Johns Hopkins University Early Decision Acceptance Rate & Decision Date

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Johns Hopkins students enjoy the options of an urban center and proximity to Washington, D.C. 

Several professional sports teams call Baltimore home, including the Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles. 

If you have a penchant for crab cakes, Baltimore is your paradise. The city has a reputation for the best crab cakes in the nation.

What type of student will thrive at Johns Hopkins? Someone who is innovative. A creator. Johns Hopkins was founded as the first American research university

Students in all disciplines will collaborate with peers and faculty members to explore pertinent issues on an intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary level.

Attending Johns Hopkins places undergraduates in the knowledgeable hands of expert faculty members. 

The school maintains a 6:1 student-to-faculty ratio, and nearly 80% of its classes have fewer than 20 students. 

Johns Hopkins is the school for you if you’re looking for intimate learning environments driven by discussion and hands-on experiences.

In the following sections, we’ll break down Johns Hopkins early decision acceptance rate. 

The school has two early decision rounds, which are both binding. The only difference is that the second round gives determined students a little more time to prepare their application materials. 

We’ll share critical deadlines for both early decision rounds and decision notification windows. We’ll conclude with instructions for applying to Johns Hopkins, one of the best colleges in America.


Johns Hopkins Early Decision Acceptance Rate

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
yusuketakeuchi, Jhmi, CC BY-SA 4.0

Johns Hopkins’ early decision acceptance rate is 31%. 

Most recently, 2,068 early decision applicants applied for admission, and 641 were accepted. 

This acceptance rate is considerably more favorable to the early decision applicant than the overall acceptance rate of 5.9% (which includes regular decision applicants). An astonishing 28,096 regular decision applicants submitted application materials, and only 1,668 were offered admissions.

Make no mistake, Johns Hopkins is an elite school, and admissions are unsurprisingly competitive

The average GPA of the most recently admitted class was 3.92, with students averaging 34 on the ACT and 1520 on the SAT. 

Further, 98% of enrolled students graduated in the top 10% of their high school class.

Attending Johns Hopkins is a huge opportunity. 

Many successful American entrepreneurs, world leaders, scientists, artists, and thinkers have walked the halls of this great university. 

Johns Hopkins claims 29 Nobel Prize laureates to this day, including President Woodrow Wilson, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919.

Most Johns Hopkins Nobel laureates earned prizes in physiology, medicine, or physics; these are the fields where Johns Hopkins has witnessed most of its achievements. 

Johns Hopkins alumni and staff developed the first successful treatment for bee stings, took the first color photo of the whole planet from space, and invented cardiopulmonary resuscitation (also known as CPR).

Early decision applicants who enroll at Johns Hopkins ultimately benefit from attending one of the best American universities. 

The U.S. News & World Report ranks Johns Hopkins #7 overall. This high ranking can be attributed, in large part, to the school’s small class sizes and stellar academic performance of newly admitted students.


Johns Hopkins ED Decision Date 

Early decision I applicants can expect to hear an admission decision from Johns Hopkins by December 10

Early decision II applicants will receive an admission notification two months later, on February 11. 

Early decision I and II candidates will receive one of three decisions from the Johns Hopkins Office of Admission: admit, defer, or deny. 

If an applicant is not admitted during early decision I, they can be deferred and reconsidered in the regular decision candidate pool. 

If a candidate is not admitted during early decision II, they can either be waitlisted or denied.

There are currently no statistics available regarding deferred early decision I and II applicants. Several schools have omitted these numbers from their Common Data Set reports, hoping to reduce anxiety around the application process. 

Deferred students are not required to submit any other materials as part of the application process; however, they may submit more up-to-date standardized test scores, senior year quarter or semester grades, additional letters of recommendation, a current resume, or an additional written statement.

Admitted early decision applicants will also start to receive their financial aid award packages during this time. 54% of first-year students at Johns Hopkins receive some form of financial aid, and the average need-based grant totals $44,000. Types of available aid include grants, scholarships, and work opportunities.

All in all, Johns Hopkins will enroll enough students to maintain a total undergraduate population of 5,000+ students. 

Most of them will progress to make significant public health and education-related contributions to the Baltimore community and the world at large.


Johns Hopkins Early Decision Deadline

Johns Hopkins University
Public domain photo via Wikimedia Commons

Early decision I applicants have until November 1 to submit their application and financial aid materials. 

The early decision II application deadline is January 3. 

Only students determined to attend Johns Hopkins (as their top choice) should consider applying for early decision I or II, as both are binding contracts.

Biomedical Engineering students tend to have more specific questions about the early decision option at Johns Hopkins. If candidates are not accepted into the Whiting School of Engineering as early decision applicants, they are released from the binding agreement and can apply freely to other colleges. 

If they still wish to attend Johns Hopkins but not as part of the School of Engineering, they can enroll (if accepted).

Early decision I and II candidates are eligible to apply for various types of need-based financial aid

All early decision applicants should complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile. 

Go ahead and collect your tax returns and your parents’ tax returns. All of these materials are considered in determining the need-based award.

After submitting application materials, early decision applicants can still apply to other schools – they just can’t apply to any other binding programs. 

Once an early decision candidate is accepted to Johns Hopkins, they are obligated to enroll. 

Unlike many other institutions, Johns Hopkins requires a school guidance counselor to co-sign an early decision agreement (part of the application package). 

Now is an excellent time to get one’s finances in order. The total estimated tuition to attend the Johns Hopkins School of Arts and Sciences is $60,480 per year. 

Fortunately, the school is committed to meeting 100% of its demonstrated financial need. 

Michael Bloomberg’s recent $1.8 billion donation allowed Johns Hopkins to eliminate student loans from its financial aid award packages. 


How to Apply to Johns Hopkins for Early Decision

To apply for early decision at Johns Hopkins University, applicants should start with the Application and Supplement. 

Johns Hopkins accepts the Common Application or Coalition Application. Early decision applicants will next need to share the Secondary School Report, which consists of a school counselor recommendation, an official transcript, and a high school profile. The counselor will submit most of these items on the applicant’s behalf.

All early decision applicants must submit two evaluations from teachers who can give insight into their talents and abilities. 

Other schools emphasize that these teachers should be from core subjects, like English, math, science, or social studies, but Johns Hopkins has no limitations.

Johns Hopkins is continuing to operate on a testing-optional policy. 

Students who decide not to submit standardized test scores will not be penalized in any way. early decision applicants can submit SAT or ACT scores if they feel it will increase the overall competitiveness of their applications. 

The Johns Hopkins Supplemental Essay is one of the most critical pieces of the application package. 

Here is a space where early decision applicants can best set themselves apart from their competitors. Johns Hopkins poses one question each year, to which all students provide a response. 

Last year, the school prompted students to share something they’d like the admissions committee to know about them and how it shaped what they desire from a Johns Hopkins college experience.

The last piece of the application package often comes into play once early decision I applicants have already received an admission decision: regular decision candidates and admitted early decision I and II candidates must submit a Mid-Year Report by mid-February – this report should include an updated senior year transcript.