Happy New Year from the HNC!

The Hopkins-Nanjing Center Office of International Admissions will be closed on Tuesday, December 31 and Wednesday, January 1.  We look forward to answering your application questions when the office reopens on Thursday.  Happy New Year!

Christmas at the HNC

Snowmen visit the HNC courtyard

Christmas Eve banquet

Christmas Eve banquet

The youngest member of the HNC community :)

Decorations in the student lounge

Christmas Eve in the student lounge

Presents on Christmas morning

Thank you to HNC American Academic Coordinator Angela Chang for the pictures!

Happy Holidays from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center!

The Hopkins-Nanjing Center Washington Support Office will be closed from December 23 through December 27.  Although office visits will not be possible during that time, admissions representatives will still be accessible by email to answer your application questions.  You can click here for staff email addresses.  Happy holidays!



Secret Santa in the HNC Student Lounge

Tips for a Problem-Free Application

As you finish up (or for some of you, start!) your application to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, keep these tips and guidelines in mind:

Transcripts
If you haven't already done so, request official transcripts from any institutions at which you've taken undergraduate or graduate-level courses and have them mailed to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center Washington Support Office at 1740 Massachusetts Ave NW Washington, D.C. 20036. We accept both hard copy transcripts and electronic transcripts, but both need to be official documents.

Non-English-language transcripts: If your transcript is in a language other than English, you are asked to provide an official translation of the entire transcript and an explanation of the grading system of the university. You are strongly encouraged to use a credential evaluation service, particularly if you are not sure of how to obtain original transcripts or face difficulties obtaining them. Transcripts and translations must be official (unopened by the applicant) and received by the Hopkins-Nanjing Center Washington Support Office before the relevant deadline, so please make any requests well in advance.

Resumes
Although your resume can exceed one page, we ask that it not be longer than two pages. The Admissions Committee wants to see not only your previous work experience but also any awards and/or honors you have received, extracurricular activities, relevant coursework, publications, and volunteer work. You should not include information from high school.

Test Scores
You must request and take the STAMP Chinese Proficiency test before January 21, 2014. If you have received your STAMP test score before you submit your application for admission, you can include this score on your application, but it is not mandatory. The Washington Support Office keeps records of official STAMP test scores and we will use the official scores when reading your application.

For the GRE/GMAT: Students applying to the Certificate program do not need to take the GRE or GMAT. MAIS applicants and Five-Semester Option applicants are required to take either the GRE or the GMAT. Use the SAIS code of 5610-0000 when requesting official GRE scores (or the code KGB-GX-99 when requesting GMAT scores). Be sure you send your GRE scores to Johns Hopkins SAIS in Washington, D.C., not Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

English-Language Competence
If English is not your native language, (or in the case of bilingual students, your dominant language is not English) but you hold an undergraduate degree granted by an accredited institution in a country where English is an official language and where English is the language of instruction, than you will not be required to submit an English competency exam.

The Hopkins-Nanjing Center accepts TOEFL and IELTS. A score of at least 100 on the TOEFL Internet-based exam (600 on the paper based) or 7 on the IELTS is required for admission. If a candidate takes the Cambridge test, a passing grade is required for admission. The TOEFL code is 5610-0000.

Letters of Recommendation
For tips on letters of recommendation, check out our previous blog post: Letters of Recommendation: Do's and Don'ts.

***And lastly, we highly recommend that you submit your application before the deadline so that our office can alert you if you have missing documents. Good luck!

Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games “Share the Games, Share our Dreams”

Nanjing YOG Ambassador Michelle Wie with LELE

Nanjing has been very busy lately in preparation for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) which will be held August 16- 28, 2014.  Nanjing 2014 YOG will encompass 28 sports in the Olympic program and aim to spread the Olympic spirit and encourage sport participation.


Countdown to 2014 YOG

NANJINGLELE, is the mascot of Nanjing 2014 and its name derives from a specialty of the host city, known as the river stone.  The word "LELE"  is meant to represent the sound of colliding stones, but is also similar to the Chinese word for happiness/joy.  According to the YOG website, the mascot "heralds Nanjing’s ambition to contribute to the Olympic movement by forging a wonderful Youth Olympic Games, and to leave the city’s footprint on the trail of the Olympic movement by delivering joyful, glamorous and indelible experiences for young people around the world.”

A number of the YOG games will be held at venues close to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. Wutaishan, which is one of the venue for football, table tennis and basketball, is only about 2 km away from the HNC campus and Xuanwu Lake, host to the canoe-kayak and rowing races, is about 5 km away.

If you are interested in learning more about the 2014 Youth Olympics, please visit www.nanjing2014.org.

Photo sources: www.nanjing2014.org

The Hopkins Connection in China: Huihang Hiking Trip

As an HNC student, you will have the opportunity to connect with Hopkins alumni networks worldwide.  Prior to Thanksgiving, the Hopkins Shanghai Alumni Club organized a fall hiking trip to the Huihang Ancient Caravan Trail or 徽杭古道.  The 徽 stands for Anhui Province, and the 杭 stands for Hangzhou, which is located in Zhejiang Province. This ancient trail was used for centuries by Huizhou merchants to transport goods between the fertile interior (Anhui) and prosperous east coast (Zhejiang), and the 25km path is (mostly) paved with ancient stones which date back to the Tang Dynasty.  HNC American Academic Coordinator Angela Chang tail-ended her fall recruiting trip to Shanghai and Hangzhou with the hiking trip and spent two days in the company of twelve other Hopkins alumni and friends, enjoying their time away from the city.

A gorgeous field of reeds (芦苇)

“计划生育与发展农村经济相结合”

       “Family planning is tied to rural economic development”

Learning how to skip rocks     



       We reached the end of the trail!

For more pictures, check out the Shanghai Alumni Club's Flickr account!

Wordless Wednesday: Attending Class at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center

Contemporary Chinese Foreign Policy with Cai Jiahe

Politics of Rural Development with Adam Webb

Chinese History Since 1949 with Dong Guoqiang

Comparative Politics with Gaye Christofferson

Chinese Constitution with Zhao Juan

Meet the HNC International Admissions Team!

The HNC International Admissions Team

Have you ever wondered who is processing your STAMP tests, reading your applications as part of the admissions committee, and tweeting on behalf of the HNC?  Now that we're all back from fall recruiting, meet the HNC international admissions team!  We are based in Washington, DC so that we can support you every step of the way on your journey from applicant to student.  You'll hear from us about everything from the application process and financial aid to visas, billing, and pre-departure information.  In addition, some of us are graduates of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center certificate program so can speak firsthand to the student and alumni experience.

Katie Brooks, Admissions Officer:  

Now based in Washington, Katie previously spent four years living in China and Singapore.  An alumna of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she is also a 2009 graduate of the Certificate program at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. After completing the Certificate program, she spent one year working for a US-China academic exchange program before joining the HNC international admissions team in June of 2010.  An active member of the HNC alumni community in DC, Katie is also pursuing a master's degree part-time in International Education at George Washington University.

Lauren Szymanski, Admissions Coordinator:

Lauren graduated from McGill University in 2011, with a major in East Asian Studies, and a minor in Chinese Language. After graduating, she completed an intensive summer language program in Kunming, China before attending the Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s Certificate program in the fall. While at the Center, Lauren enjoyed the sense of community among the students, both Chinese and International, especially after having studied at such a large undergraduate institution. “Living with a Chinese roommate was by far my favorite aspect of living at the Center, and my roommate and I still communicate regularly by e-mail.” Lauren graduated from the HNC in June of 2012, and is now living in Washington, DC.

Sallie You, Admissions Coordinator:
Raised in Michigan, Sallie attended Michigan State University for her undergraduate degree in International Relations and Journalism. Sallie has previously worked at Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences as an Admissions Coordinator and has experience in East Asian studies. Sallie is currently pursuing a MA in Public Management at Johns Hopkins University part-time while working for the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. She recently completed her first recruiting season and loved traveling to different universities and talking to prospective students about their passions and career goals.

Fall 2013 Recruiting Wrap-Up

Spelman College

College of the Holy Cross

Arizona State University

The fall recruiting season has officially concluded and our entire admissions staff is now back in the office and available to answer your application questions.  This fall our DC-based admissions team visited 115 US and Canadian  universities.  The American Academic Coordinator in Nanjing, Angela Chang, also visited dozens of study abroad programs in Beijing, Shanghai, Harbin, and Hangzhou and also recruited in Australia earlier in the year.  We also listened to your suggestions on Twitter when creating the recruiting calendar, so if you would like an admissions representative to visit your school next year, please email or tweet at us!

We enjoyed meeting every single one of you while on the road and look forward to reading your applications in February.  If you haven't started your application yet, it's not too late!  The application deadline for the HNC Certificate and MAIS program is February 1 while the application deadline for the Five-Semester Option is just over a month away on January 7.  For all three programs, the deadline for taking the Chinese proficiency exam is January 21.  Please let us know if you have any questions at all regarding the application process!