The Program at St. John’s College

At 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.

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.