Who Should Apply?

We seek students from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. We want students who have excelled in research and their academic studies proportional to the opportunities they have been afforded in their academic career.

We are committed to a diverse community at Hopkins, as diversity is a key element of the educational experience of our students. Diversity presents itself in many different forms such as socioeconomic status, race or ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, nationality or place of origin, disability, unique work or life experience, etc.  Our goal through the admissions process is to cultivate an environment that values diverse backgrounds, approaches, and perspectives.

Johns Hopkins University does not discriminate on the basis of gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status or other legally protected characteristic in any student program, activity administered by the university, admission, or employment.

You can learn more about our commitment to diversity here.

No! Johns Hopkins is a highly interdisciplinary school, and this is reflected in the Computer Science department. Applicants have degrees in CS, ECE, linguistics, cognitive science, math, biomedical engineering, and many other areas. While we want to see some experience with CS, we take students from a diverse range of backgrounds.

Certainly not. While many of our applicants have publications demonstrating their research experience, we care more about what you did with the opportunities you were given. Some students come from major US universities with active research programs, in which case students have the opportunity to publish. Other students come from smaller schools without these opportunities. Each year we accept many students without publications, and reject students with multiple publications.

Application Process

Most of our larger research areas accept PhD students every year. If your question is “will you have slots,” there is no need to ask. Apply!

If you have specific questions about a faculty member’s research, you are welcome to contact them ahead of time. However, keep in mind that faculty members receive dozens of emails from applicants and often don’t have time to respond. This is especially true of long emails that focus on the applicant without specific questions for faculty. If you email faculty, we recommend you keep it short, to the point, and specific to that faculty member’s interests. Don’t be offended if they don’t reply. A generic email to a faculty member before you apply will not improve (or hurt) your chances of being accepted.

Each application cycle is different, and the timing of the PhD and MSE review processes occur roughly simultaneously. Whether we’re able to consider your PhD application for acceptance into our MSE program depends on several factors – the amount of MSE applications received, the speed at which our MSE Admissions Committee reviews said applications, and the number of MSE offers made during a given cycle.

In short, we unfortunately cannot guarantee that we will be able to review your PhD application for our MSE program. But if you email Kim Franklin by February 1, stating that you’d like your PhD application to be cloned for MSE review, it is likely that we will be able to accommodate your request. Please keep in mind that you may not have received your formal PhD Admissions decision yet.

The application is all online so you don’t need to worry about sending anything by mail! GRE and TOEFL scores will be sent electronically and directly to us by ETS so you don’t need to worry about those either. If you are admitted into the program, you may have to ask other people to mail additional documentation to us (like your official transcript, an unofficial one is fine for the application). For these sorts of concerns, please send your mail to Engineering Graduate Admissions Office:

Johns Hopkins University
Graduate Academic Affairs
Engineering Graduate Admissions
Wyman Park Building, 3rd Floor West
3400 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218

To contact: go to https://engineering.jhu.edu/about/contact-visit-us/

Graduate Admissions answers these types of inquiries. Please go to http://grad.jhu.edu/contact/ and fill out the requested info. The departments do not collect or record any application documents. Grad Admissions will be able to research and answer you within ten business days. The email address for Graduate Admissions is [email protected].

We encourage you to include any information that you think will help us make a more accurate assessment of your abilities. Feel free to include extra information but you are not at all obliged to do so.

The institution code is (4655) for the GRE and (C559) for the TOEFL exam. Our department code for TOEFL is (78) and for GRE is (0402).

This and other information concerning Standardized Testing can be found at the ETS GRE Website.

All non-native English speakers must take the TOEFL exam or IELTS. Neither the TWE nor the TSE is required, but is recommended.  Graduate Affairs and Graduate Admissions will grant waivers only to students with citizenship from countries where the official language or language of instruction in higher education is English, or if the student received or are about to receive a bachelors or master’s degree from an institution in the US or a country where English is the official language.  Policy details here.

Yes.

Copies or scans of any official documents such as transcripts, GRE scores and TOEFL scores cannot be considered. Offers of admission will not be made using any unofficial documents.

The scores must be new enough that ETS still considers them valid and can give us an official score report. Currently, the ETS sets this limit at five years.

There is no minimum score required for the GRE and it is usually one of the least weighted portions of an application. We rely more on the GRE if you do not have other accomplishments. If the only thing standing between you and applying is a lackluster GRE score do not let that stop you from applying.  PhD applicants may obtain a waiver to exempt them from submitting GRE scores. Waivers may be obtained by contacting [email protected] and providing: a.) your Slate application reference number; b.) the reason for why you’re unable to provide GRE scores.

If you cannot take the GRE exam (cost, inaccessible, etc.) you can request a waiver. Please contact [email protected].

You will be required to upload a copy of your transcript into our application system (unofficial is fine). When you are admitted to the program, you will need to provide an official copy before being enrolled.

A $25 fee is typically required alongside your application. However, we offer waivers in cases where the fee is a barrier to your application. If you are a first-generation college student, have participated in a program such as NNE or SACNAS (among many others), or are unable to apply because of the fee, please contact us at [email protected].

PhD applicants need three letters. We require that your recommenders submit their recommendations online.

We require the use of the online application recommendation section for recommenders submissions. When doing this, your recommender will get instructions on how to submit.

The official form is a part of the online recommendation. Comments will be accepted even if the official form is not used. However, we strongly encourage the form to be used because it includes a table which provides us with additional information.

After Acceptance

You will be assigned an initial academic advisor, who may or may not become your eventual thesis advisor. Students are required to complete research qualifying projects early in their studies with two different faculty. For this reason, you’ll notice that our students often collaborate and publish with multiple faculty. Additionally, many of our students are co-advised, and changing advisors or adding a second advisor is relatively easy. If you are a PhD student in Computer Science, you will be able to work with any CS faculty member, subject to mutual agreement.

All full-time CS PhD students in good academic standing are guaranteed full-funding. This includes a yearly stipend of approximately $35,511, tuition and health insurance. Our students are primarily funded on research assistantships, with some amount of time on teaching assistantships (teaching for at least one semester is a requirement of the CS PhD program).

Many of our students participate in summer internship programs within industry, which pay considerably higher salaries.

Hopkins PhD students are fully covered for medical (Cigna), dental (Delta Dental), and vision (EyeMed). Plans are available for masters students as well. More information can be found at https://benefits.jhu.edu/health-and-life/student_health/overview.cfm.

All eligible full-time graduate students and postdoctoral trainees receive no less than 8 weeks of fully-paid new child accommodations. For more information, see:

https://www.jhu.edu/assets/uploads/2017/06/newchildaccommgradandpostdoc.pdf

Additionally, JHU offers parents of young children childcare vouchers. See: https://hr.jhu.edu/benefits-worklife/family-programs/paying-for-child-care/2020-dependent-care-voucher/

For More Information

For answers to admissions questions that are not Computer Science Department specific, explore the Whiting School Graduate Admissions website. Make sure to look at the official application instructions for domestic and international students on the Graduate Application how-to website.

If you have questions about the Computer Science program requirements, the Graduate Program description in the catalog is the official source. Note, the answers in this FAQ are more current than the answers found in the official documents. If answers to your questions still cannot be found, please contact [email protected].

Application Deadlines:

The PhD deadline for Fall is December 15th. (No recruiting for Spring admissions)

The application will be available for submission on or about August 15.

Entering students are expected to have completed a program of study equivalent to that required by the B.S. in computer science. Applicants from other disciplines are required to have coursework (or equivalent experience) in intermediate programming (C++ and Java), data structures, automata theory, computer systems fundamentals and algorithms.

Student Status - Full-Time / Part-Time / Non-Residency / Leave of Absence

All Whiting School of Engineering graduate students will register for courses with credits.

Some things to know:

• The Mechanical Engineering degree requirements do not change, even with credits assigned to courses.

• Degree requirements are still counted by number of courses, not number of credits.

• All Whiting School of Engineering (WSE) graduate-level courses (.600-level or higher) have credits assigned to them. Visit the Whiting School’s “Graduate Credit Hours” page for more information, including what to do if registering for a course that lists no credits.

• Audited courses do not count toward the credit load or the degree, but for those who pay tuition, audited courses are charged tuition per credit.

To maintain full-time status, all WSE graduate students must be enrolled in at least 9 credits.

Master’s students will be enrolled in at least 9 credits per semester.

Students can achieve full-time status by registering for any combination of courses and seminars, as approved by one’s advisor. SIS is set to select appropriate credits:

  • Seminars – 1 credit
  • WSE courses, both undergraduate and graduate – 3 or 4 credits each
  • EN.530.600/EN.530.820 (for those matriculating Fall 2020 and later) Master’s Graduate Research – 3-10 credits
  • EN.530.602/EN.530.821 (for those matriculating Fall 2020 and later) Master’s Essay – Research and Writing or EN.530.609/EN.530.822 (for those matriculating Fall 2020 and later) Master’s Essay – Co-Op – 3-10 credits – enroll for one of these “Pass/Fail” courses when doing essay research and writing, typically in the last one or two semesters. While the course can grant 3-10 credits per semester, most students will register for 3 or 6 credits per semester. Students must check with their faculty advisors to confirm when to register for the course.
  • NOTE:
    • Audited courses do not count toward your full-time credit load.
    • Krieger School of Arts and Sciences’ graduate-level courses will not have credits listed in SIS, but will be recognized as 3-4 credits toward one’s full-time credit load.
    • When dropping and adding courses, SIS will not allow you to drop courses if the credit load drops below the 9-credit full-time threshold.  Add new courses first, and then drop the courses you wish to drop.
    • If you wish to change to part-time status, visit the “Master’s – Part-Time” tab of this section to learn more.

Master’s students of the Department of Mechanical Engineering may become eligible for part-time status.

“ALL-COURSE” MASTER’S STUDENTS
All “all-course” master’s students must register full-time most or all semesters for a minimum of nine credits. If in a student’s final semester, less than nine credits are needed to complete the degree requirements, students can switch to part-time status.

“ESSAY” MASTER’S STUDENTS
After meeting the minimum two-semester “full-time” residency requirement – where a student pays full-time tuition for a minimum of two semesters – Whiting School master’s students who have not yet completed the research to the point where the final and sole activity is essay writing must maintain their “residency” status, but can register “part-time” by registering for eight credits or less in their final semester.

For each semester where essay research/co-op and writing occurs, students must register for EN.530.602/EN.530.821 Master’s Essay – Research and Writing or EN.530.609/EN.530.822 Master’s Essay – Co-Op, typically in the last one or two semesters. While the course can grant 3-10 credits per semester, most students will register for 3 or 6 credits per semester. Students must check with their faculty advisors to confirm when to register for the course.

For International Students

International students completing the degree with an Essay – Co-Op option must also enroll for EN.500.851 Engineering Research Practicum and apply for Curricular Practical Training (CPT).  Visit these sites for information:

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Visit the Office of International Services’ “Full-Time Study Requirements” page that explains U.S. federal law on maintaining F-1 visas, which requires students to maintain full-time status, unless if in the final semester a courseload less than full-time is needed to complete the degree requirements.

PART-TIME TUITION
Students are charged tuition per-credit, which in the 2020-21 academic year is $1,901 per-credit. The student’s advisor or the department may choose to cover this charge, but that is not guaranteed.

PART-TIME HEALTH INSURANCE
While part-time master’s students are eligible to remain on the University’s student health insurance plan, they must pay the full health insurance premium.  There is no financial aid for health insurance for part-time students.

COURSE REGISTRATION
The Mechanical Engineering department requires enrollment in courses:

  • Any remaining courses for the degree – 3-4 credits each
  • EN.530.602/EN.530.821 Master’s Essay – Research and Writing or EN.530.609/EN.530.822 Master’s Essay – Co-Op – 3-10 credits – for essay master’s students only – either six credits in one semester or three credits in each of two semesters.

PART-TIME RESTRICTIONS

  • Audited courses do not count toward your credit load, but you will be charged tuition-per-credit.
  • Part-time American students are ineligible to work as a student worker, including as a Teaching Assistant; but part-time international students are still eligible to work as a student worker, including as a Teaching Assistant.
  • Part-time students enrolled in the University health insurance must pay the full premium, which in 2020-21 is $1,207.50 per semester.

HOW TO OBTAIN PART-TIME STATUS

  • Contact Academic Program Manager Mike Bernard to confirm eligibility to switch. He will notify the Registrar upon confirmation of eligibility to switch.
  • International students must obtain approval by completing the Reduced Course Load E-form request.
    • Go to iHopkins
    • Click on the blue Login button under “Students/Scholars/Int’l Employees with Active JHED ID.”
    • Login with your JHED ID and password
    • Click on “F-1 Student Services” drop down menu
    • Then click on “F-1 Reduced Course Load Form” and complete it.

Visit the Whiting School Graduate Credit Hours page for information.

“ALL-COURSE” MASTER’S STUDENTS
Students taking the “all-course” master’s degree are not eligible for non-residency status.

“ESSAY” MASTER’S STUDENTS
Whiting School graduate students are eligible for non-residency status when all degree requirements except the writing of the master’s essay are complete. The essay research must be finished before the non-resident status can be requested.

Whiting School graduate students are typically granted only one semester of non-residency with the expectation that the essay will be written, read, and approved in that semester. The Whiting School will consider exception requests for an additional semester of non-residency.

NON-RESIDENT TUITION
Non-resident students pay only 10% of the full-time tuition but will still have all the privileges of full-time students such as access to campus services and faculty advising.

NON-RESIDENT RESTRICTIONS
Non-resident students cannot enroll in courses and would lose the Whiting School’s financial support for health insurance. The department could choose to cover health insurance charges, but that is not guaranteed.

Non-resident students are automatically enrolled in health insurance, but can waive the insurance, if eligible for waiver by proof of enrollment in another health insurance plan with similar coverage.

To maintain non-resident status, students will have to register for non-resident status each semester and provide a letter explaining their progress toward the degree’s completion.

HOW TO OBTAIN NON-RESIDENT STATUS

  • Contact Academic Program Manager Mike Bernard to confirm eligibility for non-resident status.
  • Complete the Non-Resident Status form and deliver it to Mike, who will send it to the Whiting School Academic Affairs office for review and approval.
  • If the Non-Resident request is denied, a student may be eligible for part-time status.

RESOURCES

To maintain full-time status, all WSE graduate students must be enrolled in at least 9 credits, but PhD students must be enrolled in at least 20 credits per semester. The maximum per-semester enrollment limit is 25 credits.

Ph.D. students can achieve at least 20 credits by registering for any combination of courses and seminars, as approved by one’s advisor. SIS is set to select appropriate credits:

  • Seminars – 1 credit
    • EN.530.803 Mechanical Engineering Graduate Seminar
      • Through Spring 2019 – this course is required for all Ph.D. students of all years.
      • Since Fall 2019 – this course is required only for first, second, and third year Ph.D. students. Those beginning their fourth year or later in Fall 2019 are no longer required to take this course.
    • Other seminars as your advisor requests or requires.
  • WSE courses, both undergraduate and graduate – 3 or 4 credits each
  • EN.530.801 PhD Graduate Research – 3-20 credits (required every semester)
  • NOTE:
    • Audited courses do not count toward your full-time credit load.
    • Krieger School of Arts and Sciences’ graduate-level courses will not have credits listed in SIS, but will be recognized as 3-4 credits toward one’s full-time credit load.
    • When dropping and adding courses, SIS will not allow you to drop courses if the credit load drops below the 9-credit full-time threshold.  Add new courses first, and then drop the courses you wish to drop.
    • If you wish to change to part-time status, visit the “PhD – Part-Time” tab of this section to learn more.
    • If you wish to drop or change courses in SIS but cannot because of the minimum-20-credit requirement, see the “Course Registration – Changing Credits on Research Courses” section of this page to learn how to do this.
    • If there is a need to register for more than 25 credits, please contact Academic Program Manager Mike Bernard.  The Whiting School will consider exceptions to allow this.

Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. students may switch to part-time status after the successful completion of the Graduate Board Oral examination and the Teaching Assistant requirement, with approval of both the research advisor and the Graduate Program Chair, as well as the International Office for international students.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Visit the Office of International Services’ “Full-Time Study Requirements” page that explains U.S. federal law on maintaining F-1 visas, which requires international students to always maintain full-time status, unless if in the final semester a course load less than full-time is needed to complete the degree requirements.

PART-TIME TUITION
Students are charged tuition per-credit, which in the 2020-21 academic year is $1,901 per-credit. The student’s advisor or the department may choose to cover this charge, but that is not guaranteed.

COURSE REGISTRATION
Part-time students will take three credits of EN.530.801 Graduate Research each semester.

Part-time students or their advisors will pay the part-time per-credit tuition.

PART-TIME RESTRICTIONS

  • Audited courses do not count toward your credit load, but you will be charged tuition-per-credit.
  • Part-time American students are ineligible to work as a student worker, including as a Teaching Assistant; but part-time international students are still eligible to work as a student worker, including as a Teaching Assistant.
  • Part-time students enrolled in the University health insurance must pay the full premium, which in 2020-21 is $1,207.50 per semester.

HOW TO OBTAIN PART-TIME STATUS

  • Contact Academic Program Manager Mike Bernard to confirm eligibility to switch.
  • Obtain approval from both the research advisor and the Graduate Program Chair
  • International students must first obtain approval from the International Office.

Visit the Whiting School Graduate Credit Hours page for information.

 

Whiting School graduate students are eligible for non-residency status when all degree requirements except the writing of the dissertation are complete. The dissertation research must be finished before the non-resident status can be obtained.

Whiting School graduate students are typically granted only one semester of non-residency with the expectation that the dissertation will be written and prepared for defense in that semester. The dissertation defense can occur during that semester or shortly thereafter. The Whiting School will consider exception requests for an additional semester of non-residency.

NON-RESIDENT TUITION
Non-resident students pay only 10% of the full-time tuition but will still have all the privileges of full-time students such as access to campus services and faculty advising.

NON-RESIDENT RESTRICTIONS
Non-resident students cannot enroll in courses and would lose the Whiting School’s financial support for health insurance. The department could choose to cover health insurance charges, but that is not guaranteed.

Non-resident students are automatically enrolled in health insurance, but can waive the insurance, if eligible for waiver by proof of enrollment in another health insurance plan with similar coverage.

To maintain non-resident status, students will have to register for non-resident status each semester and provide a letter explaining their progress toward the degree’s completion.

HOW TO OBTAIN NON-RESIDENT STATUS

  • Contact Academic Program Manager Mike Bernard to confirm eligibility for non-resident status.
  • Complete the Non-Resident Status for Whiting School form, which Mike will send to the Whiting School Academic Affairs office for review and approval.
  • If the Non-Resident request is denied, a student may be eligible for part-time status.

RESOURCES

Sometimes, Ph.D. students will study for an extended period off-campus, usually either because they have an opportunity for a special internship or research experience at a company or laboratory or because their advisor will work for an extended period at another university where it would be best for the students to join the professor at that location. In these cases, Non-Resident Study Away may be an appropriate option.

  • Students must complete all required course work and earn an unconditional pass on their preliminary Graduate Board Oral examination before starting the Non-Resident Study Away status.
  • Tuition costs are reduced to 10% of standard tuition.
  • Salary is still paid at the standard annual graduate student rate.
  • Students may return to campus in a resident status, as determined by the department and advisor.

RESOURCES

Occasionally, extenuating circumstances may require graduate students to take a leave of absence from their studies.

Graduate students may apply for up to four semesters of leave of absence when medical conditions, compulsory military service, or personal or family hardship prevents them from continuing their graduate studies.

Visit the Homewood Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs page for Enrollment Change forms. Select the appropriate form to either request, extend, or return from a Leave of Absence.

The forms will explain that student privileges, degree progress, and access to health insurance may be affected. Contact the Registrar’s health insurance staff at [email protected] to discuss your situation and determine what options exist.

Please complete the form, obtain the appropriate signatures, and obtain the required documentation as noted on the form, and send or deliver the completed form and supporting documentation to Academic Program Manager Mike Bernard in Latrobe 230 or at [email protected]. He will submit the request to the Whiting School’s Assistant Dean for Graduate Affairs, Christine Kavanagh for review and approval. Students will be notified upon approval.