The good news — and bad — recently went
out to a record 16,122 people who applied for admission
to Johns Hopkins in fall 2009.
On March 27, the "Yes!" envelope went out to 3,814
high school seniors seeking admission to the
schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering. Along with
the 502 early decision admits from the fall
(up 14 percent from last year), this makes for an admitted
class of 4,319, or 27 percent of the
applicant pool. The target number for freshmen spots,
however, remains roughly the same at 1,234.
John Latting, dean of undergraduate admissions, said
that the number of admits was
considerably higher this year for two main reasons: a very
highly qualified applicant pool and the
economy.
The Office of
Undergraduate Admissions predicts a lower yield based
on the exceptionally
strong academic preparation and varied backgrounds of those
admitted — a dynamic that affords these
students many college choices, Latting said.
In terms of the economy, Latting said that Johns
Hopkins would likely face stiffer competition
from "flagship" public universities this year due to cost
comparison and a decision by some families for
students to stay close to home due to uncertainty over the
world economic situation.
"This is not based on historical data, but rather
we've been thinking through what the state of
the economy means for families," Latting said. "The
analysis says there will be a slightly smaller
percentage of middle- and high-income families who choose a
private university this year."
Because of the economy, the school has increased
overall financial aid by 5.4 percent to $44
million. Latting said that in a time when most budget lines
are being cut or frozen, financial aid remains
a top priority and needs to be fully funded.
In addition, a one-time reserve of $1 million has been
set aside by the deans to aid returning
students who have had significant changes in their family
circumstances due to the recession,
according to Vincent Amoroso, director of the Office of Student Financial
Services.
"The university has made a commitment to returning
students to continue to fund their financial
aid eligibility, even if their level of need increases,"
Amoroso said.
Funds to support the incoming freshman class, Amoroso
said, were kept proportional to those
allocated to upperclassmen, with slightly more than 24
percent going to incoming students.
Both Latting and Amoroso stressed that the university
will be able to retain its racial, ethnic
and economic diversity.
"The incoming freshman class will represent all
different types of students," Amoroso said.
"Given the state of the economy, it is a bit harder to
predict the outcome. However, we do believe the
economic diversity of the class will be comparable to that
of previous years."
Of note, the number of offers of admission to
international students increased 50 percent.
Latting attributed the increase to the university's
increasing global reach and the rising tide of
applications from abroad.
Of the 4,319 admits, 48 percent are women, and 15
percent are minority students (310 African-
American, 337 Hispanic, 22 Native American). The median SAT
scores for this group were 710 in
critical reading, 740 in math and 720 in writing. Of the
1,634 admitted to the School of Engineering,
36 percent are women.
The top 10 states of admits, in descending order, are
New York, California, New Jersey,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Florida, Virginia and Texas.
Students residing in 64 countries were offered
admission; the countries and territories from
which more than one student was admitted were Australia,
Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
China, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong,
India, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan,
Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico,
Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka,
Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey,
United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom,
Vietnam and the Virgin Islands.
Final decisions need to be postmarked by May 1.
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