Johns Hopkins University was founded in 1876 after its namesake left $7 million in his will for the establishment of a hospital, supporting colleges, an orphanage, and the university.
Intended as a research university from its inception, it is the first of its kind in the United States.
Academics at the school are broken down into nine divisions, and these are taught at Johns Hopkins’ four campuses in Baltimore, its campus in Washington D.C., and at its facilities in these cities and in Italy and China.
Some of the school’s many notable alumni include Woodrow Wilson, Rachel Carson, Wes Craven, and Michael Bloomberg. Along with these famous figures are many Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and noteworthy politicians.
Johns Hopkins University has been the leading university in federal research and development funding in the country since 1979, and the university’s history of scientific and technological breakthroughs further demonstrates its research capacities.
Along with its many contributions to research, Johns Hopkins University is affiliated with 29 Nobel Laureates and currently has four Nobel Prize winners among its faculty.
Whether interested in medicine, physics, history, humanities, or the arts, students from all over the country apply for admission to one of America’s most prestigious universities.
Johns Hopkins University Transfer Acceptance Rate
The transfer acceptance rate at Johns Hopkins, in any given year, is about 10%.
The school also reports that transfer admissions are competitive, with a limited number of slots for transfer students available every year.
The transfer admissions process is much the same as it is for first-year applicants.
Both transfer students and freshman applicants are evaluated holistically, with the school considering academic success and a students’ likely contributions to life on campus.
The reasons for applying to Johns Hopkins University as a transfer student are varied.
Some students may wish to complete common subjects for their major at a school that is less expensive, while others would like the opportunity to improve their academic qualifications before applying to the university.
Whatever an individual student’s reasons for applying as a transfer student, all potential applicants should be reminded that the admissions process is still competitive, and they will also face different admission requirements than first-year applicants.
Application Requirements & GPA for Johns Hopkins Transfer Students
Though transfer students undergo much the same review process as first-year applicants do, they must have also completed more than 12 credit hours at their first university or college and must have a minimum 3.0 GPA.
That being said, most accepted students who get accepted to Johns Hopkins for a transfer degree likely have a GPA closer to 4.0.
Students who have completed 12 or fewer credits at their first university or college are required to apply as entering freshmen.
In order to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins, students must accumulate at least 60 credit hours while at the school and have completed at least four consecutive semesters with a full course load.
Along with these requirements, transfer applicants are evaluated upon their academic history in high school, their program of study in college, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, and application essays.
As part of the transfer application process, students must declare their first and second choice majors. Availability and acceptance are partially determined by the major into which a student applies, so the school cannot guarantee that there will be openings for transfer students for their preferred majors.
In the event that an applicant is not offered admission into their first choice of program major, they will be automatically reviewed for acceptance into their second choice of program.
Transfer students may apply into all undergraduate majors with the exception of biomedical engineering.
Johns Hopkins Transfer Deadline
The final deadline for submitting an application to transfer into Johns Hopkins is March 1, as the school only accepts transfer students into the fall semester of classes.
Once a student has accumulated 13 or more credit hours and has ensured that their GPA is at least a 3.0 for all college work performed at their first college or university, they would be wise to begin preparing their transfer application as soon as possible.
As the school requires a number of materials and documents to be submitted along with the application, this can take quite a long time to prepare and ensure everything is in order and presents the applicant in the best light possible.
Johns Hopkins’ admissions department requires documentation of a student’s course of undergraduate study as well as essays and letters of recommendation, all of which may take some time to request and prepare for submission.
Since the acceptance of transfer students is largely determined by availability in the degree program to which the student is applying, the school recommends checking the individual departments’ application requirements when preparing to apply for acceptance as a transfer student.
Johns Hopkins does not allow transfer students to defer their enrollment due to the unpredictable availability in each academic department.
What Is the Decision Date for Johns Hopkins Transfer Students?
Decisions on transfer admissions are available in the middle of May, and the school will provide official communication that gives more specific information. The school’s website further notes that these dates will vary slightly from one year to the next.
Students will be able to view the school’s admission decision on its official website, and the school will email students a link to the website where they can create a username and password to view the school’s decision.
The website further notes that the school cannot provide admission decisions over the phone, and it will require reasonable verification of identity before it provides assistance to students, parents, or counselors who have trouble with or have questions about the process.
Students who have been accepted will find further instructions on the official website, and they will also find information about financial aid if they applied for it.
If a student has been accepted into Johns Hopkins, they will need to submit both a reply form and an enrollment deposit.
These forms are available to students on the same site that provided their admission decision, and the deadline for transfer students to submit both of these is June 1.
While students are waiting for the school’s decision, they should continue to excel in their current undergraduate program as they anticipate future studies at Johns Hopkins.
Deciding Whether You Should Apply to Johns Hopkins As a Transfer Student
Along with its status as one of the foremost research universities in the United States, Johns Hopkins University is highly ranked among universities in the country.
The U.S. News and World Report ranked the school number 7 in the nation for the 2022 to 2023 academic year.
Furthermore, the QS World University Rankings 2023 report lists the school at number 24 among world universities, and at number 14 among U.S. universities.
Crimsoneducation.org reports that the overall acceptance rate for regular and early decision applicants was 6.5% for the class of 2026. This is contrasted with the school’s transfer acceptance rate of roughly 10% in recent years, and this may offer an attractive option for students who wish to attend Johns Hopkins but are concerned with its highly competitive admissions landscape.
Together with the higher transfer acceptance rate, the opportunity to offset some of the $60,480 annual cost of tuition and fees by completing a few semesters at a more local and less expensive school makes applying to Johns Hopkins University as a transfer student an enticing option for many undergraduates.
However, prospective transfer students should be reminded that Johns Hopkins does not award a bachelor’s degree to students who have not completed at least 60 credit hours of courses while at the school and that a slot in a student’s preferred program is not guaranteed to be available when they are ready to transfer schools.
Recap: How To Apply to Johns Hopkins As a Transfer Student
If a student does choose to apply to Johns Hopkins University as a transfer student, they must be well aware of the requirements and deadlines that must be observed.
Transfer students need to have completed at least 13 credit hours of courses at their current college or university and must apply to the school with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Hopeful transfer students must also make sure that Johns Hopkins will accept the credits a student has been awarded for the classes they have taken so far, and the school also requires that transfer students report the program of study they have followed at their first college or university.
Furthermore, transfer applicants need to keep in mind that they must provide their first and second choice of majors when they submit their applications.
Availability for transfer students is mainly dependent on the number of slots available in a student’s preferred major(s).
In addition to the unique requirements for transferring into the university, students must also complete much of the same application process as first-year applicants do.
Students who decide to go through with the transfer application process should begin preparing as soon as they have completed the minimum requirements to be accepted into the school as a transfer rather than first-year students.
Transfer applications are due on March 1, and students can expect to receive their decision in the middle of May.