Hopkins Insider

Year Ending, RD Deadline Approaching

As the final week of 2009 and of the decade (have we figured out what to call this decade yet?) begins, I thought it best to post one of my patented FAQ entries. See at this time of year when everyone is enjoying the relaxing final days of the year, there is one group of people who are stressing out big time. Yup, the application procrastinators!!!With the January 1 Regular Decision deadline looming, this group of high school seniors are locked in their rooms frantically completing online applications, finishing supplemental essays, ordering score reports, and potentially annoying their guidance counselors and teachers because they waited until the last minute. You know who you are!!!

I have a love / hate relationship with these procrastinators. The love part is because I am one of them. Well not when it comes to huge things like applying to college (or in my case submitting my taxes each year), but I have been known to have notorious procrastinating skills. Heck, my favorite quote is from Ellen in one of her comedy shows when she says, "Procrastinate now ... don't put it off." Despite having an affinity for application procrastinators, I also dislike them since they impact on my enjoyment of what is supposed to be this relaxing week between Christmas and New Years. While my colleagues get to unwind and enjoy their time off or quiet days in the office, I must log-on every morning and spend 2-3 hours dealing with the abundance of questions we receive from the procrastinators. On any day during the last half of the month of December we get about 100 e-mail questions, and additional 10-15 posts on our Hopkins Forums or other social media sites. During this final week that number of e-mails can double to 200 per day. And by the day before the deadline, I can expect to get a nice 300 or so messages I need to respond to. This is not a complaint, just more a part of my job (one that I do not love).

So in an effort to diminish the numbers of e-mails we will receive this week, I present these answers to the most frequently asked questions of the application procrastinators. I hope these answers assist you in your last-minute haze of forms and looming deadlines. Just remember, next time when you have over three plus months to complete something, waiting until the last minute is never the best policy.

THE DEADLINE QUESTIONS
So what is the exact deadline for submitting one's application?Before the days of online applications this used to be such an easy question to answer -- you need to have a postmark date prior to January 1. Now there tends to be so much confusion over such a simple concept. Thanks again procrastinators.

The regular decision deadline is January 1, 2010. This is our online submission deadline and our postmark deadline. Applicants should submit their online application materials no later than 11:59 p.m. on January 1st. Since January 1 is a national holiday, any mailed materials should be sent by December 31, but since we are nice, we will accept application materials that are postmarked January 2, 2010 as well.

What subsequently follows are two issues - time zone questions and Common Application / Universal College Application technical difficulties. This is why I strongly urge you all to finish your applications prior to January 1 and submit it. This gives you a window in case anything goes wrong, and it rules out any confusion about time zones. There will be a ton of traffic on the Common Application / Universal College Application servers throughout January 1, and we all know that computer servers are sometimes not the most reliable devices. We are understanding of such issues, but once again, why risk it.

SUBMISSION OF SCHOOL MATERIALS
Is it a problem is you have yet to submit your application, but some of your application materials (school forms, tests, etc.) have already been submitted?: Not a problem at all. Applicants to Johns Hopkins University may submit application materials such as test scores, letters of recommendation, and school reports along with transcripts in advance of their submission of their application. These documents will be processed and placed in a pending folder until one's application is submitted, received, and processed. Then we will merge all documents and determine whether one's application is complete. To assist with the proper processing of documents we request that all materials include the applicant's full name, birth date, and school.

What if your school materials have yet to be submitted and because of the holiday week or inclement weather, they won't be submitted until after the deadline?:First, this should not be a problem since you should request this information before your school goes on holiday break. However, we understand though at times school-related application materials such as the secondary school report, transcript, and letters of recommendation cannot be sent by that date. We will be flexible with the application deadline for those parts of the application; however the student portions of the application must be submitted online or postmarked by the January 1st deadline. The school materials of the application may be sent after the January 1 deadline, but not later than January 15th. If your school materials are going to be delayed longer than that, your guidance counselor needs to call the admissions office to request an extension.

SENDING SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
Can I submit supplemental materials (such as an arts supplement) to support my application?: Applicants to Johns Hopkins University may submit supplemental information such as CDs, DVDs, slides, art portfolios, research abstracts and other such items. There are no additional forms that need to be completed nor do we have a preference regarding format. We do request that you include your full name, birth date, and high school on any supplement materials you send in. All information needs to be mailed to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions; we do not process materials submitted through e-mail. Supplemental materials should be submitted by the application deadline.

Please note that supplemental information will not be sent to academic departments for official reviews, but will remain in the Admissions Office with your application. There is no guarantee that supplemental information will be reviewed, but in most cases the Admissions committee will have some time to evaluate such additional information. Finally, it is important that original items not be sent, as the Admissions office is not able to return submitted application materials.

If sending supplemental materials, must I complete the Arts Supplement page?: No, applicants to Johns Hopkins do not need to submit the arts supplement page to submit supplemental materials with their application.

SUBMITTING STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES
Always a ton of questions about how to submit your test scores, can scores be sent via transcript, what is the deadline to submit scores, and can I confirm you have received my scores?:  The Admissions Office requires that prospective applicants send their standardized test scores (SAT, ACT, or TOEFL) to Johns Hopkins University directly from the testing agencies. Our school codes are:
 
SAT: 5332
ACT: 1704
TOEFL: 5332

The Admissions Office will accept standardized test scores submitted with an official high school transcript only if all test scores are displayed and that the scores appear officially on the transcript, not hand-written in by the student or counselor.

Test scores need to be requested from the testing agencies prior to our stated application deadlines but may arrive after the deadline. Though the scores will arrive past the deadline they will still be considered if requested in advance of the deadline. There is no need to rush score reports as they do not arrive any earlier.

The Admissions Office does not send confirmation of test scores received. You will need to contact the College Board and ACT directly to confirm that your scores were sent to Johns Hopkins University. If they confirm your scores were sent than that means they are in our database.


May I submit January standardized test scores (SAT Reasoning, SAT Subject exams, or TOEFL) with my regular decision application?: Though regular decision candidates should have completed required tests no later than December of their senior year, students may take the January examinations if they are re-taking the SAT Reasoning exam, are taking SAT II subject exams, or are submitting TOEFL exams. Although we cannot guarantee that January scores will arrive before the Admissions Committee evaluation, past experience suggests that scores taken on these dates usually arrive in time. If the tests arrive before the application review then they will be considered, but we will not delay the review of an application to wait for January test scores.

Should I rush my test scores?: There is no need to rush test score reports as they do not get processed by our office any sooner.

FEE WAIVER QUESTIONS
Does Johns Hopkins accept fee waiver requests and if so how does that process work?: If paying the application fee to Johns Hopkins University presents a financial hardship, we are happy to waive the application fee for our applicants. Johns Hopkins accept both the NACAC and College Board fee waiver forms, and also fee waivers through the Expanding College Opportunities program. As well, applicants who received finalist or semi-finalist status through the Maryland Distinguished Scholars program are eligible for a fee waiver. Finally, one may have their guidance counselor officially request a fee waiver in written form and have the guidance counselor send that request along with the applicant's Secondary School Report and high school transcript.

For students applying online who plan to use a fee waiver, the process is simple. Complete and submit your online application, and mail in your fee waiver. The fee waiver can also be faxed to 410-516-6025. We do not accept fee waivers submitted through e-mail. When completing your online application, if the option for your specific fee waiver is not available (such as Expanding College Opportunities, Maryland Distinguished Scholar, guidance counselor submitted) just choose any of the options that are available and mention in the additional information section which form of fee waiver you are submitting. Do not submit a payment as we will not send refunds. If your fee waiver request is not approved by our office after we receive it in the mail, then we will contact you to submit a payment. If the fee waiver request follows the instructions above then it will be approved. 

POST-SUBMISSION QUESTIONS
After you submit your application, immediately you start asking questions like did they receive my application; did my school materials arrive correctly; is my application complete??? As you can imagine, this becomes a very busy time in the Admissions Office as we process all the application materials. Because of the volume of records we handle, it is not possible to automatically confirm whether application files are complete or to identity which individual items have been received. Unlike many school, Johns Hopkins does not have an online system for checking application status.

Once your application is download and processed, you will be sent an e-mail acknowledgment. This indicates your application file has been opened (not necessarily that it is complete). Please remember, with thousands of applications to process this e-mail acknowledgment is not automatic and may take a few weeks to be sent. In late February, once we have processed all received application materials, we will contact students whose applications remain incomplete. Those students will be given an opportunity to provide us with any missing items before we complete the evaluation of their applications. Rest assured that application files are checked carefully for completeness.  Please do not call to check on the status of your application as we will not be able to answer such questions until the beginning of February at the earliest. Please be patient and know that we will confirm the receipt of your application once it is processed.

Some additional post-submission questions include:

When is the Financial Aid deadline and where can I learn more about applying for Financial Aid?: The Financial aid deadline for the submission of the FAFSA and CSS Profile is March 1, 2009. Please review this web site for full details: http://www.jhu.edu/finaid/prosp_stud.html.

Can I add items to my application even though the deadline has passed? Uh oh, I made a mistake in my application, how can I correct it?: Yes, we will still accept application updates and we do have a process for error corrections. It is simple. To provide an update or error correction, you must compose a cover letter and submit these materials by fax (410-516-6025) or mail to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Please note that we do request in the cover letter you include your full name, birth date, and school name (SS# is optional but can help), so that we can merge this new information with your application folder. Also note, that all updates should be sent in by February 1st. Finally, DO NOT SEND UPDATES VIA E-MAIL, as we do not process application materials received through e-mail.

Even more questions asked after post-submission. These are all legitimate questions, but all too early to ask. Once we have updated information, it will be posted on the blog.

When will decisions be released?
--- Last week in March. No official date has been set yet.
How many applications have been received?
--- Not sure yet. Vote in the poll on the right of this blog, and I will reveal the total some time in February.
How many will be admitted?
--- No clue. We have to review applications first.
What will the acceptance rate be?
--- Also, no clue. We will rely on our formulas when the time comes.

EVEN MORE QUESTIONS
Here are additional sources to obtain answers to your questions:

Admissions Site: Frequently asked questions
http://apply.jhu.edu/faqs/all.html

International Students FAQs
http://apply.jhu.edu/faqs/international.html
http://hopkins.typepad.com/hopkins_insider/2009/11/international-students.html

Hopkins Forums discussions on Application Essays
http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums/index.php?showtopic=1806 
http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums/index.php?showtopic=1442

Hopkins Forums discussion on Letters of Recommendations
http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums/index.php?showtopic=517

Hopkins Forums discussion on Interviews and the Admissions Process
http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums/index.php?showtopic=229

Applying BME FAQs
http://hopkins.typepad.com/hopkins_insider/2009/12/applying-to-hopkins-as-a-bme-applicant.html
http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums/index.php?showtopic=513

I hope these answers help, and that in some way they minimize the number of e-mails we will receive this week (probably not going to happen, oh well). And remember, there is a ton of helpful information already stored on the Hopkins Forums.

A Post for the Deferred Applicant

As promised in my live blogging of the release of Early Decision notifications, I thought it appropriate to post an entry dedicated to those of you whose Early Decision notification informed you that your application was deferred into our Regular Decision applicant pool. Before I even begin with this post, I have to strongly encourage those of you who are in this situation to review the discussion thread I have set-up on the Hopkins Forums:

EARLY DECISION DEFERS - READ THIS!

In my experience, those who receive a defer notice from their Early Decision school are confused about how to react. The news is not good, but it is also not all bad. In many ways, the news is that your reactions are going to be delayed for another three or so months. Yes, we understand that more waiting is not what you want to hear at this time, but unfortunately defer decisions are part of the Early Decision process.

Disappointment is absolutely reasonable, but you do not need to lose all hope. Every year ED defers are admitted during RD, and defers are provided the same chance of admissions as the applicants who apply regular decision. It is very important to note that at Hopkins we do not just politely defer Early Decision applicants into our Regular Decision applicant pool to delay bad news. We deny applicants Early Decision, in fact we deny more than we defer. Those who are deferred by the Admissions Committee still have a legitimate chance for admission, otherwise we would not have deferred the decision.

However, your reactions need be tempered. Being deferred does mean there were weaknesses in your application that raised concerns with the Admissions Committee. Though we do and will admit ED defers during the Regular Decision round, statistically the majority of deferred applicants will not be offered admission. During the Regular Decision review process we will offer admission to less than 20% of all applicants. The competition will be difficult during Regular Decision, however as I stated above, all deferred applicants will be re-reviewed and given a fair shot for admission. There is no advantage nor disadvantage for deferred students ... just a second chance.

What do you have to do as a deferred applicant?
Nothing. Deferred ED applications are automatically moved into the Regular Decision round of application reviews. There is nothing a deferred applicant must do. No new application needs to be completed.

There is though one thing you must do, and that is make sure you apply to other schools. Though obvious, your chance for admission to Hopkins is not guaranteed and you want to make sure you have options next year.

What should I do as a deferred applicant?
I have provided a lot of detail on the Deferred Student Discussion Thread on the Hopkins Forums, so I thought I would just share that advice here:

(2) Make sure you update the academic portion of your application. This would include mid-year grades (which will play a MAJOR role in your re-review), additional standardized test scores you may have taken, and maybe even an updated letter of recommendation from your guidance counselor.

(3) Consider updating the non-academic portion of your application. Though not required, an updated resume and an additional letter of recommendation (especially from a senior year teacher) can always help. Just make sure anything you add does contribute in a new way to your application. Do not be redundant.

(4) Write a letter to the Admissions Committee. Though not something all deferred applicants need to do or even should do, some of you may consider writing a personal letter to the Admissions Committee stressing your interest in Hopkins and why you feel you are an appropriate candidate for admissions. Consider this a cover letter to your overall application.

The most important thing you have to do is have a stellar senior year academically. By far, the most important part of the review of a deferred applicant during the regular decision round will be the academic progress and success throughout the senior year. Make sure that any updates to your application are submitted by February 1st and your mid-year report and transcript are submitted by your school by February 15th.

Also, please make sure you pay attention to the list of what not to do that is posted on the Deferred Student Discussion Thread.

I hope you have found this information helpful. If you have questions, do not hesitate to post them.

Best wishes!

Friday Favorites: ED Stats

Typically the most popular topic following a decision release day is always what did the "stats" look like. So I thought for this Friday Favorite I would look back on a variety of statistical breakdowns from the release of Early Decision notifications from this past Tuesday.

First, I thought I would re-post the official admissions statistics for the Early Decision Class of 2014. I posted these during my Live Blogging post on Tuesday, but I decided to re-post since they may have gotten buried in the middle of that long entry.

• LARGEST ED APPLICANT POOL EVER = 1,155. Up 10% from last year.
• Over this past decade our Early Decision applicant pool has risen 138%.
• The acceptance rate has dropped to the second lowest rate for the last ten years. We admitted 43% of the applicants. 493 applicants will be the first students welcomed into the Class of 2014.
• The male/female ration is 54%/46% which is impressive and a rise for women in the class.
• We have 53 under-represented minority students in the admitted class which is our largest number ever.
• As far as academic interest, 32% interested in Engineering (+2% from last year); 12% are interested in Humanities (+1%); 34% interested in Natural Sciences (-4%); 19% interested in Social and Behavioral Sciences (-7%); and 3% Undecided (-2%).
• All of our academic markers are either a slight bit up, the same as last year, or the slightest tick down. The quality of our ED admits just based of academic factors continues to amaze us all.
• New York is the top state (76) for admits, New Jersey is second (71), and Maryland is third (50). Pennsylvania (47) and California (29) round out the top five. 36 states are represented in our admitted ED class.
• 41 international students from over 17 nations - both records for our ED class.

Second, I always like to share some statistics as it relates to the use of our social media tools during the relase of notifications. And by social media tools I mean this blog, our student blogs, our Facebook group, and other such tools associated with the Hopkins Interactive Web site.

• Hopkins Insider Blog stats:
-- During the week leading up to the release of ED notifications, the blog averaged 925 hits a day. That is just up from the average 800 hits per day during a normal time frame.
-- On the Monday before (12.14) the number of hits rose to 1525.
-- On Decision release day (12.15), over a 24-hour period, there were 8899 hits.
-- The last two days the hits per day is back to about the 800 average.

• Class of 2014 Facebook Group stats:
-- Within 24 hours, we approved 186 newly admitted students into the Facebook group. That is 37% of the admitted 493 students.
-- By this post, we have approved 63% (313 students) of the admitted students into the group.

Finally, the next big STAT question is going to be what is the total applicant pool for the Johns Hopkins Class of 2014. We won't know for more than a month, but I thought I would continue a blog tradition and have the readers vote on what they think the total will be. Look to the right and you will find the poll. To help, last year's applicant pool was 16,123 ... will this year be up or down??? Vote now.

Live Blogging on ED Notification Day (Class of 2014)

Good day Early Decision applicants. The tradition of live blogging on decision notification days continues today with the release of our Early Decision notifications for the Class of 2014. As I have done the previous few years, I will be "micro-blogging" throughout the day to provide you all with a view into what transpires in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions on the day we release decisions. If you want full details on how the release of ED notifications will work today, please return my previous blog entry. You can also read previous ED Notification Day entries for 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005. So check back throughout the day and follow the process of the release of our Early Decision notifications.

December 15, 2009

12:55 a.m. EST
As I was finally preparing to go to bed this late Monday evening, I realized it was no longer Monday evening but rather it was the start of Tuesday, December 15, 2009. I couldn't resist staying up just a little bit longer to post this first entry of my live blogging journal for ED Notification release 2009. I can barely keep my eyes open right now after a long day and evening of work, so I am going to hit the pillows until my alarm clock rudely awakens me at 4:58 a.m. I'll sign off with an appropriate famous quote ... "Good night, and Good Luck."

5:03 a.m.
I almost threw my alarm clock across the room. Four hours of sleep is not enough for me. I know it is way too early in the morning when Soze won't even wake up to go for his morning walk. Enough complaining from me ... too much to do today so the day must begin.

6:01 a.m.
Just spent the last hour responding to e-mails received in our primary Admissions e-mail accounts. Lots of questions from regular decision applicants. Going to use the next half-hour to pay bills (today is pay day ... woo hoo) and watch my morning staple - Mike and Mike in the Morning.Golic and Greenberg are going to talk to me about how the Cardinals stunk last night and led to a loss for one of my fantasy football teams, and the baseball hot stove and how the Mets DID NOTHING. Yuck!

6:03 a.m.
Just noticed that the College Confidential servers appear to be down and one can't access their Discussion Forms. Have my prayers been answered???

6:51 a.m.
Finished typing out my "To Do" List for today and it is a bit scary -- it's a page and a half long. Need to get started on crossing off items, but the sleeping dog just woke so I need to bundle up and go out and walk Soze. Then shower, shave (ha ha ha - inside joke), and my 15 minute commute to work.

7:45 a.m.
As I headed out, Soze wanted me to take a picture of him and let you all know he is thinking of you and is hoping you all handle today's news well. He would have smiled but it was cold and rainy for his morning walk, plus he wanted me to leave so he could start his daily partying.

8:10 a.m.
Uneventful commute to work. Overcast weather but not as bone-chilling cold as it has been the last few days. Powered up the computer, and signed into Pandora -- today's play list will be a mix of Erasure, Depeche Mode, New Order, and the Smiths. Yes, I am a child of 80s alternative radio.

8:45 a.m.
Just headed up to the third floor to see how the stuffing and sealing of letters was going. Pretty much everything is finished. Now we just wait for Dean Latting to officially seal the class and then to the post office we will head with just over 1100 pieces of mail.

8:50 a.m. 
As I was upstairs in the Operations area I snapped a few other pictures that I thought were interesting to share.

 

First is an unprocessed bin of application mail for Regular Decision applicants. By weeks end that will be probably a stack of 10 bins and by months end it will be closer to 20 bins. (Just a few years before 98% of our students applied online the number of mail bins could reach triple digits.

  Next is a box of binder clips. Not binder clips that we have purchased. Nope these binder clips are sent by applicants. Thanks for the office supplies ... but just remember we read online so we will never see your binder clips, your sleek folders, your perfumed resume paper, etc. 

Finally, is a picture of one of the boxes that our materials are shipped in. Notice the spelling mistake? Notice the OTHER spelling mistake? Pretty hysterical ... thankfully everything in the box is spelled correctly and has the proper numbers of "S"s.

10:11 a.m. 
Just spent the last 45 minutes reviewing the updates to our Admitted Student Web Site and also all the new updates to Hopkins Interactive. The Hopkins Interactive site is now fully updated with profiles for our newest members (8 freshmen and sophomore Keith), links to all our new blogs and Twitter accounts, and a variety of other updates. Always with the release of decisions we make sure our web sites have the most updated content possible.
 
10:16 a.m.
A special "shout-out" (yes I did just write shout-out, and yes I know I am lame) to those posting comments to this entry. Thanks for the positive remarks and I am pleased to hear that you are enjoying the micro-blogging. No big updates yet. Just waiting for Dean Latting to seal the class. Be back soon.

11:01 a.m.
Took a twenty minute break and played around on Sporcle.com. So addicting. My favorite game is Countries of the World. My highest score is 186 of 195 countries. I always seem to forget Malawi and I struggle with the small island nations in the pacific near Australia. I do get Vanuatu and Palau -- those were sites for Survivor seasons.

11:30 a.m.
Now things are moving along. Dean Latting has still not given the final O.K. yet, but all the packets have been sealed and moved into mail bins. One final set of checks and we should be ready to send them on their way.

 
11:58 a.m.
THE EARLY DECISION CLASS OF 2014 IS SEALED. "And with two minutes to spare," joked Dean Latting. The bins have moved to my colleague John Birney's SUV and will be heading out onto the road and to the post office in the next few minutes.

 
12:04 p.m.
The finishing touches have been been done to our Admitted Student Web site, our new Class of 2014 Facebook group, and the Class of 2014 Discussion Sub-Forum on the Hopkins Forums. Everything is edited and ready for later this evening once e-mail notifications have been sent. Whew, those were major items crossed off my "to do" list.

12:20 p.m.
Just sent an e-mail to all the Hopkins Interactive student volunteers (also known as the Student Admissions Advisory Board). I wished them luck with their continuing finals (it is day three of finals for the fall semester) and also reminded them of the release of ED notifications. They will be the students that the new members of the Class of 2014 will interact with over the coming months.

12:36 p.m.
This will be my last update for the next few hours. I expect to be back around 5:00 p.m. Now that decisions have been mailed, the whole Admissions staff is heading out for a Holiday Celebration Party. We are all going Duck Pin Bowling -- a Baltimore tradition. It should be fun and it is well-earned as the whole staff put in tons of energy these pasts few weeks. As I depart for the afternoon I leave you all with two pieces of advice:

FIRST, go do something fun. Step away from the computer. Relax. Chat with your friends. Watch a movie. Read a book. Play a game. Spend time with your family. Take a nap. 7:00 p.m. is going to come very slowly if you stay on the computer refreshing my blog every 20 seconds. In fact, take time and don't come back until after 7:30 p.m. Don't stress right now, as there is nothing you can do now.

SECOND, I wish you all the best as you receive your e-mail decisions later tonight. My strong suggestion is that after you read your decision, log-off of your computer and go spend some time with your family. No matter what the decision is!!!

This is a major moment in your young life, and family is who you should share your initial thoughts and emotions with. Your family has been there since the first moment of your life, and they will be there FOREVER. Your family is not some online community. Afterwards you can log-on and share with others.

Let the news sink in first. React in the real world before entering the cyber world. OK, that is just my two cents ... but I do hope you all heed it.

4:45 p.m.
Back from our Duck Pin Bowling Holiday celebration. Let me put it simply ... I STINK. First game I scored a 58 and was the second worst bowler. My team came in second place which is great, especially since my score was the one they dropped. Second game I did better - a 78. I finally left when I got a strike, but it took me an additional 100 throws it seemed. I am going to stick to Wii Bowling, though my Mom and four year old niece beat me in that too.

4:51 p.m.
Thought I would share some pictures of what has gone on throughout the last few hours. First set of three pictures are of my colleagues Paul and John dropping off the decision notifications at the post office. The second set are some pics from the Johns Hopkins Admissions staff making fool of themselves, and having an amazing time doing so.

 

5:17 p.m.
Checked e-mail and Dean Latting shared some Early Decision statistics with the staff:

• LARGEST ED APPLICANT POOL EVER = 1,155. Up 10% from last year.
• Over this past decade our Early Decision applicant pool has risen 138%.
• The acceptance rate has dropped to the second lowest rate for the last ten years. We admitted 43% of the applicants. 493 applicants will be the first students welcomed into the Class of 2014.
• The male/female ration is 54%/46% which is impressive and a rise for women in the class.
• We have 53 under-represented minority students in the admitted class which is our largest number ever.
• As far as academic interest, 32% interested in Engineering (+2% from last year); 12% are interested in Humanities (+1%); 34% interested in Natural Sciences (-4%); 19% interested in Social and Behavioral Sciences (-7%); and 3% Undecided (-2%).
• All of our academic markers are either a slight bit up, the same as last year, or the slightest tick down. The quality of our ED admits just based of academic factors continues to amaze us all.
• New York is the top state (76) for admits, New Jersey is second (71), and Maryland is third (50). Pennsylvania (47) and California (29) round out the top five. 36 states are represented in our admitted ED class.
• 41 international students from over 17 nations - both records for our ED class.

Some of you will ask for additional data. Unfortunately, these are the only statistics we release publicly.

5:42 p.m.
Once again I wanted to say thanks to everyone posting comments. I really appreciate the positive remarks you are leaving and I am happy to read that you find this blog helpful. In the past someone people have written me "hate mail" about these decision release entries. Typical they say I am over-hyping the whole process. Such remarks do concern me, but in the end I feel that is the minority opinion. I think no matter what decision you all will receive in a few hours, in the end you appreciate receiving a better understanding of how the process works and knowing how much attention the Hopkins Admissions Committee pays to you and your application.

Oh and to Taylor K., the spelling of the countries is one of the hardest parts of the Name the Countries game. The former Soviet republics especially - Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, etc. - it makes me appreciate Georgia, Armenia, Belarus, and the Ukraine so much more.

6:00 p.m.
With one hour to go before we begin to release Early Decision notification e-mails I want to remind you all of a few things:

(1) We will start sending e-mails after 7:00 p.m. EST. Please note the bold, italic, underlined emphasis on the key words start and after. This means that not everyone will get an e-mail in their in-box immediately at 7:00 p.m. It can take about an hour for all the e-mails to go out. So if you refresh your e-mail in-box at 7:00 p.m. or 7:05 p.m. or 7:10 p.m. and there is no message - DO NOT PANIC and do not assume anything. Be patient and allow our e-mail servers to work properly.

(2) For those who applied for the Biomedical Engineering program (selected it as your first choice major) - if you receive an admit notification you will receive a second e-mail later this evening. That second message will be your BME decision notification. The decisions come in two separate e-mails. So if you receive an admit notification, don't assume you are also admitted to BME. Be patient and you will receive that news a little later through e-mail.

(3) For those who do not receive an e-mail notification tonight, please refer to what I wrote in my previous blog about such situations:

What happens if I do not receive an e-mail decision on Tuesday?
If an applicant does not receive an e-mail there a couple of things he or she can do: 1. Check your SPAM folders. 2. Check ANY and all e-mail accounts you have ever used during the college search process. We send the e-mail to the account you listed on your application. However, our database system does track all e-mail accounts that have ever been matched to your record, so on occasion the notification e-mail may be sent to old e-mail address. (So check e-mail addressess that you may have used when registering for the SAT/ACT for example.) 3. Have your parents check their e-mail accounts too. Not sure how that happens, but it has happened in the past. If none of those methods work, then unfortunately the student will need to wait to receive the decision in the mail, or can call on Thursday.

Every year some e-mail notifications just don't work. There are a number reasons for an applicant not receiving an e-mail notification including: no e-mail was provided on the student's application, the e-mail provided on the application is no longer active, there was a SPAM filter blocking the message, or some error occurred that caused a bounce-back. WE ARE UNABLE TO RE-SEND E-MAILS. Once again, in such situations the applicant must wait. We understand how frustrating that can be, but unfortunately mistakes can happen when processing over thousands of applications.

7:33 p.m.
All decision notification e-mails have been sent. Only four messages bounced-back as undeliverable but thankfully I was able to correct the e-mail address and forward the decision e-mail to the correct address. Got a lot of work to do, but I'll update again soon.

8:41 p.m.
Whew! So all decisions are out and I've already confirmed over 100 members into the Class of 2014 Facebook group. I will go back to doing that after walking Soze and eating a little bit of dinner. I do though want to address a few things before taking that break ...

TO THE ADMITS: Congratulations! I hope you are all so excited and got some time tonight to jump around and celebrate. You will get your admit packets soon and there will be a ton of information you will go through. Also, remember to use the Admitted Student Web Site, Hopkins Interactive, and the Class of 2014 Facebook group. But also pace yourself -- August 25th is still 9 months away. I will have more to say to you all in the coming weeks. Time to put that bumper sticker on the car!!!

TO THE DEFERS: I will be posting a blog entry for you all later in the week. I do though suggest that you all read the discussion thread that I have set-up for deferred applicants: Early Decision Defers - Read This.

TO THE DENIES: Please know that I understand how difficult receiving such news can be. My colleagues and I do not take pleasure in not offering admission to students, especially those where Hopkins is their first choice. Last spring I wrote a post to denied applicants, and I recommend you all read it: A Posted for the Denied Applicant. I do wish you all the best of luck.

10:33 p.m.
Well that's it for me tonight. I have hit the proverbial wall and my eyes will not remain open anymore. As I head off to bed I have my phone in hand and I keep dialing the So You Think You Can Dance phone numbers for Kathryn, Russell, and Jakob.

Thanks to everyone who followed this journey over the last 20+ hours.

 

Update on the Release of Early Decision Notifications

Knowing that all the Early Decision applicants are quite anxious right now, I thought I would step away from Committee work and provide an update on how the ED review process is proceeding. In addition, I have some updated information about how the release of Early Decision notifications will work this year.

So this past weekend I spent finishing up first reads on the ED applications from my region (ME, NH, RI, VT, and MA). It was a lovely weekend in Baltimore as we had our first snowfall of the winter season on Saturday and by Sunday afternoon all the snow was gone. I also got to relax a bit, which was necessary knowing that the coming week was going to be quite hectic. My dog Soze also got to rest a lot as these pictures detail -- he is finally beginning to enjoy the new chair I bought for him when we moved to our new apartment at the end of the summer.

I arrived in the office on Monday morning ready for a busy week of Committee work. By late morning the counseling staff was in our conference room with Dean of Admissions John Latting discussing how the applicant pool looked overall and what our process would be for Committee. Updating the numbers I released in a previous blog post, our official ED applicant pool for 2009-10 is 1,155 applicants, up just about 10% from last year. Following the discussion, we split into our Committee teams and got to work. And over this past week, my colleagues and I have evaluated and re-evaluated, discussed and discussed more, debated and argued, and as the weekend approaches the final touches are being placed on the ED JHU Class of 2014. We will have a bit of work to do early next week, but as we had expected decisions will be released on Tuesday.

And here is how everything will work on Tuesday:
(Make sure to review this thoroughly as there have been some changes from previous years.)

* ED notifications will be released on Tuesday, December 15, 2009.

* Admit packets and decision letters (defer and deny) will be dropped off at the Baltimore Post Office by late morning and enter the postal system later that afternoon. Admit packets are sent priority mail so they typically arrive within three days.  Our decision letters are mailed first-class and can take 4-7 days to arrive. Please note international addresses will always take longer for both types of mail.

* Starting at 7:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, December 15, we will begin sending Early Decision notification e-mails.It can take up to an hour for all of our decision e-mails to be sent so don't expect a new message in your in-box right at 7:00 p.m. Have patience. E-mail notifications are released in random order so there is no way to deduce the order that decisions will be released. Decision e-mails are sent only to those who included an active e-mail address with their application. (If an applicant does not receive an e-mail it is because either there was no e-mail provided with the application, the e-mail address provided no longer works, or a data entry error. Unfortunately, we do not re-send e-mails, so in such situations the student must wait for the mail to arrive.) We do not have a system of posting our decisions online or through a portal.

* We prefer not to release decisions over the phone. If applicants have not received their admissions decision by Thursday, December 17 then they may call the Office of Undergraduate Admissions (410-516-8171). We will only release the decision to the applicant, a parent or guardian of the applicant, or the applicant's high school guidance counselor. Decisions will be released only if the identity of the caller can be reasonably assured. Please do not call asking why a certain decision was rendered as Admissions Committee decisions are confidential and we are unable to discuss the factors behind our decisions.

* For applicants who applied to the biomedical engineering (BME) program, we have made a change this year. In previous years, since decisions about acceptance into the BME are departmental decisions we would not release such information through e-mail or over the phone, and applicants would have to wait for their admit packet to arrive. This year we will be sending BME decisions via e-mail. BME decision e-mails will come as a second e-mailto all admitted students who selected BME as their first-choice major. Those notifications will also be sent on Tuesday following the release of all other decisions. Further details about your BME decision will be included in the admit packet.

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As I have been writing about our decision releases for a number of years now, I can always anticipate some of the most frequently asked questions:

Why are e-mails sent at 7:00 p.m. EST? Haven't they been sent at 6:00 p.m. in previous years?
The reason we wait to release decision notification e-mails until the evening is we feel that receiving your college admissions decision should be a personal experience that you share with yourself and your family. We do not believe students should be receiving this news in the middle of the school day. So we will wait until the majority of our applicants are out of school (4:00 p.m. PST / 7:00 p.m. EST) to send our e-mail notifications. (Yes we understand that this system does not work neatly for international applicants.) We are waiting an additional hour this year to allow the staff who are involved in the release of e-mail decisions to make it home and prepare for the release process.

What happens if I do not receive an e-mail decision on Tuesday?
If an applicant does not receive an e-mail there a couple of things he or she can do: 1. Check your SPAM folders. 2. Check ANY and all e-mail accounts you have ever used during the college search process. We send the e-mail to the account you listed on your application. However, our database system does track all e-mail accounts that have ever been matched to your record, so on occasion the notification e-mail may be sent to old e-mail address. (So check e-mail addressess that you may have used when registering for the SAT/ACT for example.) 3. Have your parents check their e-mail accounts too. Not sure how that happens, but it has happened in the past. If none of those methods work, then unfortunately the student will need to wait to receive the decision in the mail, or can call on Thursday.

Every year some e-mail notifications just don't work. There are a number reasons for an applicant not receiving an e-mail notification including: no e-mail was provided on the student's application, the e-mail provided on the application is no longer active, there was a SPAM filter blocking the message, or some error occurred that caused a bounce-back. WE ARE UNABLE TO RE-SEND E-MAILS. Once again, in such situations the applicant must wait. We understand how frustrating that can be, but unfortunately mistakes can happen when processing over thousands of applications.

I was deferred. What does that mean?
Stay tuned. I will post information for deferred applicants a couple of days after the release of decisions.

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I hope you all find this information helpful. Back to Committee for me. Check back on Tuesday for my annual ED Notification Day blogging. I'll leave you with two things that make me happy - my niece and nephew & Glee:

 

Friday Favorites: The Amazing Guest Blog

Back when we launched Hopkins Interactive and the Hopkins Insider blog in December 2005 one of our initial ideas was to include a "Guest Blog" along with the blogs written by current students. Here is what we wrote when we debuted the Hopkins Interactive Guest Blog in January 2006:

Did you ever wonder what it was like to explore a foreign country through a study abroad program? play lacrosse at Hopkins? participate in a theater group? study engineering? apply to law school? be an international student? join a sorority or fraternity? write for the student newspaper?

Well then, you've come to the right place! Welcome to the latest addition to Hopkins Interactive: Guest Blogs. In addition to our current student blogs, we are adding this fun and new way to learn even more about Hopkins. Each Monday, the guest blogs will feature a new student who will post on a different topic, allowing you to gain a "bird's eye view" of life at Hopkins. Posts will focus on academics, extracurriculars, and social life at Hopkins - all aspects of college life here at the Homewood campus. So, be sure to check back frequently to make sure you don't miss anything!

Next month will be the four year anniversary of the Hopkins Interactive Guest Blog and though there have been changes to design and the frequency we post (normally twice a week now), the mission of the blog remains the same: Featuring a different Johns Hopkins student each week.

To celebrate we created a fun Google Map with links to hometowns (or study abroad sites) for our nearly 150 posted guest blogs. Check it out below, and click on the link for the full map:

View Hopkins Interactive Guest Blog in a larger map

Pretty cool, huh? Curious about the meaning behind the different color pins ... here is your key:

Blue = Traditional Guest Blogs
Yellow = Current Members of Hopkins Interactive who have written Guest Blogs
Red = Blogs of our Current Members of Hopkins Interactive as well as Retired Alums
Airplanes = Study Abroad Guest Blogs

The Hopkins Interactive Guest Blog remains one of my favorite projects we have ever created, as each week I truly enjoy getting to know another one of the amazing Hopkins students. The Guest Blog even spawned other blog types, including our Alumni Blogs, our Parent Blogs, and our Faculty and Staff Blogs all part of our Blue Jay Buffet compilation blog. You can even check out a JHU Gazette article from last spring that talked about our Guest Blog, Blogging a Big Hit for Admissions.

Enjoy the map and enjoy the great variety on our Guest Blog ... I know I will.

Friday Favorites: Admissions - The Musical

It's Friday and that means another Friday Favorites entry for you all. Actually, today is going to be a double dose of Friday Favorites ... woo hoo. I am working on an entry that will be posted later today, but when I stumbled upon this video earlier in the week I knew I had to share it.

Drum roll please ... ladies and gentlemen prepare for ...

ADMISSIONS: THE MUSICAL

Did you enjoy that? I wonder if this is the type of humor only people who have worked in Admissions get. Oh well, the guys from the University of Delaware did an amazing job and I just had to share it.

Back to reading files for me ... hmmm, I am thinking that today's musical selection to accompany my reading should include some Broadway tunes. I wonder why?

Applying to Hopkins as a BME Applicant

A Note of Introduction from AdmissionsDaniel: We complete our series of guest entries with this post written by my colleague Sarah Godwin. Sarah and I chair the Engineering Admissions Committee and the BME selection process, so who better to compose an entry providing advice to those Hopkins applicants considering the Biomedical Engineering major. There is a lot of confusion about how the BME selection process works, so we hope this entry makes the process more clear.

A Post For The BME Applicant
Finally, a post just for you!  If you are thinking “What is BME, and why do these students get a special post?” -- don’t worry, this doesn’t apply to you. If you have applied (or will be applying) to the Biomedical Engineering (BME) major at Hopkins, then pay attention. The application and decision notification process is different in some small but very important ways which will be outlined here for you.

Your End: The Application:
The single most important thing for you to know as a BME applicant is that you MUST (no exceptions) indicate Biomedical Engineering as your first choice major on the JHU supplement.  It is as simple as listing (03) Biomedical Engineering in the first box of question #9 on the supplement. Unfortunately, if you forget this small step, you will not be reviewed for BME. The nice thing is that is all you have to do. There is no separate application for BME applicants nor any additional requirements that must be completed.

The second important thing to note is that you fully understand the nature of the Biomedical Engineering program at Hopkins. It is first and foremost an Engineering major, that stresses mathematics and the applied sciences. It is not a direct path to medical school. In fact most BME graduates at Hopkins do not go on to medical school.  Where do BME graduates go and what do they do? It breaks down fairly evenly between 1/3 to medical school, 1/3 to Research, and 1/3 to industry. 

Our End: The Review:
Often there is some confusion about how the review of a BME applicant works. Just like all other applicants for admission, a BME applicant is reviewed completely and holistically by their regional admissions counselor first and then one of the admissions committee. A decision is ultimately rendered as to whether we will admit the applicant to the University or select another decision, wait list or deny. For those applicants who selected BME as their first choice major on their JHU supplement and have been slated as an admit, there is an additional review done in conjunction with the BME department to determine admission to the specific BME program. Basically, one is first selected to be admitted to the University and held to the same standards as the rest of the applicant pool -- then the BME review takes place.

We are also asked often what matters during the BME selection committee. Just like with all of our admissions decisions, everything in one's application matters and all factors lead to the ultimate decision. For the BME review, there is emphasis place on a few factors that include but are not limited too:

1. The applicant's academic ability, rigor, and succcess in mathematics, physics, and other related sciences.
2. The applicant's knowledge and understanding of the BME program.
3. The applicant's interest and passion for the field of bioengineering.
4. The applicant's extracurricular and academic enrichment experiences in related engineering fields.
5. The applicant's experiences with research and inquiry in the fields of math and science.

The most important thing to note though is the BME review is not just based on statistics, but the overall fit of an applicant academically and intellectually to the program .

Our End: Decision Notification:
Okay! As mentioned above, there are a lot of different potential decisions and letters you could get as a BME applicant.  I’ve outlined them all below.

Early Decision
If you’ve applied by November 1st  under our binding Early Decision program,  you will receive one of the following decisions from our office:

(1) ED BME Applicant - Admitted to Hopkins, Admitted to BME:
In your admit packet you will have a letter signed by the Dean of Admissions saying “Congratulations on being admitted to Johns Hopkins!” In addition, you will have a letter signed by the Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering saying “Congratulations, on being admitted to the Biomedical Engineering program at Johns Hopkins!”  If you get both of these letters as an Early Decision applicant – you are all set as a BME major at Hopkins. Send in your deposit check and get ready for September 2010.

(2) ED BME Applicant – Admitted to Hopkins, Not Admitted to BME:
In your admit packet you will receive a letter signed by the Dean of Admissions saying “Congratulations on being admitted to Johns Hopkins!” You will also receive a letter from the Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering saying, “We are sorry that we are not able to offer you a spot in our Biomedical Engineering program”.  What do these two letters mean?

Well, first – you should congratulate yourself on being admitted to Johns Hopkins – we’d love to have you attend! Since we are unable to offer you a spot in your chosen program, you are no longer bound by the Early Decision contract. You may choose to apply to other schools, and need not make a decision about attending Hopkins until May 1st. However, if you are still 100% sure that you’d like to come to Hopkins – you may choose any other major within the Whiting School of Engineering or the Krieger School of Arts and Science and send in your deposit. Often times students in this position select to enroll at Hopkins and choose one of our other bioengineering options, detailed here: http://apply.jhu.edu/academics/bioengineering.html.

Frequently asked questions related to this decision include:
Q:  Will my application be re-reviewed for BME with regular decision applications?
A:   No. Your application has already received a complete review for BME.

Q:  Can I transfer INTO the BME program once I arrive on campus?
A:   Most likely not. The only official point of entry into the BME program is as a first year student. In rare cases over the past few years, there have been a few openings within the program and the department has allowed current students to apply for transfer. This process is highly competitive and may not happen at all during your 4 years at Hopkins, so if your heart is truly set on this major you should consider other schools.

(3) ED BME Applicant -- Deferred:
You will receive a letter from the Dean of Admissions stating that you have been deferred. You can check out this Hopkins Forums discssuion thread to learn more about what a deferred decision means.  

Frequently asked questions related to this decision include:
Q; Will my application be re-reviewed for BME with regular decision applications?
A: No. Your application has already received a complete review for BME.  If you are ultimately offered admission to JHU, you will have the option to choose any major except BME in the Whiting School of Engineering or the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.  

(4) ED BME Applicant -- Denied:
This decision is the most difficult, and the deny decision for BME applicants is the same decision as it is for other applicants.

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Whew…those are just the possible decisions for an ED BME applicant.  Since most students will be applying regular decision, let’s look at those possible decisions:

Regular Decision
 
(1) RD BME Applicant - Admitted to Hopkins, Admitted to BME:
In your admit packet you will have a letter signed by the Dean of Admissions saying “Congratulations on being admitted to Johns Hopkins!” In addition, you will have a letter signed by the Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering saying “Congratulations, on being admitted to the Biomedical Engineering program at Johns Hopkins!”  If you get both of these letters as a Regular Decision BME applicant to Hopkins, congratulations as you got the best news possible. You will have until May 1st to make your decision and send us your enrollment form.
 
(2) RD BME Applicant – Admitted to Hopkins, Not Admitted to BME:
In your admit packet you will receive a letter signed by the Dean of Admissions saying “Congratulations on being admitted to Johns Hopkins!” You will also receive a letter from the Dean of the Whiting School fo Engineering saying, “We are sorry that we are not able to offer you a spot in our Biomedical Engineering program”.  What do these two letters mean?

Well, first – you should congratulate yourself on being admitted to Johns Hopkins – we’d love to have you attend! Since we are unable to offer you a spot in your chosen program, you are able to choose from any of our other majors in the Whiting School of Engineering or The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and are welcome to join us as a Hopkins student next fall. Often times students in this position select to enroll at Hopkins and choose one of our other bioengineering options, detailed here: http://apply.jhu.edu/academics/bioengineering.html. You have until May 1st to make your decision and send us your enrollment form.

Frequently asked questions related to this decision include:
Q:  Can I transfer INTO the BME program once I arrive on campus?
A:   Most likely not. The only official point of entry into the BME program is as a first year student. In rare cases over the past few years, there have been a few openings within the program and the department has allowed current students to apply for transfer. This process is highly competitive and may not happen at all during your 4 years at Hopkins, so if your heart is truly set on this major you should consider other schools.

Q:  Do I have to decide a new major at the time of enrollment?
A:  You can let us know the new major your intend to study but it is not a requirement. Additionally, you have until the end of your freshman year to change your mind.

(3) RD BME Applicant – Wait Listed:
You will receive a letter that you have been offered a spot on the Johns Hopkins Wait List. You can check outthis Hopkins Forums discussion thread to learn more about how the Johns Hopkins Wait List works.

Frequently asked questions related to this decision include:
Q: If I am admitted off of the Wait List, will it be to BME?
A: No.  If you are admitted off of the Wait List, you will have the option to choose any of our other majors in the Whiting School of Engineering or the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

(4) RD BME Applicant – Denied:
You will receive a letter saying that you have been denied from Johns Hopkins.  This decision is the most difficult, and the deny decision for BME applicants is the same decision as the deny decision for other applicants.

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The above covers every possible decision scenario if you apply to Johns Hopkins as a BME applicant.  Hopefully the above has answered some of your questions (and reminded you to indicate BME as your first choice major).  Please note that whatever your decision, it will be explained to you in the letters that you receive so although I would be flattered – you don’t have to book mark this page.   

Editor's Note: For additional information on applying to JHU as a BME applicant and an opportunity to ask your own questions check out the Questions Re: Biomedical Engineering (BME) discussion on the Hopkins Forums.