Way to go, new Jays! Johns Hopkins welcomes first members of Class of 2024

A group of 682 talented high school students from around the globe who applied for early admission to Johns Hopkins University were offered admission today, making them the first members of the university's undergraduate Class of 2024.

A record number of students applied under the early decision option, meaning those students identified Johns Hopkins as their first choice and committed to attend if admitted. The number of Early Decision applicants grew 16% from a year ago.

This year's Early Decision class is the largest and most diverse in the university's history, both in terms of its demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic makeup and its variety of academic interests.

"We are so excited to welcome these students as the foundational cohort for the Class of 2024," said Ellen Kim, JHU's dean of undergraduate admissions. "Coming from an exceptionally competitive Early Decision pool, these students represent some of the strongest and most talented students from their communities and will bring their unique perspectives and ambitions to our campus next fall."

We are SO excited to welcome our newest Blue Jays! Welcome, ED Class of 2024! Our current students can't wait to meet you #jhu2024 #gohop pic.twitter.com/v1GtjEOhW6

— JHU Admissions (@JHU_Admissions) December 13, 2019

The new students will bring impressive academic and extracurricular accomplishments to Baltimore. The class includes a humanist scholar who analyzes the significance of Shakespeare to Chinese culture; an inventor of an inexpensive, portable camera that can photograph the back of the human eye; a children's book illustrator; a researcher focused on LGBTQ oncological therapies to eliminate health care access disparities; and an international video game champion.

"While they're each impressive in their current achievements," Kim said, "it's their potential to contribute to the academic and social culture here on campus that is especially compelling."

Admitted Early Decision students and their families will be invited to the university's Homewood campus for a visit day in February.

Students who applied Early Decision can view admissions decisions at mydecision.jhu.edu.

The remainder of the Class of 2024 will be selected from the Regular Decision applicant pool. Regular Decision applications are due by 11:59 p.m. EST on Jan. 2. Admissions decisions will be announced in mid-March.