Every college has its upsides and downsides—but it all depends on what you are seeking from your college experience. St. John’s, being so unique, however, is sometimes hard to assess for all the (many) upsides, so I wanted to dispel some rumors that aren’t even true!

Are we a religious college?

Despite the name, no! St. John’s College used to be called King William’s School, but was renamed during the American Revolutionary War, when it became better to be associated with a saint than with a king. While we can’t be certain, we likely aren’t even named after the saint; we’re probably named after St. John’s College at Oxford, where several of our founders went to college themselves. We do study the Bible and many theologians (Augustine, Anselm, Calvin, etc.) at St. John’s, but we actually have no religious affiliation! St. John’s is one of the few colleges founded prior to the 19^th century without a religious affiliation, and we take pride in how students from all backgrounds have enrolled at the college for the last 400 years. We enroll students of any or no religious background, and have practicing Christians of many denominations, as well as Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and more among our student body.

From our charter in 1784:

“…the said college shall be founded and maintained forever upon a most liberal plan for the benefit of youth of every religious denomination, who shall be freely admitted to equal privileges and advantages of education and to all the literary honors of the college, according to their merit without requiring or enforcing any religious or civil test, or urging their attendance upon any particular religious worship or service other than what they have been educated in or have the consent and approbation of their parents or guardians to attend; nor shall any preference be given in the choice of a Principal, Vice-Principal or other Professor, Master or Tutor in said college on account of his particular religious profession, having regard solely to his moral character and literary abilities and other necessary qualifications to fill the place for which he shall be chosen.”

Does our one major mean you don’t graduate with a specific degree?

No! A St. John’s graduate receives a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts (the specifics are discussed in our post on our universal major). This isn’t that different from what another liberal arts program would give you. A St. John’s degree has equivalent depth as a degree from another college in philosophy, literature, mathematics, physics, and classics, and, in many ways, it’s even better because it includes much great breadth other subjects like politics, history, law, biology, chemistry, music, psychology, theology, economics, and French. If you look at how graduate schools scale and adjust GPA to account for undergraduate rigor, St. John’s comes out pretty well.

Most students at other colleges don’t work in the field in which they majored, so St. John’s better prepares students for the world after college by equipping them with writing, reading, critical thinking, and conversational skills, as well as experience in more subject areas than most students study.

Do we teach students that the sun revolves around the Earth?

Of course not! We teach about ideas in science, mathematics and other fields that have since been found to be false as part of our aim to teach our students to better understand how our modern ideas developed. When we study theories such as geocentricism and miasma, we are doing it because it has to be acknowledged that great minds of the past believed wholeheartedly in these things, even though scientific evidence has since proven them wrong. We aim, above all at St. John’s, to understand the progression of human thought, and that includes its pitfalls. One of the most exciting intellectual adventures in the curriculum at St. John’s is recreating Ptolemy’s work during freshman year in which he theorized the sun revolves around the earth, and the uncovering his errors during sophomore year as you read Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler.

How can we understand the world today (or human nature) if we can’t understand the mistakes people have made in the past?

Do Johnnies do anything other than read books?

Of course! In the curriculum, the books are only half the equation—talking about the books in seminar is just as important (if not more). But at St. John’s there’s also life outside the books and classes, and we pride ourselves on thriving participation in student life, whether that be our intramural program, our unique waltz parties or our many other programs, from religious and national affiliation groups like Pangea (a group for international students), Shammai (for Jewish students) and the Black Student Union, to knitting and reading circles.

At St. John’s, all our extracurricular clubs are student-led and proposed into existence by students, who bring their suggestions to the also-student-run Delegate Council. This means that what is available in terms of clubs from year to year directly reflects the interests of the student body. Any student can propose a club charter and start a club for whatever interests them!

We are a residential community where most students live on campus in either Annapolis or Santa Fe, which are great college towns for living a full life in and out of class!

Do Johnnies even get jobs after graduation?

Yes! 74% of Johnnies are employed within six months after graduation, and 70% of our alumni are employed in mid-level or executive-level positions. Many also go on to continue their education at a graduate level. For example, 100% of Johnnies who applied to law school since 2012 have been accepted, and we are ranked #15 for the percentage of Johnnies at the nation’s top 14 law schools! We are ranked #1 for students getting PhDs in humanities and #10 for PhDs in business by HEDS. Every year, we distribute funding for fellowships and internships to our students to help ensure their future success. Every student who wants a paid internship and works with our career services will get one, whether funded by the internship itself or by us!

This is just a place for students who like English, right?

No! While we study English, literature and other topics under the umbrella of “humanities” like history, philosophy and politics, those aren’t all we study. Students at St. John’s also do three years of lab sciences (encompassing biology, chemistry and physics), two years of music, and four years of mathematics (including geometry, both Euclidean and non-Euclidean, algebra and trigonometry, calculus, as well as other areas of mathematics).

Is St. John’s affordable?

Yes! We have great financial aid policies to make sure this remains true. Most of our students are receiving financial aid in the form of loans or scholarships (97% of the class of 2028) and 31% of this fall’s incoming freshmen are eligible for Pell Grants. As well as need-based financial aid, we also give out generous merit scholarships every year.

Even our base tuition is quite low compared to our private college peers. Tuition for one year at St. John’s is $39,356, where some colleges run over $60,000 per year. We lowered our tuition in 2018 by raising over $325 million from alumni, and we have kept it low since!

Is St. John’s too small!

Not at all! Between our two campuses, we have 1000 students. Students who crave more community than just their fellow Johnnies also have proximity to beautiful towns with rich cultural scenes in either Annapolis or Santa Fe. There’s always something to do and someone to do it with, on campus or in town!

Being as small as we are is also a benefit, not a drawback. Every Johnnie knows the rest of their campus by face at least. This enables us to form an incredible sense of tight-knit community and unity that can be lacking at bigger colleges.

In conclusion, St. John’s is a place where we ask lots of questions in class, so as a prospective student, ask us a lot of questions right now! If there’s any aspect of St. John’s that you aren’t sure is the right fit for you, the Admissions team is here to help answer your questions. No college is perfect for every student, but few colleges are as willing to answer your questions as St. John’s!