St John's College?

[Janeway]

My son has received some mailers from this school and it is the only one he brought to me and wants to talk about. I did research online. It is a very small school. It has a preset curriculum, no major choices. Everything is done through Socratic discussions. Also, it is far away. It has two campuses but sounds like the one in Maryland would be the better one. I have never even been to that part of the country. But again, it is the only college he came to me to talk about.

[Garga]

My best friend attended that school for a single year.  Her sister went there for four years.  Granted, this was between 1989 and 1994, but if you have a specific question, maybe they will have answers?  I can ask them for you.

My friend got tired of all the Socratic discussions and felt it was all too subjective and there wasn’t enough concrete learning for her, but her sister seemed to thrive on it.  Her sister went on to attend Harvard for something or other (a master’s maybe?) about 10 years after leaving St. John’s, and my friend is currently getting a master’s at Johns Hopkins (30-ish years later.). Their year/years at St. Johns’ seemed to work for them as they’re both successful at what they do and were able to move on to well-known colleges in later years.

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by Garga

[luuknam]

It's one of the colleges profiled in "Colleges That Change Lives" by Loren Pope (at least the 2013-2014 edition I have checked out from the library). I haven't read the section on that college yet, and even if I had, you'd probably be better off reading it yourself. A book like that might appeal to your son anyway, as it lists some other quirky small colleges. 

[Garga]

4 minutes ago, Margaret in CO said:

We have several friends that were Johnnies, both from the SF campus. Many students do an exchange year at the other campus. They loved it, but it is for a specific type of student. The Annapolis Johnnies beat USNA every year at croquet! There is a lot of drinking, but also a lot of swing dancing!

Since my friends went there, I got to go to a few of the swing dances.  They were awesome. I loved them!  They’d waltz, too, at the swing dances. 

[G5052]

I know multiple people who went to the SF campus, some for undergraduate and some for graduate.

Very intense school. They rotate the subjects and professors, so you might get an art professor teaching French. 

You can't argue with their results though. They really teach students to think.

[Bootsie]

I have two friends who had children who went there (SF).  One graduated from there and enjoyed it, but there was one thing she didn't like was that there was no discussion on current events and world issues.  She found it all too historical focused.  She said that she had difficulty finding materials in the library that were about current issues.  She pointed to concrete examples of being discouraged from exploring current events.  She said there was a focus on learning the classics and history but she didn't see much link to how that meant to live in the world today which she was eager to do.  So, it wasn't a good match for her.  Upon graduating she got involved in international development and has traveled the world, so it didn't necessarily hold her back, but it was not a good match for her as a student.

The other student I know was there for a year and left miserable.  I don't know how much that was a personal issue.  

I think it is a school with a strong, specific character and it is a good match for some students but a bad match for some others.