At St. John’s we do not ask you to select a major.

In fact, we do not believe that a college should have departments.  “The human mind does not have departments,” as a St. John’s faculty member was recently quoted as saying.

The best quick answer to the question, “What are your most popular majors?” is that the top five popular career choices for our alumni are law, medicine, education, business and neuroscience. We have an insanely high proportion of alumni who are successful in a vast array of careers. As one can imagine, Johnnies, like most graduates of liberal arts programs, go on to graduate school at some point in their careers. A recent survey indicates that 70% of our graduates go to graduate school within 5 years of graduation.  Graduate programs love Johnnies. Medical schools, linguistic programs, law schools, MBA programs, all have opened their doors to our graduates. The other 30% choose their own paths and skip grad school.  We  see them become entrepreneurs, diplomats, writers, inventors, explorers, parents,  artists, and more. 

Every student at St. John’s College studies literature, philosophy, political science, mathematics, history of science, art, music, language, astronomy, and economics, all from the best texts available: the original books. The faculty has been tweaking and refining this all-required 4-year program for almost 100 years. It is a uniquely and carefully constructed program of study to maximize the opportunity for academic and personal growth.

We are known as the Great Books College but what this means is that we get to study some of the most creative, intelligent and daring thinkers of all time. We study revolutionaries, heretics, world leaders and even a few social outcasts. Through the serious but rewarding work of sitting around a table and talking directly to these thinkers and with one another, we derive inspiration and courage to keep asking questions. As professionals in a constantly changing world, Johnnies engage with new ideas, new realities with a unique confidence and inquisitiveness. They thrive by adapting to changes in their fields, in the economy, as well as to those epic curve balls that life inevitably throws at them.

“College is a singular opportunity to rummage through and luxuriate in ideas, to give your brain a vigorous workout and your soul a thorough investigation, to realize how very large the world is and to contemplate your desired place in it.”

― Frank Bruni, Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania