Navigating the Johns Hopkins Undergraduate Admissions: A Guide to Letters of Recommendation and Requirements

Gaining admission to Johns Hopkins University requires careful preparation and a strong application. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the university's admission requirements, with a particular focus on letters of recommendation.

Understanding Johns Hopkins' Selective Admission

The acceptance rate at Johns Hopkins is 6.4%, making it an extremely selective institution. To stand out from other applicants, it is essential to meet the university's academic expectations and impress the admissions committee with your extracurricular activities, essays, and letters of recommendation.

Academic Requirements: GPA and Standardized Tests

Meeting GPA requirements and SAT/ACT requirements are crucial for getting past the initial screening.

GPA Expectations

Johns Hopkins requires you to be at the top of your class. To compete with other applicants, you'll need nearly straight A's in all your classes. The school average GPA is 3.93. If your GPA is at or below this average, a higher SAT or ACT score can help compensate, especially if you're currently a junior or senior, and your GPA is hard to change in time for college applications.

SAT and ACT Requirements

Submitting either the SAT or ACT is mandatory. While Johns Hopkins may not have a strict SAT score cutoff, a hidden SAT requirement exists. The 25th percentile SAT score is 1530, and the 75th percentile SAT score is 1560.

Read also: Ultimate Guide to Hopkins Gear

Superscoring: Johns Hopkins uses superscoring, meaning they will combine your highest section scores from all your test dates to form your Superscore. This allows you to focus your energy on a single section at a time and take the SAT multiple times to achieve the highest possible score. If your SAT superscore is currently below 1560, it is strongly recommended that you consider prepping for the SAT and retaking it.

ACT: The average ACT score at Johns Hopkins is 35. The 25th percentile ACT score is 34, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 36. Aiming for a 36 or above on the ACT will significantly increase your chances of admission. Unlike some colleges, Johns Hopkins likely does not superscore the ACT, giving you more chances to improve your score by retaking the test.

Optional Essay: Johns Hopkins considers the SAT Essay/ACT Writing section optional and may not include it as part of their admissions consideration.

Beyond Academics: Impressing the Admissions Committee

While high SAT/ACT scores and GPA are vital, a strong overall application is essential for a school as selective as Johns Hopkins. This includes demonstrating your strengths through coursework difficulty, extracurriculars, letters of recommendation, and personal statements.

Letters of Recommendation: Providing Additional Insights

Letters of recommendation are crucial components of your application, offering insights from teachers that complement your own self-presentation. They provide further support for what you’ve shared about yourself and supply additional context around who you are as a student and classmate.

Building a Timeline

Begin thinking about requesting your recommendations early in your senior year to give your teachers ample time to write thoughtful and effective letters. Reach out to them at the start of your senior year to give them time to balance your request with their other responsibilities. These recommendations are meant to provide the admissions committee with insight into who you are from a perspective other than your own, so you don’t want them to be rushed.

Choosing the Right Recommenders

The most compelling letters come from recommenders who know you well, regardless of the subject they teach. It is important to choose teachers who know you well regardless of what subject they teach. Consider teachers who:

You've bonded with through classroom discussions.
You've spent extra time working through problems with them outside of class (course-related or otherwise).
Know you in multiple capacities (e.g., teacher and club advisor or coach).

Prioritizing Recent Teachers

A teacher you had in your first year may not be as well acquainted with the current version of you, as you evolve throughout high school. In general, it’s best for your recommenders to be from a class you took as a junior or senior. If you’ve taken more than one class with a teacher over the years-even better!

Highlighting Your Passions

It’s helpful for the admissions committee to learn about your experience with topics you’re particularly passionate about, although strong relationships should be the priority when choosing your recommenders. Consider asking an English or social studies teacher to write you a letter if you’re an activist at heart or love to write. Talk to a science or math teacher if you’re fascinated by data or how things work.

Providing a "Brag Sheet"

Even teachers you’re close to are not always aware of your varied interests, aspirations, accomplishments, and personal context. To help them emphasize what you’ll bring to a campus community, provide a “brag sheet” with details about your passions, involvements, and what you’re most proud of.

Read also: Decoding Johns Hopkins GPA

Seeking Guidance

For guidance about recommendation letters and other components of the college application, your high school counselor can also be an excellent resource.

Additional Admission Requirements and Information

Application Essentials

Every school requires an application with the bare essentials - high school transcript and GPA, application form, and other core information. Many schools, as explained above, also require SAT and ACT scores, as well as letters of recommendation, application essays, and interviews.

QuestBridge Partnership

Johns Hopkins University is a QuestBridge College Partner.

Eligibility

Students who have graduated high school or earned a GED and have less than 12 semester-based credits from another institution are eligible to apply. If you’ve already earned a bachelor’s degree, you are not eligible to apply for undergraduate admission to Hopkins.

Application Status

Check your application status, view your financial aid checklist, and access your admissions decision through the applicant portal.

Equal Opportunity

Johns Hopkins University is committed to equal opportunity for its faculty, staff, and students. To that end, the University does not discriminate based on sex, gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.

School of Education Requirements

Students must apply online to be admitted to a School of Education (SOE) degree or certiﬁcate program. Ofﬁcial transcripts from all institutions of higher education attended are required, not only from the institutions that conferred the degree(s). All applicants with in-progress degrees at the point of admission are required to complete and confer their degree before the start of their first semester enrolled.

GPA Requirements for SOE

For both undergraduate and graduate degrees, the applicant must have earned a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) in all previous undergraduate and graduate studies (including for incomplete programs of study and programs still in progress). Note: In exceptional circumstances, the School of Education may consider admitting an applicant whose GPA falls below 3.0.

International Applicants

Applicants for admission must have the respective testing agency, Educational Testing Service (ETS) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), provide the Office of Admissions with official score reports, which are considered for admission. institutions must be evaluated by an authorized credential evaluation agency and sent to the Ofﬁce of Admissions in place of transcripts.

GRE

Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) must have been taken within ﬁve years of the start of the desired admission term.

Application Materials

All application materials become the property of the Johns Hopkins University Admission Office and will not be returned.

False Information

If Johns Hopkins University receives false, fraudulent, deceitful, or misrepresented information that is material to student admissions as part of the application process, the student is subject to sanctions. These sanctions can include denial or revocation of admission, as well as revocation of credits or degree(s) earned at Johns Hopkins University. The School of Education reserves the right to rescind any offer of admission if discrepancies are found between uploaded and official academic records and test scores, or if altered or forged documents are submitted.

Transcripts

All official transcripts from previous institutions (whether a degree has been earned or not) must be listed on the online application form and submitted in an official format to the Office of Admissions.

Complete Applications

Only complete applications will be eligible for review. The applicant must ensure that all materials are submitted to the Office of Admission by the published deadline. The Office of Admissions will make every attempt to notify applicants of missing documents. However, applicants are responsible for ensuring all required documents are received by the Office of Admissions and that the application file is complete.

Additional Information

The Admissions Committee(s) reserve the right to request additional information from an applicant, including an interview. The Ofﬁce of Admissions reserves the right to deny any application that arrives after the deadline.

Rolling Admission

Where listed, rolling admission means completed applications are reviewed up until approximately three weeks before the program’s start date. Applications will be accepted until programs reach capacity. If a program reaches full capacity, a notice will be posted on the admissions and individual program pages. Applicants applying for federal ﬁnancial aid or scholarship consideration are recommended to submit a completed application by April.

Admission Decisions

The Office of Admissions receives and processes all applications for admission to the School of Education programs, working closely with applicants and the program areas to verify the status of each application. Some programs review and make recommendations on a rolling basis, while others meet regularly to review applications and make decisions according to a set schedule. Admission decisions are made after a full review of the materials in the completed application. Programs consider grade point average and, for some programs, standardized test scores. Qualiﬁed applicants may also be contacted to schedule a personal or group admission interview.

Accepting Admission

Applicants will be required to accept or decline the offer of admission using the School of Education’s online application portal. Requests for deferred admission will be considered by a program only after an admission offer has been made, accepted, and an enrollment deposit has been paid (if required by the program). If a deferral is granted, the applicant may not apply to any other School of Education program. A student who requests and is approved to defer admission is considered under an obligation to enroll and attend the academic program the following year.

Withdrawal Policy

Note: Newly admitted students who have registered (matriculated) for a course and intend to withdraw from classes in their first semester should contact the Ofﬁce of the Registrar - see also Withdrawing from a Course.

Health Insurance

University policy requires all full-time students enrolled in residential degree programs to maintain adequate health insurance coverage. International Students with an F1 or J1 visa status are required to purchase the student health benefits plan and are not eligible to waive coverage.

Sending Test Scores

JHU SOE will only accept scores sent electronically and directly from ETS, the testing provider. If you wish to send us TOEFL “MyBest Scores,” we will accept them. However, all TOEFL scores we receive will be made available to the program reviewing your application. When requesting scores from IELTS, please contact the center where you took the test.

Waivers

If you qualify for a waiver, you can locate the waiver form in the online application.

International Coursework

It is the applicant's responsibility to provide the necessary paperwork and payment to an approved evaluation service and request that an official copy of the report be sent directly to the Johns Hopkins School of Education Office of Admissions from the evaluation agency. Below is a list of NACES-approved agencies.

Canadian Degrees

Degrees or credits earned at a Canadian higher education institution do not require international course-by-course evaluation if (1) the transcript is in English and (2) the institution is a member of Universities Canada (formerly the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) or other accrediting body recognized by the United States Department of Education. If you received a degree from a college or university in English-speaking Canada, please have your institution submit transcripts directly to the SOE Ofﬁce of Admissions. 2800 N.

Bachelor's Degree Requirement

The Johns Hopkins University School of Education's admission policy requires that applicants hold a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited college or university, or an equivalent degree as determined by a regional accrediting agency. The Johns Hopkins School of Education does not currently offer undergraduate courses for applicants to enroll in a fourth year of undergraduate study or a bridge program.

International Students and Visas

Students who are admitted to a full-time, in-person program may be eligible for an F-1 or J-1 student visa. Upon arrival at Johns Hopkins, international students holding an F-1 visa must visit the Office of International Students (OIS) and bring their passports, I-94 cards, and I-20 Forms. Before leaving the United States for any reason, the I-20 must be signed by an OIS staff member for the student to re-enter the country.

Full-Time Study for F-1 Visa Holders

Students on an F-1 visa must pursue a full-time course of study in a residential program at the school listed on the currently valid Form I-20 during every academic session or semester, except during ofﬁcial school breaks. Summer semester courses are not considered when calculating full-time F-1 visa status, although credit earned during summer semester courses may be applied toward a student’s degree. To comply with USCIS regulations, all F-1 students must register for the full course load at the beginning of each fall and each spring semester.

Support for International Students

Assisting students with F-1 visas is a central component of the support provided to international students by OIS. The ofﬁce can also help students who hold other nonimmigrant visas and direct them to the appropriate resources or government ofﬁces. All current international students on F-1 visas sponsored by the School of Education are automatically subscribed to the International Service listserv upon the first semester of enrollment.

Summer Semester Admissions for International Applicants

Note: For summer semester admissions, international applicants may be considered for full-time graduate degree programs only.

Graduate Non-Degree Special Students

Post-baccalaureate students who wish to take graduate-level credit courses (.500-level and above) but are not interested in earning a degree or certiﬁcate may enroll as graduate non-degree special students. Note: Certain degree program courses are not available for students enrolled as Graduate Special students. Applicants are encouraged to conﬁrm their eligibility and the availability of their selected courses before applying for non-degree status. The Doctor of Education and Doctor of Philosophy degree programs do not permit Graduate Special students to enroll in doctoral-level courses.

Admission Standards for Non-Degree Students

Candidates for graduate non-degree special status must meet the same academic standards for admission as SOE degree candidates. Applicants wishing to register for courses above the .500-level must receive approval from the academic area of emphasis to which the course belongs. Some courses are restricted to degree-seeking students only. Prior admission to graduate non-degree status does not guarantee subsequent admission to a School of Education degree or certiﬁcate program. Any application of credits earned under the graduate non-degree status toward a degree or certiﬁcate is subject to approval by the program to which the applicant is seeking admission.

Alumni Status

Graduate non-degree special student status is tailored for School of Education alumni, both graduate degree and certificate holders, who are interested in taking additional courses for personal and professional development. School of Education alumni may enroll in other classes by completing the online application.

Continuous Enrollment

If you have not registered or been enrolled continuously in consecutive semesters and have not been granted an approved leave of absence or academic pause.

Transfer Credits

The maximum number of graduate credits earned at another accredited college or university that may be transferred into a graduate certificate or master’s program in the School of Education varies by program, but in no case shall it exceed three credits for graduate certificates and six credits for master’s degrees. The maximum number of transferable graduate credits allowed for doctoral programs is 36 credits for the EdD program (42 credits in some instances) and 12 credits for the PhD program. For graduate certificate or master’s programs, the School of Education will only accept transfer credits for courses taken no more than five years before a student’s acceptance into the program.

Changing Programs

Students who have already been admitted to a degree or certiﬁcate program and who wish to change to another degree or certiﬁcate program within the same program area must request the change to be approved by the Program Lead or Department Chair. If an admitted student wishes to change to another degree or certiﬁcate program outside the program area where the original offer of admission was granted, they must contact the Ofﬁce of Admissions for further instructions. Admitted students seeking to change programs are not automatically admitted to a new program; their requests must be approved by the appropriate person(s) and the decision communicated directly to the student.

Second Master's Degree

Graduates with a School of Education master’s degree who subsequently enroll in a second master’s program must complete 30 additional credits beyond the first master’s program to earn a second master’s degree. The second master’s program may, however, include specific program requirements that obligate students to take more than the minimum 30 additional credits. (Refer to individual program descriptions in this catalog for specific credit requirements.) Students should submit an online application. 2800 N.

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