Johns Hopkins University is a medium-sized private research university located in Baltimore, MD, and is considered to be the first ever research institution in the United States! Pretty cool! Since Johns Hopkins is famous for their medical school, it’s no surprise that programs like pre-med, biology, public health, and biomedical engineering are some of their most popular and highly-ranked majors. Beyond just the medical-leaning STEM majors, the school has strong programs in social sciences like Econ and a very strong Computer Science department.
Johns Hopkins, or JHU, is a competitive school. Last cycle, their acceptance rate was under 7%, but their ED and ED2 acceptance rates are a bit higher, around 10%. While that’s not a massive advantage, it is an advantage. Last cycle, they took almost 1/3d of their total admits from the ED2 round. They care about ED2! If you’re wanting to apply ED2 to JHU, we’ve got you – we’ve helped tons of students in your exact position, and we can help you too.
Why You Should Apply ED2
Before we jump into the application logistics, let’s address the fairly common issue of ED2 hesitancy. Maybe you’re feeling burnt out from a rejection, unsure about committing to another binding choice, or still holding onto hope after a deferral. All of that is completely valid – but skipping ED2 is not the smartest strategic move.
Colleges closely monitor their yield rate, or the percentage of accepted students who enroll. Applying through an Early Decision round, whether it’s ED or ED2, tells the school you’re all in, which means you’re positively impacting their yield rate. And that can help tip the scales in your favor.
If you’re in the post-deferral zone or your list is top-heavy with reach schools, ED2 is one of the strongest tools left in your toolbox. There’s a lot about admissions that’s out of your control right now, but this isn’t one of those things. Choosing to apply ED2 at a school like JHU, where the admissions office pays attention to how likely you are to enroll, can genuinely shift your odds.
If you’re dealing with a deferral or rejection from your Early Decision school, we can help. Whether you need a deferral letter, a college list for Regular Decision, polishing your Common App essay, an Early Decision 2 application, or even a complete rehaul for this next round, we have you covered. Reach out to us ASAP. Everything will be okay.
The Supplement
JHU has one question, and it’s a pretty fun prompt that we don’t see often! It’s also 350 words, which is enough to tell a great story without being too long and arduous for you, the writer of the supplement. Let’s dive in!
Over the past 150 years, every monumental discovery at Hopkins has started with a first step: The first draft by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. A prototype that led to a life-changing medical invention. The first pitch that launched a new startup venture. As we commemorate the university’s sesquicentennial—150 years since its founding—we continue to celebrate first steps just as much as final achievements.
Tell us about an important first in your life—big or small—that has shaped you (350-word limit).
We love the idea of talking about an important first! And we love that both big and small are represented here. Before we start, let’s get into some general rules for this one. 1) It needs to be a story or example from high school only. 2) This should be something you’ve done, not something that happened to you. 3) We recommend not writing about something traumatic or a hardship – that can go in additional information.
Now, let’s get into how to write it. A first can be a lot of things – it could be the first time you discovered your academic interest. It could be your first time doing a particular community service thing that ended up defining your high school experience. It could be the first time you implemented a new family tradition, the first time you joined/went to/experienced a particular event or activity, the first time you discovered a hobby, etc. You have a lot of options!
The academic route might be one of the easier ones for a lot of you – especially if you have a defining moment that got you really excited about the thing you’re applying to study. Whatever you choose to write, you need to tell a story with a definitive beginning, middle, and end. Start with a lot of sensory details and bring us into the scene with you. Keep your story going by telling us how you continued to pursue this first beyond that initial exposure, or how you handled some kind of conflict or crisis that was a part of that experience.
At the end of the day, the most important thing here is that you are telling that story in an engaging and exciting way. Think about it like a scene in a movie, or with lots of dialogue to move it forward.
Submit and Wait
You’ll turn in your JHU ED2 application on the same day their Regular Decision materials are due: January 2nd. We know time is tight, but please don’t leave it until the final hour – we don’t want you to miss out because of a network crash or website overload.
Typically, JHU notifies ED2 applicants ahead of the Regular Decision timeline, but exact release dates aren’t always clear. Either way, once you’ve submitted, all that’s left to do is wait. You’ve got this!
Deferred or rejected and need help with an ED2 app? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us ASAP.