# St. John's College **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694 "2003-06-13T22:37:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/1 "2003-06-13T22:37:05Z")
I am so impressed by the general level of erudition and intelligence on this board that I would not be surprised to learn that some people here are fellow alumni of my alma mater, St. John’s College. I’m Annapolis, Class of 1984. Any other Johnnies? And yes, this does belong in GD, because it is a question with a factual answer. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/2 "2003-06-13T22:44:18Z")
“And yes, this does belong in **GD** , because it is a question with a factual answer.” GQ. Lotta good that edjucayshun did you!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/3 "2003-06-13T22:50:19Z")
Dayam! End of a long week. What can I say? And yes, this does belong in\*\* GQ\*\*, because it is a question with a factual answer. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/4 "2003-06-14T00:47:33Z")
Are there more than 2 of these (colleges) out there? Education by reading the Great Books, right? I seem to remember there were two: Annapolis and NM??? You might find that many of the “smart” folks around here read the Great Books on their own. ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/5 "2003-06-14T00:56:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Are there more than 2 of these (colleges) out there? \*\* Actually, there’s only [one.](http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/) Bloody parvenus. Oh, and this isn’t GQ, it’s really IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/6 "2003-06-14T01:23:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Truth Seeker \* > > * * * > > Actually, there’s only [one.](http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/) > > Bloody parvenus.\*\* There’s also [this one](http://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/). Slightly more recent ([1555](http://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/otherinfo/tour/stgiles.html) vs [1511](http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/)), but at an older University, and on the site of an even older college (St. Bernard) founded in 1437. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/7 "2003-06-14T05:56:24Z")
This is a poll. Off to IMHO. **DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/8 "2003-06-14T07:10:49Z")
Well I’m completely demoralized. First an error in the OP, then banished to IMHO. **John Mace** : Right, it’s the great books college, but it’s one college with two campuses, not two colleges. > [@](#): > > You might find that many of the “smart” folks around here read the Great Books on their own. Yes, but since you didn’t participate in seminars on all of them, you couldn’t possibly have gotten as much out of them as we did. (See, I can be just as smug and condescending as the rest of you!) > [@](#): > > Actually, there’s only one. Sorry, **Truth Seeker** , but seniority does not establish exclusivity, as **Antonius Block** has pointed out. And although we colonials can’t compete with you Brits for age, I’ll just point out, as a matter of pride, that the predecessor of _my_ St. John’s College was founded in 1696, making it the third oldest educational institution in the U.S., after Harvard and William & Mary. Anyway, back to my original point: any Johnnies present? (And it’s _not_ a poll. I’m not asking anyone’s _opinion_ about whether they went to St. John’s. I’m asking who did. So at worst it’s a roll call. grumble grumble.) ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/9 "2003-06-14T07:49:34Z")
I had wondered about this same question myself. Both my stepson and his wife were Annapolis, Class of '93. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/10 "2003-06-14T14:06:32Z")
Santa Fe. '88 to '90. Disenabled. ---
**Author:** ![crinklebat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@crinklebat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crinklebat)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/11 "2003-06-15T05:11:58Z")
I almost was, did the whole applied-and-accepted-and-made-a-visit bit, but then UC San Diego decided to offer me a free education, so I’ll be going there in the fall. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/12 "2003-06-15T05:20:47Z")
Oops! Excuse me. In my _opinion_ my stepson went to St. John’s Annapolis. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/13 "2003-06-15T06:25:22Z")
My mom graduated from St. John College in Cleveland (note the lack of the possessive suffix). You’ve never heard of it because it hasn’t existed since 1969. How many does that make now if we include this one in the total? ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/14 "2003-06-15T16:46:52Z")
I wanted to go there, but it cost too much, if that counts. Otherwise, I could have. ---
**Author:** ![Lesbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Lesbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lesbia)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/15 "2003-06-15T19:54:24Z")
Delurking to say: Annapolis, 1999. The Graduate Institute. The standard agreement among us was that if we’d known of St. John’s four years earlier, we’d have been there as Undergraduates. Not a few of us contemplated returning as Undergraduates and starting all over. Thrilled to see other alums from my beloved alma mater. To make this thread fit in IMHO, what was your favorite segment? Lit? Phil/Theo? Math/NS? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/16 "2003-06-15T20:01:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by commasense \* > \*\* (And it’s _not_ a poll. I’m not asking anyone’s _opinion_ about whether they went to St. John’s. I’m asking who did. So at worst it’s a roll call. grumble grumble.) \*\* Either you asked “any other Johnnies?” (which is in fact what you asked), in which case the correct thing to do is say “yes” and close the thread, OR you are polling our membership to ascertain which ones went to St. John’s, in which case moving it was appropriate. Your call. I’ll happily close this thread if the other interpretation was correct. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/17 "2003-06-15T21:52:04Z")
I hope this doesn’t get closed. I was **hoping** to hear other peoples’ impressions of the SJC experience; I’m just too shy to share mine before someone else does. ---
**Author:** ![Lesbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Lesbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lesbia)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/18 "2003-06-16T00:13:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I was **hoping** to hear other peoples’ impressions of the SJC experience. It changed my entire worldview. I went to St. John’s with my brand new BA in English, thinking that I (at least at a _basic_ level) understood almost everything there was to know about the Humanities. I had my set beliefs about everything regarding God, Politics, Economics, Philosophy, etc. St. John’s pulled the rug out from under all of that, and I loved every minute of it. I walked through its doors thinking and believing one thing and walked out of its doors questioning everything all over again. My undergraduate degree taught me how to think. But getting my graduate degree at St. John’s taught me the _value_ of the questions themselves, and the value of the very act of questioning. The end result is that I’m more liberal in some areas and more conservative in others. I realize that _it’s Ok not to know_. I learned that hardly anything is black and white. And I’ll never, ever again take for granted the divine acts of reading and philosophical contemplation. Peace, Lesbia ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/19 "2003-06-16T05:54:04Z")
I got rejected from there, does that count? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694/20 "2003-06-16T14:49:11Z")
**Manhattan:** Okay I take your point. I don’t spend as much time here in IMHO as it other forums, so I’m not as familiar with its conventions. And since people want to continue the discussion, please don’t close the thread. **Rilchiam** : I’d love to tell you more about my SJC experience, but I’m kind of busy at work now, and I expect it could take me several hours to write a good post, so I hope you won’t mind waiting a few days or a week. (If it seems like I’ve forgotten, feel free to rattle my cage.) Short answer: very positive in almost every respect. Sorry your experience doesn’t seem to have been so good. I’ll be back. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-college/181694.md?page=2)