<p>Can anyone comment on why JHU doesn’t require a GRE score or any recommendations/personal statements to apply to their graduate programs? I am interested in doing my Master’s in EE through their online program.</p>
<p>The short answer is that they don’t want reasons to reject people. The program you are describing is just a collection of coursework - you aren’t meeting people, you are not taking up resources that are in limited supply, you aren’t doing original research. You take 10 courses, you get a degree. The best indicator for success in this is your GPA, the GRE and recommendations don’t really add anything.</p>
<p>Many of JHU’s residential programs do indeed require GRE scores - all their public health programs do, for example, as do all of their residential programs in arts & sciences and engineering.</p>
<p>Actually, according to their website, their electrical & computer engineering program does require GRE scores, a statement, and recommendations:</p>
<p>Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ph.D., M.S.E.
Application Deadline: December 15, 2014
Contact: Debbie Race, Senior Academic Program Coordinator, 410-516-4808
Application Requirements: Letters of Recommendation (3), GRE, TOEFL/IELTS, Statement of Purpose, Transcripts</p>
<p>from here: <a href=“Graduate Admissions and Enrollment | Johns Hopkins University”>Graduate Admissions and Enrollment | Johns Hopkins University;
<p>I don’t see a separate online program listed on the online programs page (<a href=“Academics | Johns Hopkins Advanced Academic Programs”>http://advanced.jhu.edu/academics/online-programs/</a>) so maybe you could point to where you found the information that they don’t require these materials.</p>
<p>@juillet , OP is referring to one of the Engineering for Professionals (EP) programs:</p>
<p><a href=“http://ep.jhu.edu/prospective-students/admission-requirements”>http://ep.jhu.edu/prospective-students/admission-requirements</a> </p>
<p>These are coursework-only, non-research degrees taught largely by adjunct faculty to part-time students in the evenings. It is a completely separate structure from JHU’s “regular” programs, and while a full-time, thesis-based EE student would get the M.S.E. degree, Hopkins awards EP grads the M.S. degree, to indicate to those in the know which track the student took.</p>
<p>@cosmicfish Ah, I figured there was something I was missing. Out of curiosity, do you think this would be a good option for undergraduate students or young professionals (let’s say < 3 years of professional engineering experience)? Or should they choose a brick and mortar program?</p>
<p>I cannot speak authoritatively on online degrees. I don’t have one, never (to the best of my knowledge) worked with anyone who had one. That having been said, hands-on experience is important for engineering, and I would recommend brick and mortar over online unless the local schools are either unavailable or inadequate. Regardless, I would recommend a degree like only for those who intend to stop at the MS - the lack of research experience and person-to-person contact would be just about the worst possible preparation for a PhD!</p>
<p>Thanks for the answer!</p>
<p>I would agree. If it is a professional degree, then online is a viable option. There is also the distinction between the kind of online degree which is being discussed above, that is outside the regular structure of the live degree programs, or an online program which offers the same degree as that offered to live students. This is typically done by streaming the classes out using lecture-capture within a few hours. There are certainly disadvantages to being a distance learning student under these circumstances but with the right kind of communications tools and an instructor who is comfortable with the technology, it can work well and serve a valuable purpose. We have a number of such programs at Illinois Tech, in particular our Master of Health Physics which can be taken live or online and requires only a one-week laboratory short course on campus.</p>
<p>The program the OP is speaking of is designed for working professionals. I live in the Baltimore/DC metro area and quite a few colleagues attend that specific program. I chose to attend a traditional brick and mortar state university for my MS Computer Science because my service in the Maryland National Guard makes that school nearly free.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins is a great name and I think the online program uses that to its advantage. It’s quite expensive if your employer is not covering it though…</p>