Why Does Johns Hopkins Get Destroyed in Cross-Admit Battles with Peer Schools?

[Anonymous]

I was looking at some cross-admit data and I was shocked by how poorly JHU does in attracting students away from peer schools. Does anyone have any insight into why this might be?

[Anonymous]

Location, reputation as a stressful pre-med filled school, grade deflation... Which are all somewhat not true to an extent. The Charles Village neighborhood is relatively safe and there are plenty of non pre-med students and classes are hard but manageable to get an A

[Anonymous]

The forum search bar is your friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at some cross-admit data and I was shocked by how poorly JHU does in attracting students away from peer schools. Does anyone have any insight into why this might be?

Sounds to me like you're wrong about what Hopkins' "peer schools" actually are.

[Anonymous]

Cuz…Baltimore?

[Anonymous]

It does not seem like it would be much of a traditional college experience. A good place for grad school, but not for undergrads

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It does not seem like it would be much of a traditional college experience. A good place for grad school, but not for undergrads

Yes, that's the reputation it has. Good for graduate school, not so good for undergraduate.

[Anonymous]

What are you viewing as “peer” schools? I’d guess that for many top tier students, even the pre-meds, JHU might not be their first choice school. So many students who get accepted are also getting accepted to schools that they would prefer to attend. JHU has a lot to recommend it, but it also might not compare favorably with other options that students might have. A student longing for Bright Lights and Big City Life has a lot of choices, starting with NYC that might seem preferable. Baltimore and nearby Baltimore County have multiple universities and colleges — but possible not what someone wanting a college town atmosphere might be looking for. People who don’t know Baltimore beyond watching The Wire might be turned off — not realizing that JHU offers a completely different environment. I also think that many students apply to multiple schools, so, what the acceptance rate actually means depends on what the “peer” schools are.

As an example, FWIW, I was accepted by JHU as an undergrad, and liked what I saw. I was also accepted by Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Howard, and other schools. Each acceptance gave me a different decision tree, and JHU wasn’t my top choice on any of the factors that mattered to me — although it might have been my second choice on most of those factors.

[Anonymous]

Are we only talking RD and ignoring everyone who applied ED with JHU as their first choice?

[Anonymous]

Response #2 nailed it. It’s hard, it’s in Baltimore, it’s seen as predominantly pre-med (and/or prestigious only for pre-med).
(And, for kids in this area, it’s nearby).

Basically, the analogue is University of Chicago — but without Chicago and without the Core (and all that implies). Also both schools came late to the party wrt investing in undergrad housing (which has both pros and cons).

[Anonymous]

Its ranking leads to many students who would prefer not to attend to still apply.

It being in a major American city would generally be a plus point, but Baltimore is so crime-ridden and run down that it scares parents and students away.

It's known as a pre-med gindfest. Unlike rigorous Chicago, there's no aspect of "love of learning". It's all about getting into med school.

It's less of a university with a medical school attached and more of a medical school with a university attached. As a result, the undergraduate school isn't particularly accommodative or attentive to undergrads to the extent that similar schools are (Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, etc.)

[Anonymous]

DS was considering both JHU and Chicago for ED. Speaking with kids he knew at both schools, the experience at Chicago was so overwhelmingly negative that JHU was the logical choice.

[Anonymous]

First, then paragon data is not the best. But Hopkins beats out most of the schools ranked 11-20, including Vandy, on cross admits. It’s very difficult for any school to do well agains the Ivys, Stanford and Duke in cross admits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its ranking leads to many students who would prefer not to attend to still apply.

It being in a major American city would generally be a plus point, but Baltimore is so crime-ridden and run down that it scares parents and students away.

It's known as a pre-med gindfest. Unlike rigorous Chicago, there's no aspect of "love of learning". It's all about getting into med school.

It's less of a university with a medical school attached and more of a medical school with a university attached. As a result, the undergraduate school isn't particularly accommodative or attentive to undergrads to the extent that similar schools are (Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, etc.)

Med school isn’t attached — it’s located in another part of town. And faculty (most of whom have zero connection to the med school) are attentive to (interested) undergrads.

[Anonymous]

Hopkins. 61 , Vandy 39
Hopkins 65, UCLA 35
Hopkins 53, Wash U 47
Hopkins 68, Mich 32
Hopkins 80, Emory 20


Comes close to the lower Ivies, but can’t match them
Hopkins 49 Cornell 51