question about admissions

<p>just curious, is there only one admissions committee for both St. John's campuses? or does each campus have a separate director...committee etc?</p>

<p>Each campus has a seperate admissions committee and director but if you get accepted to one, you are accepted to both and you can choose whatever one you want to go too.</p>

<p>thanks for replying. are you a student at Santa Fe?</p>

<p>I am, but I plan to spend my last two years over at Annapolis. It's a great advantage to be on two campuses!</p>

<p>do you mind if i ask you a couple of questions? i read all the information on the website, and i know what the school has to say about itself but i'd like to know what a student has to say. i guess my first question would be is do people actually do the reading and have a genuine interest in the curriculum? i know there are bad apples everywhere but how are the students overall? also what's the social scene like? i don't do drugs and i don't really drink myself. i don't mind being around people who do as long as it's in moderation...i can't handle people messed up all the time lol</p>

<p>1) This school has no problem kicking people out, and they kick people out all the time. Far more people are kicked out than drop out. If you are not performing satisfactorily you will be kicked out. Also, most people who come here are very motivated to do the work because they find it facinating. It's the truth that people are very dedicated to academics here, and people who neglect their academics are looked down upon by their peers.</p>

<p>2) The social scene is similar, I supppose, to other intellectual liberal arts colleges. It is true that Plato often comes up as a subject at parties and as everyone follows the same curriculum talk about the ideas introduced in Lab, Math, Greek or Seminar often become the topic of conversation. However, that's not all we talk about or all we do.
Being on such a small campus, the enrollement is capped at 450 on each campus, presents it's challenges. You cannot escape becoming involved in a lot of the issues. Indeed, you will find that being indifferent and trying to avoid the issues gets you involved indirectly. This can be overwhelming for a lot of people, and it is the reason that some people leave. Last year one of these social issues caused three people to drop out, all outstanding students. The option to transfer to another campus is appealing for this reason.
About drugs and alcohol. Most people drink and many take drugs, mostly pot. However, there are plenty of "straight edgers" here and they usually can socialize with the others with no problem. I wont say that you are not encouraged to drink or take drugs, you are, but you are certainly not forced. Some people get more drunk then others, of course. This provides a sort of entertainment.
I should note that parties and drinking is for the most part reserved for the weekends. Most people are focused on their studies during the week.
Don't think that the work-load is overrated. This is what I thought because I had gone to a college before St. John's and was not all that challenged. St. John's is entirely different. The work load is tremendous. You must schedule your time very carefully. If you are orgainized enough, while tremendous, it shouldn't be overwhelming. Furthermore, the tutors here realize that the work-load is tremendous and they wont kick you out of the college if you can't translate a passage in Greek one day. However, if this kind of thing becomes consistent and it is clear that you are slacking off, the college will not hesitate to kick you out. The reason for this is easy to understand; all classes here are discussion based. The tutors do very little lecturing--even in Lab, Math and (to a lesser degree) Greek. You learn with the books, the class is used as a forum to discuss the tough ideas in the texts. And if there are people who do not contribute, they are holding back the class and they must not continue. </p>

<p>I encourage you to visit one of the campuses to see how the classes work. I'm sure you'll find it quite magical, it is.</p>

<p>that's all good to hear. i just really didn't want to pay $35,000 a year to be around people who aren't serious about the work and just like to party and what not. don't get me wrong...i like to have fun...but it can get boring. if you do not mind my asking, what was the social issue that caused people to actually drop out? must have been pretty serious. i hope to visit Santa Fe before I apply. I'm alot closer to annapolis, but Santa Fe just seems so beautiful and I wouldn't mind getting away from the east coast. Do you know if the admissions people look for anything specific in transfer students? I'm going to community college this year because all of my high school work was rather miserable. I know the credits won't transfer, but I'm assuming I would be better off taking a heavy course load? I don't think I'll have a problem with the courseload at SJC, I was bored in high school and I'm pretty sure CC won't be all that much different lol I'm actually looking forward to having to do some serious work. one more question, what's the financial aid like? i work full time and i should be able to save quite a bit. but beyond that, i'm going to need loans, grants or outside scholarships.
by the way, thanks for being so detailed in your responses! it helps out alot.</p>

<p>Santa Fe is indeed beautiful. Everyday I walk outside of my dorm I realize that--it's amazing. I can't mention any names or specifics, but someone was allegedly raped and most people thought the accuser was lying but the accused person was kicked out as a result (not by the school, but the court put a restraining order on him so that he could not continue at the school) and his close friends left as a result.
There are plenty of transfer students every year. If you did really poorly in HS then they will be looking for a change.
Financial Aid is rather good here. They met my "need" as determined by the FASFA.</p>

<p>Is there any statistical data regarding whom each student at St. Johns says is there favorite philosopher? Or, perhaps you could tell me what the predominant philosophical beliefs (mainly metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics) are at St. Johns, from your personal experience?</p>

<p>Well it's quite varied here. But I suppose it's not all that much different than at other schools, a lot of people like to think of themselves as existentialists and read Nietzsche like the bible. Others, like me, hate Nietzsche and despise nihilism.<br>
I'm most interested in the positivists, the logicians. I love logic. Unfortunately we don't do a lot of formal training in logic here at St. John's. But we definitely get an informal kind of training through the mathematics program.
Debates about philosophers and philosophies are frequent. However, most of these debates are about philosophers we have read. So if you're a freshman you're going to have discussions about Aristotle, not Kant. If you haven't read anything by them, I'm sure you'll come to love Plato and Aristotle--they're amazing. You'll find that most major philosophical ideas started with them and that mostly everything that has come afterwards are branches of a tree they seeded.
I realize now that I had absolutely no idea what any of those words really meant (metaphysics, ethics, and epistemology) until I came to St. John's, I only had a basic dictionary definition. No one really knows ethics or metaphysics, after all, until they've read Aristotle!</p>

<p>Freshman year you will have a lot of discussions about fate. These are things brought up by the plays--Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophones--we read. The literature provokes just as much as discussion as the philosophical texts.</p>

<p>Also, the topics brought up in lab provoke a lot of discussion. For example, determinism and classification. Whether generals exist or are just arbitrarily put on nature when in fact only particulars exist. Whether the analytic method is superior to the synthetic method of approaching a problem. And of course, whether the best way to approach something is through "reason" or through "sense."</p>

<p>If you come to St. John's you really have to be interested in discussing the great ideas and great issues of philosophy. What is the distinction between virtue and justice? Can an unvirtuious person be just? This all comes from Aritstotle's Ethics, of course. If you are not interested in this kind of conversation you will be miserable at St. John's, it is what most people talk about and they talk about it a lot! Discussions don't end in the classroom.</p>

<p>“Who is you’re favorite philosopher” is not a question in the admissions packet, so I doubt there is much statistical data on that. But I’m almost certain that if you asked all the students at St. John’s, from Freshman to Seniors, they would answer either Aristotle or Plato. Except, of course, those pretentious students who say things for the sake of being different. And there is no mystery why they say this, Aristotle and Plato are the very best, at least the most important—no one can convincingly argue otherwise. </p>

<p>So yes, philosophical, religious and political views here are the typical kind of views you find at other hippie—I mean—liberal schools. ;)</p>