<p>Revisiting this thread having realized there was activity here… I want to reply to cywood’s concerns from earlier, specifically these:</p>
<p>“Scottyb2012, you mentioned you got a fellowship through years in SJC to work in astronomy at the United States Naval Observatory. What kind of preparation did you made to get that fellowship? Behave well and study the workload hard isn’t enough in SJC, right? The liberal arts education is wonderful in SJC, for a human being, while the same time, human beings need to find jobs and make a living, we need to make additional preparation for our lives after graduation? You went to Columbia Teachers college? PhD? What preparation did you made before applying to it? What qualities or strength make you a good candidate?”</p>
<p>I didn’t do anything in preparation for the fellowship aside from write an informed proposal for the fellowship application outlining my interest in studying astronomy/astrometry. I was passionate about the subject, and I was doing some study groups at St. John’s at the time that were immersing me in physics in a way that was more intensive/more “up-to-date” than what one might find in the junior and senior lab tutorials. One day, one of my freshman year tutors was walking down the hall and he asked me, “Do you like junior lab?” I told him I loved it, and he suggested that I apply for the fellowship to study at USNO. It was a fantastic experience.</p>
<p>I got a master’s degree from Teachers College. I didn’t really enjoy the program of study at Columbia very much, so I decided not to continue in the PhD track. I am actually working now and hoping to return to the PhD idea in a few years, probably in the math/science arena. Again, there was no “preparation” for studying at Columbia outside of just enjoying St. John’s and working really hard. I didn’t take any additional coursework or anything. I just decided to apply to that one program in the winter of my senior year, and I got in.</p>
<p>A few people have expressed concern that to go from St. John’s into the sciences requires outside study or more coursework. This is usually true, but I don’t think it’s a drawback of the St. John’s education. My work at St. John’s allowed me to put all of the rest of my learning and coursework in perspective. These thoughts can be extended to address the concern that St. John’s isn’t “current” enough or that it doesn’t give one a proper understanding of the mechanics of modern physics. This is true-- you won’t be able to walk from St. John’s into MIT and poke around the lab. But as others have said, this isn’t the point of the education. The education is about liberation. It’s the beginning of a certain kind of life. That life isn’t for everyone, but it’s really great for some of us.</p>