Hopkins Insider

Meet the JHU Admissions Committee

For the past few years when the calendar turns to mid-February, I have posted a series of blog entries that introduce you all to my colleagues, the Johns Hopkins Undergraduate Admissions Committee. (You can click on the Admissions Staff Profiles catgeory to see all those past entries.) I have always enjoyed posting these entries because during this "waiting phase" it provides applicants a chance to find out a little bit more about the people who actually are reading the applications.

This year I am even more excited as I put together this post as I have not seen my colleagues in more than a week, and was getting to the point of forgetting who I work with. The double blizzards of 2010 led to the unprecdented shutting down of Johns Hopkins for a full week. While the students enjoyed a 9-day weekend, my colleagues and I were stuck at home as Baltimore got blanketed with 40+ inches of snow.

Interesting trivia note: Did you know that Baltimore with 79.9 inches of snow leads all U.S. cities with the highest snow accumulation for this winter season so far. More than Buffalo, more than Chicago, more than Boston, more than Denver, even more than Fargo.

As we all became infected with cabin fever and had to try to avoid going stir crazy, we thankfully (??? right word ???) all had enough applications to read from home. I think we are all looking forward to re-uniting in the office on Monday to share tales of the epic storms and the even more epic digging out process. The only thing we are not looking forward to is the forecast of more snow starting Monday evening.

 

In the past, my colleagues and I have completed staff profiles that let you learn a little bit about us, how we approach our jobs, and some of our favorite things. With little staff turnover, I decided to just post links to the old profiles below. Then next week I will post profiles for a new colleague and a returning colleague. Then starting the week of February 22, I will post a new series of Admissions Staff Profiles. This time each of the counselor completed a fun, Facebook-style "Get To Know You" survey. So keep checking back over the next month to learn all about the people reading your applications.

So without further adieu, allow me to introduce the Johns Hopkins Undergraduate Admissions Committee: (click the dates to access past profiles)

John Birney

Connecticut, New York

January 24, 2006, March 3, 2008

Amy Brokl

California, Washington

January 31, 2006, February 28, 2008

Mark Butt

Delaware, New Jersey, Canada

February 19, 2007, February 25, 2008

Daniel Creasy

Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont

February 7, 2006, February 21, 2008

Sherryl Fletcher

Illinois, Michigan, Ohio

February 14, 2006, February 14, 2008

Sarah Godwin

Colorado, District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin

February 6, 2009

Stacy Hernandez

Maryland

February 3, 2006, new profile coming soon!

Rachel Cowan Jacobs

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, U.S. Virgin Islands, International

February 10, 2006, February 7, 2008

John Latting

Dean of Undergraduate Admissions

February 17, 2006

Dana Messinger

Pennsylvania, Virginia

profile coming soon!

Shannon Miller

Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon

January 17, 2006, February 4, 2008

Chloe Rothstein

Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming, Mexico

January 31, 2008

Snow Day

As most of you probably already know, the Baltimore-D.C. metro area was hit with a major blizzard over this past weekend. Nearly 30 inches of snow fell between Friday and Saturday, crippling the city yet providing an amazing opportunity for Hopkins students to become children again and enjoy a fun-filled snow weekend. The weekend has been extended as the University is closed this Monday, a rare occurrence in the history of Johns Hopkins University.

While the students enjoy this day off and another opportunity to play in the snow, I on the other hand am beginning to go a bit stir crazy. For four straight days I have been in my apartment basically reading applications non-stop. I need to get out. Unfortunately though there are piles of snow that needed to be removed from my car first. I have made three separate shoveling trips for a total of three hours, and still probably have another hour to go. I will get out soon ... hopefully.

To commemorate this momentous blizzard of 2010, I asked a number of the students I know to share their pictures from the weekend with me. So here is a slideshow of those pictures, as well as some of mine, to help put into perspective the snOMG / Snowpocalypse / B'morizzard of 2010:

Thanks to Miranda, Steph, Brian, Keith, Mandy, Lauren, Saznin and Tyler for sharing pictures. Special thanks to Tabitha and her housemate Shanna who provided some of the best shots in the whole slideshow.

Current reports say that another storm is ready to hit Baltimore tomorrow evening and drop anywhere from 6-16 more inches of snow. Whatever does fall this week, it will just add to the highest total of snow in this history of Baltimore for one winter season. I guess I finally know what it feels like to live in Buffalo.

Whether there are more snow days ahead, I know where I will be for foreseeable future ... in my office (home or Mason) reading applications. No snow days for Admissions_Daniel ... oh well.  

Now What? The Waiting Phase

A month ago the Regular Decision application deadline passed and thousands of high school seniors entered "The Waiting Phase." As the calendar turns to February, most applicants would agree that the next two months of anticipation might be the most difficult part of the whole college admissions process. For those who submitted their applications way before the January 1 deadline this waiting phase is even longer. I do sympathize with you all, but not too much though, since for the next two months my colleagues and I are inundated with evaluating all of your applications. While some of you lie awake at night trying to predict what will happen at the end of March, my colleagues and I lie awake at night reading application wondering if the end of March will ever arrive.

The keys to the next two months are patience and distraction. I respect that the first concept is hard to accept, but being patient and allowing the process to work is your only option. When on vacations, my family has this phrase we always say: "Hurry up, and wait!" Whenever this is stated by a family member it is a reminder to be patient and a reminder that we are on vacation so stress shouldn't be present. Think of these next two months as a vacation from the college admissions process ... be patient and realize that stress will get you nowhere. It is out of your hands now.  

In my experience the best way to remain patient is to remain distracted. Remaining busy the next two months is great as it will keep your mind off the pending decisions. But I realize this is new territory for you all, so I thought I would present you all with a list of ways to remain distracted throughout February and March. I hope some of these help, and feel free to share you own distraction tools in the comments section:

* De-construct every bit of information possible about the final season of LOST.

* Enjoy your senior year. Get excited for your prom, your senior trip, your graduation, and all the other great things that come with being in your final year of high school.

* Spend quality time with your friends and family. Take lots of pictures that will be important to you when you are away at college next fall.

* Attempt to solve an easy problem, such as Universal Health Care, the Mid-East conflict, or maybe Global Warming.

* See all the Oscar nominated films before the Academy Awards air on March 7th.

* Start preparing for college. Learn how to cook easy meals. Learn how to do laundry. Talk about money management.

* Stay engaged with your school work. Senior year matters. And stay active with your extracurriculars too (they can be a great distraction).

* Consider creating a college bucket list ... all the things you want to accomplish before you get your bachelor's degree.

* Virtually visit the colleges you have applied to, to see if you can learn something new. For instance, with Hopkins you should be checking out resources like our Academics Blog or the various links in the @Hopkins section of Hopkins Interactive.

* Support the NHL. It is a truly great sport and will only get better during the Olympics. And if you are looking for a team to support may I suggest the Washington Capitals who just won their 11th straight game. Feel free to be a front-runner.

* Do not stalk admissions counselors. Let us do our work.

* Make the ultimate iTunes playlist.

* Participate in strange "off-topic" discussions on the Hopkins Forums.

* Create your own language. If James Cameron could do it for Avatar, how hard could it be.

* If you haven't done it yet, send thank you notes to those who assisted with your college applications, wrote your letters of recommendation ... and yes that includes your guidance counselor.

* Stay tuned to the Hopkins Insider blog throughout the month of February and early March as we will present our annual opportunity to Meet the Admissions Committee.

One last piece of advice before I head back to my "ready to review" queue of applications. Try as hard as possible to not participate in the admissions frenzy these next two months. To remain patient and distracted, you have to stay away from the frenzy. By frenzy I mean the daily articles that appear in newspapers and Web sites about college admissions. You've seen them ... articles about more applicants than ever, about how competitive it will be to get into college this year, about strategies for improving your application after you apply, or about any other topic semi-related to college admissions that feed off of applicants during the waiting phase. And yes the frenzy definitely includes Web sites like College Confidential, which in my opinion visiting that site might be the worst thing you can do while you wait for decisions to be released.

So remain distracted, do not have a countdown, and enjoy your senior year. The light at the end of the tunnel is near.