St John’s University-New York Top Questions

The academics at my school are fairly good, except that too much attention is geared towards the pharmacy program. The university as a whole is not easy to get in to, it is in the Princeton Review's Top 200 schools. I believe that I am getting good education as an English major, because I am being exposed to many different ideas and viewpoints.

St. Johns university is a great school that performs you a lot for the future. They prepare you in class through hard programs and through valuable internships and externships. Most people in class participate and study regularly because we find out at an early time that is what it takes to succeed in the class room. My most unique class I have taken so far is Discover New York, in this class you get to choose what you want to learn about New York through its criminal history, cinema plus many other methods. I spend a good amount of time with my professors outside of class because they have a lot to teach us about the world, that doesn't get taught in the classroom.

Okay, the first thing you need to know about SJU academics is that students are treated very personally. In no circumstance (that I know of) will you be in a class of larger than 35 students, so you will get to know your professors quite well. I like this a lot, because it makes school-work so much easier to complete, knowing that you can always go to your professor for clarification. There are some professors that I've had that have responded to my e-mails at 1:00 AM the day before a project is due. Apart from the professors, I feel that the classes are not a whole lot different from many other schools. I looked at some bigger schools (i.e. University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, etc.) and the classes, from what I saw, are really similar in nearly every aspect. The material seems to be the same, the amount of work required sounds to be about the same. SJU is nothing extraordinary in that field.

While in class at St. John's, I have yet to find myself not knowing the professor's name or the professor not knowing my name. They professors for the most part are available to speak to outside of class. The students at the university for the most part are not very competitive.

for my major Speech Language Pathology. this is the only school that i know of that has it own clinic and in your senior/ junior year you get a patient to work with. you dont need to wait until you finish your masters to work with actual people. it is the best ever. all my teachers know my name and professors that i have from semesters ago still say hello to me in the hallways. you get a laptop when you register for classes that is yours until you graduate. there are a million computer rooms and printers. it is really just a great environment there are always activities to join or be apart of. (major clubs, greek life, student gov)

some professors are great, others are a bit antiquated. I really appreciate those that take the time to learn your name, versus those that just know you as a number on the class roster.

Professors do know my name, because I participate in class. Favorite classes include: Perspectives on Christianity (& I'm Jewish, so you know it's good, with Holland), Christian Marriage with Valenzano, Intro to Legal Studies with Helldorfer, Intro to Sociology with Trumino, Speech with Morris, Ethics with Parsons, & Legal Documents with Cardalena... Details about favorite classes: Christianity was cool because of the way the professor taught it. It was a REAL college class. No bullshit. I learned, and I was forced to learn. And I got an A because I worked my ass off for it. It was hard, but at the end, I really liked it. No religious talk. Simply attempting to gain an UNDERSTANDING. beautiful. Christian Marriage with Valenzano is fun because he's an easy going guy. Likes to crack jokes and switch up between comedian and professor. Lenient professor. Helps out. Helldorfer is awesome for Legal Studies. Also a real college class. Interesting real life stories, challenging work, the whole nine. Loved that class. Trumino for Sociology is another one. Excellent, excellent teacher. Loves to curse, which adds an element of reality to it for some reason. No false sugarcoated bullshit. Just the raw material and facts. Challenging class only because you HAVE to do the reading. Easy A with the reading, and fun to be in class. Speech with Morris is challenging but fun at the same time. Its hard b/c you have two or three written exams and a paper to write, but it's not entirely that hard. I enjoyed it because I overcame the butterfly effect when coming on stage. I wrote some pretty cool speeches for that class, and I really enjoyed doing it. Ethics with Parsons, is fun because of the way he is. He teaches well and his this dry tone and wry sense of humor. He's young so you can really relate to him and he was a great help. Legal Documents with Cardalena is fun because it's an easy going class and he's just excellent with the stories. Take all his classes. They're real fun. Least favorite classes include: Discover New York with Paravazian, Ecology & Environmental Science with Lauro, Judaism with Perelmuter, Metaphysics with Boyle, Sociology of Institutions with Friedman, & Accounting with Platt... Details: Discover New York with Paravazian, really nice lady but it's honestly a BS class. It's not fun, nor interesting, and is just one of those requirements you have to take. She's a nice lady, but the class seriously sucked. Ecology & Environmental Science with Lauro, Also a nice lady, with a true passion for what she teaches, but I never liked science. I'm more mad at myself for not applying myself and getting an A... and very unhappy about this class being my lowest grade, a B+ :( Judaism with Perelmuter, very unhappy because it wasnt what i expected, at all. this guy is just... blah. really a big joke. Metaphysics with Boyle, while he's a very nice guy, i find his test grading methods very odd. he grades it like they judge diving at the olympics. very arbitrary. other than that, its just terribly boring. the class brought tears to my eyes out of boredom. Sociology of Institutions with Friedman, This one was the worst. The lady's so nice, but it's dreadful having to sit there for three straight hours talking about our opinions on articles. Ridiculously stupid because we never learned any real material and it was just a drag going there. Accounting with Platt... Also a nice guy, whos very tough and can sometimes be unintentionally mean, lol. The class isnt enjoyable because the material is terribly boring. I just dont see how people can want to be accountants lol. Its hard to bear, but Ive had worse, i.e. boyle :( lol. Students are seen studying, I'd say like, a 5 out of 10. Half of the kids are just rich spoiled kids who dont put the time or effort in, while the other half take up the empty spaces in the library and really get cracking. Class participation isn't entirely common, but it does have its ups... I don't know about manyyyy intellectual conversations outside of class involving St Johns students, let alone inside class :( lol If students are competitive, its between the top two through five. The rest just settle for the C+, B-, whatever. The most unique class I have taken as of yet would be discover ny, in the sense it is not like other schools. But otherwise, I wouldnt be able to choose a unique class that I know of. I am a Legal Studies major who is really interested in going to Law School. The curriculum is absolutely amazing and very very interesting. I'm a happy camper. I don't spend time with professors outside of class, except on the rare occasions of walking out together. And another rare occasion where I met a professor in front of his house to get a recommendation. St Johns academic requirements are just right for me. I don't really know if its geared toward getting a job, which is a very good question, but I have two things to say on this - 1) im still a sophomore so I have only taken core/required classes which are in my opinion solely for the sake of learning. 2) meanwhile, im not really worried about it being geared toward a job because Im sure Ill be able to make my way out there, but its a very good question that I have honestly overlooked... :/