An overview of Johns Hopkins University, its admission procedure, scholarships, latest news, programs, campus culture and enrollment.
Overview and Rank
Johns Hopkins University is a private university founded in 1876 located in and around Baltimore, MD. It is currently the 13th highest ranked university in the United States according to the US News university ranking system. Johns Hopkins is also rated 17th in the US for scientific impact in Biomedical and Health sciences according to the CWTS Leiden ranking system.
Wyman Quad, home to the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University
Admission
In addition to academic record, prospective students applying to Johns Hopkins will also be judged based on extracurricular achievements, leadership and community contribution, essays, and letters of recommendation. Application requires a complete Universal College Application or the Common Application in addition to the Johns Hopkins Supplement for whichever application is used. Applicants must also send two teacher evaluations. The SAT Reasoning Test or ACT with Writing Test must also be submitted. The middle 50th percentile for admitted students in 2013 had an SAT composite score of 2110-2300 and an ACT of 32-35.
Enrollment (Fall 2013):
Enrolled Undergraduate Students: 5149
Enrolled Graduate Students: 2,029
Male: 52%
Female: 48%
Accepted: 18.4%
Cost:
Tuition: $45,470
Room & Board: $13,832
Books/Personal Expenses: $2200
Total: $61,502
Financial Aid:
Students can find out if they are eligible for financial aid by filling out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in addition to using the online ‘need calculator’ for Johns Hopkins at https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/jhu. In addition to the FAFSA, the CSS Financial aid profile must be completed (http://student.collegeboard.org/css-fina...d-profile) if the student is a US citizen or the International Financial Aid Application if the student is international (http://www.jhu.edu/finaid/international.html). The parent contribution to financial costs is determined through analysis of their net worth while considering factors such as family size and additional children enrolled in a college or university. In addition to need based loans from the university, Johns Hopkins also provide merit based scholarships. This included the Hodson Trust Scholarship which provides up to $28,500 per year and is given to fewer than 20 freshman each year. Of particular interest to students interested in Biotechnology, there is the Charles R. Westgate Scholarship in Engineering which covers tuition entirely and includes a stipend towards living expenses for four years of undergraduate study for any student in engineering. This engineering requirement spans all engineering majors, so the Bioengineering majors are included.
Academics and Biotechnology Related Study
Known for being a top research university with especially good Biological and Biomedical related programs, Johns Hopkins has a wide array of specialized majors for those interested in biotechnology.
First, there is Biomaterials Engineering which is a special program within the materials science and engineering major. This program is an interdisciplinary major which combines materials science, engineering, biology, and medicine. Students will learn how to engineer materials used in tissue engineering, drug and gene delivery, and medical devices and implants.
Another specialized major is Biomechanics which is offered within the mechanical engineering and engineering mechanics majors. Students can learn about biomechanics at a macroscopic level such as how soft and hard tissues affect computer-integrated surgical systems such as medical robotics. Students can also learn about subcellular biomechanics such as conformational transitions of biomolecules.
Biomedical Engineering is another specialized major which must be set as the prospective student’s first choice major when applying to Johns Hopkins. This program involves learning various engineering techniques and how to apply them to living systems.
Biophysics is a specialized major that involves learning physics and how it is applied to biological problems, particularly at the subcellular range. Biophysics includes areas such as protein folding, molecular structure and energetics, and membrane structure and function. In addition to requiring biology, chemistry, math and physics, Biophysics majors can also take classes for an introduction to computer programming. Biophysics majors must also complete two semesters of original research that is carried out in a nationally funded laboratory of the student’s choice.
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering is another specialized major centered around learning about the chemical, biological and physical transformations starting at a molecular scale. Students will learn about chemical and biomolecular engineering of transport, kinetics and thermodynamics with electives in materials science, nanotechnology, and bioengineering. Students in this program can specialize in one of two concentrations: interfaces and nanotechnology and molecular and cellular bioengineering.
In addition to these majors, a student can also minor in various fields which would complement their studies and better prepare them for further work in biotechnology. These minors include Computer Science, Mathematics, and Applied Mathematics and Statistics.
Johns Hopkins University also has a large Graduate program in the department of Biomedical Engineering. A Master of Science in Engineering is available which can be completed in two years. A two-semester course, Physiological Foundations in Biomedical Engineering, is required for all students in this program. Otherwise, the rest of the courses can be chosen by the student to suit their own interests. A PhD program in Biomedical Engineering is also offered at Johns Hopkins. This program has several different areas that the student can specialize in:
Cell and Tissue Engineering
Computational Biology (further broken into):
- Bioinformatics
- Computational Modeling
Medical Imaging
Molecular Neural Cardiovascular Systems (further broken into):
- Molecular and Cell Systems
- Cardiovascular Systems
Neuroscience and Neuroengineering
The PhD programs in Biomedical Engineering place particular emphasis on a solid foundation in life sciences. Because of this, PhD students must take in-depth training in life sciences in one of two ways. The first option is to enroll in the basic sciences curriculum in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, designed to cover a broad range of topics including molecules and cells, human anatomy, immunology, physiology and neuroscience. This curriculum usually takes the student’s entire first year. The second option involves taking numerous electives in life sciences which are tailored to the specific program’s research area. This option is generally taken by students who enter a Biomedical Engineering program already with a strong background in life sciences.
Culture
In addition to over 350 officially recognized clubs and organizations, Johns Hopkins has 13 fraternities and 8 sororities. Beyond campus social life, there is much to do in the way of extracurricular and social activity at Johns Hopkins due to its location in Baltimore, which is the largest city in Maryland and 24th largest city in the US. In addition to its main campus being located in Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is also near Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Beyond the usual dining and entertainment locations which can be found in any major city, Baltimore has an area, the Inner Harbor, which contains many different attractions and is a popular tourist destination. The inner harbor contains many museums such as the Baltimore Museum of Industry in addition to other interesting locations such as the National Aquarium in Baltimore and Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home to the Major League Baseball Team the Baltimore Orioles. Public transportation options exist in Baltimore but are fairly poor and disjointed. There is a bus system, MARC train, Light Rail and Metro subway which all operate independently but can be used to travel around the city. Fortunately Baltimore also has comprehensive bicycle routes throughout the city which are still expanding and many of them pass through the downtown area. In addition to local transport, Baltimore is home to an Amtrak station as well as the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).
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