consider science-oriented internship if the student applied to BME or MCE?</p>