Bachelor's/Master's Programs Policies
Whiting School
Many of the Whiting School departments offer bachelor's/master's degree programs, allowing a student to pursue a bachelor's degree and a master's degree at the same time. Check with your department to determine whether this option is available to you.
Application Process
The Whiting School requires that a student apply for bachelor's/master's student status no later than the end of the first semester during the senior year, but individual departments may have earlier deadlines. Please check with your department to determine its application deadline and degree requirements for a bachelor's/master's degree program.
Eligibility Requirements
The registration status of Whiting School of Engineering students who have been admitted into a bachelor's/master's degree program may switch from "undergraduate" to "graduate" once they obtain clearance from their respective departments and either: (1) complete the requirements for a bachelor's degree, or (2) complete eight semesters of full-time study, whichever comes first. As soon as the registration status changes, a student is guaranteed health insurance benefits and becomes eligible for a partial tuition waiver and research and teaching assistantships (the graduate program determines the student's level of support, however).
Transcript and GPA Issues
Once a bachelor's/master's student's status switches from "undergraduate" to "graduate", the undergraduate transcript is closed and a graduate transcript opens. These are two separate documents. If a bachelor's/master's student takes any more courses to be applied to the undergraduate degree beyond the point that his/her status is switched to "graduate", these courses will appear on the graduate transcript only (and thus, not be factored into the cumulative GPA found at the bottom of the undergraduate transcript). Likewise, courses ultimately applied to the master's degree but taken before the student's status is switched to "graduate" are found on the undergraduate transcript only (and thus, unintentionally factored into the cumulative GPA found at the bottom of the undergraduate transcript). Undergraduate students are not eligible to receive graduate student tuition support; therefore, a bachelor's/master's student cannot retain undergraduate status in order to leave open the undergraduate transcript and receive a graduate tuition waiver at the same time. For other bachelor's/master's policies within the Whiting School please visit the Academic Affairs Office.
Financial Aid
Some academic departments offer bachelor's/master's degree programs that allow students to pursue a bachelor's degree and a master's degree at the same time. Eligibility for various types of financial aid will vary depending upon whether a student is classified by his or her department as an undergraduate or graduate student. Students who are classified as undergraduates may be eligible for continuation of undergraduate aid such as JHU need-based grant funds. Students who are classified as graduate students may be eligible for a partial tuition waiver or for research and teaching assistantships. The amounts of these awards are determined by the academic department. When a student is classified as a graduate student, he or she is no longer eligible for undergraduate institutional aid, including Bloomberg Scholarship, Hodson Scholarship, or Westgate Scholarship.
Loan limits for the federal student loan programs change when a student's classification changes from undergraduate to graduate. The annual maximum of combined subsidized and unsubsidized Federal Direct Student Loan for an undergraduate junior or senior is $5,500. The annual maximum of combined subsidized and unsubsidized Federal Direct Student Loan for a graduate student (in any year of his or her program) is $18,500. A student who is classified as a graduate student is no longer eligible for undergraduate federal student aid including Federal Pell Grant, Federal SEOG, Federal SMART Grant, or Federal Parent PLUS loans.
Students enrolled in bachelor's/master's programs should consult with their academic advisors to determine at what point in their programs their status will change from undergraduate to graduate. For further financial aid information visit the Financial Aid Office.
Application Policies by Department
Biology
Students may apply in their junior or senior years.
The BS/MS program is only open to Biology and or Molecular and Cellular Biology Majors at Johns Hopkins University.
Biomedical Engineering
Students must apply by January 10th of their Junior Year.
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Students need to apply by the spring semester of their junior year.
Students coming from other fields may be required to take additional classes.
Classics
Students apply for the BA/MA program in the spring of their senior year. The fifth year of study is dedicated entirely to graduate-level work and to writing a substantial thesis. Interested students should approach the department no later than the start of their senior year to discuss the possibility of applying the following spring.
Exceptionally well-prepared students may apply for the BA/MA, with the Department's permission, in the spring of their junior year. In this case it is possible to complete the bachelor's/master's degree in four years.
Engineering Management
Students typically to apply during their junior year.
History
Students need to apply by their junior year.
Information Security Institute
The department does not have a specific application deadline.
The students can earn a Bacherlor's degree from any Whiting School Department and a MSSI only at the Information Security Institute, 2 courses are double counted.
Materials Science and Engineering
Students must apply by the spring semester of their Junior year.
Mathematics
Students must apply by April 30 of their junior year.
Mechanical Engineering
Application submission is requested in the first semester of the Junior year, but will be accepted until the fall semester of the Senior Year. In addition, the Mechanical Engineering department accepts bachelor's/master's applications only from Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Mechanics majors.
Neuroscience
The Undergraduate Neuroscience Program requires bachelor's/master's applications be submitted by November 1 of each year. Only students enrolled as full-time Neuroscience majors may apply. Students are admitted based on their ability to complete both degrees in no more than five years. In most cases students apply in their junior and senior years.
James West
In 1962, James West, current Whiting School’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty member and Gerhard Sessler revolutionized the field of sound technology when they invented the electrets microphone, found today in everything from cell phones to hearing aids, from children’s toys to the devices astronauts use to communicate from outer space.
More »