St John’s University-New York Top Questions

My classmates in college are students that are eager to learn and will do whatever it takes to get do good academically.

Four tables in Montgoris Dining Hall: One is a group of kids (they can be any race and you can actually find them in each race, separated or integrated, all over the cafeteria) who are gingerly chewing on toast to soak up their hangover from the night before, but still keenly grinning about the even BIGGER party that's about to go down tonight. Another is a group of nerdy white boys who are talking about video games and the hot girls across the room. They are also probably discussing what they'll make some day but they are a little too interested in WHO they are and trying to find out whatever that is to be discussing anything too in-depth, even though they follow the news regularly and are well caught up on How I Met Your Mother. A third table has students who all seem like friends rotating in and out of it as they each share quick bites and conversation before they have to jet off to class. They are mostly "white" kids but don't be fooled that the "black" RA they met in Paris sits down to chat and so does their lebanese friend and probably the president of the student government too. They talk about the other students around them and they also share the outrageous comments their professors have made. They can get as deep as analyzing Kim Kardashian's place in this world or as general as their parents political background and it's influence on them. Because they each come from different parts of the country or world there is a fairly even balance between "left," "right" and "center" although the Republican from Rhode Island is rather loud mouthed about it when in the presence of the hippie from San Clemente. Some of these students are totally unaware when it comes to politics but you better damn well believe that they will be educated by their peers on a strictly biased platform. The fourth table is entirely black, whether they are from Trinidad and Tobago, Harlem, Tennessee or Cleveland. They are all laughing very loudly and unfortunately I've never had a chance to hear what they are talking about because they are slightly intimidating and pseudo-"class selective." So who would feel out of place at this school? I'd say the kid who wanted to remain a loner and keep his distance from everyone. I know these tables sound sarcastic, but I'm also trying to convey the diversity and space for pretty much all walks of life. There are girls in designer clothes at St. John's with their perfectly manicured nails, but there are also girls in pajama pants and then there are some riding skateboards around. There are boys in baggy jeans and boys in skinny jeans. There are elderly students among the mass population of U-21's; but we all co-exist.

As I’ve mentioned before, the student body is incredibly diverse and tolerant of each other. Despite its Roman Catholic affiliation, the university respects all religions and observes many religious holidays. The student affairs body sends out e-mails during Jewish, Muslim, and Christian holidays and students are racially, culturally, and socio-economically diverse. This variety includes student from nearly all the US states, as well as International Students. Because of the tolerance cultivated on campus, no student is made to feel out of place. Clubs are not clicks, but offer opportunities for the assorted student body to interact with one another and learn new things. I’ve seen Catholics and Jews present at Prophet Mohammed’s birthday celebration, Muslims participating in Christmas festivities, and varying religious students celebrating the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali. If as I’ve stated, the campus offers religious celebrations, cultural events are common too. I’ve personally attended a lecture where I was introduced to West Indian authors and tried West Indian food. From this experience alone, I can tell that students in the dining hall, and at many events, cannot be easily classified or grouped. This makes it difficult to tell what types of students dominate campus life; the campus is mixed. Generous financial aid and scholarships also make it easy for students of varying socioeconomic backgrounds to afford and attend St. John’s. The students respect for each other, extends to the larger world; respect generates world-wide interests and political awareness. Students come together to volunteer at homeless shelters, work with kids (mentors/tutors), and raise funding for natural disaster victims. Essentially, the student body is cooperative and amiable, which is reflected on campus and in off campus deeds.

There are really students of every race, religion and from all walks of life at St. John's which is a great thing. It's a very diverse campus, something that I was happy to see after transferring from a school that didn't have much diversity. I don't feel like any student would feel out of place here. You'll have the commuters who dress up pretty nice for class, and then you'll have the resident (or close by) students who will sometimes stroll in sweats, pajamas, or the token free St. John's hoodie we all got for free at orientation. Every time it rains, half the student body is wearing that hoodie, so be prepared.

At my school, all of the races tend to stick together. Unless they're on a sports team or in a frat or something like that, you'll rarely see, for example, an Asian guy and an Black guy walking across the lawn together. To be honest though, the students at my school actually do not segregate themselves by religion or orientation. I guess race is enough. Any student that feels that they don't fit in one particular group more than others will probably feel a bit out of place, but one good thing about the school is that you WILL find your own social niche, whether it be gamers or chem nerds. It's easier to acquire your own little group of close friends than try to get along with everyone. It's crazy, but most people on my campus wear sweats and/or pajamas to class. Even commuters wear stretchy pants and StJ logo t- shirts to class. Unless you happen to work in an office like I do, everyone is really comfort- oriented when it comes to attending class. The five main groups at St. John's are the jocks, Greek life, art students, pharmacy students, and everybody else :) The students here are from all over the country, and we have quite a lot of international students as well. Most of the students come from families with money though; everyone else is struggling and will owe financial aid half their paychecks for the rest of their lives. You don't really talk about politics on my campus, we're more care free, although we did have a midnight parade when they announced Bin Laden was dead. Seriously.

St. John's University lives up to its claim of being a diverse university. During my experience at St. John's so far, I've met many different people of all different backgrounds and walks of life. I come from a diverse high school but St. John's has many different races. From the different people you meet you'll learn that any stereotypes that are made about a particular group are not limited to that racial group; Ignorance about any particular racial group is eliminated when you meet different people that come from very harsh to very privileged surroundings. The people that you meet allow for students to learn about different lifestyles and appreciate the things they have even if they think they don't have enough. I don't think that any student no matter the sexual orientation, race, religion,etc. will fill out of place at St. John's because everybody fits in somewhere and all the students are friendly with one another no matter the circumstances. Most people think that college students get dressed up everyday to go to class but not all students get dressed up for class. A majority of the students wear sweatpants, sweatshirts, or some type of loungewear to class because usually students might choose to take a break from one class to the next and head back to their rooms for sleep. Other students prefer to be comfortable when they are in class. Personally, if I have a few free hours between classes or a late class I like to wear sweatpants because I don't find it necessary to get fully dressed if I know I'm going back to my room to sleep after class. In the dining hall or any of St. John's dining areas, four separate tables will consist of a group of sports team members, sorority or fraternity members, pharmacy class students, and roommates. At one point or another all of these people will interact with each other because they might be working together on campus, have a class together, or mutual friends. Most of the students come from out of state and international. There are a few students from New York but many of the in state students aren't from the New York City.

My experiences with various organizations on campus have been positive for they are very accepting and they encourage all types of students to join, regardless of their religious, racial, social or sexual affiliations. In fact, because Queens is so diverse, the makeup of the members is usually surprising (I’m an Asian American and a member of NAACP as well as Haraya, the Pan-African Student Coalition). However, there is no LGBT organization due to St. John’s being a Catholic school. The reason for this is that while the school does advocate nondiscrimination and acceptance, it cannot endorse a lifestyle the church is adamantly against. The one kind of student that would feel out of place would be one that is very small-minded and opposed to being open-minded. All St. John’s students are accepting of each other and embrace each other’s differences, and a student who cannot do that will find themselves alienated (ironically). Intolerance is not suitable to the St. John’s lifestyle. Most students wear comfortable clothing to class, but very few dress in pajamas or sloppy attire. Some students dress up due to their involvement in organizations. At St. John’s, every type of student interacts with every type of student. This is one of the biggest reasons why I love attending St. John’s. I’m an Asian American member of the Voices of Victory Gospel Choir, Mock Trial Team, NAACP, Haraya and in my job as a Resident Assistant. There are no restrictions imposed by the St. John’s community as to where certain people belong. While there is a large portion of, say, Asian Americans in an Asian American sorority or in the School of Pharmacy, if one’s interest lies elsewhere, people are more than happy to bring them into the fold. The four tables of students in the Dining Hall are comprised of: (1) bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Freshmen who flock together in their mutual excitement to experience college, (2) more serious-minded upperclassmen with their nose in their notebooks, studying for their impending tests, (3) Resident Assistants, who try not to hear the strains of conversations revolving around a drunken Saturday night in the dorms and (4) a large table of friends catching up with each other after a week of having gone missing due to tests and papers. Most of the students are from New York, but almost half of the students are from out of state. This adds to the diverse atmosphere. The most prevalent financial background is a working-class socioeconomic background. The reason for this is that St. John’s, despite being a private school, offers substantial financial aid and scholarship in order to offer an affordable yet high-quality education to those students who deserve it. Almost every student I know works in addition to class because of their background. Being a government major, almost all my classmates are politically aware. In fact, I’ve often been caught in the middle of a heated political debate due to tensions running high between liberals and conservatives during elections. I’d say that there is a much larger population of liberals and Democrats than conservatives, but there is a College Republicans organization in addition to the College Democrats organization. Most than once, I’ve heard students speak emphatically about how much they hope to earn in the future, and with the networking opportunities St. John’s provides (such as the Alumni Insider’s View and the Career Center), it’s not too difficult to find internships and establish connections for future employment.

My experiences with various organizations on campus have been positive for they are very accepting and they encourage all types of students to join, regardless of their religious, racial, social or sexual affiliations. In fact, because Queens is so diverse, the makeup of the members is usually surprising (I’m an Asian American and a member of NAACP as well as Haraya, the Pan-African Student Coalition). However, there is no LGBT organization due to St. John’s being a Catholic school. The reason for this is that while the school does advocate nondiscrimination and acceptance, it cannot endorse a lifestyle the church is adamantly against. The one kind of student that would feel out of place would be one that is very small-minded and opposed to being open-minded. All St. John’s students are accepting of each other and embrace each other’s differences, and a student who cannot do that will find themselves alienated (ironically). Intolerance is not suitable to the St. John’s lifestyle. Most students wear comfortable clothing to class, but very few dress in pajamas or sloppy attire. Some students dress up due to their involvement in organizations. At St. John’s, every type of student interacts with every type of student. This is one of the biggest reasons why I love attending St. John’s. I’m an Asian American member of the Voices of Victory Gospel Choir, Mock Trial Team, NAACP, Haraya and in my job as a Resident Assistant. There are no restrictions imposed by the St. John’s community as to where certain people belong. While there is a large portion of, say, Asian Americans in an Asian American sorority or in the school of Pharmacy, if one’s interest lies elsewhere, people are more than happy to bring them into the fold. The four tables of students in the Dining Hall are comprised of: (1) bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Freshmen who flock together in their mutual excitement to experience college, (2) more serious-minded upperclassmen with their nose in their notebooks, studying for their impending tests, (3) Resident Assistants, who try not to hear the strains of conversations revolving around a drunken Saturday night in the dorms and (4) a large table of friends catching up with each other after a week of having gone missing due to tests and papers. Most of the students are from New York, but almost half of the students are from out of state. This adds to the diverse atmosphere. The most prevalent financial background is a working-class socioeconomic background. The reason for this is that St. John’s, despite being a private school, offers substantial financial aid and scholarship in order to offer an affordable, high-quality education to those students who deserve it. Almost every student I know works in addition to class because of their background. Being a government major, almost all my classmates are politically aware. In fact, I’ve often been caught in the middle of a heated political debate due to tensions running high between liberals and conservatives during elections. I’d say that there is a much larger population of liberals and Democrats than conservatives, but there is a College Republicans organization as well as a College Democrats organization. Most than once, I’ve heard students speak emphatically about how much they hope to earn in the future, and with the networking opportunities St. John’s provides (such as the Alumni Insider’s View and the Career Center), it’s not too difficult to find internships and establish connections for future employment.

My experiences with various organizations on campus have been positive for they are very accepting and they encourage all types of students to join, regardless of their religious, racial, social or sexual affiliations. In fact, because Queens is so diverse, the makeup of the members is usually surprising (I’m an Asian American and a member of NAACP as well as Haraya, the Pan-African Student Coalition). However, there is no LGBT organization due to the fact that St. John’s is a Catholic school. The reason for this is that while the school does advocate nondiscrimination and acceptance, it cannot endorse a lifestyle the church is adamantly against. The one kind of student that would feel out of place would be one that is very small-minded and stubborn against being open-minded. All St. John’s students are accepting of each other and embrace each other’s differences, and a student who cannot do that will find themselves alienated. Intolerance is not suitable to the St. John’s lifestyle. Most students wear comfortable clothing to class, but very few dress in pajamas or sloppy attire. Some students dress up due to their involvement in organizations or out of respect for their professors. At St. John’s, every type of student interacts with every type of student. This is one of the biggest reasons why I love attending St. John’s. I’m an Asian American member of the Voices of Victory Gospel Choir, Mock Trial Team, NAACP, Haraya and in my job as a Resident Assistant. There are restrictions imposed by the St. John’s community as to where certain people belong. While there is a large portion of, say, Asian Americans in an Asian American sorority or in the Pharmacy school, if one’s interest lies elsewhere, people are more than happy to accept them into the fold. The four tables of students in the Dining Hall are comprised of: (1) bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Freshmen who flock together in their mutual excitement to experience college, (2) more serious-minded upperclassmen with their nose in their notebooks, studying for their tests in an hour, (3) Resident Assistants, who try not to hear the strains of conversations revolving around a drunken Saturday night in the dorms and (4) a large table of friends catching up with each other after a week of having gone missing due to tests and papers. Most of the students are from New York, but almost half of the students now are from out of state. This adds to the diverse atmosphere. The most prevalent financial background is a working-class socioeconomic background. The reason for this is that St. John’s, despite being a private school, offers substantial financial aid and scholarship in order to offer and affordable, quality education to those students who deserve it. Almost every student I know works in addition to class because of their background. Being a government major, almost all my classmates are politically aware. In fact, I’ve often been caught in the middle of a heated political debate due to tensions running high between liberals and conservations. I’d say that there is a much larger population of liberals and Democrats than conservatives, but there is a College Republicans organization in addition to the College Democrats. Most than once, I’ve heard students speak emphatically about how much they hope to earn in the future, and with the networking opportunities St. John’s provides (such as the Alumni Insider’s View and the Career Center), it’s not too difficult to find internships and establish connections for future employment.

It's hard to simply describe "the students" at St. John's because there are so many truly different groups of people that comprise the student body. In general I have found that compared to other schools I have attended, St. John's seems to have more students who I would describe as "nice"! That's a positive thing, I'm sure. I also feel that I am among a very passionate group of people; not everyone, but many people seem to be involved in clubs or organizations, whether academic or social or charitable, and even really obscure things I haven't heard of before. I definitely think St. John's is a forward-thinking campus; students are hopeful about the future and optimistic about their ability to impact it. St. John's is a place where you can really let your idealistic side flourish, while staying grounded by the more real-life aspects of campus life in Queens.