JHU Application "On Hold"

[DrCharlemagne]

I did peruse the forums and did not find a post on this topic.

I applied to four programs rather late in the application period and just got a letter back from Johns Hopkins informing me that my application had been placed in a "hold" category.

Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know what the chances of acceptance from a hold would be? Furthermore, should I follow-up with a letter? Nothing substantial has changed in my situation, but I do want to express that I am very interested in the program.

My stats are fairly solid (I think); I graduated from a Seven Sisters college with a 3.8, I have great letters of rec from people who know me, my SAT/ACT scores were 1370/31 which I was assured were at least competitive if not exemplary.

Do I even stand a chance?

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[jslo85]

I personally have no experience with JHU other than quickly perusing their website/program. Generally there are 4 categories when applying to post-bacc/smp programs that adcoms place students into: 1) accepted. 2) Alternate. 3) Hold 4) Rejected. I think 1 and 4 are pretty obvious whereas 2 is more of "we're fine in accepting you if a spot opens up, you're either applied too late and those 20 some ppl already filled all the spots or those 20 had better stats than you." Normally this list is generally pretty short and getting in is semi-likely because alternate lists are usually non-ranked and are updated very frequently as soon as they recieve notice that a spot is vacant. On hold it's that we're considering your application pretty strongly and we're "ok" with it but we're waiting to see if there are more competitive applicants that come along.

If this was medical school I'd wait a couple weeks, call in to "see" the status and maybe submit a letter of intent (ie. a letter expressing how much you like the program and that you will attend if accepted). I'm not sure how this plays out for other programs. If you feel your stats are very competitive, I wouldn't worry too much, you've got a 50/50 shot imo depending on how you look at it. If there aren't that many applicants or just a weaker pool, you should get in, but at the same time, the opposite might happen. Look for other options imo while updating them on any new accomplishments occur in your life <-- this is key.