Admissions rate drops for class of 2015

Last Tuesday, Hopkins sent out acceptances to the class of 2015, setting a record-breaking acceptance rate of 18.3 percent, the lowest in the school’s history. The admitted students were reported to be not only as academically strong, but even more diverse than those of previous years.

This year 19,388 students applied with 3,550 gaining admission. This is an increase from last year, which had an applicant pool of 18,459 students. 3,787 of those applicants gained admission. The number of students applying to Hopkins has doubled in the past decade, with nine consecutive record applicant pools.

According to Dean of Admissions John Latting, the low acceptance rate was due to the growth of the applicant pool this year. The number of students admitted has stayed approximately the same while the number of applicants has increased.

Both he and Dennis O’Shea, the Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs, felt that the drop in admissions rate was due to the increased interest in the University.

“I think the popularity of Johns Hopkins among high school seniors continues to grow, which is gratifying,” O’Shea said.

The lower acceptance rate may also be due to the University accepting less students than previous years. In 2009, Hopkins accepted 4,309 students, 1,350 of which somewhat unexpectedly enrolled, causing the University to make adjustments to accommodate the unusually large incoming freshman class. In light of that experience, the University has been more careful to not overadmit students. According

to O’Shea, although that is not the only reason the University admitted fewer students this year than the previous two years, it definitely was one of the reason.

“We admitted 800 less students than two years ago,” O’Shea. “We’re being reasonably conservative here. If [we] need to waitlist to fill the class, we will do that.”

The academic strength of this year’s crop of admitted students, however, remained similar to previous years’. The median GPA of the accepted students was 3.88, which is the same as those of last year and the year before that. Their median combined SAT score was 1470, again the same as that of last year and a ten point increase from two years ago.

In terms of geographical diversity, students from all 50 states are included in the admitted class of 2015, this occurrence being the first time in a while. The top five states represented were N.Y., Calif., N.J., Md, and Penn. with N.Y. moving ahead of Calif. this year.

302 international students were admitted this year with 67 different countries represented, an increase from the 58 countries represented last year and 274 international students admitted last year. The top countries represented were South Korea (77), Canada (28), China (25), Turkey (18) and India (16).

The number of Hispanic/Latino students admitted this year compared to last year increased from 382 to 426. The number of African American/Black students admitted also increased, from 308 to 350. The number of Native American Indians admitted fell slightly from 34 to 32. The number of Asian/Asian Americans and Caucasian students fell compared to last year, from 907 to 898 and from 1,799 to 1,602 respectively. The percentage of under-represented minority students admitted increased from 19% to 23%.

The amount of financial aid that was offered was just over $40 million. The amount this year increased about $1 million compared to the amount given out last year.

The way in which Admissions selects students is through a series of rounds. The first round consists of a careful read-through of a student’s application. It takes about 20 minutes for a thorough read-through, although it can take longer or shorter than that. Their applications are read by members of the admissions staff, who are organized geographically to read applications from their respective regions.

The second round is shaped by a committee focused on the academic interest of the applicant. For example, the Engineering committee would read applications of students with the intent of majoring in Engineering. Also, the staff will re-read denied or waitlisted applications to see if they want to move some students up and to confirm admitted ones from the first round.

In the third round, the committee stops thinking about applicants on a case-by-case basis and selects applications on a class basis. This committee essentially shapes the incoming freshman class. Factors that this round consider include out-of-school interests and the academic mix of the class.

The admissions office also utilizes a statistical model, which was created by Professor John Wierman of the Whiting School of Engineering. The purpose of the model is to predict the likelihood that a given student will enroll if admitted.

“[The statistical model] is actually not relevant to whether we admit that student or not,” Latting said. “It’s relevant to how many students we should admit. It has nothing to do with which students to admit.”

There are about 40 different factors that go into the model, such as where an applicant lives, his/her gender, race, income, academic scores, academic interests, whether he/she is a recruited athlete or not and whether he/she visited the school or not.

Latting expressed more interest in increasing this year’s yield than focusing on a low acceptance rate. He expressed his positive outlook on a higher yield this year.

“We think the appeal of the University is increasing,” Latting said. We’re working really hard in April to recruit students. We’re investing more and more in financial aid. We think we’ll be more competitive in attracting students than last year.”

Latting shared his thoughts on why more students are choosing to apply to Hopkins. He said that there are several reasons why more are choosing Hopkins.

According to Latting, students want to attend a university with a strong reputation, not only in the U.S. but in the world and which is home to professors at the top of their field. They want to go to schools that they see as a good investment for the rest of their lives.

He says that Hopkins specifically has a reputation for being academically rigorous and has all those qualities. Students who choose to come here have a sense of purpose and know that Hopkins is not a party school.

That being said, he said that the perceptions and reality of the social life here are on the upswing.

“The perceptions are quite extreme and we’re really looking to make those more in balance,” Latting said.

And now that the University has succeeded in persuading students to apply, it is seeking to persuade them to enroll.

“We have a very strong class, and so the job for the next month is for us to sell Hopkins to the [admitted students],” O’Shea said. “We will be telling students why they are making the right choice to come here.”

There are several ways in which Hopkins is working to aggressively recruit students. A new program called SOHOP, which stands for Spring Open House and Overnight Program, is underway. The program will welcome students and parents to Hopkins and will allow students to stay at Hopkins overnight.

That is a change from previous years, wherein students stayed at Hopkins only for the day. The Program is meant to increase interaction between admitted students and the Hopkins student body.

“We’re trying to bring Hopkins students together with admitted students much more than we’ve done in the past,” Latting said.

Other strategies include having current Hopkins students e-mail admitted students in their regions, setting up interactive websites for admitted students, and hosting welcome receptions around the country such as in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The focus is not on getting more applicants necessarily, but rather, getting the students who have been given the chance to enroll to accept their offers. That said, Latting clarified that a low acceptance rate and a high yield rate are not everything.

“Admit rate is not an end in and of itself, nor is yield,” Latting said. “Ultimately what matters is the qualities of the kids who come here in the fall.”