Johns Hopkins University Panel

Webinar Transcription

2024-05-30 – Johns Hopkins University Panel

Hello, everyone. Welcome. Good evening. Good afternoon. Good morning. Whatever time it is from wherever in the world you are joining us. We’re so happy you’re here. Welcome to our panel on Johns Hopkins University. My name is Anna Vande Velde. I’ll be your moderator today. Uh, CollegeAdvisors asked you to Ask me to give you a brief synopsis of my background.

So I’m a senior advisor here at CollegeAdvisor. I’ve been with the company for about three years. And in addition to advising students, I’m a captain on our essay review team. For my undergrad, I studied psychology and cognitive neuroscience at Carnegie Mellon. Really thought I was going to end up a clinical psychologist, but I worked for a few years.

Life had other plans for me. I ended up at Harvard law school where I graduated in 2021. So in addition to the work that I love doing with CollegeAdvisor, I’m a nonprofit defense attorney and I live in Ottawa, Ontario. To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’re going to start off with a presentation, then answer your questions in a live Q& A.

On the sidebar, you can download our slides under the handouts tab, and you can start submitting questions in the Q& A tab now, so please don’t feel that you have to wait until the end in the Q& A session to start submitting your questions. Submit them as you think of them, and then we’ll start working through them in the second half of our time together.

Without further ado, I’m going to turn it over to our panelists to introduce themselves one at a time. I’m going to go in order of what’s on the screen here. So, Natalie, would you like to introduce yourself? Yeah, of course. Hi, everyone. My name is Natalie. I am a senior advisor here at Collegeadvisor. I graduated from Hopkins.

I graduated from Hopkins last year, almost exactly a year ago in 2020, May of 2023, with a degree in public health and economics. My full time job currently is at Emory University, where I am a program associate. I’m working in coffee equity, coffee industry equity for Latin American coffee producers. So, I’m really happy about that, and I’m really happy to be with you all here today to answer any questions that you have about Hopkins.

Awesome. Thank you. Anya, passing it to you. Sure. Hi, everyone. Super excited to be here. My name is Anya. I graduated in May of 2022, so just one year before Natalie, um, with a degree in molecular and cellular biology and a minor in leadership studies, my full time job right now. I was in a research position at UCSF School of Medicine, and now I’m going to be transferring over to a clinical position in the PICU.

At UCSF, so still in San Francisco, um, here at CollegeAdvisor. I am a primary advisor and a specialty advisor for those who are on the pre med pre health track. So looking forward to hearing and seeing any questions about perhaps maybe that avenue and how it’s related to Hopkins. So really excited to be here.

Thank you. And last but not least, Katalina. Hi, I’m Katalina. Like Natalie, I graduated last year, almost a year ago, May 25th. I majored in psychology, but I also double minored in entrepreneurship and management and marketing and communications. Right now, I’m New advisor to CollegeAdvisor, so I’m really excited.

I’m also the co captain for the extracurricular team and on the sales team here. So, it’s been fun. Um, I’m currently in my gap year before PA or med school. Still deciding, but, um, that’s where I’m at right now. And I’m trying to do research while I’m waiting also. Great! Well, we are in for a treat. We have such experts here on Johns Hopkins and, um, So many other areas.

So we’re really excited to dive in with you all. Before we do that though, I thought it’d be helpful to get a sense of who’s here in the room with us. So I’m going to open a poll. I ask that if you’re here, please respond and let us know what grade you are in. If you are here as a parent, guardian, educator, support person, etc, feel free to select other.

And while we wait for your answers to come in, Panelists, I was wondering if you could briefly in about 20 seconds or so each share approximately how many colleges you applied to if you remember and whether or not you think that was a good number. Um, and let’s go in reverse order of introductions. So Katalina coming to you first.

Sure. Um, mine’s a little different. I applied to, I think about five schools. I want to say I’ll talk a little bit more about it later in the presentation, but I think that’s I don’t really remember. It was a while ago. Totally fair. Totally fair. Um, and sorry for any spoilers or what you’re going to share later, uh, Anya.

Mine was similar to Katalina’s, a little different in why I chose to apply to maybe five other schools as well. Um, but we’ll talk about that later. I do think that the average number is definitely around the teens and that can vary and fluctuate for every family depending on what you’re capable of and also what you’re, what you feel is the best fit for you.

So there is no, necessarily no right answer, but it can vary depending on the track that you’re on, which we’ll touch on later. Absolutely. And Natalie? Yeah, I think I applied to like 10 or 12 schools, which I feel like is around the amount that is recommended. I feel like I definitely had a good balance, um, at least in terms of what I was looking for for my college experience.

Um, I’ll kind of also touch base on that later, but yeah. Great. Well, apologies to all three of you. I asked a question that’s previewing what you’re going to cover, um, but I still think it’s helpful to have that number. So thanks for sharing. Just so you all know, in the room with us now, we have, uh, 10 percent in 10th grade, 40 percent in 11th grade, 20 percent in 12th grade, and then 20 percent others, so probably some Sort of support person.

Um, okay. I’m closing the poll and now I’m going to turn it over to Natalie to share a bit about her experience. Yeah. So my college application process, um, I want to preface. With the fact that I am a first generation college graduate. Um, and the reason I say that is just because I feel like it definitely dictated a lot of how the process went for me as well as my decision making throughout this process.

So with being a first gen comes kind of limited guidance and mentorship during this process. I really wish I had someone like me as a senior advisor while I was applying. Um, just because even though my family has been so supportive, always emphasize the importance of education, since my parents didn’t attend college, they weren’t really able to help me with this process.

And I attended a pretty highly densely populated high school. And so I wasn’t really able to get much individualized attention from mentors in the school either. Um, so a lot of this process looked like Google searches, YouTube videos and kind of just leaning on my friends who are also going through the process and might have had some tips for me and just kind of hoping for the best.

Um, and I feel like the outcome was pretty positive for me. I would say, um, But I feel like my biggest decision as a result of being first gen and other factors during this process was whether I wanted to commute or kind of go away to school and live in a dorm and do the traditional college life experience.

And the main reason for this wasn’t so much because, you know, I was stuck between. My living, um, situation, but more because of finances, um, I was really wary of, you know, the costs of college. I knew it was super expensive and I knew I didn’t want to pose a large burden on myself nor on my family. So I really just wanted to go about college in the most cost effective way.

And I had always, you know, Been told that commuting might be a better option financially. Um, even though I kind of was proven wrong with that and I’ll talk more about that in the next question that’s being posed, but, um, I thought, you know, since I wouldn’t have to worry about room and board, I wouldn’t have to worry about.

Housing costs or food costs living at home that it would just automatically be a better financial decision to commute. Um, and so that kind of factored into different college selection criteria that I had, um, I think the number one thing that I was really prioritizing was location. I knew that I didn’t want to be more than a five hour drive away from my parents.

If I were to go away to school. I grew up on Long Island, New York. Um, and so that was kind of in the northeast region, um, with an exception for Georgia based schools, which is pretty far from Long Island. It’s actually where I live now. Um, but I was considering Georgia because my sister has lived here for the past seven years and I wanted to be close to family.

Um, and so that was kind of the only other state I was considering other than the northeast. Um, I knew I wanted to have a healthcare focused major just because I knew that I wanted to have, um, You know, a path that allowed me to have exposure to this field without Going into a science major per se like biology and chemistry like a lot of pre med majors do I just knew that science really wasn’t for me, but I still wanted to be involved in health care in some way and so this look like public health, human health, health sciences.

And what I learned throughout this process is that these majors actually aren’t as popular as I had thought. Um, almost every school offers biology, but not every school, um, offers something like public health or human health, something along those lines. So that really allowed me to kind of decrease the number of schools that I was applying to, um, just based off of this one criteria that I had.

And because I was really debating between commuting or dorm living, I kind of told myself that if I were to go away, it would only be for a competitive school because at least I could justify and say it would be worth it to go away and maybe have some added expenses. Um, and In terms of Johns Hopkins University itself, I actually learned about it pretty late in the application process.

Um, I think it was like two days before the regular decision deadline. I discovered Hopkins through a random YouTube video that I watched. Um, it was a pretty big butterfly effect moment. I don’t think I would have applied if I never came across that video, um, but I did and it intrigued me when I watched the video and I looked into it and it met all my criteria, um, and so I ended up applying two days before that deadline and I got in and here I am now.

So yeah, that was how my application process was like a little brief overview of it. Should

I move on to the next question or? Yes, please, please do. Cool. So then, next question here is, were you considering any other schools at the time, and what made me decide on Johns Hopkins? So, like I kind of prefaced before, my biggest decision really wasn’t so much, what school do I go to, but should I stay home and commute, or should I You know, go away to school, have that traditional experience.

Um, and I was really evaluating the pros and cons of this. I remember making a spreadsheet and kind of seeing what, um, different financial considerations each of these options had. Um, and the schools that I was deciding between was Johns Hopkins and Stony Brook university, which is a commuter school there is not a commuter school, but it was a school that I could commute to nearby to where I grew up.

Um, and. Hopkins obviously met all my personal and academic criteria that I had, um, um, included in the previous slide. And to my surprise, Hopkins ended up being a better financial decision for me. Um, they offered a really generous financial aid package, um, which I was surprised about just because with Stony Brook, I would have been getting in state tuition and there was no room for it.

included in their financial aid package, but somehow Hopkins ended up offering me a better deal. Um, and so with that, it was kind of a no brainer, um, especially with how great it was for its public health program. Um, and that was like my primary interest. I ended up going with Hopkins and I have no regrets to this day.

So that’s how I ended up choosing Hopkins.

And then the last question here that I have, how do you feel attending Johns Hopkins set you up for success in your future? And there are a lot of ways I could go about this, but I feel like these are the four primary points. First is its motivating environment. I feel like Hopkins is known for having a lot of high achievers in the school, a lot of highly accomplished students, a lot of hard workers.

Um, and even though some people might say, view that as maybe a more competitive thing. I kind of viewed it more as an inspiring thing. From day one, I was super impressed by the people around me. I met people that had already done so much by the time they got there. I met people that were triple majoring.

I didn’t even know that was possible, but there were so many hardworking people there and it really just inspired me to kind of, you know, I thought was possible for myself and what I was capable of, um, and being somewhere where so many people, um, were kind of just trying to do their best and trying to really accomplish all these really great goals really inspired me to do the same.

Um, and so I feel like it allowed me to really focus on what was important. Um, and. Learn more about what opportunities were out there, which kind of goes perfectly into how it broadened my career horizons. I feel like in high school, I really only knew about the traditional career paths, like doctor, lawyer, teacher, nurse, but with all the really like accomplished people at Hopkins, whether that’s students or professors or other people, um, I was able to learn so much about different career paths that I, uh, Are out there.

Um, and I was also able to learn about all these really cool research things that people were involved in. Um, and about all these, like really niche topics that people were able to make careers out of. And I feel like it kind of speaks to the really niche career path that I’m kind of going on right now.

Um, and so I was really grateful that I was able to kind of diverge from the traditional routes that I had always known about and learn more about what is out there. Um, and then this third. Point here. Um, I can’t understate the impact of their generous financial aid for me. Um, I feel like first of all, the financial aid that Hopkins provided me with really just allowed me to just be a student.

Um, and what I mean by that is like a lot of the first gen experience consists of, you know, having a lot of other things on your plate to worry about. The biggest thing being finances. Um, and even though I did hold a part time job, Throughout all of school, um, I was able to go about school, prioritizing it, making it my main priority.

And it never reached the point where I had to put, um, a job first or finding income first, um, just because, you know, not having to worry about tuition or even having, um, some help with my housing costs was really, really amazing. And really just allowed me to focus on what I was there for, which was to study and be a student.

Um, and I feel like. Now that I don’t have any student loan debt, obviously, it’s really great. Um, it allows for more financial freedom now for me to save for further goals that I might have for my life, whether that’s, um, further education down the line, traveling, maybe even a house further down the line.

Um, I’m able to save for those things, um, with what might have otherwise been used for, you know, a student loan repayment had I gone anywhere else that might have not been as generous. So I can’t understate how much that, um, You know, has helped me with, um, um, in my adult life currently, and even during school.

And so the fourth thing, my lifelong support network, Hopkins has given me some of my favorite people ever, um, super supportive people that are also super accomplished, and just want to You know, support me as much as they can and are happy to see me succeed. And that alone really, really helps, you know, in times where things might not be as easy, you’re able to lean on people.

And I’m so grateful for Hopkins. For giving me those people. So yeah, that’s all I had for that. Thanks, Natalie. And Anya, over to you. Okay. I’m super excited to share this with you guys. This is, it was a different, it was a different, it’s your non traditional, I guess, approach to how to apply to college, I guess, from my end.

But my application process actually started with trying to get, be recruited, uh, as an athlete. So I was a tennis player in high school and before. And I have been playing internationally and nationally as well. So my one of my priorities was to first enter a program that would allow me to balance athletics and academics.

And that’s something that you don’t necessarily get with division one schools as amazing as they are for all of their various reasons. Division three really allows you to be able to focus academically. First, and we have that flexibility to prioritize your studies. Um, for example, if you have an exam on Monday and you have a competition on Saturday or Sunday, your exam comes first and coaches, administrators, they are all aware of these things.

And that happens more in the division three level than in the division one level. So my first. Get go at being recruited was between junior to senior year summer. I was filming recruitment videos. I was emailing coaches all across just to see is being athletically recruited, even a possibility for me. Am I at the standard of being an NCAA tennis player?

And one of the things that I did was first go and see. And see whether my rankings were upheld to those who are currently at these institutions and seeing whether I was on the level of these other collegiate athletes. Am I in a position that I’m even able to apply to be an athlete at a school? So after that and You know, I ended up making my film.

I ended up emailing coaches. I ended up getting some responses, but do not be discouraged. If you are being athletically recruited, you’re going to get a lot of non responses as well. Just because coaches are really, really, um, drowning in, in all of these emails that come from across the country, especially during the summer.

And they are much more present in person. So I would encourage you to go to athletic camps, which is another thing that I did. I did go to many recruitment camps as well. Where coaches from various colleges come and they observe you and they’re able to talk to you and see whether maybe you would be a good fit for their program.

Maybe they are particularly interested by a certain skill set that you have. Um, and that’s another opportunity that I followed that summer between my junior and senior year, following that, realizing that I really did want to be a varsity tennis player. I did want to go into collegiate athletics. I think that, you know, it was, not necessarily a deal breaker, but it would have been kind of a heartbreaker if I didn’t.

Uh, so I moved on to writing my essay because that is the big thing that stumps all of us. What, what experiences do we pick out of the breadth that we have that we can actually write about in a very limited number of words when you think about it? You’re able here to not only You know, make a solid impression on others, but you’re allowing people to come into your life and seeing what is this little snippet of who is Anya, who is Natalie, who’s Katalina, right?

So you want to be able to really take some time to ponder, take some time to reflect and think about that. And that’s part of the reason CollegeAdvisor.com is so good is that we help you figure out how to navigate. such a convoluted essay writing process when it can be really overwhelming at times. So another thing that is typically done between junior and senior year that I very much followed.

And then the final thing was looking into early action versus early decision. Now for a lot of athletes at division three schools, the typical thing is for you to early decision at the school of your Choosing that you are most inclined towards attending early action. As most of us know is non binding early decision is binding.

So the reason that you typically go with the early decision that for, for Hopkins in specific, that was kind of the protocol for prospective athletes is that you’re showing that, you know, if you do accept me here, I’m committed not only to your varsity collegiate team, I’m committed to you as a university as well.

I’m here to be a blue Jay. I’m here to be on the tennis team. be an active part of this team. That’s this nest as they call it. Cause we are the blue Jays. Um, but that, that typically was a conversation and everyday conversation leading up to those deadlines. And that happens in my fall of senior year. So that is what my college application process looked like.

So it was all over the place. Uh, but it comes together. It all comes together in the fall of senior year, which leads me to whether I was considering some other schools at the time. And here’s where I kind of separated it to like Natalie mentioned, make a list of pros and cons. What am I giving up and what am I gaining from each of these schools?

So I decided to early action to a few schools. I did U Chicago, U Miami and Vanderbilt. Um, As you notice, two of these schools are Division 1, so that immediately would not have been aligning necessarily with being able to prioritize my academics over my athletics. Um, so, for example, with UChicago, however, that was a Division 3.

It had strong academics, but I really did not necessarily like Chicago. And one thing that CollegeAdvisor.com also encourages you to think about is that this is where you’re going to be spending a minimum of four years, right? So this is someplace that you want to really love the environment and be around people who you feel you can connect with the best.

And I didn’t feel that I did that here. So then I moved on to you, Miami. I was a Florida resident at the time. So it was staying relatively local because I was in Fort Lauderdale. It had a strong pre health program, but it was division one. And having competed in Florida already, I can already tell you that high school athletics is almost like college athletics.

Uh, it is another world down in certain States. Sometimes it’s Texas, California, Florida. They’re known for being very athletically strong. States and knowing that I don’t know if I would have been super happy going to an institution where it was division one, where you’re not only taking high schoolers and taking it to the next level, but you’re also competing with these really strong international athletes who are coming from overseas as well for division one.

And that’s something was. That was an element that I wasn’t necessarily sure would be aligning with my interests, even though it had a great program. Same, same thing with Vanderbilt. I love Nashville, love the area, but again, D1. Wouldn’t have been able to prioritize my academics just as much, and knowing that I wanted to go down the pre med track, the pre health track, That already was indicating to me that I had to pick somewhere where I could really strongly balance my academics and my athletic interest, just because these are some really hard majors that all three of us have gone into.

And I think all three of us can attest to the fact that you need to put hours and hours and hours of work studying and resources into being successful in such a hard major. And so that, again, considering the balance. Athletic recruitment wise, I had a few institutions that were interested in me. Oberlin, Caltech and Brown had all expressed interest.

For example, I, I, and I actually had conversations with Michigan state as well. Um, but Caltech was not necessarily more pre med oriented. Of course, it had a stronger engineering program. That wasn’t an area that I wanted to go into. Oberlin was a liberal arts school. Also, again, while it had a phenomenal.

Overall curriculum, it didn’t necessarily have the scientific focus that I was looking for. And while Brown was an amazing institution for me, ultimately it wasn’t a great fit. Just because when I met the coach, when I met the other teammates, sometimes it’s just a matter of personality and you don’t always click with people who you think you might click with.

I had loved Brown before Hopkins. I really thought that Brown was the place for me. you I had been to pre college programs. I had been to recruitment camps there multiple times and I was thinking to myself, this is where I’m going to be. And then I met the team and I was like, maybe not. Our interests aren’t necessarily aligned.

Not that it had a bad environment. That’s not what I’m saying whatsoever. It’s just that my personal interest didn’t necessarily reflect the team’s overall interest. And that sometimes can be a clashing factor that I didn’t see at Hopkins. So, why I chose Hopkins was truly unique majors and minors. Not a lot of institutions have a Bachelors of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology.

It’s such a niche program that there are some schools that have it. For example, UC Berkeley has it, and I know that some other schools have it. But, I Because it’s such a selective area of biology, I was, and it was directly aligning with my own personal interests that I had discovered a couple years prior, just, you know, reading, watching movies.

I actually got into Molecular and Cellular Biology because of The Amazing Spider Man with Andrew Garfield. And I really loved, like, learning about how hybridization in, uh, animals and bringing in DNA and these parts and these parts and it was super cool to me. So that’s why I went into an institution that had such an, so like, not a selective major, but just a niche area of bio.

Leadership studies was another thing that I thought really reflected my own personal interests. I’m a dual citizen of the United States in Sri Lanka, so I really do. Prioritize international travel and learning new cultures. And having been an international athlete, I was really, uh, encouraging in terms of bringing in different areas and different courses at Hopkins that would further my career and also help me develop skills that helped me project.

That global citizenship and I thought the leadership studies minor was really cool. It was new when I started it. I feel old when I say that, but it was a brand new minor. And I highly encourage looking into an institution that has minors that just are reflective of its students. And I think that’s speaking to the population.

And Hopkins is ability to identify what do our students want to see? I think my slides disappeared by accident. Oh, there they are. Apologies for that. Um, but what do your students want to see and how can that be reflected in what programs are available? So that was reflected in this minor in leadership studies.

Like I mentioned, division three, I was able to meet the coach. I was able to meet the team and I could see that there was a very clear prioritization of academics over athletics, as much as I really loved being a tennis player and loved being on the court, I really wanted to. apply myself in the classroom as much as I could.

So I think that that was something that really drew me to Hopkins as well. I could see that these are all really hardworking people. Like Natalie mentioned, these are people who are here to be movers and shakers in the world. And you’re just inspired by everything that’s going around you. Like I mentioned, the strong sciences that Hopkins is very much known for, but they’re known for a lot of different things.

There is the SAIS Institute of International Studies. If you’re interested in that, there’s a Bloomberg School of Public Health. There is the business school and there’s just so many different avenues that you can go through at Hopkins if you so choose to do so. You can come in fully undecided and Hopkins will help you figure out your path.

That being said, I knew that I wanted to go down the medical track and then I remember being particularly inspired by the da Vinci machine, which if you don’t know is a huge robot that does. surgery on a grape and that’s what it’s known for and it’s there displayed proudly as it should be and I learned of this minor called computer integrated surgery that who on earth would have ever even imagined that being a minor.

I thought that was so cool and so inspiring to see people going in there and doing this stuff. Very interesting surgery. And I just remember it being so impactful that I was like, this is a place where innovation happens. And I can feel that, and I can feel the hard work and the ideas. swarming around me.

And that’s the type of environment I want to be in. I want to be in a place where I will be challenged. And I was never a thinking outside the box kind of person. And that’s what Hopkins, you know, really encourages its students to be, to figure out how to approach problems in a different way and how to see the world.

Um, so that’s something that I really loved about it. So like I said, I felt the innovation, but also I had a campus feel, you know, there is a community and a sense of a community at Hopkins and Helmwood. There is your library. It’s not necessarily integrated into a city. It is part of Baltimore, but you’re able to remove yourself out of Hopkins and go down to inner Harbor.

If you want to get a little break. And if you want to get, you know, some fresh air, get a quick escape away. You’re only an hour away from Washington, D. C. And I think that’s just such a great city, and it has a lot of opportunity for not only research, but internships and all of the schools are connected.

So you still get that strong sense of undergraduate and graduate community on a campus that is not too far away from a city whatsoever. And that has the. Public transportation options for you to remove yourself and visit and go home as well. Hopkins has a free shuttle. That’s something that I was considering as well, just because I knew that my family was going to be in Florida and in New York city.

So either way, I have to take a flight. I can’t necessarily take a train all the time just because of timing, but. Hopkins really had the ability to connect Baltimore around you, and that’s something that I really loved. And a really silly thing, my favorite color is blue, and I thought blue, black, and white were such great colors.

They look so good together, and I really loved. Um, the blue jay as our mascot. So it was, it was super fun for me. And I said, Hey, I don’t have any problem wearing blue for the rest of my life. So that’s, that’s another silly reason why I really loved Hopkins. All right. Moving into the final question about how I felt about me up for success in my future.

I discovered my niche interest through coursework. So stem cell biology and developmental biology were upper electives that I didn’t know if it was going to be for me. And yet it became my favorite coursework that I ever took there. And I think that I would not have discovered those niche interests of mine, which led me down the track that I’m on now without Hopkins is giving me that platform to do so.

So. In Hopkins, they have so many different upper electives within each major that are so curious and so interesting that it allows students to really just figure out, what do I really want to study here? And it also allows you to determine, hey, I don’t actually like this whatsoever. It has you that option if you don’t like a course, you’re able to drop it and replace it with something new within a specific timeframe.

That being said, It can be really successful for students to find out what exactly do they like to do and how can they implement it in their future careers. So for example, that led me to finding Stem Cell Labs in UCSF, in San Francisco, and across the country when I was applying for research positions.

And that allowed me to really figure out, hey, this is the environment that I do really love to be in, and this is the path that I want to go down. So just having the variety of coursework, That goes beyond just the basics, just beyond your, your basic English, your basic math, your basic science that you’re so exposed to in high school, you’re really delving into interesting topics here.

And I think that’s something that’s so important in discovering who you are and what you like. The administration, like Natalie mentioned, it just supports your postgraduate career. I mean, there is consistent guidance throughout your study, throughout graduate applications. Um, for example, I’ll be applying to MD, PhD programs, and I think that the admin have been phenomenal in terms of just following up, making sure that you’re on time, that you’re on track and where you need to be.

And I think they really challenge you to answer the hard questions, you know, Something for all of you pre med kids is they’re going to ask you why medicine? And you’re going to be challenged to find better answers every time, but that’s just you forming your story. And that’s what the admin really helps you to do.

And they will help you in your alumni career as well and say, Hey, this is something that’s really important to you. And we’re going to help you incorporate it into your application. Let’s figure out a way to do that. Like Natalie mentioned, some of my favorite people are from Hopkins and some of them were just amazing, amazing mentors who, for example, I, I don’t know if Natalie and Katalina had this lovely gentleman called Dr.

Young, but I caught up with him two days ago over Zoom, and it’s just amazing. These mentors are really there looking out for you. This was a chemistry professor who I had as a freshman. He was a first year lecturer at Hopkins. So we entered at the same time. He had no idea what he was doing. I had no idea what I was getting into and we figured this out together and we ended up developing this incredible bond.

And I did that with so many different mentors throughout my Hopkins career, whether it was my major advisor, whether it was a postdoc in my lab. extracurricularly, my tennis coaches, people that you’re able to confide in, and who will help you figure out what’s my motivation, where are my drives stemming from, and figuring out, hey, what do you think about this path, and what do you think about this idea?

People who you can consistently bounce ideas off of, who have your best interests at heart. Like I mentioned before, it just completely changed the way I see the world, my studies, and even how I think. I think that it just really helped me. branch out and figure out how to develop my critical thinking and my problem solving skills, something that I was really struggling with before coming to Hopkins.

Um, and that just has helped me in my graduate career. It’s incredibly important when you’re pursuing a further study to be able to approach things from different perspectives and different avenues. And I think that this has just really, the, the formative experience that Hopkins gave me, not only through coursework, but also through engaging with so many different people and the diversity that’s at the school really helps you see things through a different lens.

Um, The last two things, the final second to last would be the strong active alumni network. These is, these are people who want to go back to this place. So that’s saying something of the school. When you see alumni who actively make the effort to travel across the country. I went back just two weeks ago for an acapella reunion at Hopkins.

And I think that’s saying something of the school, that this is a place that I really wanted to make the effort, travel across the country, take a five and a half hour flight and go back to Baltimore. To a place that means so much to me. And I think that that speaks to a lot of different alumni, whether they’re young alumni or whether they’re 50 years out of Hopkins, they are all coming back there for this one concert or this one event or this one weekend, because it’s just that impactful.

And that’s the meaning of the people who come back to it. The alumni are always, always looking to help you. And I think that says something. Cause even at UCSF, whenever I mentioned that I’m a Hopkins alum. The other Hopkins alum come flying in, not to be, no pun intended, because we’re Blue Jays, but they come flying in and they find you and we just build this cohort of people together.

And they introduce you to more alums and more alums and you just see that this network is so, so integrated and so cohesive. And I think that some things that the administration also does really well is that these alumni networking events that happen across the country. really help you identify other Blue Jays who are willing to help you make the next step in your career.

And I think that’s really important too, because you’re learning from the experts. And then finally, if you couldn’t tell already, I have very strong ties to my alma mater. I’m super proud to be a Blue Jay and it’s a good day to be a Jay, as we say in athletes and we say across Hopkins. But these are people who you really want to build connections with, you want to build experiences with, and you want to go through your college career with, and I think that that’s super indicative of the type of environment that you would be entering.

So I really, really hope that you are all applying to Hopkins. We all can’t speak highly enough of it. So thank you so much. Thank you both, Anya and Natalie. Before we get to Katalina’s portion, I’m going to interrupt. So we can get more information about who’s here with us. So I’m going to start this poll that asks where you are in the application process, so let us know if you haven’t started yet, if you’re researching schools, working on essays, etc.

And while you do that, presenters, I was wondering if you could each Briefly, so like 10 to 20 seconds answer. I imagine a lot of the folks on this call may be planning a trip to Baltimore. Do you have any advice on any type of food they should try, a restaurant, sightseeing to do, any must sees while they are in Baltimore, aside from Johns Hopkins?

And Anya, you just spoke, so I’m gonna send it to you first. Sure. I would hands down visit the National Aquarium. I think that that place is so cool, and it’s just so, um, It’s such a Baltimore thing, truly. It’s located in the harbor. You’re very close to Annapolis as well, which is where the Naval Academy is.

It’s a very cute town, but I, I think I would have to go with National Aquarium over that. Just because you’re transported into a different world. It’s almost like a Smithsonian Museum without it being a Smithsonian Museum. So if you’re really interested in aquatic life or even just want to get an idea of what does Baltimore have to offer, this is a really great experience to go with your family or your friends and have a really great outing together in the heart of Baltimore that showcases it’s really eccentric character.

Awesome. Thank you. I’ve heard great things. Natalie, how about you? Yeah, so just given my current role in coffee and where I kind of spent the majority of my time in Baltimore, I wanted to offer some coffee shop suggestions. Um, first being good neighbor in Hamden. Um, it had a Beautiful ambiance. It wasn’t only a coffee shop, but you could also shop for like cute quirky things or gifts.

Um, even some books. Um, great place to reconnect with friends or study. Um, another one would be Kish. K I T C H I believe. I still don’t know how to pronounce it, but it was really close to where my apartment was the last two years. Um, and we even got to speak to the owner and she was super duper nice. And anytime I’m there, I was actually just there last week.

I always try and go support her business because she’s awesome. Her coffee is great. The food is great. Um, and then last would be Patango and Fell’s Point. Um, This is more about just the general ambience. It’s right by the water. Um, and it’s really, really big. And so it kind of is able to house a lot more people, good coffee, better food.

Um, and so, yeah, that’s like my top three coffee shop recommendations where I would want to go. If you like coffee, they also have other offerings, but really cool places to go. Um, if you’re in Baltimore. Awesome. Thanks. Definitely good to know as a college student too are the good coffee. Uh, Katalina, how about you?

It’s so funny. I was just scrambling my head right now trying to think of something, you know, because that took exactly what I was about to say. But I think it’s so hard. I love so many places in Baltimore. I think. I was there last weekend, or last week for graduation, actually. I was, some of my friends were graduating, so I went back, and I always go to the same exact places all the time, which I know I should probably expand and go somewhere else, but I just love it.

There’s like a place in Ann Arbor, it’s like this little, um, I guess it’s a little restaurant, so they have like tagliatelle. Italian disco and like another restaurant and they always have like a happy hour with like food and like the pizza there is so Good at Italian disco. I think like during happy hour.

It’s like only like eight dollars. I think don’t quote me I’m, not really sure. I don’t remember because I always split it but oh the pizza is so good there Um, and in terms of ambience too like I think Anya was saying before, like transportation, like you could take the jimmy and go to like Mount Vernon, which is where the Peabody campus is for Hopkins.

And they have like a beautiful, like park. They’re also so many restaurants and coffee shops to go to. I was there at the park last weekend. Cause one of my friends still lives there and we were just like sitting out and it was just, it was a beautiful day. And like, you can really integrate yourself with the Baltimore community too.

And it was just a nice day to just like sit outside and just relax. Um, Oh, and I’m also allergic to dairy and a lot of things. So one of my favorite places too, is the charmery in Hamden. They have ice cream there and they also have non dairy flavors. So I’ve always liked to go there. Um, Hamden is also really pretty place to go to, especially in like, with the, like the, great tips.

Thanks everyone. Baltimore is a beautiful city. I hope you all are planning a trip to check it out and to check out Johns Hopkins. Um, panelists. So, you know, in the room with us. About 50 percent of students are currently researching schools, 17 percent are working on essays, and then about a third are getting their application materials together.

So, Once the gamut there and I’m going to hand it over to Katalina now to share her story. Sure. Um, I think I mentioned a little bit before it was a little bit different or I don’t know how, how much different, but I do feel like my college application process was definitely like a four year journey. Um, so like since freshman year of high school, I was very ambitious.

I was like always looking for ways to like improve my resume or like extracurriculars or just do other things and also just like challenging myself in school to take the most difficult classes I could and try to succeed in them. I wasn’t always good at math. I may do, um, however, like basketball was always like a big part of my life for like as long as I can remember.

Um, and so like I was always working hard in high school with athletics and basketball. So like when I wasn’t studying or in school, I was like at practice or like training or at a tournament. Um, I was also like a volunteer assistant basketball coach for my old middle school. I definitely want to get back to it eventually.

Um, I was also like looking for like in schools I was hoping for like a merit scholarship or like a basketball scholarship or something or aid of some sort. I was involved in other things in school like other clubs and volunteering, like I had volunteered at the food pantry and also like several other summer activities but definitely basketball was a big bulk of what I was always doing.

Um, And looking back at the college application process is a little bit a long time ago for now. It’s like 2018, which is crazy. I was thinking about that the other day. This doesn’t really seem like that long ago, but it kind of is. Um, but I know a lot more about the process now than I did back then. Um, I wouldn’t change anything.

I did. I did then per se, though, like, I’m very happy with my life and like, very grateful for the opportunities and privileges that I have been given and like the people that are. In my life now, I was like, Anya and Natalie were saying, I’ll talk a little bit more about that later, because it’s my favorite part about Hopkins.

Um, but when it came to creating my college list, I remember just not knowing much about different schools and like different programs, but I did have like a couple of like three big things in mind. So I was thinking about like the distance from home. So like I wanted the opportunity to branch out and meet new people, but like, I also wanted to be like a driving distance from home, like in case I wanted to go back and like, fortunately Hopkins ended up, I grew up in New York.

So like, it ended up being only about not the city, like upstate New York, but it ended up being like about four hours away, like on a good day without traffic. And then there was also the option of like the Amtrak train. If I wanted to that I learned about and it was very convenient because like, even though like when I was 17, I was excited to leave and just experience new things.

But I also found myself like missing home, like eventually, not eventually, I always missed home, but it was nice to have the option to go back home if I wanted to. Um, and then the second big thing that I was thinking about was like athletic recruitment, like in I know Anya talked a lot about it, so I don’t want to, like, say too much of the same things, but, um, like, in terms of that, like, I wasn’t sure really if I wanted to do basketball in college, like, as Anya was mentioning before, like, between, like, D3, like, there’s, like, it’s a very, it’s a big commitment, like, collegiate sports, like, as a whole, like, whether you’re doing D1, D2, or D3, but obviously, they’re different, as Anya had mentioned.

Um, so, yeah. And also just because like I mentioned I spent so much of my time doing basketball that I wasn’t like sure if I wanted to like do that or like experience new things, which seems to be a common theme of what I was thinking about. Um, but I was still doing like the, I guess the typical recruitment process things that you would say like attending the recruitment camps like training camps.

Um, like going to like those, like those high level tournaments where like there’s college coaches there to watch you, um, like interacting with some of them also. Um, so like, even though I was on the fence about it, like, it was still like a big part of my decision. And like, ultimately, because Hopkins was D3 athletics, um, like Anya was saying, like, it was a good balance between like, um, academics and then athletics.

So it was very, like, important to my decision. And then lastly, I was also thinking about like financial aid and scholarships too, but similar to Natalie, I discovered Hopkins like late into my application process, but I guess like my application process. I ended up early decision to Hopkins. So it’s not really late into the process itself.

It was just late. And like, I guess my process because ultimate and I ended up getting into Hopkins early decision. So then. Post January, I didn’t have to worry about, like, applying to other schools just because I was binded to, um, Johns Hopkins. Um, and it’s funny, because I did not know about Hopkins until about, like, two weeks before the early decision deadline.

So, like, on a whim, I had attended an event that was, like, nearby my house, and, like, it significantly changed my application. Um, I had spoken with a, um, I don’t, I don’t know if it was alumni. It was a representative of Hopkins and we met at a coffee shop and he answered a bunch of questions and two things that I remember that stood out to me then and still stand out to me now that he had mentioned was like the flexibility of majors and like your area of study.

And then again, like I had mentioned before, like the D3. athletics portion of Hopkins. So in terms of like the flexibility of majors, I was still a little bit unsure of what I wanted to study in school. I was interested in medicine and it’s funny too because I didn’t know how big of like a pre med school Hopkins was at the time.

So it ended up working out great. But, um, I was interested in medicine, but I also, like I keep saying, I wanted to try new things. I guess that’s what college is about too. Like trying to find like what you like and do, you know, But he had told me like I would be able to like study like film and media studies and computer science at the same time and still graduate within like four years or even less, which I think is crazy.

And I know like not a lot of schools like offer that like flexibility of like be able to study. Like such like a heavy like stem loaded thing and then also like study something in the arts Which I thought was really unique and it was really cool And then i’ll talk a little bit about this later But then also just the fact that hopkins is like a good like medium sized size school I would say so like as like both anya and natalie were saying like the close like relationships You’re able to form with the faculty and like your mentors and like the The fact that there’s like always like willing to help you out.

Um, that was also something that drew me to Hopkins. And then, yeah, lastly was like the D3 portion about Hopkins. Hopkins is D3 for most of their sports, except for lacrosse, which is D1. So definitely when he had said that it was like D3 basketball, it was just like, it just, it felt more, I guess. Like, it was a potential possibility for me to, I guess, play out of school, um, just because I know, like, how, like, high level commitment D1 or D2 sports are.

Not that D like, D3 isn’t, like, a high level commitment. They’re all, like, a high level of commitment. But, I guess, like, D1, like, offers, like, you, it’s a much, like, I don’t know the exact words for it, but like the caliber, I guess, which like Anya was saying before, like, balancing academics and athletics is much harder to do.

So, like, finding that D3, or that Hopkins was D3 was definitely something that, like, Um, to keep my interest so yeah, but like these things the athletics like being close to home Like the dub being able to double major in completely different like areas of study and like the size of the school like being able to form the connections with um My faculty or the faculty and my teachers are definitely like what I was like considering When I was applying but yeah, so then this changes a little bit about The fact that I early decision changes a little bit about the other schools I was uh, looking at at the time.

I forget exactly all the schools that I was thinking about. Um, like, so since I early decision to Hawkins, early action to other schools to like, Fordham, um, I think Swarthmore. Um, ultimately I had to like, pull my acceptances from those places or withdraw my application just because early decision is binding.

And so, sorry. As I mentioned like before, like the event I attended, I think like, The, the biggest thing too, in my application, like I would say, like, if I wish that I had like more confidence in like myself, like in terms of basketball and like in terms of my ability to do things. So like, if you feel like there’s something like that you want to do, like, I feel like you should just go for it because definitely I feel like I was like my biggest person that like held me back from doing certain things that I wanted to just because in my head was just like, Oh, like, I’m not sure if this is going to work out the certain way that it is.

Or like, I was like, I even didn’t, I didn’t think that I would get into Hopkins. Early decision either. So that was also something in my head, but I just I feel like it’s important to have that confidence during your college application process because you’ve worked so hard to get to this point and it’s like you have to like recognize your achievements and like not let yourself hold you back from like what you want to do and I think that’s like something that I like to pull from my application or like when I look back at it and think about it because I am very happy with how everything turned out like everything turned out like amazing.

When I went to the event. At the coffee shop. I forget exactly what the name of it was. I really wish I remembered, but like when he was like telling me all of these things, like, it just kind of felt, I don’t want to, it sounds like corny, but like, it just kind of felt like home or like, it felt like it was just like the place, like, you know, like, when you have that feeling, it just like feels right.

Like, that was like, sort of like the feeling that had got when I was there. And like, ultimately why, like, last minute. I had changed my decision or I had decided to early decision to Hopkins. Um, but let me see. Yes. And then how I feel that Hopkins set me up for my future. So definitely, I know it was mentioned a little bit before, but like Hopkins does have like, they’re academically rigorous, I would say.

And like the courses are challenging and like when you’re in them, it’s like, you don’t know, I guess like you can’t really see the end of it. And it’s just like, Oh my God, like you’re just. So stressed and like you’re overwhelmed and doing everything but like once you get past that like it feels great Like you’re like proud of yourself for your accomplishments And then like the facts the fact that like your teachers are there also like supporting you like they believe in you And like they’re there like I was in office hours so many times Like asking the questions to my teachers also like asking for their experiences.

Um, but like, once I, like, I finished like doing my courses, like, like, I look back, it’s like, honestly, like last week when I was at graduation for like some of my friends, I was like looking back and I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s like strange, but I do like miss like the small moments when I would be studying with my friends, like in mud hall or just like in my apartment.

Like, I just, it’s. The community that is formed is just, it’s amazing there, and like, people are there to support you, as long as you surround yourself with like, the right people, and like, make genuine connections, like, I feel like that’s the most important part, but, in terms of like, going on about like, the academic, or the, sorry, in terms of like, the, or, the rigorous classes at Hopkins.

They did also offer like hands on and practical coursework, which is this goes into like the part about how like Hopkins offers like niche subject areas. So like I said, I like double majored or double minored also like in two business minors. So like Entrepreneurship and management and marketing communications, which is so long to say, but like some of the courses that were there, so like I took like practicum for entrepreneurship and management.

So like this was like a collegiate case competition in conjunction with Amazon prime students. So like we actually like. Completed like a whole consulting case and like competed and like presented our findings and things And sort of also like with advertising multimedia, of course So this was like they call it the ad class which it is sort of like that where you act like a mock advertising agency So like there’s all these different departments within like the course And like throughout the semester like you work to create like a campaign and really execute it Like go through all like parts of what?

The campaign execution looks like, so I was like part, I was like the co manager for the advertising team. So I worked primarily with the creating the videos and like the social media for that. And it was really fun. Our campaign was like trying to combat misinformation in the media. Um, so then we did all the research and then eventually like executing the campaign, which was also really fun.

And then I majored in psychology. So like some of my favorite courses that I had taken was advanced seminars in forensic psychology and research methods for psychology and design analysis for psychology. Um, but like some of my teachers, they always offer like real world, like examples of like what they’re doing in like their fields.

Um, I learned so much about like the field of psychology that I never knew before I went to Hopkins that was possible. Um, like for example, the research methods class, it was really fun. Hopkins is a really big research institution. But like this course, it was like designed for like psychology, like majors or like anyone that wants to take the course, honestly.

And like, I had the opportunity to like, really like create like a research project. I had researched like the effects of music on memory. And then I think I’m running out of time. Is that true? So, um, am I still okay? If you can do it in like another minute, that would be great. I’m sorry to rush. No, you’re good.

Um, I’m going to talk about how much I love the people I’ve met at Hopkins and the community because that’s my every single time when someone asks me about Hopkins, it’s my favorite part. I’ve met some of the most genuine people, whether it’s the faculty, the friends that I’ve made, and there’s some of the most like intelligent, talented, like hardworking people that I know, and they’re always here to support me and I know I’m going to have them.

Like as lifelong, like friends or like mentors or whatever it is. They’re, I don’t know how I could have done like any of what I have been able to accomplish without them. And definitely the Hopkins community is one of, is my favorite part about Hopkins itself, the community that creates, and like just the love friendship that they’re able to have.

It really does sound like such a special place hearing from All three of you, thank you so much for everything you’ve shared. Um, we do have maybe a minute or two left for questions and answers. So please, if you have any questions, put them in the Q and A tab. Um, I’ll read them out loud and then turn it over to the panelists to answer.

Um, while I let you submit your questions, I just wanted to take a minute to share a bit about CollegeAdvisor. So for those in the room who are not already working with us, we know how overwhelming the admissions process can be. CollegeAdvisors team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts is ready to help you and your family navigate the whole college admissions process in one on one advising sessions.

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At the end, you’ll also learn more about the premium packages we offer that pair you with an expert who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays, all the things that um, were discussed here tonight and more. I’m going to move on to the Q& A, but I’m going to leave that QR code on the screen.

So please do go ahead and scan it. And remember, these slides are available for download. So you can also scan the QR code there. I do see the time. Panelists, if you have to drop off, I understand. But I would like to get to at least one student question that just came in. Asking, can you get financial aid if you are accepted Early Decision?

Can any of you speak to that?

Oh, let me see. Can you hear me? Okay. Um, yes. So the thing with Early Decision is just that, like, you’re just committing to the schools. Like, you’re binded to them. Um, you’re still able to submit, like, a financial aid, like the FAFSA and the CSS profile and all of that. And just, you know, You’re not gonna be able to compare that, I guess with like other schools.

Like if other schools offered you, like, let’s say like a more, like more of a better or a better financial aid package than like the school you ed to like, it’s not gonna matter ’cause you’re gonna have to go to the school that like you ed to, um, and like whatever, like financial aid that they’re able to offer you.

Um, I don’t know exactly the. Like the rules on it. I know there’s like some like rules with ED. I don’t want to say too much on it because I don’t know. I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna let that be. Um, I would just do further research into like ED like there’s like depending because like obviously like sometimes there’s like with ED but yeah I would just like look into that but you can get financial aid or you are eligible for financial aid with ED.

Yes, I think that’s that’s a perfect answer. You should still apply for FAFSA and whenever in doubt with school specific things just reach out to someone in admissions there. We’ll be able to answer that for you. Um, we are at time. Thank you so much, Natalie, Anya, Katalina. You made me, I loved Carnegie Mellon and the way you talked about it, I was like, wow, Johns Hopkins sounds amazing.

Um, so I think you did a really great job of presenting it as a really exciting, engaging place. I hope folks enjoy it. are interested in checking it out after joining us tonight. Thank you for your time being with us everyone. Um, please be aware that we are pretty much always putting out new webinars, uh, for you to check out for free.

Um, so here’s our June schedule. You can see we’ll be covering all sorts of topics from extracurriculars to essays to the SAT. Uh, please check them out, sign up. And that brings us to the end of our time. Have a great night, everyone.