The college experience is different for everyone – and over before you know it! By the time you get to your senior year in college, you will have spent hours studying and writing, all in preparation for what comes after college – wouldn’t it be great to have a little piece of college to take with you, your academic masterpiece, a nice reminder of where you’ve been and what you’ve achieved?
Doug Plummer
Forget blue books, last minute cram sessions, number two pencils, and everything in between – at St John’s College, in Annapolis, Maryland and Sante Fe, New Mexico, the Senior Class is part of a very small group of undergraduate students that don’t take a final exam! Sound too good to be true? Not if you like public speaking, debate – and a small audience!
St John’s College is a Great Books College so Seniors don’t have a final exam – they have an Examination. St John’s College Seniors get a four week break from seminar and a three week break from tutorial to focus on writing their Senior Essay – a 20,000 word thesis, a true work of art!
Previous student titles include “Kant goes to Copenhagen: Quantum Mechanics and the Possibility of Free Will,” “Insects to Onions: An Exploration of One Man’s Transition from Shame to Joy in the Brothers Karamazov,” and “The Metaphysics of Art and Suffering: The Beautiful in Hegel’s Account of Painting.”
If that gives you any clue: this senior thesis are taken very seriously. In fact – the defending student and tutors (what St John’s College calls faculty members) get all dressed up into full academic regalia: robes, tassels — the works!
After they enter the examination room together, the committee chair announces the student to the assembled crowd, which most likely contain the student’s tutors, friends (for moral support), and/or parents – even the general public wants to sit in! No pressure, right?
Doug Plummer
Rosemary Harty, the Communications Director at SJC elaborated, “Each student begins by reading his or her précis, an abstract outlining the argument. For the next hour, the student and tutors engage in a conversation about the paper, the questions it raises, the implications of the student’s thesis, and whatever larger questions arise.”
“After the Oral, the examined student usually celebrates with friends while the committee of tutors meets to discuss the Oral and decide whether the test has been passed.” We know – it sounds intense, but, as Ms Harty pointed out, “students describe it as one of the most exhilarating experiences of their academic career.” Think about it – when was the last time you gave your brain a workout? When did you last develop and explore an idea – then had a chance to really illustrate your ideas to others?
Of course, it isn’t all work, work, work. After the Senior Examination, students join the on-campus party which includes the ever-anticipated Junior Skit, where Juniors poke a little fun at the Seniors’ expense – and then dance ‘til dawn! If that doesn’t sound like a great note to end your college career on, then — we just don’t know what is!
These days, money is tight for just about everyone—and college is one of the biggest expenses your family will ever face. A four-year program at many private universities will cost over $200,000, not counting the cost of textbooks and other extra fees. While some students may be eligible for scholarships (