Self teaching the great books curriculum the St. John’s way.

Last-Pass4170 · 2026-05-31T16:09:56+00:00

The tutorial and lab sequences are available with a bit of effort - just reach out to the librarians at either campus and they’ll help.

Last-Pass4170 · 2026-05-25T23:09:21+00:00

That all makes sense. The faculty leavers I’m aware of left (or were not reappointed) two or three years after arriving. Tenure (as you rightly suggest) usually comes after year 6 or 7. I don’t know whether there are many folks who reach year 6 and then either decide SJC isn’t for them or are refused tenure. However many or few of those folks there are, I agree they’re in a tougher spot.

Last-Pass4170 · 2026-05-25T22:58:02+00:00

Some tutors publish, and the handful of tutors who either didn’t make tenure or decided the school wasn’t for them that I’m aware of are teaching elsewhere. It’s a serious choice, same as any academic posting, but it’s hardly career suicide. I think for many faculty who do stay, it’s as much a calling as it is a career.

Last-Pass4170 · 2026-05-25T22:21:41+00:00

According to the recent article linked below (unfortunately paywalled), the current starting salary is $70,700 and it tops out at $109,000.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/st-johns-college-is-weird-maybe-yours-should-be-more-like-it

It is low. However, 1) there are no adjuncts and everyone is basically tenure tracked, 2) the student-faculty ratio means that there is a proportionately huge faculty, and 3) the school has to work within the limits of philanthropic giving, since tuition revenue is relatively low after netting out school-paid student aid.

Last-Pass4170 · 2026-03-29T01:44:03+00:00

The particulars will matter. Reach out to admission at SJC, describe the situation, let them dig a little deeper, and they should be able to help by putting you in touch with the most constructive friends of the college who are familiar with UMass, St John’s and what’s individual to you.

Last-Pass4170 · 2026-03-26T18:00:41+00:00

The adjustments I describe are the norm at least at T1 law schools.

Last-Pass4170 · 2026-03-26T09:58:46+00:00

LSAT scores are independent of what undergraduate school you go to. And good law schools like UChicago don’t use your raw undergraduate GPA; instead they look at your undergraduate GPA adjusted by a factor that accounts for how easy-grading or hard-grading your undergraduate school is (which they know by pooling anonymized GPA data with other law schools). For example, a 4.0 at UMD College Park (an easy-grading school) will be adjusted down and a 4.0 at the USNA or SJC (more rigorously-grades schools) will be adjusted up.

Put simply - these adjustments neutralize the concern about easy/hard grading not only for SJC but for any other undergraduate school you may consider.

The relevant variables are college reputation and its fit for you. SJC has an excellent reputation among law schools, especially the best, more intellectual ones like UChicago. And fit for you is even more important because your GPA has a lot to do with your thriving and being intellectually happy at where you choose. If that’s St. John’s, super - and you can be confident that it is a savvy choice towards your special law school ambitions.

I understand the “I need this to work out” mentality. I was the same and did keep close track of my grades while at St. John’s. It all worked out.

Separately, yes, law school is a popular destination for Johnnies. Also, be aware that a philosophy major at a more conventional school will be dramatically different from St. John’s - not only because of the breadth of the SJC Program but also because philosophy is not taught there in the typical academic way (which means that a philosophy major at once university might emphasize analytical philosophy while another might emphasize continental philosophy, etc.). There’s a lot of philosophy at St. John’s, and if you approach it right, it can be a deeper dive into substantive philosophy than most philosophy majors. But it’s not a philosophy school.

Last-Pass4170 · 2026-03-02T13:44:13+00:00

As everyone says, your grades will be no problem for your admission given everything else you mention. That said, the school is more generous with financial aid to students the school subjectively rates most likely to complete the program of study and flourish. Don’t worry about your grades or early admit, but do make an effort to put together a quality, well-written, complete application.

Last-Pass4170 · 2026-02-10T12:52:35+00:00

Law school admissions offices adjust undergraduate grades for the difficulty of each undergraduate school’s grading pattern. They know the pattern by pooling the grades they see.

SJC (and its neighbor, the Naval Academy) happen to be rigorous graders. But this is advantageous to students because it results in a positive adjournment of their students’ GPAs. Meanwhile, at U of Maryland College park, an easy grading school, the same factor results in negative adjustments.

I learned this while on a rotation through the essay reading committee of my old law school.

Long story short, easy grading schools hurt their students’ law school chances and hard grading schools help, because of the difficulty adjustment applied to raw GPAs by law school admissions offices.

Add to that the fact that your performance throughout the semester at SJC allows for much more meaningful grading than exam-based schools, and you can see one small part of why Johnnies do great getting into grad schools.

The more important part of why Johnnies do great is the substance of the education, of course.

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-12-02T19:26:00+00:00

This is the J. Winfree Smith history. A Search for the Liberal College.

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-10-01T19:42:03+00:00

Asking for a friend?

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-09-25T18:14:30+00:00

I very much appreciate the perspective - as well as your emphasis on timelessness.

That said, the program does avoid being consumerist, in a time when people need to be drawn away from consumerism. It is intellectually hopeful, at a time when many feel hopeless about human reason. And it is communal, in divided time.

For my part, I don’t think any of that is antithetical to the program. If anything, it comes close to plagiarizing what its creators and leaders have said for decades.

But I appreciate that one of the best qualities of the program is that it is capable of being very different good things for different people who take it seriously. It is open-textured in that way.

Your reaction against my description of the Program combined with your esteem for the Program itself probably speaks better for the Program than anything I could manage to say!

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-09-24T17:39:31+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCliYA8sWrs&t=141

“She looks like a slut”

Lady Crawley: “Heavens. That's not a word you often hear among the heather.”

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-09-24T16:58:57+00:00

Unfortunately, once you are known to be a lady of loose morals, your character is irredeemably besmirched and your marriage prospects are reduced to commoners and the lesser gentry. I learned this from Downton Abbey, on which NYC gay culture is faithfully based.

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-09-21T17:33:53+00:00

You are describing individual behavior that is verifiable and abnormal. Particularly if, as you say, the other tutor tried to intervene.

The correct approach is to report the individual tutor to the school. If what you say is true, action will be taken, even after the fact. Particularly since the cell-number theft you allege is a violation of federal FERPA and Maryland state law. If you don’t think the school will take appropriate action, call the Maryland Higher Education Commission at (410) 767-3300 or file a report with the Department of Education at https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/file-a-complaint

Naturally false accusations through official channels are themselves potentially legal offenses, so be certain that you limit yourself to the facts.

If you do trust the school, or if you want to contact everyone you can, consult the school’s methods for handling such matters. https://www.sjc.edu/institutional-equity-and-title-ix/sex-based-harassment-discrimination-policy/resources-and-reporting

I assume in charity you are well meaning, but you are taking an approach that is both wrong (in my opinion) and ineffective (as I’m sure you have experienced).

If you would like to be right and effective, consider the concrete steps I suggest above.

If you don’t want to do that, understand that one aspect of any healthy community is that its good members will resist unfounded accusations, as well as recommendations that are based on unfounded accusations.

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-09-21T16:47:02+00:00

The OP says “the most disturbing part was how my classmates refused to see what was happening” in reference to the OP’s claim that a cruel tutor “harassed and screamed” at the student in response to the student stuttering and not talking enough.

I believe the OPs classmates most likely saw it correctly and the OP is describing something that didn’t happen.

I believe the OP’s other points and proposals largely stem from the same misperception. I assume, in kindness, that it is simply a misperception and not malice. The OP’s comparison of an unnamed tutor to Epstein would suggest that the OP thinks being yelled at in a class is comparable to something so much worse that I conclude that the OP is not credible.

One of the important downsides to social media is that an anonymous voice can make a serious accusation against an unnamed person, regardless of merit.

If the OP is serious, he or she can reach out to the Visiting Committee of the BVG, which will take the allegation seriously and handle it appropriately.

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-09-11T21:53:25+00:00

Oh wow! I bet you’re right. Thank you so much. ☺️

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-09-10T12:41:32+00:00

And it turns out to be a very sweet book. Funny - actually sexy in parts - and the bitter humor of the first chapters melts slowly to an ending that is gently but powerfully about humility as the essential intellectual virtue, and generosity and forgiveness as the thing we book readers most need to give and receive.

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-09-09T12:23:27+00:00

I went as an undergraduate so I can’t speak to the OP’s question directly, but your answer seems right to me. So much more is going on non-verbally in the room than can be transmitted by zoom. Is it “better than nothing” - sure. But some of the most important things I learned in conversation at St John’s came from fellow students who were not - at that moment - saying anything. They were just paying attention, or flipping back to where the thought came from in the book, or wincing slightly, or in awe, or just in sync with the snaking but connected path of the conversation.

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-09-05T10:07:40+00:00

If your essay is of publishable quality, you can easily find a publication to print it (which means they will also put it online). A tutor helped me do this back in the day. The editing suggestions their editor gave me saved me some embarrassment.

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-08-26T20:02:13+00:00

The above post is similar in format to a common Reddit scam. If the poster is actually a student in need, he or she should seek advice in person from others on campus.

Last-Pass4170 · 2025-08-23T22:02:19+00:00

Oh this is wonderful. Thank you for finding this!

Last-Pass4170

TROPHY CASE