Insteadof:
What was your grade
point average in high school?
We might ask:
How much
do you want
to learn?
Ability and achievement in high school
are important, of course—but even
more important is your desire to
undertake the St. John’s program of
study. If you can’t imagine passing
up the opportunity to engage with
many of Western civilization’s greatest
minds, you belong at St. John’s.
Insteadof:
What are your
reasons for applying to college?
We might ask:
What excites
you about an
examined life?
Ultimately, your choice of college is a
reflection of how you want to live your
life. Graduates of St. John’s use their
powers of analysis to interpret current
events, to guide their careers, and
to make productive and satisfying
life decisions—and, not incidentally,
to keep asking better questions.
Insteadof:
What are your
SAT scores?
We might ask:
What are
you reading?
We’re interested in the life of your
mind, and there are few better
indications of lively curiosity than
what you read for pleasure. Sure,
you might have performed well on
a standardized test, but at a college
where insights are gained through
discussion—and where not knowing
is often more productive than
knowing—test scores simply aren’t
that important to us. We want to
know what kinds of books you seek
out—and how the dialogue you
create with them affects your life.
Q
uestions
we might
ask you
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