<p>I am a current sophomore and I was wondering what type of things I should be thinking about in terms of applying to JHU.
I am most interested in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, or neuroscience majors.
Research, summer programs, etc?</p>
<p>Also another question, how good do you have to be to be on their girls lacrosse team?
Also, can being a "recruit" for their division 3 field hockey team help your application?</p>
<p>While I am not on the pre-med track, I still would recommend you to take AP classes, especially chem and physics, etc if you’re interested in those areas. Not because it would look good on your app, but because it will really benefit you in the long run if you do well on the AP exams and can get credit for them. It’s a big advantage. As for summer programs, I know Hopkins does summer programs where you can take classes for credit. Once again, not about the app, but it’s a very good experience and you’ll definitely get a good feel of Hopkins. </p>
<p>As for athletics, perhaps you can e-mail their coaches. But to be good for the girls’ lacrosse team…it’s division 1, so I would imagine that you have to be good.</p>
<p>I think the biggest thing is to figure out what you’re interested in/passionate about (which it seems you have) and do whatever you can to pursue those interests. In the academic setting, that would definitely mean taking as many advanced classes as you can in those areas. If your school doesn’t offer advanced classes (which won’t be a problem for the OP at Exeter, but could be at other high schools), then look into taking courses as a local university or community college. Outside the classroom, get involved in extracurriculars that you find interesting. The key here (in my opinion) is not to do anything just for your resume, because 1) you won’t be enjoying it and 2) I think it shows through on college applications and letters of recommendation. As a sophomore, you’ve hopefully found some activities (both academic related and non-academic) that you enjoy and I also think it’s important to not drop activities that you enjoy just because they’re not related to your academic interests. Four years of a single sport in high school is going to look a lot better than a hodge-podge of clubs that you have little committments to. </p>
<p>Finally, as for your summers, I definitely would recommend doing something to further your academic interests. Whether that means taking college courses or doing research or something completely different it up to you, but since your interests lie in the sciences, research is definitely a good option. There are a lot of formal summer research programs at a variety of universities (from small liberal arts schools to big research universities) that you can apply for. Many of them are for the summer after your junior year, but there are some for sophomores (rising juniors) and if you think you might be interested in research, they’re definitely good to look into. Take a look at some of the high school forums here on CC for lists of these programs - I used to help maintain a list here on CC when I was in high school and I’m sure it’s still being maintained somewhere. You also always have the option of cold-emailing professors at a local university and see if they’d be willing to let you work in their lab. If you’re doing this, make sure to do some background research into what they do and include in your emails why you find it interesting. Even though you won’t have a huge science background as a sophomore, you’ll find that some professors will be willing to take you on. (The disadvantage of this is that you’re not part of a formal program that includes lectures and poster presentations etc, but it’s not a huge disadvantage). No one is going to expect you to do research that gets published as a high schooler, but you can learn a lot and more importantly (imho) decide if research is really something you’re interested in.</p>
<p>Hope that helps! Feel free to reply or PM me if you have any questions!</p>
<p>Tanman, research programs that allow sophomore applicants have really dried up this year 
There were only a few to start with (only a few that offered housing, anyway, and it is tough for a soph to go for a summer without it), and most have lost their funding due to state budget cuts (examples: SRAP at U of Wyoming, YESS at CalTech).</p>