2009-2010 Johns Hopkins Application Thread

[pharaoh88]

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Ok, JHU, I still haven't gotten a complete email and I submitted on the 4th of July. Should I call? I hate to be that annoying kid. But this is kinda bothersome/worrisome.

Haha. I submitted around then and have heard nothing since the "we got your secondary email" if that helps.

 

[SportingMD54]

Haha. I submitted around then and have heard nothing since the "we got your secondary email" if that helps.

When did you mail everything in? It took a long, long time.

 

[ksmi117]

Haha. I submitted around then and have heard nothing since the "we got your secondary email" if that helps.

It does, thanks.

When did you mail everything in? It took a long, long time.

I mailed my stuff on July 6th. Got the "yay we got your stuff" email on July 20th. It shouldn't take that long to downloaded my letters.

 

[SportingMD54]

It does, thanks.



I mailed my stuff on July 6th. Got the "yay we got your stuff" email on July 20th. It shouldn't take that long to downloaded my letters.

Hmm. I dunno. Here is the email I got.

CONFIRMATION OF COMPLETE APPLICATION

We have received all materials required in support of your application to The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Your application will now be sent to the Committee on Admission for review. This process may take anywhere from several weeks until the end of April before a decision is reached. We will contact you as soon as possible after the Committee has completed its review of your application.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
The Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine
Office of Admission
733 N. Broadway, Suite G49
Batimore, MD 21205

 

[LAman10]

Ok, JHU, I still haven't gotten a complete email and I submitted on the 4th of July. Should I call? I hate to be that annoying kid. But this is kinda bothersome/worrisome.

you can only call M-W 11a-3p... east coast time

 

[ksmi117]

you can only call M-W 11a-3p... east coast time

Good to know.

And yeah, I want that email. Gimme.

 

[Doe87]

I got the receipt of secondary 2 days ago. However, my application is not complete. I don't really know why. My letters and AMCAS have been verified since July 9.

 

[AspiringPsychDC]

i don't even know why i added this school to my list... i can dream right? 3.47 and 36, any shot at all?

dont listen to the haters... if you wrote a sincere, well-thought out primary and do the same with secondaries you definitely have a good shot. Remember the averages listed in US news are just that - averages. That means there are people below and people above. Plus that MCAT will give you a good shot at almost any school. Assuming you're well-rounded and not depending on your MCAT alone to get you in, anywhere from 35 on up is great. If you can set yourself apart with essays and interview well you have every right to think you can get in...of course I have not been accepted anywhere but have done a good bit of reading and talking to various advisors and thats what I have gathered...

 

[JKstarks]

So the Hopkins website says that we need to have "24 semester hours in the humanities, social sciences and behavioral sciences." That's definitely the biggest humanities requirement I've seen so far. As an engineer for my first three semesters, I pretty much had NO humanities (at my school, engineers pretty much have their schedules forced down their throats), and then after switching to a Bio major I had a lot of catching up to do. What of these classes would you guys say would fall under the above category? Should I even bother filling out the secondary?

Freshman Writing Seminar: Medieval Art of
the Mediterranean 3.0

Introduction to China 3.0

Intro to Animal Behavior 4.0 (yeah I know this is a reach but it DOES say behavioral sciences above haha)

Introduction to
Psychology 3.0

Freshman Writing Seminar: Memoirs and the Story 3.0

Will take next semester:

Greek Mythology 3.0

Intro to Microeconomics 3.0

Will take Senior Year: Whatever else I need


What a bummer, should I even bother applying?

 

[Forsberg]

So the Hopkins website says that we need to have "24 semester hours in the humanities, social sciences and behavioral sciences." That's definitely the biggest humanities requirement I've seen so far. As an engineer for my first three semesters, I pretty much had NO humanities (at my school, engineers pretty much have their schedules forced down their throats), and then after switching to a Bio major I had a lot of catching up to do. What of these classes would you guys say would fall under the above category? Should I even bother filling out the secondary?

Freshman Writing Seminar: Medieval Art of
the Mediterranean 3.0

Introduction to China 3.0

Intro to Animal Behavior 4.0 (yeah I know this is a reach but it DOES say behavioral sciences above haha)

Introduction to
Psychology 3.0

Freshman Writing Seminar: Memoirs and the Story 3.0

Will take next semester:

Greek Mythology 3.0

Intro to Microeconomics 3.0

Will take Senior Year: Whatever else I need


What a bummer, should I even bother applying?

Yeah ya know I was a little concerned about that too. Even for any major, 24 of these credits seems like a lot. Anyone know what subject classes fulfill this requirement? I mean like general subjects (history, literature, psych, soc). Thanks

 

[adeline]

24/3=8 courses.

Eng x 2.
Language x 1.
Psych x 1.
Speech x 1.
US History x 1.
Art Appreciation x 1.
Soc x 1.

 

[maybee]

Hi there! The answer might be obvious but I'm just playing it safe. ;p

For LOR, where it lets you pick:
-Committee/Advisor (Required if you have attended a college with a Committee or Advisor)
-Faculty Member (Required if the college you have attended does not have a Pre Medical Committee or Advisor)

Our school doesn't have a "committee", but we do have Advisor, and I am having my LORs send in as a packet of 5 letters (3 of these are faculty) through my advisor. Would I pick the 1st one or the 2nd one?

 

[Doe87]

I still have not received a complete email even though everything was in at least a week ago.

 

[straubest]

I still have not received a complete email even though everything was in at least a week ago.

i submitted on 7-20 and still have no word on completion...i too am a little worried but there isnt much i can do.

 

[ksmi117]

I submitted on 7/4 and nothing yet. I think I shall call them today.

 

[Forsberg]

I submitted on 7/4 and nothing yet. I think I shall call them today.

Let us know what happens, I submitted later than you but still curious to see what their game plan is for these status confirmations.

 

[SportingMD54]

Whatever you do don't call these people and see if you can possibly interview the same weekend as another school to save some money.

Here is about how the conversation went.

Me: Hello, I will be in the Baltimore area on XX date. Would it be at all possible to visit the school and interview on XX week. It would save me money, but I understand if it isn't possible.
Lady: That is not how it works!!! You need to understand the process and be patiently waiting now. That is all.
Me: Sorry that I didn't understand the process...
Lady: Sound of hanging up.

It was freakin ridiculous and I am pretty heated about it. Did I say anything wrong? Can't figure this one out. Glad I didn't give them my name or AMCAS ID.

 

[adeline]

Whatever you do don't call these people and see if you can possibly interview the same weekend as another school to save some money.

Here is about how the conversation went.

Me: Hello, I will be in the Baltimore area on XX date. Would it be at all possible to visit the school and interview on XX week. It would save me money, but I understand if it isn't possible.
Lady: That is not how it works!!! You need to understand the process and be patiently waiting now. That is all.
Me: Sorry that I didn't understand the process...
Lady: Sound of hanging up.

It was freakin ridiculous and I am pretty heated about it. Did I say anything wrong? Can't figure this one out. Glad I didn't give them my name or AMCAS ID.

Welcome to Hopkins.

That is how everything is done, when they bother to answer the phone.

 

[SportingMD54]

Welcome to Hopkins.

That is how everything is done, when they bother to answer the phone.

Well, if that is true, I am seriously thinking about dropping them if they offer to interview me. I don't want to be a part of anything that treats people this way.

 

[ksmi117]

Just called. I found out that we only get the complete (or you need to send us this to make your app complete) email when they start reviewing our app. So it can be complete before then but they just won't tell us until it's our turn to go in front of the committee.

 

[Forsberg]

Just called. I found out that we only get the complete (or you need to send us this to make your app complete) email when they start reviewing our app. So it can be complete before then but they just won't tell us know until it's our turn to go in front of the committee.

Ah yes how organized of them, now we just sit in the dark for longer yes?

 

[ksmi117]

Ah yes how organized of them, now we just sit in the dark for longer yes?

Suppose so.

 

[adeline]

Well, if that is true, I am seriously thinking about dropping them if they offer to interview me. I don't want to be a part of anything that treats people this way.

Yup.

Patients, physicians, everyone.

It's the ~culture~. Gotta be cutthroat or get out. Regardless of what you might hear.

 

[davis9267]

Can someone post the correct address that we are supposed to mail our printed PDF application copy to?

Thanks!

 

[trueBelief]

Yup.

Patients, physicians, everyone.

It's the ~culture~. Gotta be cutthroat or get out. Regardless of what you might hear.

Reiterating once more. People are not cut-throat here. I just don't get it why people freak out this early in the process. I am sure the admissions office is swamped with applications, all those paper pdfs, etc and its taking them sometime to get things in order. It's still too early in the process and they admissions committee might have not even met the first time yet so I think its wise to be patient than to judge an entire school based on a phone response from someone who was probably having a bad day.

 

[trueBelief]

Can someone post the correct address that we are supposed to mail our printed PDF application copy to?

Thanks!

Office of Admissions
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
733 N. Broadway
Suite G49
Baltimore, MD 21205-2196 USA
Phone: 410-955-3182

 

[shemarty]

Whatever you do don't call these people and see if you can possibly interview the same weekend as another school to save some money.

Here is about how the conversation went.

Me: Hello, I will be in the Baltimore area on XX date. Would it be at all possible to visit the school and interview on XX week. It would save me money, but I understand if it isn't possible.
Lady: That is not how it works!!! You need to understand the process and be patiently waiting now. That is all.
Me: Sorry that I didn't understand the process...
Lady: Sound of hanging up.

It was freakin ridiculous and I am pretty heated about it. Did I say anything wrong? Can't figure this one out. Glad I didn't give them my name or AMCAS ID.

Wait a second... did Hopkins actually send you an interview invite already? (I thought no interview invites had gone out yet?) I'm going to play devil's advocate here... but if they never invited you to interview, you can't really call them up and ask to be interviewed on XX date.

If you're just looking to visit the school on XX date, then don't drop the "interview" word.

If you get an official interview invite, then it's possible to call them up and change the date to one that works better for you. I changed my Hopkins date last year in order to link it up with some other interviews to save money.

If you call completely anonymously and request to be interviewed on XX date, of course the receptionist isn't going to be very ... receptive. 🙂P) You have to at least introduce yourself by saying "Hello, I'm a medical school applicant this year and I just received an invitation to interview at Hopkins. I have a time conflict with the date you assigned me. Is it possible to reschedule to a different date? What other dates are available?"

 

[adeline]

Reiterating once more. People are not cut-throat here.

BB, say what you want about "your" "fellow med students", but the real world, both academic medicine in general and Hopkins in particular, is.

 

[LINK1290]

For the "experience you are proud of" essay, I decided to steer away from topic that I've written about in three places already (PS, Work/Activities, and JHU's "specific interest in medicine" essay). I'm a little hesitant to write about the alternative I have in mind, though, because it's an academic achievement-based experience (I was accepted to a competitive program that lets students begin college two years early) rather than an experience I'm proud of because of goodwill (which is what my original idea for this essay was). I don't want the adcom to think I'm only concerned with academic achievement. Furthermore, I've already written about this competitive program in my PS and Work/Activities, albeit not in the light that I would write about it in this essay. I don't want the adcom to roll their eyes for having to read about this program for a third time.

Taking into account the fact that this is an academic achievement-based experience, as well as the fact that I've already written about it in two places in my primary, should I go forward with writing about it one more time for this essay? I mean, JHU's secondary made us repeat a bunch of stuff that's already in our primary, so perhaps they're fine with us writing stuff reminiscent of our primary as well?

 

[MedMe]

.

 

[FML]

Did you guys include colleges attended in high school in the section that asks for educational background? I feel like I should add it, but the subsequent boxes make no sense (degree expected/received, major). This makes me think that they don't want it.

And for cumulative undergraduate GPA, I assume it's the same as the AMCAS verified GPA? (include college grades received in high school)?

Thankss! I'm driving myself crazy trying to churn these out. Why, oh, why do I work so slowly. Do you guys feel like you're turning out quality essays on par with PS or are you taking a day to do them the best you can?

yes and yes

 

[trueBelief]

Did you guys include colleges attended in high school in the section that asks for educational background? I feel like I should add it, but the subsequent boxes make no sense (degree expected/received, major). This makes me think that they don't want it.

And for cumulative undergraduate GPA, I assume it's the same as the AMCAS verified GPA? (include college grades received in high school)?

Thankss! I'm driving myself crazy trying to churn these out. Why, oh, why do I work so slowly. Do you guys feel like you're turning out quality essays on par with PS or are you taking a day to do them the best you can?

The latter. I don't think any of my short responses was as good as my personal statement. The statement did take me a couple weeks of hard work. Given that I am applying to 20 schools, I couldn't afford to spend that much time on these apps, so I tried to do my best job in a day. Let it sit for a day or so while waiting to get feedback from a couple of my friends and then submitting it after revising based on suggestions. Good Luck! 🙂

 

[iTool]

Welcome to Hopkins.

That is how everything is done, when they bother to answer the phone.

Who are you to be saying "Welcome to Hopkins"? Have you worked there or something? Surely you must be very familiar with the institution...? All your years of pre-med must have tough you the culture around here.

Fail. I work at Hopkins and hospitality is one of the priorities of the institution..in fact Hopkins is pretty obsessive when it comes to this (hospitality, patient satisfaction, etc.) because it goes into the rankings (for hospital departments). This is not suprising because many hospitals set goals for patient satisfaction because this kind of information gets published and attracts "customers," if you will. It seems as though you caught a particularly rude secretary (or most likely someone having a bad day).

And about cut-throat... that stupid rumor needs to die. The medical students that I have met in the wards, through work and volunteering, etc., have been wonderful. Sure, they are very driven, intelligent, accomplished, etc., but I am most impressed by their down to earth-ness, professionalism and (as far as I can tell) sincerity. Really nice people, in my opinion. It looks like Hopkins favors students with really interesting life experiences on top of smarts, MCAT, ECs, etc.

SportingMD54, are you really going to let this rumor and the opinions from this anonymous poster (who is vouching for a seat at this school) deter you from applying? Honestly, that is foolishness. If you have concerns, see for yourself if/when you get an interview but don't let this (cut-throat.. how ironic) poster convince you otherwise.

 

[bigman225]

I've never understood why schools get labeled "cut-throat." Any top medical school is going to be chalk-full of type A personalities. You'd be absolutely insane to expect anything else. But anyone with the credentials to get into JHU does not need to cut anyone else's throat to succeed.

 

[trueBelief]

Who are you to be saying "Welcome to Hopkins"? Have you worked there or something? Surely you must be very familiar with the institution...? All your years of pre-med must have tough you the culture around here.

Fail. I work at Hopkins and hospitality is one of the priorities of the institution..in fact Hopkins is pretty obsessive when it comes to this (hospitality, patient satisfaction, etc.) because it goes into the rankings (for hospital departments). This is not suprising because many hospitals set goals for patient satisfaction because this kind of information gets published and attracts "customers," if you will. It seems as though you caught a particularly rude secretary (or most likely someone having a bad day).

And about cut-throat... that stupid rumor needs to die. The medical students that I have met in the wards, through work and volunteering, etc., have been wonderful. Sure, they are very driven, intelligent, accomplished, etc., but I am most impressed by their down to earth-ness, professionalism and (as far as I can tell) sincerity. Really nice people, in my opinion. It looks like Hopkins favors students with really interesting life experiences on top of smarts, MCAT, ECs, etc.

SportingMD54, are you really going to let this rumor and the opinions from this anonymous poster (who is vouching for a seat at this school) deter you from applying? Honestly, that is foolishness. If you have concerns, see for yourself if/when you get an interview but don't let this (cut-throat.. how ironic) poster convince you otherwise.

👍

Finally someone else standing up for my school. 🙂

 

[adeline]

SportingMD54, are you really going to let this rumor and the opinions from this anonymous poster (who is vouching for a seat at this school) deter you from applying?

Oh, honey. I ain't been premed since before "premed" was something you could be.

And that is the last I will say on the subject. My status otherwise is none of your business. Even on an "anonymous" message board.

 

[Food]

Oh, honey. I ain't been premed since before "premed" was something you could be.

And that is the last I will say on the subject. My status otherwise is none of your business. Even on an "anonymous" message board.

Oh yay...it's the whole "I'm older than you are" argument. That one is so compelling that it could solve all the world's problems.

 

[JasonE]

Fail. I work at Hopkins and hospitality is one of the priorities of the institution..in fact Hopkins is pretty obsessive when it comes to this (hospitality, patient satisfaction, etc.) because it goes into the rankings (for hospital departments). This is not suprising because many hospitals set goals for patient satisfaction because this kind of information gets published and attracts "customers," if you will. It seems as though you caught a particularly rude secretary (or most likely someone having a bad day).

these are pretty bad reasons to show care for their patients.

 

[HereGoesNothing]

these are pretty bad reasons to show care for their patients.

Agreed. And it says nothing at all about how the school treats its students. I am applying here and I like the school. I'm not trying to say that I think it would be a miserable place to study medicine because I actually think it would be great to go here. But that argument didn't convince me at all that the school offers a hospitable environment to its students.

 

[iTool]

these are pretty bad reasons to show care for their patients.

Agreed. And it says nothing at all about how the school treats its students. I am applying here and I like the school. I'm not trying to say that I think it would be a miserable place to study medicine because I actually think it would be great to go here. But that argument didn't convince me at all that the school offers a hospitable environment to its students.

I understand your concerns, but medicine is a business after all. Hopkins aims to be the best in everything and I see nothing wrong with that. Obviously, as a healthcare provider, you want to be as caring and understanding of the patient's needs as possible in order to insure quality treatment. However, as an institution, you also have to be aware that you're in a business and things like this matter to [current and future] patients. Regardless of motivation, the people here are pretty good at being hospitable and taking good care of patients.

As far as how the school treats its students, you will have to come here and see for yourself.😀

 

[JasonE]

iTool, are you a med student at hopkins or an undergrad? neither? just curious

 

[adeline]

Regardless of motivation, the people here are pretty good at being hospitable and take good care of patients.

LOL, what are you, a marburg pt?

 

[iTool]

iTool, are you a med student at hopkins or an undergrad? neither? just curious

I have a few affiliations with Hopkins, but I guess the most relevant one is employment. I work for the School of Medicine on both the Bayview and East Baltimore campuses.

 

[SportingMD54]

No worries I have already applied. This is a reach school too anyway. I do not really expect to get anything from this place. Maybe my request was a bit much, or maybe the person I was talking to was having a serious case of PMS. Who knows, but I am not worrying about it anymore. I stick by my original thought that it wasn't too much though. I simply wanted to know where I stood, and wanted to know how likely it would be that I would have an interview close to the date of another interview. Perhaps it did not come off that way. It doesn't really matter as whether I go here or somewhere else I will still get to be a doctor.

 

[CantFigure1Out]

Hey…. School starts soon, and I'm brimming with school spirit, so I thought I'd help out the current crop of applicants. I'm already extremely excited to meet those of you who'll end up interviewing at Hopkins....

One of the biggest lessons that I learned during my application cycle is that much of what is said on SDN and in the premed world as a whole is not at all reliable. For the most part, everyone is just as much in the dark as everyone else. Almost all of what you read here about a certain school, or about MCAT/GPA requirements or poop hotdogs or whatever, is hearsay from people with no firsthand experience at any of those med schools and/or no experience with the application process. Please realize this, and do not allow what you read here to significantly impact your feelings about Hopkins or any other school.

I, too, was misled by the Hopkins stereotypes when I applied last year. I came to my interview all ready to hate Hopkins, but upon meeting the students there, by far the coolest of anywhere I interviewed at, Hopkins instantly became my top school. The Hopkins kids are not at all "cutthroat," and they have the most breathtaking backgrounds and personalities of any school. What I also found surprising was how their utter magnificence did not fuel pretentiousness; the Hopkins kids are remarkably normal and you'd never guess that they were Hopkins kids. But certainly don't take my word for it; come see for yourself!

To SportingMD54…I hope you see how your request could have been construed as being a bit manipulative by the phone lady, who btw has probably had 1000 identical "in the area" calls from disingenuous premeds, trying to backhandedly muscle The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine into just doling out interviews, under the guise of "simply seeing where they stand." Not to suggest any sort of scheming on your part, but surely you can understand how someone who deals with such bold machinations all day might grow intolerant of this. Your indignation seems to suggest that you may not have been aware of all this. But anyway, again, come see us firsthand before you formulate your opinion, indignation or otherwise. And certainly don't let a 5-second phone interaction be grounds to pass up an interview at Johns Hopkins, if you're so fortunate as to receive one (ya never know); that's just a bit irrational.

Now, the "when were you in the minority" question can be about anything. I don't know how some people ended up thinking that it was referring exclusively to race/ethnicity lol. Personally, I think writing about race/ethnicity or a disagreement of some sort would be a trap of triteness if you don't have something exceptionally remarkable to talk about. If you read about what Hopkins is looking for on the admissions site, you'll see that the school really prides itself in taking "unusual" people. That stuff isn't just promotional fluff, so try really hard to be different and creative. I wrote about my experiences completing two very dissimilar majors in undergrad, talking about how I was a bit of an outsider to both communities since I didn't fully belong to either.

Good luck all! The whole process starts out really slow and then moves really fast. Before you know it, you'll be anxiously waiting for med school to start and looking back🙂

 

[ksmi117]

Thanks for the help CantFigure1Out. Super helpful! 🙂 Good luck at school.

 

[Equality]

Just called. I found out that we only get the complete (or you need to send us this to make your app complete) email when they start reviewing our app. So it can be complete before then but they just won't tell us until it's our turn to go in front of the committee.

Thanks for calling to find out! And I guess thanks to SDN for connecting pre-meds so I don't have to call with the same question and upset someone. =D

 

[LINK1290]

EDIT: Never mind my question. I got an answer.

 

[SunnyBlues]

Thanks for calling to find out! And I guess thanks to SDN for connecting pre-meds so I don't have to call with the same question and upset someone. =D

Whoops. Actually, I called today with the same question. 🙄 And spoke to a very nice woman in the MSTP admissions office who took the time to look up my file. I called because, well, sometimes things do get lost in the mail - I waited a month after mailing my secondary to check on it, though. She said everything had been received and that my application is currently being reviewed. Never did get an email!

 

[2014MD]

.............