Hopkins Insider

Hopkins Insider: On Vacation

Greetings from sunny central Florida. After working pretty much straight the past six months, Admissions_Daniel is on vacation. Yes, I have taken 2+ weeks off of work and traveled south to the Sunshine State for my first extended vacation of 2008. That means the Hopkins Insider will also be on a slight vacation. We both will return in the middle of July. In the mean time, I hope you all enjoy your Independence Day holiday and a lovely summer. I will be spending my time with the following things:

Final Wait List Update: 2008

A final wait list update for Fall 2008 has been posted to our Wait List Discussion Thread on the Hopkins Forums. Click here to access the post and the full discussion thread.

During this week the Admissions Committee has met and made final decisions regarding the wait list for the Class of 2012. For those students who sent back the blue postcard and decided to “remain on the wait list” you will be receiving correspondence through email and postal mail shortly. The emails were sent today (July 1st) and the letters will be in the mail tomorrow.

If you have been keeping up with this wait list discussion thread you will know that in May we admitted a small handful of students off the wait list (approximately 40 total students). Since then the Admissions teams has been very methodical and carefully tracking the size of the enrolling class. Though we had anticipated much more fluctuation this year then in years past due to the volume of wait list movement by our peers, in the end our class size has not dropped below our enrollment goals. Therefore the decision was made not to admit any more students off the wait list at this time.

The vast majority of you who remained on our wait list will be receiving correspondence that states we currently do not intend on admitting any additional students from the wait list this year and that we have now met our enrollment target for the fall. This is our wait list release letter and though a disappointment, it does end the waiting process. We wish you the best in your college career and appreciate the interest you showed in Hopkins.

A small handful of those students who remained on the wait list (~100+) will receive a slightly different correspondence. This group of students was selected by the Admissions Committee to receive an offer to remain on an extended summer wait list. This letter states that although we have met our enrollment targets, in the event that space might become available, we will consider the students on this extended wait list. For those selecting to remain on the extended summer wait list from this group, an official final decision will be rendered no later than July 31st.

Two important things to note about the extended summer wait list: (1) the chances for admission remain slim and only will occur in the rare cases that more spaces become available. And (2) the Admissions Committee selects the students to be offered a spot on the extended summer wait list, it is not something a wait listed student may request.

Regarding notification: As I stated above our notifications were sent via email and postal mail. If you did not receive an email on or around July 1st, then we ask that you wait for the postal mail. If by July 10th you have not received any notification, then you will need to call the Admissions Office at 410-516-8171 to check on your status. We are unable to confirm wait list status through email or these forums.

Finally, I hope all this makes sense. As always, if you have any questions please feel free to post them on this forum. We understand that this process can be frustrating and at times the waiting seems as if we were “stringing you along.” We appreciate your patience, and assure you that the time line was necessitated by our need to be careful and methodical in our decisions. Every year these decisions are quite difficult to make, and I hope you understand how much we agonize over these decisions. Best of luck to each and every one of you.

If you have any questions, please post them to the Wait List Discussion Thread.

Second Place Ain't That Bad

Spring officially came to an end this past weekend and though I am happy to see the arrival of the summer and hopefully a less hectic work schedule, I am somewhat sad to see the spring go. My melancholy is not linked in any way to my occupation nor the weather, but has everything to do with my passion for SPORTS. Well, actually let me re-phrase that ... my passion for WATCHING sports.

This past spring has been one of (if not the most) exhilarating runs of noteworthy sporting events. For a glutton like myself, I have devoured as much sports-watching as I can these past few weeks. Every night SportsCenter has been "must-see-TV" and every morning my radio is tuned to "Mike and Mike in the Morning." What has added to the thrills is that for the past few weekends my schedule has been quite clear and I have been able to enjoy a number of glorious sports-watching weekends. You know the type ... where there is a series of meaningful national (or international) sporting events on the television and you have no weekend obligations or "to do" projects. And with the sweltering heat one weekend and torrential rain another weekend, all the stars were aligning for the perfect sports fan month, meaning there was absolutely no reason to leave the couch.

Let's just look back at some of the thrills:

• Tiger Woods victory on the 91st hole of the U.S. Open in San Diego at Torrey Pines. Not only did he accomplish the feat by sinking clutch putts on the 72nd and 90th holes, but we now found out he pretty much competed on one leg. This will be one of the most memorable sporting events of my life.
• EURO 2008. I am typically only a soccer fan during the World Cup, and I tend to prefer Women's soccer over Men's Soccer. But I must say that I have been drawn in by the UEFA Euro cup games. I am not really rooting for a specific team, but I have enjoyed the Spain and Turkey games most.
• NHL Stanley Cup Finals. Two great historical teams in Detroit and Pittsburgh. Youth versus experience. Thrilling games, including the 3 OT Game Five Penguins victory. I was rooting for Sydney Crosby and the Pens, but was happy for Detroit as they are deserving champions in a city that still appreciates hockey.
• Ken Griffey hitting 600 home runs. In my mind there are only four legitimate members of the 600+ home run club now -- Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and now Ken Griffey, Jr. For me Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa cheated to get there and don't deserve the recognition.
• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. wins again on the NASCAR circuit and I was actually watching -- well most of it. Watching left turns for three hours can get a bit boring.
• Fresno State's run in the College World Series. My fingers are crossed that the truest of Cinderella teams can complete one of the biggest upsets in all of college sports history.

Unfortunately, I can't claim this spring as perfect since a number of the big sporting events ended in great disappointment. Let's take another look back:

• The death of Jim McKay. There is very little to say except that the sporting world loss a true gentleman and the greatest story teller of all-time.
• Big Brown's failure to deliver (sorry had to do the requisite UPS joke). I am not usually a fan of horse racing, but I got drawn into the Triple Crown hype mainly because Big Brown is a beautiful horse that appeared to have an amazing personality. Unfortunately, his trainer turned out to be a bit too arrogant.
• The Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship. Though I am happy for Kevin Garnett, I am a bit sick of Boston championships. Thankfully though I can always flashback to February and just think of 18-1. THANK YOU N.Y. GIANTS.
• Roger Federer was another who failed to show up during the French Open against Rafael Nadal. That was one embarrassing loss. Hopefully he'll be a bit more competitive at Wimbledon.

And in a class all to itself is my miserable N.Y. Mets. Words don't even begin to describe the the misery of being a Mets fan this year. The collapse of last season was a bitter pill to swallow, but then we signed Santana and got Church and Schneider from Washington and things were looking up. But unfortunately my team has decided to re-define the word INCONSISTENT. There have been some "ups" but so many "downs" culminating in the horrible way the team performed in firing Willie Randolph. It is not Willie's fault that his team could not be consistent, does not have a true leader, and that upper management had it in for him. A few years ago I gave up my fan-hood of the Miami Dolphins for the embarrassing way the team performed and ran itself (can you say Ricky Williams). I pray the Mets can get out of this funk or else I may be putting my Mets fan-hood up for sale on eBay.

OK, before I go way off track and have to re-name the Hopkins Insider Blog to some catchy sports blog title (too late???), let me get to the ultimate point of this entry. See last night after watching the thrilling golf I was flipping through the channels and found a sports movie. Lo and behold, it was also a classic ... Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Classic might be stretching it as this film is no Miracle, or Field of Dreams, or Hoosiers, or Bull Durham, or ... well you get the point. Surprisingly, the humor of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly's "shake and bake" tandem of NASCAR legends Ricky Bobby and Carl Naughton Jr. was exactly what I was looking for to wrap-up another day of great sports.

While watching the film for what might have been my 30th time, I brainstormed this new blog entry. [[[Bet you didn't see that coming. You are probably what I am talking about now ... well stay tuned ... there is a point.]]]

Throughout the movie, Ricky Bobby is famously quoted in the movie as having the trademarked slogan:

If you ain't first, you're last.

Though a great line from a great comedy, it made me think that actually second place sometimes ain't that bad. And recent Johns Hopkins athletics history has shown that you can celebrate 2nd place finishes. [[[I told you this would come full circle and relate to Hopkins in some fashion. Pretty clever, huh?]]]

This past spring was one of the most successful in Hopkins athletic history, and topped off an amazing academic year for the Blue Jays. No, we were not able to raise the NCAA Championship plaque like we have done in the past (2005 and 2007 NCAA Lacrosse Championships ring a bell?), but we did finish as runners-up three times in the last few months. So unlike what Ricky Bobby says, we weren't first but we can still celebrate.

Let's re-cap:

MEN'S LACROSSE TEAM REACHES NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME FOR FOURTH TIME IN SIX YEARS (and beats Duke again!!!)click here

During its 125-anniversary season, the Men's Lacrosse team had an up and down regular season but finished ranked fourth in the nation. They earned a #5 seed in the NCAA tournament and rode an 8-game winning streak to the national championship game, finishing overall with an 11-6 record. The Blue Jays fell 13-10 in the title game to Syracuse, but there was not a huge level disappointment after the stunning upset of universal favorite Duke in the semi-finals. For a full re-cap of the historical Blue Jay Lacrosse season, .

BASEBALL TEAM FINISH AS NATIONAL RUNNERS-UP AS SEASON COMES DOWN TO FINAL AT-BAT

The greatest season in Blue Jay baseball history came to a disappointing end with a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Division III College World Series. Led by a strong offense and stellar pitching staff, the team fought off elimination in the NCAA tournament on six separate occasions. The Blue Jay's magical run in the tournament did end with a loss to Trinity during the final game of the World Series, but the day before the Blue Jays did defeat Trinity for that team's only loss of the entire season. Read a thorough re-cap of the entire Baseball team's season by clicking here.

MEN'S SWIMMING FINISHES SECOND AT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS WHILE SOPHOMORE JOHN THOMAS WINS NCAA TITLE IN 200 BACK

On the final day of the 2008 NCAA Division III Men's Swimming  Championship, sophomore John Thomas won the NCAA title in the 200 meter backstroke and propelled the Blue Jays to a second place finish, the best finish since the team finished second in 2003. This was the team's ninth straight top-10 finish and in all, Hopkins broke nine school records during the three-day tournament. This second place finish is all the more impressive when one factors in that the first place team, Kenyon College, has won the NCAA Division III Swimming title for now 29 straight years. To read all about the Blue Jays successful year in the pool, click here.

These three second place finishes ended one of the best years in Hopkins sports history. Evidence:

1 - Individual National Champion
3 - NCAA Runners-up (Teams)
5 - ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans
5 - Centennial Conference Champions
11 - Teams in the NCAAs
16 - FINAL DIRECTORS' CUP RANKING

Got to love sports!

Commencement 2008 - A Photo Montage

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of volunteering at the Johns Hopkins University 2008 Commencement ceremonies. This was actually my first time attending a Graduation ceremony, since I graduated college back in 1997. Even though I witnessed very little of the ceremony (I'll explain why in a second), I am so glad that I was able to be on the Homewood campus on May 22, 2008 to share in the pomp and circumstance.

The most significant part of the day for me was that the JHU Class of 2008 is the first I was involved with when I arrived at Hopkins 4+ years ago. I've known graduating seniors over the past few years, but this was the first year that I knew a lot of seniors, had worked with many of them, and admitted a percentage of them back in 2003. It was nice to see everything come full circle for students like Jillian, Stephanie, Amanda, Candido, Michelle, Dan, Zach, Brandon, Phil, etc. etc. etc. ... I could go on and on.

My only regret is that I was not able to witness much of the day. I was not able to see these favorite students of mine actually walk across the stage and get their diplomas, nor was able to applaud with their family and friends, nor did I hear Bill Nye speak, nor did I experience President Brody's final graduation ceremony. I am happy I volunteered and will continue to volunteer in the future, but I need to choose a better job next time. See I volunteered for what seemed to be the coolest job available - Golf Cart Driver. And though it was pretty awesome driving a 6-seat golf cart all across the Homewood campus, it took away from everything else. Basically, my day started at 7am and ended around 4:30pm, and I'll got out of the cart 3 or 4 times total to stretch my legs. The rest of time was spent shuttling friends, family, graduates, grandparents, kids, and even one Dean across the campus and to the various parking lots. Though tons of fun, next year I am going to volunteer for a role that puts me near the stage for the ceremonies.

I had a great plan to take a ton of pictures but that backfired. Instead a share a mix of official photos and photos borrowed from some of the graduating seniors. Enjoy!!!

And if you want even more Commencement information, hop on over to the Video Blog for a wrap-up video of the ceremonies, or review the May at Hopkins entry of the Blue Jay Buffet blog that has Commencement as the featured story of the month.

Updates 2.0

Lots been going on this week, so instead of being miserable watching my mediocre NY Mets lose to the Atlanta Braves once again, I have devoted this evening to providing you all with some important updates. It would be easy for me to start this blog entry with some traditional popular culture references ... such as how I am not sure if I can wait any longer for the season finale of LOST next Thursday ... or how I think my addiction to Grand Theft Auto 4 has become a full blown illness ... or how I look forward to a double feature of summer movies over Memorial Day weekend (Iron Man and Indiana 4) ... or how I really hope the NHL Stanley Cup series between Pittsburgh and Detroit is as amazing a series as it is set-up to be ... but instead of elaborating on these topics I am going to go straight to the updates. So without further adieu...

TRANSFER DECISIONS UPDATE

As of late this afternoon (Wednesday, May 21), transfer admissions decisions have been released. In the morning, the Transfer Admissions Committee confirmed decisions on the just over 730 applications for Fall 2008 admissions, with just under 70 students being admitted. Decision letters were dropped off at the Baltimore post office at just around 4:00pm and a little while after that decision emails were sent to those applicants who provided a working email address with their application.

Congratulations to those admitted transfer students, and as mentioned in the last two Insider Blog updates, we hope you will use the new Transfer Exchange section of the Hopkins Forums to ask questions and obtain useful information. JHU_Tanya and the other JHU Transfer Buddies are a great source of information as you make the decision whether to "stay or go."

To those not admitted, we understand your disappointment. Applying as a transfer student to Hopkins is quite competitive, especially since we have so little room in the class for transfer students. We wish you the best of luck with your continued college search.

Finally, for those who did not receive a decision email, please note that just like with the release of freshman decisions we are unable to re-send decision emails. You will need to wait for your decision to arrive via the postal mail. The Admissions Office will begin to receive phone calls starting next Tuesday (May 27) for those who would like decisions to be released over the phone. Note that the Admissions Office is closed on Thursday for Commencement and next Monday for Memorial Day, and on this Friday are unable to discuss transfer decisions over the phone.

WAIT LIST UPDATE

Not much new news to report from what I wrote on May 9th. The number of offers of admissions to wait list students this year stands at just about 30 students. We continue to be deliberate about our choices on whether or not we need to admit additional students from the wait list. All signs currently point to either a small handful of additional offers in the next week or no additional offers at this time. I wish I had more to report, but nothing has been finalized. Continue to check the Wait List Discussion Thread for any additional news.

What ever decisions we make in the next week or so, it is apparent that we will once again choose to release the majority of our wait list some time in early June. Additionally, we will most likely decide to hold a small percentage of students on an extended summer wait list. For details on how the summer wait list works, I suggest reading this update post from last year. Continued patience is much appreciated.

COMMENCEMENT 2008

In just about 7 hours from now I will be arriving at the Homewood campus to volunteer for Commencement 2008. I have the fantastic job of driving around campus in a golf cart to help people get from one place to another during the busy day of Commencement activities. This is actually my first ever Commencement day at Hopkins, because this time of year I am usually on vacation in the Bahamas. Come to think of it, this is actually the first graduation I will ever attend since entering the field of college admissions ten years ago. I am happy that I am able to attend this year, as the Class of 2008 is the first class at Hopkins that I was involved with the admissions selection process. There are some amazing students graduating tomorrow, ones that will truly be missed.

One of the cool things about the Hopkins Commencement ceremonies is that there is a live webcast. If interested, and have some free time on Thursday ... check it out.

GO HOPKINS GO!!!

Besides Commencement ceremonies, the Memorial Day weekend is a huge one for Hopkins fans. Both the Men's Lacrosse team and the Men's Baseball team will be vying for National Championships this weekend.

The Men's Baseball team has made it to their second Division III World Series in school history. On Friday in Appleton, WI the baseball team will take on Adrian with hopes in remaining in the winner's bracket and having the chance to host the trophy on May 26th. Stay updated here.

The Men's Lacrosse team makes another appearance in the LAX Final Four, this year held at Gillette Stadium in New England. On Saturday, Hopkins faces nemesis Duke in one of the two semifinal games, with the hope that we can repeat our success from the 2005 and 2007 Final Fours by beating Duke once again. If so, then we face the UVA vs. Syracuse champion on Memorial Day. Can you say 3 championships in 4 years??? Fingers crossed. Watch all the excitement on ESPN2 or keep updated here.

I'll be back next week with additional updates if available, and hopefully some great pictures from Commencement and maybe a couple of National Championships too.