Career Success
St. John’s College provides a broad education that helps its graduates succeed in diverse careers, from traditional paths to cutting-edge fields. St. John’s graduates thrive in areas like education, business, communication, mathematics, software design, the sciences, health professions, social services, and the arts—often while trailblazing new and creative ways to make an impact. They are leaders, entrepreneurial thinkers, and thoughtful problem-solvers in every occupation, including those they invent.
Career Services
Students at St. John’s have the advantage of the most personalized, student-focused career support of any college in the country. The Career Services Office in Annapolis and the Office of Personal and Professional Development in Santa Fe have open doors for regular meetings with students. The career staff on each campus helps with resumes, cover letters, and interviews, and they run weekly workshops on career and graduate school tips. They bring major employers to campus for meetings with students, match students with funded summer internship opportunities around the world, and connect students to alumni already working in numerous fields.
Current students and alumni are encouraged to contact the career services staff to learn more about internships, job opportunities, professional networking, and applying to graduate schools.
St. John’s graduates have held such positions as chief of cardiology, New York Veterans Administration Medical Center; vice president, America’s Development Foundation; West Africa correspondent, New York Times; vice president for research and development, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc.; and radio host of “World of Opera.” Many are widely respected and cited for groundbreaking contributions to their chosen professions. Want to learn more? Hear from alumni about how their St. John’s education prepared them for their careers.
Graduate and Professional School
Nearly 70 percent of St. John’s alumni pursue advanced degrees, with approximately 15 percent of each graduating class going directly into programs at some of the nation’s top graduate and professional schools.
St. John’s has the highest percentage of students who go on to earn PhDs in the humanities of any college in the United States and is in the top 2 percent for all PhDs, as well as the top 10 percent for PhDs in business, religion, psychology, science and education.
Advanced Degrees After St. John’s
St. John’s graduates don’t just pursue advanced degrees at high rates—they pursue them at the highest level. Recent colleges and universities where students have matriculated include:
Architecture
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Pratt Institute
- Rhode Island School of Design
Economics
- Georgetown University
- London School of Economics
- Yale University
Classics/Classical Languages
- Cambridge University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Oxford University
- Princeton University
Mathematics and Computer Science
- Brandeis University
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Modern Languages/Literature
- French: University of Paris, The Sorbonne
- German: Harvard University
- Japanese: University of New Mexico
Music
- Juilliard School of Music
- New England Conservatory
- Peabody Conservatory
By the Numbers
#1
Top-ranked for number of students who go on to earn PhDs in the humanities
100%
All of the Johnnies who have applied to law school since 2012 have been accepted
Preparing for a Career in Law
70%
Nearly 70 percent of St. John’s alumni pursue advanced degrees
Awards and Fellowships
From the Fulbright to the Rhodes, St. John’s students are among the top recipients of awards and fellowships in the country. Past scholarships and fellowships include:
Internships
Nearly 50 percent of Johnnies participate in internships. The offices of Career Services and Personal and Professional Development help match students to the right internship for them, made possible by significant funding from the Hodson and Ariel internship programs. Participating businesses and organizations include:
Agriculture and the Environment
- Keuka Springs Vineyards
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
- Environmental Protection Agency
Art and Architecture
- Martha’s Vineyard Film Society
- Environmental Protection Agency
Business
- Arete Wealth Management
- Creative Conventions and Inventions
- Azlore Capital
Education
- Public Charter School Board
- Smithsonian
Law and Government
- Consulate General of Georgia
- Foreign Policy Association
Science and Medicine
- Neuroscience and Psychology Lab
- Medicine Technology Innovation Center
- Laboratory for Developmental Studies
Pathways Fellowships
Pathways Fellowships fund students who wish to take additional coursework in the summers. In recent years, that includes:
Arts
- Summer Core Art Program, Marchutz Academy, Aix-en-Provence, France
- Landscape Architecture, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
- Documentary Film Making, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Language
- German, Goethe Institute, Munich, Germany
- Hebrew, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
- Chinese, Princeton University, Beijing, China
Mathematics
- Differential Equations, UC Berkeley, CA
Science
- Cognitive Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
- Ecology and Animal Behavior, University of Houston
Social Science and Humanities
- Introduction to Creative Writing, Boston University, Boston, MA
After a successful pilot program in 2016, St. John’s Career Services has launched a Job Shadowing Program to provide opportunities to spend time with working alumni in a diverse array of fields. Students will have the opportunity to shadow alumni in the spring after the end of the school year, allowing them to explore career options and engage in experiences that will help guide them as they plan for the future.