Could I get into Princeton or John Hopkins University?

Question

3.7 *** GPA
Speaks/reads Chinese (semi-fluent)
Speaks/reads Burmese (First Year education)
Speaks/reads Korean (beginner, but able to understand the alphabet and knows the basics)
Speaks/Reads Spanish (Three years of education)

Attended Winona State University (One of the Best Schools according to the Princeton Review)
Studied abroad in Taiwan for a year
Teaching English abroad for one year

Applying for the East Asian Studies program

Have yet to take GRE...

Oh, and I double-majored in Global Studies and Political Science.

Answer 1

I'm not seeing anything in your mini-resume about specific research or publication credits. Hopkins identifies itself first and foremost as a research university, so if you don't have an impressive dissertation planned and evidence that you can pull it off, they may not be interested even if you do ace the GRE. On the other hand, if you spent that year abroad collecting data for your senior thesis, you might be their kind of candidate. I don't have firsthand experience with Princeton, but I suspect that's even more true for them.

Answer 2

Without the GRE, it is really hard to tell. I'll be honest. While Winona State might be listed by Princeton Review, they list something like 1200 schools as being "the best". That doesn't mean that Princeton or Hopkins would rate it very highly, and your GPA, while okay, isn't perfect. Your language knowledge is good, but won't get you through without really high GRE scores.

I just read the other person's answer and wanted to correct something. You are applying to a graduate program, I assume, since you already attended a university. Beyond high school, being in an Honors program does NOT give you a higher GPA; the 5 points for Honors courses only applies in high school.

Answer 3

First of all, good luck if you're applying to either or both. =]

Secondly, I'm not sure if you'd make Princeton, but John Hopkins you could try for. Considering many applicants took honors courses, enabling them to have GPAs over 5.0, I'm not sure if you'd make Princeton. It also depends on what you got on the SATs.

Go for it, though, and work really hard on your essays. Make sure you have lots of community service and extracurriculars. There's still plenty of good schools out there besides those two, though, so don't get discouraged if you're put on the waiting list or denied or something.