<p>I don’t know if anyone checks up one this too much but I just thought I would start a more recent conversation up so anyone interested in the school can talk.</p>
<p>What made you interested in St John’s?
What type of student do you personally believe is one suited to St John’s? I enjoy reading but I don’t know how good I am at closely evaluating what I’m reading.</p>
<p>Part b of the second essay question says: Choose some book that has been important in shaping your thoughts and discuss a single aspect of it (not the book as a whole) that is particularly significant to you.</p>
<p>Are they expecting some very advanced book? and what exactly are they meaning by ‘important in shaping your thoughts’? Are they wanting it to be some huge thing or can it be something more subtle? How much insight are they looking for exactly?</p>
<p>I’m as far from a St John’s student as you can get, but a good friend was accepted last year and I can give you her qualities.</p>
<p>1) She loves to talk about everything she reads, witnesses or speculates on. This may sound simple, but it isn’t. What she says is insightful and amusing.</p>
<p>2) Not that it necessarily matters to the college, but she got 34 on the ACT in English (in the mid 20’s on the math part, much to my amusement) and can read at a breakneck pace, actually understanding (and having an definite opinion!) about what she just got finished reading.</p>
<p>3) She has the talent of experiencing what is going on in the books she reads as if it were happening to her.</p>
<p>4) Look at #1 again. She is NOT shy and believes her opinion is gospel-in a cute way, I assure you.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. I’d say pick a book that is personal to you, and one in which you have very powerful opinions. I’d guess to go with the classics if you can.</p>
<p>FWIW (I’m into Science and very quiet, BTW)</p>
<p>I just got accepted bu Santa Fe. I do envy PhysicsRule’s friend because I’m an international applicant who can’t read “breakneckly”… Sigh…
I wrote about Jack Kerouac’s “The Dharma Bums”. I didn’t read many western books(less than 20 I think…) and didn’t know the “rules” while writing the essay. I just poured all my heart and passion on that. I think that’s a good one in which I wrote 4500 words. The dharma bums did shape my thought, it’s very influencial on my attitude toward this world. American people seem not as interesting as those of more than 50 years ago. Hahaha…
I’m too clever that few people around me can understand what I was talking about sometimes. My life core is environmental protection and democracy establishment. It’s hard to survive in China for someone like me. Because what I believe in is totoally contrary to my government does. So I chose to go to the US, and come back to China with a strong heart many years later to beat the governemtn…
As for the students, they are different from common rich, boring, white, filthy young people. I do wanna find some pure, honest, brave dreamers in St. John’s College which seems like a Shangri-La for me.
Treect From Chinese wetland</p>
<p>I got accepted to the Annapolis campus. I basically said for the first question that i enjoy learning and I want to learn about everything. I also of course adore reading. For the second question, I tried really hard to think of a difficult book that has impacted me in some way, but I couldn’t think of a book that has meant more to me and shaped my thoughts more than Harry Potter, so I wrote about that. I thought Harry Potter would be kinda cliche, and the books read at St. John’s can be very difficult so I was nervous about choosing a fairly simple book, but Harry Potter was a really important series for me, so I stuck with it.</p>
<p>My son was just accepted to St. John’s, and it is a serious contender. Does anyone have thoughts about the college? Differences between Annapolis and Santa Fe? </p>
<p>My son by the way is a voracious reader. Reads incredibly fast and absorbs what he reads.</p>
<p>Physicsrule-- actually, if your friend takes her opinion as the ‘gospel truth’, I doubt she’d do well here. People who can’t listen to the opinions and thoughts of others but can’t listen respectfully and appreciateively of others’ attempts to think about the issues quickly find that they are hindering the progress for everyone. </p>
<p>nzrower- a St. John’s student is one who really doesn’t want to learn anywhere else. If the idea of the Program sonds exhilirating, you could be a St. John’s student. If the idea of an all-required curriculum and a teeny study body sound oppresive, you’re not. </p>
<p>It’s not about being good when you get there… it’s about being ready to improve your skills as you’re there. </p>
<p>Also, I read relatively slowly now, MUCH slower than I did before I enrolled here. I recognize that I need to process what’s being said in a very different way, and I accept that to do that properly takes a lot of time and effort. So long as you stay on top of your work, there’s no rush. You don’t win bonus points for reading a page of Kant in one minute… you just sound silly. </p>
<p>I wrote about ‘All My Sons’ for my essay, but I have a classmate who got accepted with Harry Potter. They really aren’t judging you for your book choice (unless you picked a pretentious book just to be pretentios)- they want to see that books impact you, that you think deeply about them and that you use them as a guide to live your life.
Because that’s what the Program is about, in the end…</p>
<p>I just got accepted at the Annapolis campus! however, I’m unsure about which campus I should go to. I live in Maryland and am going to annapolis for the open house on saturday. I’ll probably end up going there because it’s closer but I’m curious about the differences in the student body between campuses. Can anyone add some input on this?</p>
<p>7Sisters, did your son go for an overnight visit before he applied? I highly recommend visiting the school if you have questions. My daughter will be a freshman at Annapolis this fall, the overnight visit convinced both of us that St John’s College was the only choice. </p>
<p>As far as the two campuses, I found it really neat that students can transfer between the Santa Fe and Annapolis campuses so you do have the option of trying out both!</p>
<p>My daughter will also be at the open house in Annapolis tomorrow too, say hello if you see her ;-)</p>
<p>Yes, my son went to the overnight visit, and he ended up picking St. John’s. He was accepted at another very good liberal arts college here in NY, but told me that he feels that he really fits at St. John’s. So there you go. And he is a fit, it’s as close as you can get to a one-on-one education. He loves discussing ideas and books and philosophy and religion and…and my husband and I like Annapolis, so…</p>
<p>I also kept thinking about what book I should right about… and I was just wondering if I said it was the Bible, would that be ok too? I sort of think it would… and it is truly the most important book that shaped who I am. But on the other hand, do you think it might be to “religious”?</p>
<p>ek4ever-
They aren’t judging you by what book you WRITE about. I had a friend write about Harry Potter and another friend write about Dr. Suess. I also had a friend write on Nietzsche and a friend write on War and Peace. </p>
<p>Just write articulately, sincerely and passionately about it. Tell them why. Show them you can read books, have them impact you, and then go on to tell others about why and how.</p>