<p>I am not upset or ****ed off, but just trying to fully grasp the admissions thought and student thought at JHU.</p>
<p>JHU is known for being really medically motivated. And so I figured by applying there I would stand a very good chance of being accepted...my friend the same thing...and yet we both were denied acceptance, no interview, or waitlist. </p>
<p>Both of us started taking college classes at 14 yars old(chemistry class).
we both worked at soup kitchens, nursing homes, and did service trips to latin america.
I scored a 2230 (790 math) on the SAT, a 790 chem, 650 history, and 750 math 1c.
my friend(quite a bit older than I) scored 1480(old sat)(780 math), 780 chem, 660 writing, and 700 math 2c.
Both of us went full time to a university at age sixteen(dually enrolling in home school and college) and got above 3.9.
We seem somewhat ideal for JHU which is known for being strong in math and chemistry....however my friend went somewhere elese after rejection and is now at a top 10 med school. </p>
<p>So why did JHU really not offer us anything? Is there any prejudice against home schooled applicants??</p>
<p>I think you underestimated your competition. Many applicants to top schools have all SAT scores over 750. Your ECs are OK but not exceptional; they don’t make you stand out in any way. Many community colleges have low standards and it’s easy for strong students to earn A’s at them. If it was a quality university that you attended, then the last comment doesn’t apply.</p>
<p>Admissions committees do their best, but can’t get it right every time. There was a rumor that our president was rejected from Swarthmore. If true, I bet they regret that now.</p>
<p>The low history score didn’t help, nor did the fact that you took the Math 1 subject test (and made a 700, which’s so so for top 20 schools) when most colleges expect applicants to be able to score highly on the Math 2 subject test. Your essays might have been poor (note your friend’s writing score, his essay could quite possibly have been poor). Plus you don’t mention research, which I would imagine JHU values a lot. Perhaps other applicants were stronger… But look, you weren’t rejected, your application was rejected.</p>
<p>JHU has some pretty strong applicants</p>
<p>Greenblue I attended the University of Detroit Mercy-which actually has a decent Dental school-where i took upper level courses such as organic chemistry.
Elikresses-I got 750 math 1c not 700…but i still see your point. History score is lower, but I imagine JHU wouldn’t consider that a maker or breaker…Research prob would have helped a lot. </p>
<p>I understand JHU has really strong applicants, even some who turn down the ivys to go there…but mine and my friend’s application really focused on medicine and it seems jhu would value that…Right now he is at Duke med, which us news puts at #5…and I will probably follow suit. It just seems like a school that understands the med game would invest in a student they feel could get into top ten or top five med school.</p>
<p>Sorry for the reading fail, I pulled an all-nighter and I fell asleep 10 minutes after posting that!</p>
<p>First of all, Hopkins doesn’t care whatever degree you are shooting for to pick. SEcond of all you were home schooled. Very very few top colleges accept home school students because there is no standard to compare how they did, you say you went to community college but that doesn’t mean that much. High schools like Stuyvesant and Thomas Jefferson have better education than most community colleges do. You didn’t do ANY research whatsoever and that is a big deal since most people that study the life sciences and want to go into medicine have already started to do so. You are right JHU is an extremely competitive school 18% admissions. What does that mean? It means that you need something to stand out which you don’t have. Top universities don’t just want to see high numbers. This is a good learning experience for med school. You don’t just need high scores to get into a top med school, you need to stand out.</p>
<p>BlueJay- Thanks for the information! I, however, didn’t go to a community college, but the university of detroit mercy( which is somewhat respected in my home state). (haha second reading fail today on this thread). It seems a homeschooled applicant with high numbers would stand out considering, like you said, many top schools dont have many.</p>
<p>sometimes there is no reason why they reject you. That’s the sad truth. A lot of these top colleges have so many well qualified applicants that they must reject some just because they simply can’t accept all of them. If you apply to a lot of top schools however, you should be able to find at least 1 acceptance with your numbers</p>
<p>One of my best friends from Hopkins was homeschooled and as far as I remember, he did not do research before Hopkins. That said, he took several classes at the local campus of his state school system and showed a lot of dedication to what he enjoyed (participated in several JHU physics programs and wrote for his town’s newspaper). I’m not saying you didn’t, but from what you listed, other than classes at your local school, it doesn’t seem like you did much to show interest in medicine.</p>
<p>Unfortunately what osprey said is true: there are so many strong candidates out there that many have to be turned down for no real reason. Maybe someone didn’t like your essays, or no one was quite impressed enough with any aspect of your application to make it really stand out. Or maybe they were looking for something else to balance their class, or whatever. I would be willing to bet that there were some people with high 2300 SAT’s that didn’t get in. </p>
<p>I saw a video of an adcom meeting at Grinnell, where they were discussing different students’ applications. Scary–it seemed like a lot hinged on the opinions of the two people who read the application closely; if they were not super enthused about it, that student was rejected. So unless there was something there that caught their attention, you were out.</p>
<p>I hope you got in somewhere that values you and your enthusiasm. Best of luck to you.</p>