St. John’s Undergraduate Program
At the heart of St. John’s College undergraduate program is a liberal arts curriculum focused on the most important books and ideas of Western civilization. Following a reading list that includes many Great Books, all classes are conducted seminar-style, with faculty facilitating the discussion. Our liberal arts undergraduate program is a truly comprehensive education that is perhaps the most rigorous in America. All students graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts. Read about the program in the words of our faculty, and learn about the reading list, subjects, and classes below.
For a current schedule of seminar readings, see the Santa Fe Seminar Reading List Schedule or Annapolis Seminar Reading List Schedule
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St. John’s Academic Program Glossary
| Tutor | Faculty at St. John’s are called "tutors." Professors "profess," but at St. John’s the faculty facilitate conversation in the classroom. |
| Seminar | The heart of the academic program, seminar meets Mondays and Thursdays in the evenings. In seminar, Johnnies discuss interdisciplinary texts from across the curriculum with two tutors and fewer than 21 students. |
| Tutorial | Tutorials focus on three disciplines: mathematics, language, and music. There are four years of mathematics, two years of ancient Greek, two years of French, and two years of music. |
| Laboratory | For three years, students study the sciences in a hands-on laboratory. The sciences at St. John’s include biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, and genetics. The laboratory work is still rooted in original texts, reading (and recreating) the theories and experiments of people like Archimedes, Newton, and Einstein. |
| Lecture | Every Friday evening students are encouraged to attend a lecture. This is the only lecture in the St. John’s curriculum. |
| Preceptorial | For seven weeks in junior and senior years, seminar is suspended so that students may choose elective classes called preceptorials. |
| Don Rag | Instead of receiving grades, Johnnies meet with their tutors at a "Don Rag" to receive an oral report of their progress. |