Reviews of St. John's College (College)

Louis Gonzalez

Most colleges are simply just school. St. John's College is a life experience.

noochinator

Greatest school on earth! Hobbes and Aristotle will teach you to shake off pusillanimity and small-souledness forever. Stop paying for a shrink and use the money for Graduate Institute tuition instead!

Karl Doepel

St John's College on a nice fall day.

Kevin Grizzard

Changed my life.

Paul Lackey

Bon Appetit, the food service here, kicks all sorts of tasty butt.

Benjamin Bell

Great town, great books, and great opportunities. GI 2013

Mike Blumenthal

A unique curriculum and learning environment. A lot to be gained by the student that engages the literature and the process fully.

Matthew Talamini

This is my alma mater! As far as I can tell, there isn't a better college anywhere in the world.

Newt Russell

Great place for a picnic!

Laird Durley

OK, full disclosure, I'm a Johnnie. I've visited over !00 colleges over the last three years in my job an independent college counselor, and I've seen some wonderful schools. With the possible exceptions of Hampshire, Evergreen State, New College (Florida) Deep Springs, Marlboro, and Shimer there is simply no place in America that offers so radically wonderful an education dedicated to the life of the mind as St John's. (I'm excluding schools such as Reed and Whitman and Pomona and Grinnell as wonderful but regular liberal arts colleges.) These schools, each in its own distinctive way, are St John's equals. It has no superior. It is a intellectual's dream come true. Loren Pope is right. I started in the Graduate Institute and stayed for the undergraduate, dropping my acceptance to work on a Ph.D. in Elizabethan Studies at University of Washington in order to stay at St John's to get a second BA. Yes, it's that special. I had found my self sitting on the edge of my bed crying at the thought I was going to have to leave this place where I had found what I had always thought a college education would be to pursue my doctorate. So I didn't . And no, I am not easily given to tears. If you love to read, if you want to figure out the symbiotic intersections of geometry, philosophy, music, physics, politics, rhetoric, literature, religion and astronomy (among other disciplines) in small group discussions with only full professors and 'the big books' of the Western cannon (no text books) then this is the place for you. And it is unique. No other school, none, trusts its students to play with the big boys, and demands that they do, as St John's does. Period. End of story. But you'd better love to read... alot.

Mark Crouser

This is a college with an unparalleled program for undergraduate and graduate students.

Johann Kaemingk

I have followed the Liberal Arts Graduate program and the 1,5 year that it took for me to finish the program where amazing. If you want to learn: to read, improve your listening and speaking skills, meet people from all sorts of backgrounds and, for me as a Dutch foreigner, learn about the United States through excellent discussions instead of heavy biased Dutch news, St John College is the place to go. St John college is also a good place for having deep and excellent converstation's about almost every intellectual topic. Except for daily changing hipster fashion, St John college students are in for having great discussions about almost every topic. (for me personally, one of the most awesome aspects of the program are the students and tutors that where open for discusions and where in for other conversations. Unfortuantly many students see ST John college as an individual challenge and do not exploit this opportunity. The most important thing though, is the reading list. If you really want to read great books which can really help you to develop as a person, St John college is your program. The reading list is the most valuable aspect of the program and should also be your main consideration in deciding to go or not to go to this college. You start with texts from Plato, Euclid and finish with persons like Nietzsche and Heidegger. If you want to enrich yourself with many perspectives, and get a basic impression of the development of the western intellectual philosophical tradition. This is the place to go!!!! There are many liberal arts schools that are better for political activism. If you are interested in that, please look for a different liberal arts school and stay away as far as possible form this beautiful place. The only negative thing I have to say is that certain students are to heavenly ideological driven. However this is not the fault of tutors and the program though but the fault of certain students who should not have started this program in the first place. I, as a Dutch student, came to the United States only for ST John College. Although there are certain sounds that the program should be changed to include more authors that fit twenty-first century thinking. My personal advice is to keep doing what St John college is doing. Changing the program to more modern standards will destroy the admosphere and competitive advantage of ST John College compared with other liberal arts schools.

Mia White

came here to get clobbered for croquet. had a great time. will be returning

Blake Dunkle

Simply the greatest school in the country.

Woq C.

I will always love this place with most of my heart.

Larry Cook

I attended the freshman year there. As long as I can remember I have always tried to tackle the profound in religion, philosophy and literature. If these depths can truly be plumed outside of a divine epiphany this would be the place to do it. Not only are you studying the most outstanding literary works of the western world with truly outstanding scholars you are surrounded by a marvelous landscape. Each evening in the dining room you witness as the sun go down over the Sangre de Cristo mountain range on the horizon. My attempts to plumb these depths were vapid and vacuous until sometime later I stumbled upon Jesus on the way, who is indeed profundity itself. This school has all that serious scholarship can offer in all the most serious of implications within a liberal arts context. To top it off: it is located just a few miles away from the Pecos Wilderness Area where you can backpack and hike to the nth degree, dismiss the folly of mankind's great thinkers and contemplate the Divine in HIs handiwork...

Zeng YE

(Translated by Google) Heart, I love you! (Original) 可心，我爱你！

Blanca Gastelum

Excellent college! One of a kind. For the serious student who wants to aquire a profound culture and knowledge. Education for a life time. Students learn to think, as oppose to just go through courses. You can find thoughtful friends who share the same interests. It's also fun and the school buildings and grounds are absolutely gorgeous surrounded by stunning geography. You can hike and go skiing or to the opera in town. You got it all there: great education and stunning and relaxing country. If you don't visit you will never know.

Matthew Manotti

I like big books and I cannot lie.

Carla Max

Transformative, rigorous, “contrarian” college. Virtually unknown among the stat-chasers, highly regarded among academic circles. Serious book hoarders. Must love reading... (science, math, language, music, philosophy will inevitably follow from the classic lit format and intense Socratic classes.)

Nathan Betz

One of the single best investments of my life. Worth every penny, every second, every moment of turbulent thought and enlightening conversation with some of the most interesting people in the world. After earning my MA here (went to William and Mary as undergrad), I continued into a successful career in the advertising industry, and then followed that by pursuing more advanced study at the University of Oxford.

Heliogabby

I graduated from Annapolis but attended the Santa Fe campus for four years. I had a wonderful time reading books and discussing great ideas.

Dominic Crapuchettes

St John's provided an amazing education as well as the best memories of my life. But don't expect to get a good job upon graduating without another degree!

Jon Brown

How does an American college maintain a 5 star rating on google? This has to be an inside job. Everyone knows the American educational system is a joke

Nikolos Gurney

Stayed in the dorms while participating in a graduate workshop. Great staff, engaging students, and idyllic setting.