Johns Hopkins University

No deadlines published for this cycle yet. Check the source link above — we'll add them as soon as the school posts them.

Essay prompts (1)

1. identity2025-26350 words

   Applies to: All first-year applicants (Common App or Coalition on Scoir)

   Over the past 150 years, every monumental discovery at Hopkins has started with a first step: The first draft by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. A prototype that led to a life-changing medical invention. The first pitch that launched a new startup venture. As we commemorate the university's sesquicentennial—150 years since its founding—we continue to celebrate first steps just as much as final achievements. Tell us about an important first in your life—big or small—that has shaped you (350-word limit).

   This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Johns Hopkins University has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.

   source

AI tools may be used for brainstorming or refining ideas before the writing process begins and for basic proofreading, but all material submitted in the application must be the applicant's own original work. Submitting the substantive content or output of an artificial intelligence platform is not permissible and is considered application fraud.

How reviews use this page

When you request a review for a Johns Hopkins University supplement, the feedback is grounded in exactly what you see here: the prompt itself, its word limit, and what the school publishes about its values and programs. That's the whole claim — calibrated to the prompt and the school's own published guidance, scored against a consistent rubric. Not insider knowledge, and never a rewrite: Second Read is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It flags weaknesses and tells you what to fix and why; it never writes a sentence of your essay.

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