Goal Six: Undergraduate Experience

Individual and Collective Excellence

Create the preeminent undergraduate experience in a research-intensive university setting by nurturing a learning environment that allows students to connect with our leading faculty and research programs; provides unrivaled mentorship, immersive experiences, and life design; and creates a culture of engagement, community, and belonging that ensures our students can thrive individually and collectively.

Building on the achievements of the last decade, we are forging a truly distinctive, world-class undergraduate experience. To do so, we will:

Continue to implement with vigor and determination the most ambitious reform of our undergraduate curriculum in generations.
Cultivate a distinctive culture of connections and belonging across the undergraduate experience.
Consider broadening access to our undergraduate community through an increase in the size of entering classes.

Nearly a third of undergraduate students at Johns Hopkins are now first-generation and/or limited-income, a substantial increase from just a decade ago.

Read the Complete Goal

Professor Jacek Mostwin, of the School of Medicine, teaches one of the new undergraduate First-Year Seminars introduced by the Second Commission on Undergraduate Education.

Why this goal is important

The last decade has seen a transformation of our undergraduate program. The academic achievement of our incoming undergraduate class has moved from 20th to first in the nation, and our student body now stands among the most socioeconomically, racially, and ethnically diverse of our Ivy Plus peers, with Pell and first-generation students now making up nearly a third of our incoming class. As a result of alumnus Michael R. Bloomberg’s breathtaking gift for financial aid, we were able to commit permanently to need-blind admissions and become a loan- free institution for our Homewood undergraduates. And with the support of our board of trustees, we ended legacy preferences. To meet the dazzling capabilities and aspirations of our undergraduate student body, we now will work to revitalize the undergraduate curriculum and cultivate a truly distinctive campus experience rooted in meaningful connection.

Download The Ten for One Strategic Framework

Time and again, we have demonstrated that when we strive and dream together, we can expand the horizons of knowledge and impact the world in extraordinary and indelible ways. Now is our chance to do so again. This strategic framework sets out ten new goals for Johns Hopkins University through 2030 under four organizing pillars: One University, Individual and Collective Excellence, Knowledge and Impact, and Community Partnership and Economic Opportunity for Baltimore and the other communities of which we are a part. We look forward with great anticipation to all that lies ahead and all that we will achieve together—as One University.