Hello,
I am a upcoming sophomore in one of the best high schools. I’ve been wanting to get into JHU for a while now and I am worried that my freshmen results,(academic) will hinder my application to the Univ. My extracurricular and gpa etc; are posted below. Please tell me what I should work upon in the rest of my High School years to increase my chances at JHU.
Freshemen Grades: Uw Gpa: 3.5-3.6
Honors World History: B
Honors Geometry: B
Honors Language Arts I: C
Honors Biology: B
French: A
–> I did not do well my freshmen year 
Extracurriculars:
Jazz Lab
Regular Volunteer for my city’s council and public events
Regular Volunteer for my public library
Environmental Club
Tutoring Society Club
Tutor at a program serving underprivileged kids
Up till 80 volunteer hours as of Freshmen Year
Info. IF needed:
Ethnicity: Asian
1st generation immigrant
Definitely take an evaluation of what went wrong your freshman year. Were the classes too difficult? Ineffective study methods? Took on too much at once? Make a plan for how you’re going to correct for that this year and in the future. Ideally, you want to be able to show that you can handle a rigorous courseload; if you can’t, you would not be happy at Hopkins, trust me. Colleges in general know that the first year can be a difficult transition, but if you have a strong upward trend, getting good grades from now on, it won’t be a problem.
As for extracurriculars, these are good. Make sure that you’re doing activities that are related to your academic / career interests and the things that you’re passionate about. They will help you figure out what you want to study and do in life, and they’ll be a good, fun break from all the work you do in school. And when it comes time to apply, you can show Hopkins an accurate picture of you and your interests.
Of course, get good SAT / ACT scores; SAT Subject Tests can be a good indicator of your academic strengths as well, but you don’t have to submit them. Unless you’re intending to go into a major in the school of engineering; then Hopkins strongly recommends that you take subject tests in Math II and at least one science. You don’t have to worry about this right now, but next year, start thinking about what SAT / ACT subjects you might be weak in, so that you can focus on them when you do official studying closer to your test date.
Thank you so much for these invaluable tips. I am definitely looking forward to utilize these to enhance my chances. However, I still have one more question if you don’t mind. I forgot to mention it previously. What types of AP’s should I work upon for my HS years and how much should I take. Once again, thanks very much OnMyWay2013
Take the AP’s that coincide with your academic interests/strengths. That is, if you’re a good science student and love science, think about taking classes like AP Chem/Bio/Physics. If you’re more of a humanities student, go for AP Lang/Lit/US History/Gov/etc. Play off your best academic results and interests and don’t just go for quantity.
As for grades, no one can tell you for sure whether you’ll get in or not, as the applications are evaluated holistically. But don’t stress too much. My junior year (infamously the most important one), I got a C in an Honors Trig class (for the year, as in my end of the year grade was a C) and cried for days because I thought this was the end of any chance at a good university. A year later I was getting my acceptance letter to Hopkins.
Hello onerepublic96,
Thanks for the tips. Good to hear you made Hopkins.
Also, these are the AP courses that will actually get you credit and possible placement out of a lower-level college course: https://apply.jhu.edu/apply/exam-credit/. So if you’re interested in a field where some of these subjects are required, it might be a good idea to take those APs.
And don’t take more than you can handle. That also depends on the difficulty of the AP courses in your school. I wouldn’t take more than two really intensive classes like the sciences / AP Calc unless you’re really strong in those areas. But more than two courses like AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science, and AP language courses (which were considered the easiest APs at my old high school) could be taken together with no problem.