Hello people,
I am currently a sophomore and want to get out of state to get into Johns Hopkins for my undergrad as a premed. I want to be a full time running start student both my junior and senior year (including the summer quarters) to both advance and get all my credits to earn an AA degree which will also provide me free time to pursue my passion of science to compete at various science olympiads. However, my concerns are-
- Does JHU accept running start credits? If yes, how many?
- Would I be considered a transfer or a freshman?
- Does going to a community college hurt your chances of doing well on the MCAT?
- What does JHU focus more on? Grades? Extracurricular? SAT/ACT? APs? Hook? (like the ivies)
- People of which ethnicity are more expected to be seen here?
I know these are a lot of questions but if you even know a (reasonable, factful) answer of either of these questions, then please be free to write it here.
Thank you everyone is advance! 
I am not sure about the answers to the first three questions. I am just a freshman in India also looking to get into JHU for premedicine.
What does JHU focus more on. Well, every college publishes a list of statistics about their admissions process. JHU’s can be found on the website. In summary, they care the most about GPA and rigor of high-school curriculum, then SATs/ ACTs, then things like ECs, internships, etc.
Ethnicity will probably be a decent mix of everything though I am really not sure.
It doesn’t look like they’ll take many credits at all
https://apply.jhu.edu/apply/exam-credit/ (scroll to bottom, for “other credits”)
You may be able to use your experiences to receive placement into more advanced classes, but it doesn’t look like you’ll be able to graduate early or anything.
In terms of making the most of your Running Start credits, staying in-state is your best bet. Next best bet is looking at WUE schools.
Out of state publics outside of WUE will be more expensive (and you need to save money for med school), and private schools tend to accept zero to one year’s worth of credits, from my daughter’s experiences.
@AroundHere Thanks for the answer! Is your daughter also doing medicine? or did she also do running start?
I have a freshman in college who did Running Start, and a high school junior doing it now. The junior has Hopkins on her list, but is not premed.
@AroundHere which college?
If you are interested in community service and would not bother living in one of the worst cities in the US, consider Hopkins. Otherwise, there are a lot of other places worth looking into. Harvard and MIT are way better. Try for those. Hopkins isn’t worth the money.
If Hopkins is your number-one choice, make sure you look into what the school offers its premeds.
- You can easily find research or Hospital volunteering opportunities here. Go to Source.jhu.edu
- There are a lot of premeds in this school which helps you prepare for your application better. The upperclassmen help a lot. Also, the med students are amazing as well. I’ve been to their teaching building and and friends with a few. They are also a good source for telling you what you are getting yourself into.
- There are classes in the school of music and the school of public health you could take.
- Advisors are fantastic as well. Some of these professors teach classes in which 66% of the kids end up in med school. (Biophysics)
@Shhsvri I don’t understand your posts. You seem to want to diss JHU (in this thread and others) but then say nice things in the next post. So what is it? Are you trying to dissuade others from attending a place where you say there are fabulous offerings for anyone interested in pre-med opportunities and research? I mean, that’s what Hopkins is known for, so if that’s what applicants are looking for, of course, it’s worth the money. The school isn’t just resting on its laurels as one of the best institutions for those things, they actually offer them!
(current student)
If by running start you mean dual enrollment at a local community college
- "Students who enter the university from high school may transfer up to 12 credits from approved courses taken at other institutions, whether taken before or after matriculation." (http://e-catalog.jhu.edu/undergrad-students/academic-policies/external-credit/#transfercredittext)
- If you're dual enrolled in community college and high school (ie you're earning your high school diploma and the AA at the same time) I believe you would qualify as a first year student as opposed to a transfer student. However you should call the admissions office to verify this. (https://apply.jhu.edu/apply/transfer-students/)
- Theoretically going to community college doesn't hurt your chances of doing well on the MCAT (compared to a Hopkins student) if your community college classes cover the same material as the corresponding Hopkins courses and you study hard. Honestly, many of the premeds I know at Hopkins have to relearn a lot of MCAT material as part of their test prep since they took many of the standard, lower level STEM classes in freshman year (or in high school).
- DISCLAIMER I do not work in the admissions office so this is my opinion based off of my experience, what I read in my admission file, and what I could glean from the common data set. Objective stats (grades and test scores) are by far the most important aspects to admission at top colleges. Without good objective stats you have an extremely low chance of admission. Beyond that, Hopkins values research and internship experience highly. (http://web.jhu.edu/registrar/EnrollmentReport/2014_2015EnrollmentReport.pdf)
- If by this question you mean "what is the most common race / ethnicity at Hopkins" the answer is "white". However the current freshman class has almost as many asian students as white students (30% asian vs 33% white) and has a decent sized latino and black population. (http://hub.jhu.edu/2016/08/24/class-of-2020-overview-facts/?_ga=1.263344588.1155695243.1481219794)