St. John’s College Viewbook 2 — The Program

HOW WOULD YOU QUESTION 3,000 YEARS OF HUMAN THOUGHT?

PROGRAM

T H E P R O G R A M AT S T. J O H N ’ S C O L L EG E

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t the heart of St. John’s College is a liberal arts curriculum focused on many of the greatest books and most important questions in history. This is a curriculum unlike any other. At St. John’s we read the original writings of great thinkers without relying on textbooks, engage in vigorous classroom discussion without sitting in large lectures, and study interdisciplinary ideas across the humanities and sciences without limiting students to the restrictions of majors.

All undergraduate students at St. John’s are enrolled in one degree program: the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts.

In this shared curriculum we read more than 200 books spanning 3,000 years, and we discuss these books in small classes of 20 students or fewer.

We are often called the most rigorous college in America. Our students are drawn to this curriculum because they want to probe and challenge the ideas that make us who we are. Whether in the classroom or the dining hall, Johnnies can’t stop talking about Shakespeare. Euclid. Woolf. Du Bois. Aristotle. Writers ancient and modern. Believers and skeptics. Rationalists and romantics.

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Our curriculum is transformational. As students, Johnnies are transformed by their encounters with many of the greatest works in history. As alumni, Johnnies transform the world, in education, politics, law, the sciences, journalism, business, and beyond.

But we’re not just a college for undergraduates — we offer two graduate degrees, a Master of Arts in Eastern Classics (in which Johnnies explore classic works from China, India, and Japan) and a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts. Graduate study at St. John’s will be attractive to students who have a lifelong commitment to thoughtful inquiry into fundamental human questions.

So come challenge yourself at St. John’s and join the next generation of Johnnies. In doing so, you will be joining a tradition of seekers that extends across millennia.

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HOW CAN HISTORY’S GREATEST BOOKS INFORM THE FUTURE?

T H E P R O G R A M AT S T. J O H N ’ S C O L L E G E

3,000

YEARS OF RELENTLESS QUESTIONING

At St. John’s, the books are the teachers. Imagine learning philosophy from Plato and Nietzsche; politics from Machiavelli and Abraham Lincoln; economics from Adam Smith and Karl Marx; justice from Alexander Hamilton and Frederick Douglass; literature from Jane Austen and Toni Morrison; physics from Ptolemy and Albert Einstein; biology from William Harvey and Charles Darwin; and poetry from Sappho and Emily Dickinson. These texts are both timeless and timely.

You will read more than 200 of the greatest books in history without relying on a textbook to tell you what to think.

Beginning in Ancient Greece, Johnnies grapple with questions of human nature and reality — questions that have puzzled our species for millennia. From there, we accelerate through history, examining today’s challenges via the perspectives of Isaac Newton, Virginia Woolf, W.E.B. Du Bois, and so many more.

Junior and senior year, you’ll increase the range and depth of your learning through preceptorials. These elective classes of 10 or fewer students focus on a single topic — either from outside the curriculum or within it — which is often proposed by students.

T H E P R O G R A M AT S T. J O H N ’ S C O L L E G E

WHY LISTEN TO LECTURES WHEN YOU CAN HELP SHAPE THE DEBATE?

T H E P R O G R A M AT S T. J O H N ’ S C O L L E G E

7:1

S T U D E N T / FAC U LT Y R AT I O

St. John’s is a college where you will truly know your tutors, the faculty members leading classes. You will have coffee and lunch with them. You will meet one-on-one frequently. The title “professor” is avoided to signify that it is not the role of the tutors to expound doctrines in their field of expertise. Instead, learning is a cooperative enterprise carried out in small groups with persons at different stages of learning who are working in collaboration.

This removes traditional hierarchies and endows students with deeper working relationships with the open, inquisitive minds that make up our faculty. And rather than relying on grades or standardized tests, you will be assessed based on your writing and participation in class through feedback directly from your tutors.

This context breeds self-driven students who acquire a lifelong commitment to the pursuit of fundamental knowledge and to the search for unifying ideas.

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DISCOVER OUR CAMPUSES

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SANTA FE

ANNAPOLIS

D I S C OV E R O U R C A M P U S E S

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3 EASY WAYS 1 2 3

ONLINE

Log on to sjc.edu/visit for both on-campus visits and virtual visits

PHONE

Call us at 410-626-2522 for Annapolis and 505-984-6060 for Santa Fe

EMAIL

Send us your questions at admissions@sjc.edu for both campuses

D I S C OV E R O U R C A M P U S E S

T H E P R O G R A M AT S T. J O H N ’ S C O L L E G E

ARE YOU EAGER TO ARTICULATE YOUR IDEAS?

T H E P R O G R A M AT S T. J O H N ’ S C O L L E G E

< 20

STUDENTS PER CLASS

All classes at St. John’s are seminar-style discussions among 20 students or fewer, facilitated by faculty. There are no large classes, teaching assistants, or introductory lectures; conversation among students and faculty is the whole of every class at St. John’s. While you might be familiar with discussion-based classes from high school, few have experienced the kind of vigorous and open discussion that happens at St. John’s. Whether the subject is literature or calculus, students do the talking. Every discussion is facilitated by one or two tutors in the classroom who ask an opening question and then allow the students to own their education.

Johnnies engage in civil yet often impassioned examination of ideas, in which all opinions are considered.

Open-mindedness is a hallmark of St. John’s classrooms, as is a healthy dose of skepticism. Our students continually interrogate and deepen their own assumptions, stimulated by an intellectual environment rich with the perspectives of their peers.

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IF LIFE REQUIRES EVERY DISCIPLINE WHY SHOULDN’T COLLEGE?

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I N T E L L EC T UA L P E R S P EC T I V E S

Interdisciplinary study without traditional departments and majors is radical, and it is exactly why the New York Times called St. John’s “the most contrarian college in America,” and why we’re among the small group of “Colleges That Change Lives.” This education leads each student through the same interconnected curriculum that weaves together literature, philosophy, the humanities, science, mathematics, music, the arts, and more, liberating you from restrictions and preconceptions, and empowering you to think freely.

Consider a freshman year course of study. You read Aristotle and discuss his philosophical ideas in seminar.

Then you analyze the writings of Euclid in mathematics.

In the laboratory you recreate experiments, and your understanding of Aristotle’s observations on nature and Euclid’s mathematical theorems deepen your comprehension of the science. Finally, your study of language focuses on Ancient Greek, and the experience of interpreting Aristotle and Euclid in their native tongue opens your eyes to new perceptions.

T H E P R O G R A M AT S T. J O H N ’ S C O L L E G E

WHAT MAKES ST. JOHN’S “THE MOST CONTRARIAN COLLEGE IN AMERICA”?

— The New York Times

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O N E G R E AT B O O K S C O L L EG E .

T WO G R E AT C A M P U S E S .

St. John’s was founded in 1696, making it the third oldest college in the U.S. — and we remain the most distinct.

There is no college as rigorously intellectual as St. John’s. Our students share a common curriculum — they read and discuss over 200 of the greatest books of all time.

Students learn from history’s most significant authors and artists: Plato, Austen, Bach, Einstein, Woolf, and Du Bois, to name a few. Discussion-based classes of 20 students or fewer explore philosophy, literature, science, music, language, politics, and more. Whether hiking in the mountain capital of Santa Fe, or playing croquet in the storied city of Annapolis, you will immerse yourself in a truly singular education — with peers who love to talk about ideas as much as you do.

Four years here prepare you for anything, thanks to the depth and breadth of the learning. The careers of tomorrow call for exactly what St. John’s cultivates: self-driven inquiry and analysis, fearless examination of complex issues, interdisciplinary problem-solving, excellence in writing, and confidence in self-expression.  sjc.edu/academic

Office of Admissions St. John’s College 1160 Camino de Cruz Blanca Santa Fe, NM 87505

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