St . John ' s College ( Annapolis / Santa Fe ) St . John ' s College ( ) is a private , liberal arts college with two U . S . campuses : one in Annapolis , Maryland , and one in Santa Fe , New Mexico . The College was founded in 1696 as King William ' s School , a preparatory school . It received a collegiate charter in 1784 , making it one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States . Since 1937 , it has followed a distinctive curriculum , the Great Books Program , based on discussion of works from the Western canon of philosophical , religious , historical , mathematical , scientific , and literary works ; it is probably for this program that the school is best known . The school grants only one bachelor ' s degree , in Liberal Arts . Two master ' s degrees are currently available through the college ' s Graduate Institute — one in Liberal Arts , which is a modified version of the undergraduate curriculum ( differing mostly in that the graduate students do not take a language and are not restricted to a set sequence of courses ) , and one in Eastern Classics , which applies most of the features of the undergraduate curriculum ( seminars , preceptorials , language study and a set sequence of courses ) to a list of classic works from India , China and Japan . Despite its name and the inclusion of selections from the Bible , as well as from some major Christian theologians and philosophers in the program , the College has no religious affiliation . History . St . John ' s College was founded as King William ' s School in 1696 . In 1784 , Maryland granted a charter to St . John ' s College , into which the original preparatory school merged . The college took up residence in a building known as Bladen ' s Folly ( the current McDowell Hall ) , which was originally built to be the Maryland governor ' s mansion , but was not completed . There was some association with the Freemasons early in the college ' s history , leading to speculation that it was named after Saint John the Evangelist . The College ' s original charter , reflecting the Masonic value of religious tolerance as well as the religious diversity of the founders ( which included Presbyterians , Episcopalians , and the Roman Catholic Charles Carroll of Carrollton ) stated that " youth of all religious denominations shall be freely and liberally admitted " . In contrast to Washington and Lee University , a contemporary institution , the College always maintained a small size , generally enrolling fewer than 500 men at a time . The College curriculum has taken various forms throughout its history . It began with a general program of study in the liberal arts , but St . John ' s was a military school for much of the late 19th century and early 20th century . It ended compulsory military training with Major Enoch Garey ' s accession as president in 1923 . Garey and the Navy instituted a Naval Reserve unit in September 1924 , creating the first - ever collegiate Department of Naval Science in the United States . But despite St . John ' s successfully pioneering the entire NROTC movement , student interest waned , the voluntary ROTC disappeared in 1926 with Garey ' s departure , and the Naval Reserve unit followed by 1929 . In 1936 , the College lost its accreditation . The Board of Visitors and Governors , faced with dire financial straits caused by the Great Depression , invited educational innovators Stringfellow Barr and Scott Buchanan to make a completely fresh start . They introduced a new program of study , which remains in effect today . Buchanan became dean of the College , while Barr assumed its presidency . In his guide " Cool Colleges " , Donald Asher writes that the New Program was implemented to save the college from closing : " Several benefactors convinced the college to reject a watered - down curriculum in favor of becoming a very distinctive academic community . Thus this great institution was reborn as a survival measure . " In 1938 , Walter Lippman wrote a column praising liberal arts education as a bulwark against fascism , and said " in the future , men will point to St . John ' s College and say that there was the seed - bed of the American renaissance . " In 1940 , national attention was attracted to St . John ' s by a story in " Life " entitled " The Classics : At St . John ' s They Come into Their Own Once More " . Classic works unavailable in English translation were translated by faculty members , typed , mimeographed , and bound . They were sold to the general public as well as to students , and by 1941 the St . John ' s College bookshop was famous as the only source for English translations of works such as Copernicus ' s " De revolutionibus orbium coelestium " , St . Augustine ' s " De Musica " , and Ptolemy ' s " Almagest " . The wartime years were difficult for the all - male St . John ' s . Enlistment and the draft all but emptied the college ; 15 seniors graduated in 1943 , eight in 1945 , and three in 1946 . From 1940 - 46 , St . John ' s was repeatedly confronted with threats of its land being seized by the Navy for expansion of the neighboring U . S . Naval Academy , and James Forrestal , Secretary of the Navy , formally announced plans to do so in 1945 . At the time , " The New York Times " , which had expected a legal battle royal comparable to the " Dartmouth " case , commented that " although a small college of fewer than 200 students , St . John ' s has , because of its experimental liberal arts program , received more publicity and been the center of a greater academic controversy than most other colleges in the land . Its best - books program has been attacked and praised by leading educators of the day . " The constant threat of eviction discouraged Stringfellow Barr . In late 1946 Forrestal withdrew the plan , in the face of public opposition and the disapproval of the House Naval Affairs Committee , but Barr and Scott Buchanan were already committed to leaving St . John ' s and launching Liberal Arts , Inc . , a new , similar college in Stockbridge , Massachusetts ; that project eventually failed — but thinking about other sites for the college eventually led to the opening of St . John ' s second campus , in Santa Fe , in 1964 . In 1948 , St . John ' s became the first previously all - white college south of the Mason - Dixon line to voluntarily admit African American students . The movement to desegregate the College was wholly internal , beginning with students who , with the support of the faculty and administration , persuaded a reluctant Board of Visitors and Governors to go along . The first African American student was Martin A . Dyer , from Baltimore , who graduated in 1952 . In 1949 , Richard D . Weigle became president of St . John ' s . Following the chaotic and difficult period from 1940 to 1949 , Weigle ' s presidency continued for 31 years , during which the New Program and the college itself became well established . In 1951 , St . John ' s became coeducational , admitting women for the first time in its then - 254 - year history . There was some objection from students because they had not been involved in — nor even aware of — the decision before it was announced to the media , and from some who believed that the college could not remain a serious institution were it to admit women . Martin Dyer reported that women who were admitted quickly proved they were the academic and intellectual equals of their male counterparts . As enrollment grew during the 1950s , and facing the coming larger baby - boom generation , thoughts turned again towards opening another campus — but this time in addition to , not instead of , the one in Annapolis . Serious talk of expansion began in 1959 when the father of a student from Monterey , California , suggested to President Weigle that he establish a new campus there . " Time ( magazine ) " ran an article on the college ' s possible expansion plans , and , in addition to California , 32 offers came in to the college , from New Hampshire , Oregon , Georgia , Alaska , Florida , Connecticut , and other states . A group from the Monterey Peninsula told Weigle that they were definitely interested , though funding was a problem , and suitable land was a big question . There was also an offer of land in Claremont , California , but competition with the other colleges there for students and financial contributions was a negative . The Riverside Mission Inn ( in Riverside , California ) was another possibility , but with only of land and lots of renovations needed to the inn , funding was again a major question . A negative factor for California in general was the cost of living for faculty . Nevertheless , all three locations were major contenders , when Robert McKinney ( publisher of " The Santa Fe New Mexican " and a former SJC board member ) called and told Weigle that a group of city leaders had long been looking for another college for Santa Fe . At a lunch Weigle attended at John Gaw Meem ' s house on the outskirts of Santa Fe in late January 1961 , Meem volunteered that he had a little piece of land ( ) that he would gladly donate to the college . Upon looking at it after lunch , Weigle instantly fell in love with it . A committee of four faculty members ( Robert Bart , Barbara Leonard , Douglas Allanbrook , and William Darkey ) went to visit all four sites ( the three in California , and Santa Fe ) and , after much deliberation , also recommended Santa Fe . Western mystery writer Tony Hillerman tells a slightly different story : The site selection committee , having originally expected to locate in Claremont , California , reluctantly accepted an invitation to inspect the site in Santa Fe . Hillerman spins a tale of the committeemen : In 1961 , the governing board of St . John ' s thus approved plans to establish a second college at Santa Fe , New Mexico . Groundbreaking occurred on April 22 , 1963 , and the first classes began in 1964 . As it turned out , land was also donated to the college on the Monterey Peninsula in California shortly after this , on condition that a campus also be developed there by a certain date . It eventually became apparent that opening yet a third campus in close succession to the second would stretch the college ' s resources too far , however . Curriculum . Great Books program . The Great Books program ( often called simply " the Program " or " the New Program " at St . John ' s ) was developed at the University of Chicago by Stringfellow Barr , Scott Buchanan , Robert Hutchins , and Mortimer Adler in the mid - 1930s as an alternative form of education to the then rapidly changing undergraduate curriculum . St . John ' s adopted the Great Books program in 1937 , when the college was facing the possibility of financial and academic ruin . The Great Books program in use today was also influenced by Jacob Klein , who was dean of the college in the 1940s and 1950s . The four - year program of study , nearly all of which is mandatory , demands that students read and discuss the works of many of Western civilization ' s most prominent contributors to philosophy , theology , mathematics , science , music , poetry , and literature . Tutorials ( mathematics , language , and music ) , as well as seminar and laboratory , are discussion - based . In the mathematics tutorial students often demonstrate propositions that mathematicians throughout various ages have laid out . In the language tutorial student translations are presented ( ancient Greek is studied in the first two years and French for the last two ) . The tutorials , with seminar and laboratory , constitute the classes . All classes , and in particular the seminar , are considered formal exercises ; consequently , students address one another , as well as their teachers , by their honorific and last name during class . St . John ' s avoids modern textbooks , lectures , and examinations , in favor of a series of manuals . While traditional ( A through F ) grades are given , the culture of the school de - emphasizes their importance and grades are released only at the request of the student . Grading is based largely on class participation and papers . Tutors , as faculty members are called at the College , play a non - directive role in the classroom , compared to mainstream colleges . However , at St . John ' s this varies by course and instructor . Class size is small on both campuses , with a student to tutor ratio of 8 : 1 . Seminar is the largest class , with around 20 students , but led by two tutors . Daytime tutorials are smaller , typically ranging between 12 to 16 students and are led by one tutor . Preceptorials are the smallest class size , ranging between 3 and 9 students . The program involves : The Great Books are not the only texts used at St . John ' s . Greek and French classes make use of supplemental materials that are more like traditional textbooks . Science laboratory courses and mathematics courses use manuals prepared by faculty members that combine source materials with workbook exercises . For example , the mathematics tutorial combines a 1905 paper by Albert Einstein with exercises that require the student to work through the mathematics used in the paper . Nevertheless , the emphasis on source materials is strong ; all seminar readings are from the book list , and music is studied from scores that are primary sources . The only elective courses are brief " preceptorials " offered in the winter of the junior and senior years . The options for these classes change each year , and often include courses on topics not covered in the Great Books program , including works by authors beyond the Great Books list , such as Gabriel García Márquez and Wallace Stevens . No written tests are given , apart from occasional quizzes in language tutorials , an algebra test to be passed by the middle of sophomore year , and a music quiz to be passed by second semester of freshman year . Students are evaluated based on class participation and papers . In the seminar , an oral " examination " is also given each semester . The oral is a discussion with the tutor or tutors intended to show that the student has read and understood the material covered ; it also allows the student to clarify aspects of the seminar essay and , it is hoped , to continue developing the essay ' s ideas . In - term written assignments for the tutorials consist of occasional short ( usually fewer than 10 pages ) papers . Longer papers are required for seminars . On the Santa Fe campus students must write a seminar paper every semester . The essay for the spring semester is a longer paper ( although comparable in length to normal semester papers at other colleges ) , and is awarded a separate grade on the transcript . Students in Annapolis write a single longer ( 20 – 30 pages ) essay at the end of each year . Papers for tutorials and seminars are not research papers , but instead emphasize a student ' s ability to address a significant question related to a work , idea or theory from that course . The required papers are not comparable to typical research papers required at other colleges . Of particular importance is the sophomore annual essay , which plays a prominent role in the college ' s enabling process , i . e . , the formal decision to allow a student to continue into the final two years . In their senior year , students must also write and defend a full - length thesis ( Senior Essay ) , which is an extended critical piece on any topic from the four - year curriculum ; as with all other papers throughout the program , the use of secondary texts is neither required nor even expected . Defense of this Senior Essay is open to the public , with the student engaging in discussion of his or her essay with a panel of three tutors . Evaluations . While the school does not release grades to students ( except upon direct request ) , there is an evaluation and feedback system . At the end of every semester at St . John ' s , each student comes together with his or her tutors to be evaluated on his or her academic performance . This exercise is called a Don Rag , a term which comes from Oxford , where professors ( " dons " ) would " rag " on their students . Don Rags begin with each tutor discussing the present student ' s performance in the third person to the other tutors as if the student were not there . After this , the student is asked if he or she has anything to add , at which point the student may discuss his or her own performance in light of the tutors ' comments , although he or she is not required to do so . In junior year , students have the option of choosing to participate in a " conference " , in which the student takes up the responsibility of leading a self - evaluative discussion , rather than a Don Rag . In senior year students do not receive Don Rags . At the end of the sophomore year , tutors give a higher level of scrutiny to the student in the Don Rag in process known as " enabling " . The tutors formally ask themselves and each other whether the student should remain at the college in light of current performance . This question is largely independent of the student ' s grades , and is more subjective than other Don Rags . Any of the tutors present at the final Sophomore Don Rag may object to the student ' s remaining at St . John ' s . Any objection begins the process of an evaluation by the faculty disciplinary committee ( " the Committee " ) as to whether the student should be allowed to remain at St . John ' s . The Committee is closed to all but faculty — even to the student whose matriculation is in jeopardy . The Committee consists of a panel of Tutors and the administration who are appointed for the year to handle disciplinary matters . At the end of the year the Committee is convened to evaluate each student presented , hearing testimony from Tutors who have taught that student over the past two years . The Committee makes a decision either to " enable " the student , allowing him or her to continue into the junior year , or not to do so , ejecting him or her from the student body . Appeals are allowed to students who have not been enabled , and if the appeal is successful , the student in question is allowed to continue without interruption at St . John ' s . While specific numbers are not available , generally between 5 % and 10 % of the sophomore class are referred to the Committee , with some smaller portion not attaining enablement . These students are allowed to reapply to the school to continue into their junior year after a period of one year , but readmission is not guaranteed . Reading list . Although it varies from year to year and differs slightly between campuses , the Great Books reading list is the basis of the school ' s curriculum . The 2007 Annapolis list is as follows : Graduate Institute Liberal Arts program . The Graduate Institute in Liberal Education was established at St . John ' s College in 1967 as a summer program on the Santa Fe campus . The size and scope of the Institute have expanded so that currently both the Annapolis and Santa Fe campuses offer year - round graduate - level study based on the principles of the St . John ' s undergraduate program . Students in the Liberal Arts Program explore the persisting questions of human existence by studying classic works of the western tradition . This program is organized into five semester - long thematic segments : Philosophy and Theology , Politics and Society , Literature , Mathematics and Natural Science , and History . Students earn a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts ( M . A . L . A ) by completing four of these five segments . A common curriculum provides the basis for a shared intellectual community ; discussion with fellow students and faculty is the mode of learning both inside and outside the classroom . Each semester , students attend a seminar , a tutorial and a preceptorial — all carried out as small - group discussions under the guidance of St . John ' s faculty members . These three types of classes are the framework of the distinctive St . John ' s educational experience . Eastern Classics program . At the Santa Fe campus , there is a program offering a Master of Arts in Eastern Classics ( M . A . E . C . ) . This program is three semesters long and is designed to be completed in one 12 - month period . The impetus for the program came with the recognition that the undergraduate program simply could not do justice to the Great Books of the three main Asian traditions ( India , China and Japan ) by trying to squeeze in a few works among so many European masterworks . The EC program therefore provides a full set of readings in the philosophical , religious and literary traditions of the three cultures listed above . Thus , students learn Chinese culture by reading not only Confucius , Laozi and Zhuangzi , but also Mencius , Xun Zi , Han Feizi , and Mozi , as well as historical narratives by Sima Qian and the Zuo Zhuan , the later movement of Neo - Confucianism and Zhu Xi , narrative works such as Journey to the West or the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the great Chinese poets , Li Bai , Wang Wei and Du Fu . This list represents only one - third of the required corpus , which also covers the major teachings and branches of Hinduism and the development of Theravada , Mahayana and Zen Buddhism , as well as such literary masterpieces as the Mahabharata , Shakuntala , The Tale of Genji , The Narrow Road to the Deep North and others . Students also take a language , either Sanskrit or Classical Chinese . Campuses . Annapolis campus . St . John ' s is located in the Historic Annapolis district , one block away from the Maryland State Capitol building . Its proximity to the United States Naval Academy ( across King George Street ) has inspired many a comparison to Athens and Sparta . The schools carry on a spirited rivalry seen in the annual croquet match between the two schools on the front lawn of St . John ' s , which has been called by " GQ " " " the purest intercollegiate athletic event in America . " " St . John ' s has won 25 of the 30 annual matches . About the Johnnies ' commitment to the event , one Middie commented , " They ' re out practicing croquet every afternoon ! Alabama should take football this seriously . " Construction of McDowell Hall at the center of campus , was begun in 1742 by Provincial Governor of Maryland Thomas Bladen , but was not completed until after the end of the Colonial period . Its Great Hall has seen many college events , from balls feting Generals Lafayette and Washington to the unique St . John ' s institutions called waltz parties . The Annapolis campus is home to " The Epoch Journal " , a news magazine which employs the St . John ' s approach to critical thought to explore world events . The magazine was named a finalist for the 2008 ACP Magazine Pacemaker Award . Ray Cave , former editor of " Time Magazine " and a St . John ' s alumnus , has described " The Epoch Journal " as a " valuable publication and a most worthwhile endeavor " . Fight song . The St . John ' s College ( Annapolis ) fight song is " St . John ' s Forever " by Charles David Branan ( Class of 2013 ) A parody of " The Navy Hymn " was used as the fight song and was performed at the annual croquet match against the Naval Academy . As of 2013 , the practice has been discontinued . The lyrics , written by Tanya Hadlock - Piltz ( Annapolis Class of 2005 ) , contain references to some of the texts read in the school ' s Great Books program , including " The Iliad " , and Plato ' s " Theory of Forms " . Santa Fe campus . St . John ' s Santa Fe campus is located at the foot of Monte Sol , on the eastern edge of Santa Fe . It was opened in 1964 in response to the increase in qualified applicants at the Annapolis campus . The College chose to open a second campus rather than increase the size of the Annapolis campus . The second campus was part of a larger project , championed by then - college president Richard Weigle , which called for six campuses to be built across the country . St . John ' s abandoned the concept when it later sold a tract of land it owned in Monterey , California . The Santa Fe campus offers students a more secluded atmosphere than the Annapolis campus , with the vast Pecos Wilderness and Sangre de Cristo Mountains . The campus also boasts an expansive view of Santa Fe that extends to Los Alamos to the west . The college maintains gear to facilitate student use of the outdoors , such as kayaks , rafts , hiking equipment , and sports equipment . In addition , the college partners with Atalaya Search and Rescue to offer students training in search and rescue . Ptolemy Stone . Both campuses have a Ptolemy Stone , an astronomical instrument invented by the ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy to measure the altitude of celestial bodies , in this case , the sun . The St . John ' s Ptolemy Stones are outdoor objects with a movable metal dial affixed ( a prismical concrete column in Annapolis and a granite boulder in Santa Fe ) ; this device was the precursor to the sextant . Freshman and sophomore math classes learn to use this stone to calculate the apparent movement of the sun along the ecliptic . The students ' use of the Ptolemy Stones underscores the mathematics and laboratory programs ' connection to the practical experimentation and hands - on experience of the natural world . Student body . As of the 2005 class , 35 U . S . states are represented in Annapolis and 32 in Santa Fe ; there are also several students from foreign countries . Approximately 65 % of students receive financial aid . The student body is relatively small compared to other liberal arts colleges , with a population historically below 500 students on each campus during a year . The college offers many community seminars and lectures that are available to the public . Ranking and reputation . In 1975 , a St . John ' s graduate gave this description of how a St . John ' s degree was received by other institutions : Motivational business speaker Zig Ziglar included a chapter entitled " St . John ' s : A College That Works " in a 1997 book . He said St . John ' s holds fast to the " medieval " notion that all knowledge is one and states that " the books they use are terribly hard . " He notes that the school " ranks fifth nationally in the number of graduates earning doctorates in the humanities " and is impressed by the 81 % of graduates entering education , engineering , law , medicine , and other professions . He concludes " Sounds like St . John ' s is onto something . Maybe more schools should take that approach . " According to a study published by the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium , based on data from 1992 through 2001 , St . John ' s ranked first nationally in percentage of graduates attaining doctorates in both Humanities and English literature . In addition , the college ranked among the top ten institutions in political science , linguistics , foreign languages , area and ethnic studies , and math and computer sciences . St . John ' s runs counter to the usual emphasis on rankings and selectivity . As of 2005 , St . John ' s college has chosen not to participate in any collegiate rankings surveys , and has not sent them their requested survey information . However , the school is still included in the " U . S . News " college ranking guide . President Christopher B . Nelson states that " In principle , St . John ' s is opposed to rankings . " He notes : An educational reporter wrote : " Princeton Review ' s " list of the twenty colleges with the " happiest students " includes both St . John ' s campuses , the Santa Fe campus ranking seventh and the Annapolis campus ranking seventeenth . In the 2005 edition of the " Princeton Review Guide " entitled " The Best 357 Colleges " , St . John ' s College ( Santa Fe ) received the following rankings : St . John ' s College is listed in Loren Pope ' s " Colleges That Change Lives " . In 2009 , Forbes ranked it 89th of America ' s Best Colleges . In 2011 , Newsweek magazine rated the Santa Fe St . John ' s the " most rigorous " college or university in the U . S .