Meet our Mentors | Kevin’s journey to Johns Hopkins

We interviewed one of our many incredible Mentors, Kevin, who graduated from Johns Hopkins in 2018. Read on to see how Kevin navigated college applications and four years at Johns Hopkins!

Kevin, thanks for sitting down with us. Let’s start with the basics. Can you share where you went to college, when you graduated, and what you studied?

I went to Johns Hopkins University and graduated in 2018. I graduated with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Materials Science and Engineering, with a Minor in Applied Math and Classics.

Whoa, cool! What is materials science and engineering?

It’s a bit of a mix of things. It’s a bit of a top-down view of how stuff looks, feels, how hard it is, how malleable, how well it conducts electricity, etc. Essentially, you learn why stuff is the way it looks, feels, etc. for physical goods.

I want to flash back to junior and senior year of high school and your application process. Did you apply anywhere early, whether that’s Early Action (EA), Restrictive Early Action (REA), Early Decision (ED), or something else?

I started brainstorming where to apply the Spring of my Junior Year of High School. I didn’t really know much about college applications. I grew up in Western Massachusetts in a bit more rural area.

I wound up pulling all my application materials together in the Fall. I did that time to submit Early Decision to Columbia. I also submitted a couple other applications early. I wound up getting waitlisted at Columbia.

My application process to submit to Early Decision to Columbia was a bit more on the hurried side. I don’t think I submitted my best application. My application definitely became more polished with additional time to get things submitted for regular decision. That included a lot of feedback from teachers and others.

One thing I’ll note is that the summer after my Junior year, I did a pre-college program at Yale. At the time, I thought that would really help my chances. What I’ll say now is it was costly and I didn’t get into Yale.

Fascinating. So doing a summer program at Yale doesn’t mean you’ll get into Yale?

Apparently not!

Any suggestions for people thinking about doing a program of that type?

Don’t do them just because you think they will get you into that school.

I enjoyed the experience. But at the time, I didn’t fully understand how I could use the credits I earned from that program once I got to college. I wasn’t thinking about it that way. I also wasn’t necessarily focused on how to learn about what colleges might be a good fit during that program. I could’ve used a bit of guidance on what to be thinking about during that summer.

OK, back to the standard questions. Over the course of the whole application process, early and regular, where else did you wind up applying?

So I applied to Columbia and Yale, of course Johns Hopkins, then NYU, Duke, Stanford, MIT, Harvard, UMass Amherst’s Honors Program, and Northeastern.

As a note, if you’re from Massachusetts like I am, there are some specific programs and scholarships that are relevant for you. They’ve changed since I was applying, but it’s 100% something you should get smart on as a Massachusetts resident before applying to UMass. The Honors Program I was applying to was super cool and something I strongly considered.

Did you apply to any specific university scholarship programs?

I don’t remember being aware of any of these when I was applying. I was always willing to go the extra mile and definitely submitted extra essays, but it’s not something I had a real strategy on. I mostly thought about this after I got accepted to schools.

Once I was in college, I met people who were on full-ride scholarships that they’d applied to. Those were definitely super cool. I wish I would’ve known to think about these when I was a Junior and during Senior Fall of high school.

I do know there was something for Massachusetts residents called the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship. It was based on 10th-grade test results, on something called the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS).

So you ultimately got into Johns Hopkins and a few other schools. How did you decide on Johns Hopkins vs. other schools?

Three main factors. Of course, part of it was that Johns Hopkins has a great reputation. Second is I was really interested in research opportunities. I heard at Johns Hopkins, if you reached out and tried to get research opportunities, it was definitely possible. And that turned out to be true! Third, I wanted to be in a city. I actually didn’t know that Johns Hopkins is kind of in its own part of Baltimore. I hadn’t visited. What I can say is it’s not like NYU, which is really right in the center of the city, but it definitely has access to the city in a great way.

What was the best thing about Johns Hopkins?

Of course, I will say the people. I know that’s cliche. So I’ll come back to the research opportunities I mentioned before.

I was looking for this in a college. And Johns Hopkins definitely delivered. For me, that research was much more technical and engineering focused. But I was able to pretty easily initiate a great rapport with a few professors. I think this is because there is just so much research happening at Johns Hopkins and so much resourcing directed at research.

Can you give a few examples of that research?

I researched in a micro-fluidics lab, which is essentially a mini lab-on-a-chip. I also got to research in a drug formulation and delivery lab, which is essentially designing the shape of medicines. And then my favorite experience was an abroad research opportunity. I wanted to study abroad, but with engineering, that’s super tough. There are a lot of course requirements. But I wound up finding a fully funded research opportunity that took me to Singapore. That was entirely through Johns Hopkins and because Johns Hopkins has such a broad reach and good research reputation.

And how about your least favorite things about Johns Hopkins?

I would say the school spirit for sports is pretty low! I know at some schools, sports can be this huge unifying experience and a really fun part of campus. Just be aware that if you go to Johns Hopkins, you will not be going to football games with 90,000 fans or watching your college win in March Madness!

What have you heard since graduating that you’ve realized are unique things about Johns Hopkins?

I will go back to research. A few of my friends who stuck with specific research labs for two or three years were even featured as authors on papers. It’s definitely a place where you can do genuinely compelling research even as an undergrad.

I’ll also add that Johns Hopkins was a nice school size for me. It was big enough that I was able to have a varied friend group and small enough that I really felt like campus had a lot of familiar faces.

Moving on to more general college reflections, what do you think you’ve learned about college since you graduated?

I took a super active approach to classes I took, pursuing a Masters in addition to a Bachelors, pursuing multiple Minors, and looking for classes I could double count toward those things. At the time, I thought doing that was going to give me some specific value down the road, whether that would be academic, career-wise, qualifications.

In hindsight, that’s not really how it played out! I am extremely happy about the experiences I had by pursuing many different types of courses and a wide range of opportunities. But it’s not because of the qualifications or specific career advancement those have given. It’s a less tangible thing. It’s much more that those experiences expanded my horizons and helped me grow as a person.

Any regrets about your college application process, decision-making process, or how you approached college? What’s that one thing you always tell high schoolers about college?

Honestly, be stressed less than you are stressed. If you stay happy, open-minded, and approach things in an active way, things will work out. That’s not to say never be stressed. That’s not possible! It’s a bit more like if you feel you are pursuing things with a level of seriousness and excitement, things will work out.

One other specific thing is I would’ve considered the West Coast for college a bit more! That’s to say I didn’t think that seriously about where I wanted to be. I applied to places I knew of. It’s not a huge regret, it’s just that, going back to what I just said, you do want to think seriously about this process.

Finally, what made you decide to be a Cohort Mentor?

When I was applying to college, I was just researching things on my own and through websites like College Confidential. In hindsight, just talking to someone aware of the landscape would’ve saved me a lot of time and gotten me much further in my understanding of the landscape and process. One thing I specifically remember is not even knowing the right questions to ask. Someone who has gone through it helps you ask the right questions, and then also answer them! I want to be that support for high schoolers going through this process.

Thank you, Kevin. It’s been great learning about your journey at Johns Hopkins. Thanks for your time