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Why St. John’s?

Chinese students are drawn to St. John’s for its unique educational model. In most of the world, students attend large lectures, memorize textbooks, study singular disciplines, and are assessed by exam. The Great Books curriculum at St. John’s instead emphasizes critical thinking, discussion, and engagement with primary texts—skills increasingly valued in today’s world that demands adaptability.

Learn more about the Great Books curriculum

St. John’s has seen a rise in Chinese students over the last decade. Hometowns include Zhenjiang, Suzhou,  Changshu, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Wuhan, Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Lanzhou, Hong Kong, Chongqing, and more, and from high schools including independent, public, and religious schools such as United World College Changshu, United World College Li Po Chun, Shenzhen Middle School, Shanghai American School, Wuhan Foreign Language School, High School Affiliated of Peking University, High School Affiliated of Beijing Normal University, Beijing No. 4 High School, and Nanjing Foreign Language School.

Learn more about studying on campus in Annapolis, Maryland

Learn more about studying on campus in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Great Books of the Eastern and Western tradition

St. John’s isn’t just about Great Books of the Western tradition. In addition to undergraduate and graduate programs in the liberal arts, the college also offers a Master of Arts in Eastern Classics, available online or in person on the Santa Fe, New Mexico, campus. Students in Eastern Classics examine the thought of India, China, and Japan while studying either Classical Chinese or Sanskrit. Learn more about the Eastern Classics program.

President J. Walter Sterling Visits China, Signs Partnership Agreements with Boya College at Sun Yat-Sen University

In 2014, St. John’s College signed its first-ever foreign exchange agreement with Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. The school is home to Boya College, a four-year liberal arts program with ties to St. John’s: Professor Gan Yang, the noted Chinese scholar who founded Boya, learned of and became inspired by the Program while working toward his PhD through the University of Chicago’s Committee of Social Thought. Santa Fe President J. Walter Sterling visited Sun Yat-sen in November 2024 to attend the school’s centennial celebration and to sign a memorandum of understanding renewing study-abroad opportunities between St. John’s and Boya. This trip paved the way for a new four-week exchange summer program tailored for St. John’s students that will run this summer from July-August 2025. Participants will study Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese historiography between touring regional landmarks in China’s southeastern Guangdong province and participate in hands-on activities like agricultural fieldwork and calligraphy. No prior language knowledge is required.

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Student Internships

Current students are guaranteed funding for at least one summer for an otherwise unpaid internship. Many funded internships have been in China. Examples include:​​​​​​

• Xiaoqian (Lara) Hu, Shenzhen Middle School | Guangdong Province, Shenzhen, China
• Chengyaqing Shi, Beijing Wangliang Law Firm | Beijing, China
• Wanli Ma, Fiber Optics & Optical Sensor Laboratory, Uinhuangdao | Hebei, China
• Sihui Ma, Xiangya School of Medicine, Cancer Research Institute, Central South University | Hunan, China
• Qiu Lin, Hainan Dong-po Academy of Calligraphy and Painting | Hainan, China
• Xiuyuan Zhang, Renmin University of China, Department of Language & Literature | Beijing, China