If you’re considering becoming a Blue Jay, you have great company in terms of alumni. You’ll be joining the likes of Madeleine Albright, Woodrow Wilson, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie as graduates of Johns Hopkins University. But before you pack your bags to spend four years in Baltimore, Maryland, you need to gather some important information. Some of the things you’ll need to know are their academic standards, the Johns Hopkins acceptance rate, and how you can leverage your academic and personal interests to get the attention of the school’s admissions committee.

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What is the Johns Hopkins Acceptance Rate?

The Johns Hopkins acceptance rate is 11.4%. This means of the almost 27,100 applications received between Early Decision and Regular Decision periods, a little over 3,000 students were accepted into Johns Hopkins. It’s more exclusive than Cornell, an Ivy League school, whose acceptance rate is 14%. So what do we know about the students that make up the latest Johns Hopkins acceptance rate? We know that:

•    95% are in the top 10% of their graduating class
•    Their average GPA is a 3.93
•    Their average SAT score is 1500 on the 1600 scale
•    They have an average ACT score of 34

From this, we can see that Johns Hopkins lets in a bright bunch of students. And if you’re serious about applying there, you’ll need to make sure your GPA and test scores are in the same league as the students in the Johns Hopkins acceptance rate. Take a look at where you are now in terms of academics, class standing, and your standardized test scores. Using the averages above as a guide, how confident do you feel about getting accepted?

How to Boost Your Chances of Getting into Johns Hopkins

So now that you have a little more information on the students in the Johns Hopkins acceptance rate, we can start talking about what you can do to make yourself a candidate. I’m going to share with you advice I give to all of my students when they’re researching which colleges to apply to. College admission is getting increasingly competitive every year. This means you can’t leave anything to chance anymore when it comes to your college applications.

Get a College Consultant

Working with a college consultant simplifies the college application process. They are able to answer your questions about admissions, questions about the applications themselves, identify where you’ll need to improve to be a viable candidate for the colleges you’re applying to, and guide you to becoming an applicant that gets noticed by the admissions committees. Their job is to help you be a competitive, potential student for the Johns Hopkins acceptance rate.

Hit the Books

Because the average GPA for incoming freshman is a 3.93, you’ll need to do well in your classes and work with a tutor to make sure you understand the material and are able to keep your grades up. I also suggest you take high school curriculum with four years of English, science, math, and social studies, and take three consecutive years of the same foreign language. You should also take as many AP and IB classes in those areas as possible to not only give a boost to your GPA, but to show the Johns Hopkins admissions committee that you’re serious about attending college.

Rock the ACT or SAT

You’ll also need to prepare yourself to take either the SAT or the ACT. Johns Hopkins accepts both so I recommend using your scores from the Pre-ACT and PSAT to figure out which test to officially take. Focusing on just one is a better use of your time and way less stressful than trying to master both. When you decide on your test, find a coach with a high score in that and practice, practice, practice until your score is at or above the Johns Hopkins’ averages. You can take the test more than once, most students do, and you can submit between four and six tests without harming your chances of being accepted.

Show Off Your Passions

I know with all this prep work you’re going to be tempted to chain yourself to your desk and never do anything, but study until you graduate. Please resist this temptation. It can actually increase anxiety and depression if you never give yourself a break. Being involved in extracurricular activities makes you more appealing to college admissions boards, because they can see you’ve taken an active interest in the world around you. So flex your leadership muscles by getting involved with school clubs, taking a part-time job, participating in a varsity sport, or volunteering in your community.

With its impressive alumni like Madeleine Albright, Woodrow Wilson, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to its academically accomplished incoming class, Johns Hopkins is an incredible school for you to aspire and apply to. With an 11.4% acceptance rate, it is also a competitive school and you will need to apply yourself to be seriously considered as an applicant. If you follow my advice by securing a college consultant, earn good grades, take challenging courses, rock your standardized test, and fill your free time with a good set of extra-curriculars, you’re going to boost your chances of your application being noticed.

Were you surprised to learn who some of Johns Hopkins alumni were? Do you have additional questions about applying there? Comment below with your thoughts!