This research university is renowned for its robust science and medical programs, but school officials make it clear they’re looking for more than academic stars. Each year, they fill their quads and classrooms with not just deep thinkers but doers.

How do you show you’re just what they’re looking for? JHU officials take the time to note that your essays are especially important in revealing to them who you are and “how you actually think.” And they give you two such opportunities: the Common App personal statement (which, hopefully, you’ve already written) and one supplemental essay, explored in detail below.

Before you write your supplemental essay, get a by-the-numbers look at Johns Hopkins’ offerings, from enrollment and tuition statistics to student life and financial aid information, on its Common Data Set. For deep insights into how America’s oldest research university envisions its role and how it wants to grow and evolve, check out its strategic plan.

And heads-up: Be careful not to write “John” Hopkins in your essay. Yes, it’s actually “Johns,” with an “s.”

What is the Johns Hopkins supplemental essay prompt?

Johns Hopkins Supplemental Essay Prompt #1

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. (350-word limit)

How to Write The Johns Hopkins Supplemental Essay 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. (350-word limit)

Most schools ask their applicants to expand on why they’re interested in applying to X school in particular. That’s what we call a “Why us?” essay.

But this question is like a “Why us?” essay … with a twist.

That’s because this prompt flips the “Why us?” question format on its head. At first glance, it seems to be asking “why you?” By that, we mean that it's asking you to elaborate on what makes you a good fit for Johns Hopkins (not what makes Johns Hopkins a good fit for you). It’s asking you to reflect on a community (or multiple communities, or other aspects of your background or experiences) that you’re a part of and then link that to the university.

Before you start writing, we recommend checking out this complete guide on how to write the “Why us?” essay. Pay close attention to the “Why Cornell” and “Why Penn” examples, which are our favorites. Think about how you can incorporate those communities you initially brainstormed into the first part of your essay. That will give your reader a sense of where you’re coming from and how it relates to the interests you want to pursue at Johns Hopkins.

As you write, try to avoid these common mistakes:

Mistake #1: Writing about the school's size, location, reputation, weather, or ranking.

Mistake #2: Simply using emotional language to demonstrate fit.

Mistake #3: Screwing up the mascot, stadium, team colors or names of any important people or places on campus.

Mistake #4: Parroting the brochures or website language.

Mistake #5: Describing traditions the school is well-known for.

Mistake #6: Thinking of this as only a "Why them" essay

Here’s a nice example essay (note that it was written for an older version of the prompt with a slightly different word count, but it would still work well for this year’s).

Example:

Decode “jpwoly”.
Two years ago, I began an all-girls Cybersecurity team, competing in the national Girls Go Cyberstart competition. It seems obvious that a group of people with varied backgrounds and experiences could generate better ideas on keeping personal information safe, yet cybersecurity is one of the least diverse STEM fields – in 2017, it was 11% female. Sometimes when the community you want doesn’t exist, it means creating your own.
During the competition, we four girls spent a week completing hundreds of challenges in cryptography, web analysis, Linux, python, steganography, and more. We quickly realized that though we lacked experience in Cybersecurity, our differing interests and abilities in math or coding were our greatest strength. We delegated many challenges, myself taking cryptography and becoming the resident expert on SQL injections. At the end of Day 1, we were ranked 20th in Colorado, determined to work our way up. We spent far too many hours in our computer science classroom, hogging computers and insisting we just wanted to finish one more challenge.
By week’s end, we’d won our state competition and placed ninth nationally. We used the cash prize to form a cybersecurity club, focusing on getting more girls involved. I’m excited that we’re building a community of girls interested in STEM and cybersecurity – this past year, we had 50 girls competing in Girls Go.
The original team of four collaborated not only with each other during the competition, but also by encouraging interaction among our peers to grow the program. This kind of collaboration is something that excites me about Johns Hopkins—collaboration that fosters new ideas and solutions to problems, especially through interdisciplinary collaboration. I’m fascinated by biomedical research, and would love the opportunity to do undergraduate research, specifically on cancer. I’d like to work in the Sidney Kimmel Center in lung cancer research, with Shyam Sundar Biswal, as he is doing fascinating research about susceptibility to environmental lung diseases. I’ve done some work with dysplasia and how it is affected by carcinogens, and would like to learn more in this area. Outside of science, I’m also interested in the Peabody school’s dance program. The focus the program places on how dance and science interact allows me to explore two different aspects of my life and how they work together, as well as interact with two different groups of people.
By the way, “jpwoly” decodes to “cipher”.
— — —

Tips + Analysis

Connect to your values. Through the story of the author’s cybersecurity club, we get a sense that diversity and inclusion in STEM deeply matter to her. Notice that she doesn’t just state the problem; she uses a statistic to give it context and urgency: “in 2017, it was 11% female.” Then she follows up with this gem to show how she feels about taking action: “Sometimes when the community you want doesn’t exist, it means creating your own.” Big(weld) applause.
Maybe get a little geeky. “Cryptography, web analysis, Linux, python, steganography, SQL injections.” These are not terms the average Joanne throws around. They denote some intimate knowledge of coding and programming, allowing this student to demonstrate her command of the subject matter. Note how she uses this language in just a sentence or two. There’s a fine line between showing your expertise and seeming braggy, so do this sparingly, if at all.
Connect collaboration back to JHU. This student uses the latter third of her essay to basically do a mini “Why Johns Hopkins.” Since the prompt asks “how X has shaped what you want to get out of your college experience at Hopkins,” make sure to let them know! And since JHU doesn’t ask explicitly for a “Why us?” essay like many schools do, this strategy may give you the opportunity to show that you and Johns Hopkins are a great fit, and how deeply you “get” this particular school.

Special thanks to Nicole for contributing to this post.

Nicole learned how to tell other people’s stories after a 30+-year career as a newspaper reporter, covering both the mundane and the unforgettable, from serial killer Duane Owen’s retrial, to the Bush/Gore nail-biter, to the homeless family of four who found refuge in a storage unit. Her ideal day is spent playing Cribbage with her dad, beating her husband at RummiKub and planning the next girls trip with her teenage daughters.

Top values: Creativity | Growth | Meaningful Work

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