<p>My son was accepted to all 3 schools and wants to major in Classics then go to medical school. I know the reputations of all 3 schools- solid for placing kids in med school. However, the student rep at JHU said that their acceptance rate is consistently in the mid 80's. If you got to their preprofessions advising site at JHU</a> Pre-Professional Advising, click the link to premed/health applicants on the left , then the link to Applicant Kick-Off PowerPoint (November 2012). Go to slide 6. They had 236/361 applicants from JHU accepted (65%, which is still better than the national average of 45%).</p>
<p>It is mentioned in some posts that JHU selects which applicants they will support when it comes to application time, thereby inflating the acceptance rate. Anyone have a take on this?</p>
<p>I don't think my son will go wrong at any of the three schools listed, but I wanted to get some thoughts from others. BTW, I am a physician and know the process of applying pretty well.</p>
<p>Well Hopkins is the top school in the country for Classics. In the same league as UChicago or Princeton.</p>
<p>Blue Jay- thanks for the insight. As I could not find any helpful info regarding rankings or reputations of Classics programs, may I ask where your info is from? As my son is interested in a career in medicine, I told him that he shouldn’t worry too much about the reputation of his program (he should still choose a respected one) as he does not intend to get a masters or PhD in Classics. But that being said, I’d still like to know where to find info on the top programs. Thanks.</p>
<p>Here yhou go-- [Home</a> | Classics Department | Johns Hopkins University](<a href=“http://classics.jhu.edu/]Home”>http://classics.jhu.edu/)</p>
<p>I am a current Hopkins student applying to medical school this cycle. The PreProf office rarely “screens” applicants out. Dr. Verrier (head of the committee) will only tell you to take a gap year(s) if your gpa is below a 3.5. A 3.5 cGPA & sGPA is the cutoff for a committee letter. However, if you want “very good” chances at acceptance to an US allopathic school, Dr. Verrier recommends a >= 3.6 cGPA & sGPA. The average medical school matriculant from JHU undegrad to an US allopathic medical school had a cGPA of 3.64, sGPA of 3.59, and a MCAT score of 31.6. Do realize however, that these averages will only go up in the future so when your son applies, the baseline might be a little higher.</p>
<p>@osprey099 By 3.5 cGPA & sGPA, do you mean 3.5 for both? I feel like 3.5 is quite high for science, with all the intro classes centered at such a low GPA. So the average JHU premed student will be screened out? Or is the worst case scenario just taking a gap year before they give you a committee letter?</p>
<p>Yes I mean 3.5 for both. If you have less, Verrier will just tell you to take a gap year to improve the gpa. However, he rarely has to say this because there are A LOT of students who willingly drop out of pre-med during the first 2 years here when they take all the pre-med classes.</p>
<p>So even if I end up with less, I can still get the letter eventually, correct? Or will my chances be very low…</p>
<p>Osprey- thanks for the info. I was just a bit confused by the numbers mentioned at the info session as the JHU senior mentioned a consistent acceptance rate in the mid 80’s while the prepofessional website showed 65% (although for one year only). Anyway, my son realizes that JHU is a fantastic institution with a fantastic rep. Do you feel that it is as cutthroat as so many people (perhaps misinformed high school students) make it seem?</p>
<p>@Dreams If you have less than a 3.5, you will most likely take a gap year. Gap year means that your senior year gpa will count towards your overall and hopefully, that can boost you to above a 3.5. If not, you will most likely have to do some sort of masters program (public health, bio, or neuroscience are the most common) to boost the gpa up.</p>
<p>@psychodad JHU does have a fantastic rep among med schools. Med schools realize the rigor of JHU and they do read threads like college confidential and student doctor so they see a lot of people complaining about the “cut throat” culture. Although there is no such cut throat culture here, we JHU pre-meds love it when people hype it up and make it sound like it’s impossible to get a high gpa here. In reality, no one is going to sabotage your lab notebook or give you wrong information before a test. The pre-med classes here are not that different from your average state school. I thought they were just repeats of the respective AP classes I took in high school but without the HW/classwork/participation/project grade buffers. In all your pre-med classes, your grade is basically going to be based on 3 midterms and a final (making up ~95% of your grade) and the other 5% will be attendance or HW. The averages on the tests are abysmal (around 60%) so if you can get like a 80%+ raw score on a midterm, that should be 1 std. deviation above the average and enough to get the A. After some digging in my blackboard site, I have posted some class averages for the pre-med classes I have taken at JHU below for reference:</p>
<p>Averages: (I got either an A or A- in all my pre-med classes but I will only post averages here for anonymity purposes)</p>
<p>General Chemistry I: Midterm 1 = 58/80 (73%)
Midterm 2 = 41/60 (68%)
Midterm 3: I dropped this one - this course allowed 1 dropped test
Final: 119/160 (74%)
General Chemistry II: Midterm 1: 57/110
Midterm 2: 85/110
Midterm 3: 89/110
Final: 159/209
General Physics I: Midterm 1: 79/100
Midterm 2: 80/100
Midterm 3: 34/100
Final: 53/100
General Physics II: Midterm 1: 61/100
Midterm 2: 45/100
Midterm 3: 67/100
Final: 71/100
Organic Chemistry I: Midterm 1: 58/80
Midterm 2: 72/100
Midterm 3: 64/100
Final: 65/100
Organic Chemistry II: Midterm 1: 71/80
Midterm 2: 68/100
Midterm 3: 71/100
Final: 70/100
Biochemistry: Midterm 1: 73/100
Midterm 2: 73/100
Midterm 3: 75/100
Midterm 4: 65/100
Final: 65/100</p>
<p>Note: the lab classes, especially organic lab and biochem lab are very difficult and are probably the only classes that deserve the cut-throat stigma</p>