2025-2026 Johns Hopkins

Started by chilly_md
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greenhondacivic said:
I went to a quarter system school and took one quarter of biochemistry. That translates to only 2.7 semester hours, which is just short of their biochem requirement of 3.0 semester hours. Is anyone in a similar situation? I just graduated and am weighing my options. I would feel silly paying for and taking another biochem course for a med school that is SUCH a reach :/
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I'd reach out to them and ask for an exception, they'll probably grant it. Biochem was on the MCAT, after all. You don't want to stay silent now and risk getting your offer rescinded later.
oolongtealover said:
Another question about quarter system and the prereqs. Are you listing the hours as your semseter hours or quartre hours. I originally planned to put the semester conversion, but then the prereq form also asks you to list whether you took the classes on a semester or quarter system so i started doubting myself
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I'm not involved with admissions, but I would think you'd want to list quarter hours if you're also choosing quarter system on the same form.
 
chilly_md said:
2025-2026 Johns Hopkins Secondary Prompts

2. We recognize academic journeys can be complex and varied. If applicable, please briefly explain any withdrawals (W), incompletes (I), or academic coursework grades below a B on your transcript. Your explanation helps us understand your academic history better and how you have overcome challenges. (300 word limit)
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For this question, does anyone know if you'd need to write about a B- grade, or are they looking for C+ and below?
 
would it be bad to stick my wonder essay in the "additional info" prompt? i think its one of my best essays honestly in terms of story telling/character/growth/impact etc. and it wouldn't be out of left field considering they *did* used to ask about it
 
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For question three, what would be good to discuss as an MSTP applicant? I considered writing about research but Q5 already asks that. Otherwise, I'm pretty lost on what is so different about their specialties (seems to have the same stuff as everyone, or maybe I'm looking in the wrong place), let alone how to spend 300 words talking about my vague interest in whatever fields.
 
waitingroom said:
For question three, what would be good to discuss as an MSTP applicant? I considered writing about research but Q5 already asks that. Otherwise, I'm pretty lost on what is so different about their specialties (seems to have the same stuff as everyone, or maybe I'm looking in the wrong place), let alone how to spend 300 words talking about my vague interest in whatever fields.
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For Q3, I focused on different elements of the school I found really attractive, as I figured the MSTP section I would go in more detail (to try to not repeat information and show off as much as I could in the albeit limited space we were given)
 
greenhondacivic said:
I went to a quarter system school and took one quarter of biochemistry. That translates to only 2.7 semester hours, which is just short of their biochem requirement of 3.0 semester hours. Is anyone in a similar situation? I just graduated and am weighing my options. I would feel silly paying for and taking another biochem course for a med school that is SUCH a reach :/
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any update on this? im in the same situation
 
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yearningqueen said:
actually how do i pay, the option hasn't populated for me?
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did the option eventually populate for you? also having the same problem :/ come on jhu please take my money

edit: yeah i was just being impatient but it does pop up like 30 min after submitting everything!
 
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greenhondacivic said:
I went to a quarter system school and took one quarter of biochemistry. That translates to only 2.7 semester hours, which is just short of their biochem requirement of 3.0 semester hours. Is anyone in a similar situation? I just graduated and am weighing my options. I would feel silly paying for and taking another biochem course for a med school that is SUCH a reach :/
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I actually emailed them last year about this exact thing and they said that 2.7 semester hours (4 quarter hours) is acceptable!!
 

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Confused about these two (for reference, I'm applying MD-PhD):

"Please review the Johns Hopkins Medicine Website. Is there an area of medicine or a particular medical specialty at Johns Hopkins that interests you and why? (300-word limit)"

and

"What draws you to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine? Reflect on how our mission, culture, and academic community align with your values, experiences, and aspirations as a future physician. In your response, please highlight specific aspects of both the Hopkins community (academic, research, and/or extracurricular opportunities) and the Baltimore community, particularly the patients and families that we serve. Elaborate on how you intend to actively engage with and contribute to both of these communities as you pursue your medical education. (300-word limit)"

I thought I would write about the labs I'm interested in joining for the second one, but then for the first one all I can really say is "I'm interested in X field because Y," is it meant to be Hopkins specific? Because then I think it would belong in the second prompt...so is the first one meant to be purely personal? Or are they both 'Why Hopkins' ?
 
purrkinje said:
Confused about these two (for reference, I'm applying MD-PhD):

"Please review the Johns Hopkins Medicine Website. Is there an area of medicine or a particular medical specialty at Johns Hopkins that interests you and why? (300-word limit)"

and

"What draws you to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine? Reflect on how our mission, culture, and academic community align with your values, experiences, and aspirations as a future physician. In your response, please highlight specific aspects of both the Hopkins community (academic, research, and/or extracurricular opportunities) and the Baltimore community, particularly the patients and families that we serve. Elaborate on how you intend to actively engage with and contribute to both of these communities as you pursue your medical education. (300-word limit)"

I thought I would write about the labs I'm interested in joining for the second one, but then for the first one all I can really say is "I'm interested in X field because Y," is it meant to be Hopkins specific? Because then I think it would belong in the second prompt...so is the first one meant to be purely personal? Or are they both 'Why Hopkins' ?
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I used the first one to describe how my own background, research experiences, and general goal as a physician-scientist informed the specialties I was interested in. I mentioned a few research opportunities but it was mostly about my own background and how that fits into what I would do as a physician.

For the second one, I talked about PIs in grad departments, clubs, MSTP curriculum, etc. and why I was interested in Hopkins (normal Why Us essay).
 
blonolo said:
I used the first one to describe how my own background, research experiences, and general goal as a physician-scientist informed the specialties I was interested in. I mentioned a few research opportunities but it was mostly about my own background and how that fits into what I would do as a physician.

For the second one, I talked about PIs in grad departments, clubs, MSTP curriculum, etc. and why I was interested in Hopkins (normal Why Us essay).
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thanks!!!
 
Has anyone else gotten an error message every time they try to pay the application fee? I've tried now with two different credit cards and it's not working. I entered the details incorrectly the first time but I guess the website didn't forgive me even after getting it right the second time....
 
maybefuturedoctor7 said:
Has anyone else gotten an error message every time they try to pay the application fee? I've tried now with two different credit cards and it's not working. I entered the details incorrectly the first time but I guess the website didn't forgive me even after getting it right the second time....
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Personally not for this school, but I did receive a few error messages for other schools because my credit card company had blocked my card after thinking that I was hacked after making several $100 purchases in a row haha
 
Does the Attestation tab show up after a little while after everything was marked as received (and then the payment button)?

EDIT: Mine popped up after a little moment! :>
 
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i had an interview at hopkins last month and it went horribly. the first 20ish minutes was fine but then once we got to the list of questions that they ask every applicant, my interviewer started getting really annoyed and repeating the same thing along the lines of "i'm trying to understand... blah blah blah... or HOW exactly did you...." or "i get _... but i'm really trying to understand." "right, but WHAT exactly would you_." it felt really unproductive and i've done mock interviews and other traditional interviews before so i know my responses have been solid and well liked by different people. it felt like she was really grilling me and unsatisfied with what i was saying so she kept asking follow up questions. even when i felt my answers had been adequate and i'd shared a good patient story or provided solid logic, it felt like she was just shooting down everything i said. i tried to not get flustered and just take it by stride but it felt really demoralizing. she seemed super disinterested throughout the interview, would often interrupt me, and i saw her yawning during one of the responses. i also asked solid questions linked to the work she was doing in the baltimore community and she still seemed so zoned out and like she didn't care. i was really shocked by this interview experience because i've had amazing, warm, and conversational traditional interviews at other schools. it was surprising because a lot of the current students and applicants this cycle were talking about how chill and conversational their interview was and mine felt like the exact opposite. (the student interview was wonderful though). hopkins is obviously a dream school but i feel like this one person has ruined my chances at something i worked so hard for. it feels so unfair. does anyone have a similar experience or thoughts on what to expect? i'm really scared and this is going to be eating at me until march.
 
confusedpringle said:
i had an interview at hopkins last month and it went horribly. the first 20ish minutes was fine but then once we got to the list of questions that they ask every applicant, my interviewer started getting really annoyed and repeating the same thing along the lines of "i'm trying to understand... blah blah blah... or HOW exactly did you...." or "i get _... but i'm really trying to understand." "right, but WHAT exactly would you_." it felt really unproductive and i've done mock interviews and other traditional interviews before so i know my responses have been solid and well liked by different people. it felt like she was really grilling me and unsatisfied with what i was saying so she kept asking follow up questions. even when i felt my answers had been adequate and i'd shared a good patient story or provided solid logic, it felt like she was just shooting down everything i said. i tried to not get flustered and just take it by stride but it felt really demoralizing. she seemed super disinterested throughout the interview, would often interrupt me, and i saw her yawning during one of the responses. i also asked solid questions linked to the work she was doing in the baltimore community and she still seemed so zoned out and like she didn't care. i was really shocked by this interview experience because i've had amazing, warm, and conversational traditional interviews at other schools. it was surprising because a lot of the current students and applicants this cycle were talking about how chill and conversational their interview was and mine felt like the exact opposite. (the student interview was wonderful though). hopkins is obviously a dream school but i feel like this one person has ruined my chances at something i worked so hard for. it feels so unfair. does anyone have a similar experience or thoughts on what to expect? i'm really scared and this is going to be eating at me until march.
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So sorry to hear about that, that really sucks. I had the same experience with a different school last week! One of my interviewers was exactly how you described while the other one was incredibly kind and seemed to love all of my responses. I think the fact that two different interviewers reacted so differently to virtually the same answers speaks to how so much of this process is based on luck lol. I just tell myself that I did my best and not everyone's going to like my best (and that's okay)! You go this!
 
confusedpringle said:
i had an interview at hopkins last month and it went horribly. the first 20ish minutes was fine but then once we got to the list of questions that they ask every applicant, my interviewer started getting really annoyed and repeating the same thing along the lines of "i'm trying to understand... blah blah blah... or HOW exactly did you...." or "i get _... but i'm really trying to understand." "right, but WHAT exactly would you_." it felt really unproductive and i've done mock interviews and other traditional interviews before so i know my responses have been solid and well liked by different people. it felt like she was really grilling me and unsatisfied with what i was saying so she kept asking follow up questions. even when i felt my answers had been adequate and i'd shared a good patient story or provided solid logic, it felt like she was just shooting down everything i said. i tried to not get flustered and just take it by stride but it felt really demoralizing. she seemed super disinterested throughout the interview, would often interrupt me, and i saw her yawning during one of the responses. i also asked solid questions linked to the work she was doing in the baltimore community and she still seemed so zoned out and like she didn't care. i was really shocked by this interview experience because i've had amazing, warm, and conversational traditional interviews at other schools. it was surprising because a lot of the current students and applicants this cycle were talking about how chill and conversational their interview was and mine felt like the exact opposite. (the student interview was wonderful though). hopkins is obviously a dream school but i feel like this one person has ruined my chances at something i worked so hard for. it feels so unfair. does anyone have a similar experience or thoughts on what to expect? i'm really scared and this is going to be eating at me until march.
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There's a chance it could have been a stress test to see how well you'd maintain composure!
 
pushingp_remed said:
There's a chance it could have been a stress test to see how well you'd maintain composure!
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ahh maybe... are those common for hopkins? also can any past acceptees or current students weigh in on how important the interview is for final decisions? i know since they're non rolling they still go back and re-assign a score to all components of your application, so maybe there's still a chance?
 
confusedpringle said:
ahh maybe... are those common for hopkins? also can any past acceptees or current students weigh in on how important the interview is for final decisions? i know since they're non rolling they still go back and re-assign a score to all components of your application, so maybe there's still a chance?
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The interview is pretty much as important here as it is everywhere else. If the post-II acceptance rate is still 50% you may have a chance, but they haven’t released any data since the Bloomberg funding. That funding (plus the changes to grad plus loans) probably haven’t made it any easier to get in.

As for whether stress testing is common, I hear wildly different interview experiences from current students. My Hopkins interviewers were the best I had all cycle. Others say it was their worst, though I haven’t heard of any being specifically stress tested. Was the interview you mentioned your student or faculty interview?
 
TheRealBibFortuna said:
The interview is pretty much as important here as it is everywhere else. If the post-II acceptance rate is still 50% you may have a chance, but they haven’t released any data since the Bloomberg funding. That funding (plus the changes to grad plus loans) probably haven’t made it any easier to get in.

As for whether stress testing is common, I hear wildly different interview experiences from current students. My Hopkins interviewers were the best I had all cycle. Others say it was their worst, though I haven’t heard of any being specifically stress tested. Was the interview you mentioned your student or faculty interview?
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faculty 😭 i'm cooked
 
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hommefatale said:
is the data on MSAR/admit for this school accurate for what statistics look like post-most people getting full tuition? or from the year before
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The statistics are accurate but I believe you are misunderstanding the average indebtedness. The discounted tuition program students who will spend all 4 years at JHU with free tuition have not graduated yet.
 
Equivalent-Pudding15 said:
Did your interviews go the full 60 min?
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My interview with the student was only 45 minutes, with like 30 minutes of me asking them questions. decided at that point that it wasn't worth it to keep asking questions just for the sake of seeming interested, so i just said those were all the questions I had and asked the student interviewer if they had any remaining questions or advice for me that I hadn't asked about.
 
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