Guide to the Common Application Essay Admitted to Johns Hopkins Sarah O’Neill, Supreme Daily Editing, Chester County,

 

What does JHU look for in its applicants?

JHU is famous for providing sample essays! This makes sense because, after all, they are a university built on the belief of SHOWING through experimentation rather than merely lecture. Anyway, be sure to check out their website (no doubt) provided by admissions to help you on your journey. It is SUPER helpful. CHECK IT OUT- Essays that work- https://apply.jhu.edu/application-process/essays-that-worked/

According to JHU admissions (via their website):

But, what do they look for?

“It’s a chance to add depth to something that is important to you and tell the admissions committee more about your background or goals. In each of these essays, students were able to share stories from their everyday lives to reveal something about their character, values, and life that aligned with the culture and values at Hopkins.”

In history with JHU candidates, the types of students admitted consisted of students who deeply make those correlations between their VALUES and passions with JHU. Now, you could do point-by-point comparison style — it is just as effective. has shaped their passions and drives them to pursue experiences at Hopkins. Their passions helped shape how they’d be at JHU.

Supplemental Essay Example:

Prompt: Tell us about an aspect of your identity (e.g. race, gender, sexuality, religion, community, etc.) or a life experience that has shaped you as an individual and how that influenced what you’d like to pursue in college at Hopkins.? (This can be a future goal or experience that is either academic, extracurricular, or social). 300 WORDS.

I was astonished to discover the unlimited potential of biology after viewing a TED Talk about using bacteria to develop bold, color-fast fabric dye that cuts down on water waste and chemical runoff. At that time, synthetic biology came into sight, and biology was no longer merely the theoretical and anatomical information of textbooks but a useful tool that would benefit us. So, gathering a team, we successfully developed a biological alternative of horseshoe crab reagents, which could be used to test bacterial toxins by adopting synthetic biology and engineering techniques. In the 2020 iGEM competition, our project won a global gold award and was in the top 5 best sustainable development finalists. Participating in iGEM let me feel the complete life cycle of research, including reading current literature, devising and executing a research plan, and articulating research results through oral presentations and written reports. I particularly enjoyed the wet lab work and experiments.

Johns Hopkins University offers a wide range of research opportunities that would allow me to further develop my knowledge and skills in molecular biology and bioengineering. For instance, Professor Barrick’s lab investigates the folding of repeat proteins, the structure, energetics, and function of Notch signaling, and expanding methods for consensus sequence design. Moreover, the research focuses on the academic studies of repeat-proteins and the biomolecules’ practical applications in pharmacy and industry. My previous research experiences, techniques, and knowledge learned from iGEM would serve as a basic precursor for the lab’s research process as I encountered instances of engineering proteins through sequence modification using traditional synthetic biology techniques. This lab can offer me a comprehensive view of repeat-proteins, bioengineering techniques, and proteins’ comprehensive role in cell-signaling. Most importantly, this research project allows me to experience interdisciplinary studies between molecular biology, chemistry, and physics.

Common Application Essay Admitted by Johns Hopkins University

Frustrated. Disheartened. Tearful. A four-year-old kid struggled to coordinate his hands and legs failed to decipher the mysterious musical notes. Sweaty. Enervated. Panting. He tenaciously dragged his arms up trying to tame this woody monster. Failure struck him down again and again. He never made it to let the melody flow.

At the age of five, I was first introduced to the violin. I did not know what purpose it served to hold the violin for hours and play just one note thousands of times. From a childish perspective, music, such as lullabies and symphonies, was an angel bestowed by God to save me from sorrow. Ironically, it was also music that brought me frustration. I guess my cacophony must have disturbed my neighbors. During this experience, my shoulder was sore, my body trembled, my teeth clenched: it was the longest day of my life ever. Even with all those painful and vague memories, my passion for music was not quenched. In fact, it turned out to be insatiable. As I was exposed to more knowledge of the violin and of music, I was intrigued by the arithmetic involved in tempo computation, just as the same way the melody from heaven enchanted me. At the mere age of six, another door which contained a vast ocean of treasures was opened up for me.

As an elementary school kid, I ostensibly understood the meaning of “harmony” through the simple songs that I played. By coordination of each orchestra member, our performance sounded just like those that were played on the radio and my impression of music was restored. Since then, I have never treated music with hostility as I did. Years later, however, the word “harmony” had a new meaning for me. It was not until I started geometry in my freshman year that I realized that geometry shared so many traits with music! Without harmony, a geometric pattern will not be established or just seems “unkempt”. It is music that inspired me to develop complex geometric structures. I derived new theorems based on existing ones, performing big surgeries to transform their appearance. In addition, I also preserved the harmony of lines and intersections so that the structure would not look so messy. Through the principle of “geometric harmony”, I designed the first artwork of my life.

When I introduced my masterpiece to my classmates, they were not interested at all because they thought the problem was too difficult for them. I first argued with them, trying to convince them of its intrinsic beauty, but became frustrated because no one truly appreciated my masterpiece. However, my math teacher encouraged me to explain the approach of how to solve it in front of the class. It was the first time I acted like a teacher cracking a problem down piece by piece. I finally felt vindicated when justifying my geometric art of harmony. Since then, a few fellows began to follow my footsteps and design their own geometry, expecting to challenge the whole class and my math teacher as well. Since then, more and more students have enjoyed tackling geometry problems and excelled in math through our effort. When I finally became the leader of the geometry club and a school math tutor, I realized the power of harmony to spread my interest and enjoyment to others, and make a difference in their lives.

For me, violin is not just a music instrument, it is the interpretation of my life theme, harmony. Thanks to my violin, it sparked a lifelong fascination with math. I aspire to inspire more people who are intimidated by math to discover its beauty and share my passion and interest in math with them by applying the principle of harmony.

Editor’s Analysis:

The writer of the Johns Hopkins admission essay above clearly demonstrates three strengths: growth realizations, established personal passions, and the use of heightened vocabulary.

First, the writer organizes his piece about the violin in a way that the reader can feel his frustrations as he continues to grow into this talent. He begins as a four-year-old, then proceeds to discuss his elementary school years with the same instrument and how painful it was to learn it, and finally to his high school and current state. As an admissions officer will see, this writer thought deeply about his progression with music and the realization that he was frustrated, to becoming intrigued, to his ultimate understanding of how important this was to him. This flow of progression is smooth and takes the reader along this person’s journey in a very real way.

Second, this writer details his passions: music and mathematics. Essentially, he credits the violin as the catalyst for his newest passion for mathematics. It is extremely beneficial for you to show admission officers that you are multi-talented. To also exemplify these interdisciplinary subjects, this student writer is putting forth a message that he thinks and cares about whatever passion he has. The exposition of the essay in which he calls the violin a “woody monster” is a stark contrast to how he later feels about it thus igniting his passion through math in beautiful ways. Once he used one passion, mathematics, to understand music, the two worked well together.

Third, the essay is sprinkled with very intelligent vocabulary terms as well as very descriptive ones. The writer begins with a list of adjectives such as “Frustrated. Disheartened, Tearful.” These words stir a reader’s emotions in very deliberate but creative ways. Some other notable vocabulary examples are words such as “tenaciously”, “insatiable” and “vindicated.” But the words he uses are not an overwhelming affair; they are rich and are used sparingly throughout which highlights the writer’s natural language skills and will impress the admissions officers to know that the potential student has a vast cabinet of words.

Thank you for reading!

Sarah O’Neill Daily Mail Supreme Editing/ Contact saraoneill3232@yahoo.com / Chester County