Please chance me for JHU & help me out

Colleges and Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
1

<p>Specifically, I am looking to apply to Harvard, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, and Stanford (amongst others I am also considering). Please chance me. Your help is much appreciated!</p>

<p>Country: Canada
Ethnicity: Asian (female)</p>

<p>IB/AP: not offered at my high school (however, I am taking the most rigorous courses offered, such as calculus, etc.)
Average (in %): consistently in the 90s, usually around 95%
SAT Score: First time with zero practice: 2030 (CR: 630, Writing: 660, Math: 740). I expect a MUCH better 2nd score!!!
SAT Subject Tests: will be taking 3 in November </p>

<p>Essay writing skills: excellent
Teacher recs: will be stupendous
Interview skills: excellent</p>

<p>Interests, Volunteer & Work Experience: piano (level 8 certificate), violin for a few years, volunteer at a hospital (200+hrs), volunteer tutoring at school, work at a library, many other volunteer events... </p>

<p>School involvement: was very involved in music in gr.9 (many bands and even choir), many youth justice groups in gr.11 & planning to join again in gr.12 (probably...), badminton intermurals in gr.10</p>

<p>Leadership: link crew leader at school (we welcome new gr.9 students and plan fun activities!), lead kids through educational activities at a volunteer event</p>

<p>Awards & Special things: various academic awards at school, various piano awards from festivals (got selected to advance to provincials, but became very ill... this is a touchy subject... I ended up not being able to attend because I was taking 8 pills a day and I felt so horrible ): .. ANYWAYS), painting (art was shown at a festival and displayed in a <em>professional</em> art gallery; honourable mention in Robert Bateman contest)</p>

<p>Oh and I have a customer service training certificate for disabled/impaired customers.</p>

<p>Field I'm going to go in to: medical/health sciences</p>

<p>Please chance me, especially for Brown, Johns Hopkins, and Harvard (my top 3)!</p>

<p>And all BS aside... I actually have a personality. I am not a brainiac automaton who sits around and studies all day long. I think that I am an intriguing person.</p>

<p>Thank you for your time</p>

2

<p>Until you take SAT’s again it would be tough to chance you. If your scores do not change significantly your chances will be slim to any of the schools you listed.</p>

<p>There are plenty of students that have 2200+ and are not ‘brainiac automatons’ and have great interview skills and GPA’s and work and ec’s. Raise your Sat’s by about 200 to better your odds.</p>

3

<p>Hopefully I will. I studied hard this summer, for the October test. I only took the June test as a practice test, with no previous experience. Do other parts of my app look good, though? (Be honest, but please don’t be condescending or overly approving). Thank you</p>

4

<p>Here are my thoughts although by no means does this mean I am right…but:</p>

<p>Country: Canada >>Doesnt Help or Hurt
Ethnicity: Asian (female) >doesnt help Not at all.</p>

<p>IB/AP: not offered at my high school (however, I am taking the most rigorous courses offered, such as calculus, etc.) ***This helps.</p>

<p>Average (in %): consistently in the 90s, usually around 95% **This helps.</p>

<p>SAT Score: First time with zero practice: 2030 (CR: 630, Writing: 660, Math: 740). I expect a MUCH better 2nd score!!! **<em>This will make or break you.
SAT Subject Tests: will be taking 3 in November *</em>These will support you if good.</p>

<p>Essay writing skills: excellent>>>Will help a lot.
Teacher recs: will be stupendous >>Will help a lot
Interview skills: excellent >> Will help especially if you interview in person. If you interview in Canada I do not think it will help or hurt.</p>

<p>Interests, Volunteer & Work Experience: piano (level 8 certificate), violin for a few years, volunteer at a hospital (200+hrs), volunteer tutoring at school, work at a library, many other volunteer events… >>>helps.</p>

<p>School involvement: was very involved in music in gr.9 (many bands and even choir), many youth justice groups in gr.11 & planning to join again in gr.12 (probably…), badminton intermurals in gr.10 >>I would not stress this. My understanding is that they often look for consistency in something rather than a person that does a lot of different things for a year. Discuss this with your guidance person.</p>

<p>Leadership: link crew leader at school (we welcome new gr.9 students and plan fun activities!), lead kids through educational activities at a volunteer event >>Find more leadership roles. This is weaker.</p>

<p>Awards & Special things: various academic awards at school, various piano awards from festivals (got selected to advance to provincials, but became very ill… this is a touchy subject… I ended up not being able to attend because I was taking 8 pills a day and I felt so horrible ): … ANYWAYS), painting (art was shown at a festival and displayed in a <em>professional</em> art gallery; honourable mention in Robert Bateman contest) >>>Good.</p>

<p>Oh and I have a customer service training certificate for disabled/impaired customers.>>Good.</p>

<p>Field I’m going to go in to: medical/health sciences</p>

<p>Please chance me, especially for Brown, Johns Hopkins, and Harvard (my top 3)!
All three are a BIG reach for you. Sorry to be blunt. Work on your SAT’s and Some things which show you as a leader. JMHO.</p>

5

<p>I think they are all reaches for you, especially in Regular Decision. Definitely apply because I don’t know anything about how things work on the admissions side.</p>

6

<p>Which Canadian high school? Schools like Upper Canada, Havergal, Univ. of Toronto School, etc. place students at top US schools with test scores like yours all the time. Additionally, high schools in Canada generally do not have grade inflation to the same degree as U.S. high schools; additionally, the educational system in Canada does not emphasize standardized testing in the same way as U.S. schools, so colleges often will de-emphasize the standardized test scores for Canadians. I suggest that you apply to Georgetown as well!!!</p>

7

<p>Imontoya, that was a very helpful and thorough analysis. Thank you very much for taking your time to give your thoughts and opinions!</p>

<p>hoyasaxa1, thank you. That really boosted my confidence :slight_smile: yes, it is very true that Canadian high schools don’t offer any help in terms of SATs & anything regarding the application process to US universities. I wish they would!</p>

8

<p>Unfortunately. your gpa and first SAT scores will make all these schools reaches, best bet is for early decision JHU with a much higher 2nd (at least 2200) + SAT 2’s . I really do hope that you succeed in this admissions process because you are not a “brainiac automaton who sits around and studies all day long” . you seem like you have a life and are probably a pretty cool person so Best of luck :)</p>

9

<p>I agree that ED to Brown or JHU would help in this case. Harvard doesn’t have an Early program so that wouldn’t help. Do you prefer Brown or Johns Hopkins?</p>

10

<p>I like both because they are situated in small towns and are prestigious institutions. Also, both have amazing med schools! I don’t know which one I prefer, but my guts tell me Brown… though that is subject to change ;)</p>

11

<p>Though it may be true that Johns Hopkins is in Charles Village, a part of Baltimore, the surrounding area is by no means a small town if that doesn’t suit you. Of course I would encourage you to pick Johns Hopkins :), but you have to make sure it suits you.</p>

<p>Oh and, one last point. Johns Hopkins and Johns Hopkins Med for the win !!! ;)</p>

12

<p>But I heard that the JHU Med school really has nothing to do with the undergrad JHU. Is this true?</p>

13

<p>There is very little to no correlation between attending JHU for undergrad and gaining admission to JHU Med School. </p>

<p>If you look at the numbers, you will see that there are several JHU alumni in each year’s entering med class, perhaps even more than from any other undergrad institution. This is because JHU has a lot of motivated, driven undergraduates who want to go to medical school, not because they are strongly favored in the applicant pool. </p>

<p>If you are interested in JHU, follow me on twitter!</p>

<p>@Hopkins_Student</p>

14

<p>The advantage and ultimately the connection between Hopkins med and Hopkins undergrad actually has little to do with any tangible boost in admissions chances. It deals with the opportunity to shadow and do research under Johns Hopkins School of Medicine doctors and professors. This gives you some really interesting experiences if you take full advantage of them and ultimately that interest and participation will make you do better in admissions overall. </p>

<p>The highest number of undergrads admitted to Johns Hopkins Med are from Johns Hopkins Undergrad. This is not a sign that Johns Hopkins UG equates to higher chances at Johns Hopkins med, rather it is a testament to the fantastic advising and training that Hopkins provides its pre meds. This link is a little old, but I’m speculating that the trend remains:<a href=“http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/bin/m/l/MCAT11b.pdf[/url]”>http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/bin/m/l/MCAT11b.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

15

<p>The reality is that there is no ‘formal’ agreement but naturally there is so much integration between the departments. It’s easy to say that if you want an undergraduate degree and you are interested in any aspect of health care (Med, Public Health, BioEthics), then Hopkins is the mecca of all places. </p>

<p>I would venture to say that the very best applicants to med schools around the country, are coming out of Hopkins undergrad and that’s why the placement is so very high into med schools. </p>

<p>The average MCAT score is about a 31 (6 points above the national average!!) so needless to say there is some great prep work happening there in the pre-med required courses. </p>

<p>If you’re pre-med, I would definitely choose JHU over Brown.</p>

16

<p>That was really helpful, everyone! Really good information that I shall keep in mind. Yes, my goal is to go to med school after doing undergrad. However, I have another question: do US med schools not like International applicants? I heard that somewhere, and I am afraid that my chances of getting into a US med school won’t be as good as an American student’s. Also, what if I do not attend undergrad in the US, will this make it even harder?</p>

<p>p.s. Adria0, I will check out your twitter :)</p>

17

<p>“Do US schools not like international applicants”
No idea, but I doubt it, it may be that they just give priority to US applicants.</p>

<p>“Also, what if I do not attend undergrad in the US, will this make it even harder?”
Not necessarily; it has to be an accredited University by the med school, so that is priority (Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, Imperial are all accredited [there are way more, I just don’t know them all lol]), plus you have to take the MCAT and report your GPA. Because the system is different, naturally it is more tedious to get into American med schools from overseas, but this doesn’t have to hurt your chances.</p>

18

<p>It’s INCREDIBLY difficult to get into a US Medical school as a foreign student and international students should anticipate doing medical school back in their home countries. They are more than welcome to apply but most do show preference to domestic students.</p>

19

<p>Thanks for clarifying Wealth; I am clueless on this subject :)</p>

20

<p>Wow, I guess I really have to attend undergrad at a US school to better my chances. Even if do, it seems like getting into med school is next to impossible!</p>