Hopkins Insider

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.

A Transfer Student's Tale: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Back in the fall, the Hopkins Insider blog had a few guest authors that shared their own personal entries. We had my Mom providing advice to parents as well as Tabitha, an international freshmen student, writing about the transition to Hopkins as an international student. I find guest authors to be a great part of the Hopkins Insider blog, because I can call on others connected to the whole admissions process who can provide their own words and expertise in areas that I am less familiar.

So today I turn to my next guest author, Tanya Lukasik, who has become in many ways my transfer admissions guru. I first connected with Tanya more than a year and a half ago through this blog, where she infamously pressured me to write more information for transfer applicants. Since that is not one of the areas I directly work with it was not one of my natural inclinations to write Transfer topics. Well, Tanya has continued to push me, and since she has become an expert in a lot of these areas I turn the Hopkins Insider blog over to her today. Enjoy!

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Following in a rather time-honored Hopkins Interactive tradition, I have listed a song title to highlight the general theme of my blog entry, the decision to embark on the transfer admissions journey, as well as to pay homage to a musical gem with significant contextual and symbolic meaning -- a classic song brought to us by no other than the ‘ultimate’ eighties band, The Clash. (Cue strum of the imaginary electric air guitar)

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Taking a moment to briefly introduce myself, my name is Tanya M. Lukasik, and I am a junior student enrolled at Johns Hopkins, double majoring in Psychological and Brain Sciences as well as Public Health, with a Pre-Medical concentration. I am interested in pursuing a career in psychiatric medicine, specifically child and adolescent psychiatry, and am originally from Long Island, New York.  I am a member of the Student Admissions Advisory Board and undeniably bring a rather unique perspective to our student admissions team, as I am a TRANSFER student -- one of the few brave souls who made the courageous decision to “go,” rather than “stay” at their previous institutions and happily ended up at Hopkins. I can state with pride and relief that I successfully survived the battle of transfer admissions, a mysterious, rather unknown undergraduate realm plagued by lengthy applications and incredibly frightening acceptance statistics; remarkably, I came out standing, unscathed, and am here to report on my transfer tales.

In an effort to reach out to the on-edge applicants who have recently submitted their transfer application(s), (the Hopkins deadline was March 15!), as well as to address the concerns of the upcoming waves of prospective transfer students, Admissions_Daniel has graciously given me the opportunity (and honor) to utilize this blog entry to offer my advice regarding the monumental decision many students, (and maybe several readers) will ponder and possibly encounter during their academic collegiate journey: the decision to transfer.“Should You Stay, or Should You Go?”

Please explain in detail why you wish to transfer to Johns Hopkins University?

Just 13 measly words! Reviewing this Johns Hopkins Application Supplement essay prompt during the summer of 2006, these thirteen words simplistically invoked such a complex, introspective personal inquiry and required an in-depth explanation highlighting why I wanted to specifically leave the ‘comfort’ of my home institution, and venture into the collegiate unknown.

What were my reasons, my motivations, my plans and my goals, and what was potentially lacking at my current university that could be offered and solved at Johns Hopkins? What was precipitating my desire to leave New York and travel to a new environment within the city of Baltimore, a campus full of new faces, new professors, and new challenges? Maybe I could sum it up with the words of the Clash front man, “If I go there will be trouble…And if I stay it will be double.” Nah, I don’t think the Admissions Committee would like that response….

“Once upon a time….” I was a sophomore at a local state university, unhappy with my overall academic experience which left me searching for a new and improved college environment, a greater scholastic challenge, and a more well-rounded undergraduate education. The limited course selections, a restrictive core curriculum, academic advising frustrations, an intellectually uninspiring campus, (rumor has it the academic buildings were designed by a prison architect), and my daily, exhausting commute, served as the perfect combination of ingredients leading to an undergraduate transfer.  Furthermore, I was interested in obtaining a top-notch pre-medical education, complete with individualized attention from professors, accessible teaching assistants, small class sizes, an abundance of science laboratories, and access to ample research and clinical opportunities, something that my current institution unfortunately could not offer.

Other valid reasons that may lead to the consideration of transferring to a new institution include:

1. Institution Size (Too small, too big? Not just right…)
2. Class Size and Types (Availability of discussions, seminars, and tutorials? Student-Teacher Ratio?)
3. Major Selection (Want to major in Neuroscience, Political Science, Public Health, Education, Classics, Basket-weaving?)
4. Course Selection and Level of Difficulty (Flexibility of Curriculum? Is it too easy, too difficult?)
5. Campus (Close to a city? Lack of pretty scenery? Safety?)
6. Student Life (Lack of a social scene, or too much partying? Campus organizations, Extracurriculars.)
7. Quality of Faculty (Is there interaction? Too involved in research? Bueller, Bueller?)
8. Off Campus Opportunities? (Research, hospitals, courts, proximity to metropolitan areas?)
9. Housing Issues (Want a chance to live on campus, or alternatively, off campus?)
10. Special Programs Offered (Want to study abroad, shadow a physician, or enroll in a class at the School of Public Health?)

Assuming the role of Sherlock Holmes, transfer student style, I went into my exploratory search looking for an institution that would meet my specific, personalized criteria. I visited numerous undergraduate admissions web sites, reviewed transfer requirements and application deadlines, and requested admissions material from universities I was interested in potentially attending during the upcoming fall.  My mailman became pretty agitated during this period, as bulky, rather heavy view books and packages from numerous colleges were sent to my home address. (Sorry Mr. McFeely!)

After narrowing down my institutional search to about ten contenders, (warning: applying to five or more schools will increase your risk for a future clinically insane diagnosis), I contacted admissions representatives with specific questions, visited admissions-based message board forums to discuss student life, (Shameless Plug: apply.jhu.edu/forums), made plans to visit five universities, took notes and snapped pictures during my campus tours, and finally, the organizational nerd that I am, I ranked my transfer university selections utilizing a “Pro-Con” List.

Important Areas to Also Consider

During the Application Phase: Meeting eligibility requirements, the time of year, your class status, your academic and professional resume, your readiness to research and visit schools, collect recommendation letters, handle transfer credits and acceptance anxiety.

During the Acceptance Phase: Are you willing to potentially move to a new campus; are you ready to meet new people coming in as a glorified freshman; are you okay with the prospect that you might graduate later than anticipated; affordability and feasibility; housing; improving your study habits; bottom line, are you ready for a totally new educational experience?

The Final Decision – Should You Stay or Should You Go?

After I received all of my acceptances during the Summer of 2007, final things that ultimately swayed my decision regarding where to transfer were:

1) My initial “PRO/CON” List analysis
2) Transfer credit processing and the acceptance of credit
3) Tuition and off campus housing costs
4) Meetings with Academic Advisors = The time they reserved to meet with me, as well as their tone, warmth, and professionalism
5) And finally, which school had imaginary trumpets blaring when I arrived…  (Please read my first guest blog, to understand)

In conclusion, the decision to transfer to a new institution is something that should not be taken lightly.  It is a process that requires the applicant to make an important personal, reflective inquiry regarding their past and their future, as well as a process that involves a tremendous amount of research, time, effort, and commitment, all boiling down to the original question, “should you stay or should you go?” I hope my transfer-related advice has served to provide some helpful assistance and to close, I’m happy to report: I’m incredibly pleased and grateful that I decided “to go…”

Update Time: Wait List News / Transfer Happenings / and LOST Theories

"It's May ... I am not supposed to be busy."

This is what I keep saying to myself. After the fury of February (finishing first reads), the mayhem of March (committee reviews), and the abundance of April (tons of visitors and events), -- [you all like that alliteration, huh?] -- the month of May is supposed to be my down time. However, this year it does not seem to be going that way. My spring travel was quite busy (details to follow soon) and now it is past 7:00pm on Friday evening and I am still at work.

Why is this you ask? Well, because after a busy day it is time to provide updates to some of my readers ... namely (1) those on the wait list; (2) those who applied for transfer admissions; and (3) those who are fanatics for LOST like me. So without further adieu ... it is update time:

WAIT LIST UPDATE

This afternoon (Friday, May 9), the Admissions Committee contacted approximately 30 students who had selected to remain on the Johns Hopkins wait list and offered them a spot in the JHU Class of 2012. Congratulations goes out to those students and we hope you all choose to attend. The Class of 2012 is shaping up to be one of our best ever, and we feel those selected today will make a great addition.

For the rest of you, please understand this is just step one in our process. Because you were not contacted today does not mean you will not be offered a spot in the class in the future. As always, we are quite deliberate in our process regarding the wait list. Everything is tied to the number of students in the enrolling class, and at this time we have slightly surpassed our 1235 enrollment target. Despite being slightly above our target, the Admissions Committee decided today to admit a handful of students off the wait list to increase our enrollment slightly and to protect against the "summer melt." (Don't know what summer melt is click here.)

I said it last year and will said it again this year ... we have not in the past, and will not this year make any rash decisions. Over the next few weeks, the staff will continue to monitor the numbers and discuss wait list issues. We may decide to admit another round of students off the wait list, or we may determine that the class is sealed. We could also choose to select some students for an extended summer wait list and release all the others. There are a number of options available to us, and we will continue to discuss all of them in relation to our enrollment figures over the coming days and weeks. We hope to have finalized all decisions about the wait list by mid-June. Once we have reached a decision, all students who selected to remain on the wait list will be notified by mail or email.

What we ask of you all now is PATIENCE. We respect and understand the frustration that comes with being asked to wait, and we are placing as much urgency on these wait list questions as possible. However, this takes time. In addition to your patience, we request that you refrain from contacting us to ask about your individual status on the wait list. As I have stated on the Wait List Discussion Thread, we do not rank our wait list. Therefore, we can not field questions from wait listed students requesting an individual assessment of one's chances of being admitted off the wait list. Your patience and restraint will be appreciated, and once an update is available I will post again.

TRANSFER APPLICATION UPDATE

The transfer student is the forgotten student when it comes to the Hopkins Insider blog, but I hope that such impressions will change with a few of the initiatives we will launch in the coming weeks. Before we get to that announcement, let me provide you all with a brief update as to where we stand with regards to transfer applications.

The Transfer Review Committee is nearly completion of the first-read evaluations of the over 700 completed transfer applications we received this year. This is a consistent total of applications for the last few years, and based on reviews the quality is on par with the previous years as well. Over the next couple of weeks the committee will be continuing the evaluation process and the plan is to release decisions by the end of May. No official date has been selected yet, as the official number of transfer students we can admit is tied to a number of issues revolving around the overall enrollment of the school.

As always, at this stage in the transfer review process the discussion is as much about the quality of each individual applicant and the fit of each applicant to Hopkins, as it is about the overall number of admits we can offer. The enrolling freshmen class size, retention rates, housing spaces, academic distribution of programs, and a number of other factors all tie into our decision making process. So there are a lot of numbers that will be figured out in the coming weeks -- but rest assured the Transfer Review Committee is hard at work.

Now for the exciting news ...

Last year I began to outreach a bit to transfer students with my "Ode to the Transfer Applicant" blog entry. I confessed in that entry though that since I am not part of the Transfer Admissions Review Committee I have little information to supply to prospective transfer students and applicants. I do the best I can and reference my colleagues often, but my focus is elsewhere in the office. But through the extremely hard work of a current transfer student at Hopkins, Tanya Lukasik, we have number of initiatives through Hopkins Interactive for transfer students.

First, in the next few days I will posting a special Guest Author entry from Tanya discussing the transfer process through her experiences. I think you will all enjoy this entry and learn a lot from her. Stay tuned.

Second, we launched today the Transfer Exchange section of the Hopkins Forums. Now transfer students have their own discussion thread to ask questions of Admissions and more importantly connect with and get advice with current students at Hopkins who successfully navigated the transfer process. Check back over the next few days as we expand this new forum section and as the "Transfer Buddies" are introduced. As always, ask your questions there for quick responses ... and if you have any feedback share it with us.

More to follow ...

LOST FANS READ ON

For those of you who read the Insider blog just for the updates on Hopkins and Admissions you may want to stop reading and move on to something more of interest to you on the Internet. For the rest of you who enjoying the random ramblings of Admissions_Daniel at times ... oh do I have a doozy of an update for you today. After last night's episode of LOST I have figured out the central mystery behind the show and specifically the Island. Yes, yours truly has figured it out. Curious? Well read on ...

The Island is ... wait for it ... wait for it ... The Island is THE HOLY GRAIL. Huh? Yes, my theory (as of right now) is that the Island is some form of mythical holy grail tied to eternal life that must be protected at all costs and against all invaders. The "Others" supposedly led by the mysterious Jacob, the ageless Richard, and the African with the piercing eyes are the hereditary knights enslaved in all eternity to protect the grail and its powers. These "Others" recruit new followers such as Ben and now Locke to protect the mysteries of the Island and its amazing healing powers. There have been many threats to the Island like the Dharma Initiative and currently with Mr. Whitmore, those who hope to unlock the powers of the Island/Grail and use them for personal gain. Add to the theory the mystery of how the certain "dead" people -- Jack/Claire's Dad, Charlie, the Mathematician, etc. (maybe even Claire herself) -- are also protecting the mysticism of the Island.

OK, clearly this is a far-fetched theory, but last night I thought I had solved the puzzle and was so excited. My theory has more holes than a pound of swiss cheese, but that is why I love this show. After every episode you are more LOST than ever and more ADDICTED than ever. I actually thought today over lunch that maybe the reason I came up with those whole Holy Grail theory is because I have been watching too much old Indiana Jones films (and the Young Indiana Jones series) and also just recently saw the Da Vinici code again. Whatever the reason, throw my theory in the mix ... who knows I could be right.

And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't somehow tie this discussion of LOST back to Hopkins. In the shower today I actually had an epiphany ... LOST = Hopkins. See one of the underlying themes of the LOST mythology is a battle of faith/theology (present in Locke) versus science/reason (present in Jack). These two ideologies are constantly in battle on the Island, and it seems that one of the end conclusions is that no one theory is correct but rather science and faith must co-exist. This being true, where else does science and faith co-exist ... well simple ... at Hopkins.

See at Hopkins we have our Natural Science and Engineering students who base their conclusions on facts and proofs. On the same campus, in the same classrooms, and in the same housing and dining facilities are the Humanities and Social Sciences students who believe in a more philosophical and theoretical approach to understanding. And what makes Hopkins great is that they co-exist and intermingle.

OK, that was even cheesier than my LOST = Holy Grail theory ... but you know this is my blog ... this is my "bully pulpit" ... and I can share on occasion some of the crazy ideas that run threw my simple mind. I hope you enjoyed these ramblings, and if you have your own theories or just want to crush and ridicule my thoughts ... use the comments section.

I am off to enjoy my weekend finally ... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY. And go Hopkins Lacrosse ... beat Hofstra (PLEASE!!!).

The Waiting Process

I find myself in a very similar place as I was this past Monday when I last posted. Except for now I am in Greenfield, M.A. not Portsmouth, N.H. ... I just finished a lackluster college fair not a successful one ... and the weather is sunny yet cold, not very cold / very windy / and very rainy as it was earlier this week. (Speaking of weather, they still have SNOW up here in New England and it is May.) Despite these exceptions, there are similarities to my current situation and that of a few days ago.

Mainly, I sit here with an hour or so of free contemplation time (a true rarity for me) and I am also eagerly anticipating getting lost into a television show which will be on at 10pm. (Get it ... lost in a TV show ... yes LOST is on in less than 60 minutes.) So with this small window of opportunity, I thought I would provide an update addressing the second audience I spoke of in my last post ... The Wait Listed.

Today is May 1st. In the world of college admissions that is one of those milestone dates. This is the day when all the admitted students must have made their decision of where they will be attending school in the fall. It is also a big date for students who are on a wait list, because now questions about enrollment, class size, and space availability can be addressed. In speaking with a few colleagues over dinner last night it seems that some schools have actually decided to start admitting students off their wait list even before May 1st. With all that in mind, I thought I would dedicate my first Hopkins Insider entry to the Wait Listed Students of the 2008 application cycle.

As far as an update, there really is not much to say. As of right now (the evening of May 1st), the Johns Hopkins Admissions Committee has made no decision about whether we will need to admit students off our wait list. Some may ask why is that, especially since other schools have made wait list decisions already. The simple answer is that we are very DELIBERATE in any decisions that we make about the enrollment of our class. We are not swayed by decisions made by other colleges and universities, as we focus solely on our own admissions numbers.

At this time it is too early for us to determine the current enrolling size of our class. May 1st is a postmark date for candidate reply forms, and since many students this year waited until the last minute to send out their responses, it will take a few days (even possibly a few weeks) for all the decisions reply forms to be received and processed. So for that reason alone we need to wait as we just don't know the accurate number of enrolling students we have received for the Class of 2012.

Many questions about the wait list and our process abound this time of year, and to help answer those question, I created earlier in April a Wait List Discussion Thread on the Hopkins Forums.

Click here to access the Wait List Discussion Thread

I hope that the information on that FAQ list is helpful, and please ask additional questions if you have them.

So basically, my message to the wait listed right now is to ... just wait. Hang in there. Be patient. I know that is not the news you want to hear at this moment, but unfortunately that is all I can share right now. As soon as I can, I will update the blog again with any wait list news. Also, remember to bookmark the Wait List Discussion Thread on the Hopkins Forums, as any useful information will always be posted there first.