ST JOHN’S COLLEGE

Welcome to St John’s College! Founded in 1511, St John’s combines 500 years of history with pioneering research and award-winning teaching. Located on the River Cam in the heart of Cambridge, we are one of the largest – and definitely the most beautiful – Colleges of the University of Cambridge. St John’s provides students with a world-class education in a diverse, friendly and lively environment.

We welcome more than 300 new undergraduate students and 140 new postgraduate students every year from every possible background – there is no typical St John’s student. We are one of the biggest Colleges in Cambridge, with a lively and wide-ranging mix of people from all over the world. During term-time there is a buzz and energy about St John’s as our students bring our spectacular, centuries-old courts and buildings to life.

Our diverse student body means that no matter where you come from, you will find like-minded people here and together you will develop new ideas and forge lifelong friendships. However small your subject, there is someone at St John’s working in your discipline to encourage and support you.

All of our students are guaranteed accommodation throughout their time here which helps build the strong sense of community John’s is so famous for. You will rarely be able to get from your room to the dining hall, the on-site laundry, gym or bar without running into someone you know. The remarkable range of student-run clubs and societies means there is always lots going on.

One glance at St John’s will tell you that this is also a place steeped in history stretching back more than 500 years, but it is the partnership between our students and our internationally renowned academics which ensures we grow and evolve to reach new milestones. Over the centuries we have taught Nobel prize-winners, medics, engineers, artists, novelists, actors, entrepreneurs, campaigners and Prime Ministers. Whatever your circumstances, if you think you have what it takes to be part of our community, then we want to hear from you.

CLUBS AND SOCIETIES AT ST JOHN’S

Although studying is a big part of life at Cambridge, what you do in your spare time is just as important. At St John’s, students are at the heart of a multicultural community where there is always plenty going on.

The College has more than 40 clubs and societies, all of which are run by the students themselves. If you can’t find something that suits you, we’ll help you to set another one up. It’s a great way to meet amazing people and make lifelong friends.

St John’s has societies on subjects as diverse as art, chess, photography, philanthropy and mountaineering. If you want to delve further into your own academic specialism, or find out more about a different one, we also have a wide range of academic societies which run events and bring in top speakers.

Both the Fisher Building and the recently-refurbished Old Divinity School offer fantastic venue spaces which have enabled the College to become a major hub in Cambridge for theatre, drama, music and the arts. We are a frequent host venue for bigger events, such as the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival, and Watersprite, the international student film festival.

As a College that has produced gold medal-winning Olympians, English cricket captains and international rugby players, we’ve got a big sporting history. Our sports teams regularly compete in the top ranks of inter-collegiate contests and are the pride of the College.

If you’re not exactly an Olympic athlete, however, don’t worry. There are enough people here for everyone to get involved in sport, and we strongly believe that you should try new things out and play for fun. Many of our rowers in the Lady Margaret Boat Club, for example, had never touched an oar before they arrived at Cambridge.

The College is unusual for having its extensive sports grounds just across the road, where you’ll find space for football, rugby, cricket, hockey and lacrosse. There are also tennis, badminton and squash courts.

If you fancy trying your hand at something else, we have teams playing ultimate Frisbee, mixed volleyball, basketball, netball, hockey, athletics and plenty more.

St John’s has a reputation for being a big musical College, and there are opportunities to get involved in music whatever your taste.

Our Choir is one of the best collegiate choirs in the world, with an audience of millions following its concerts, tours and broadcasts.

There are plenty of less formal opportunities to make music too. We have a mixed voice choir called St John’s Voices, an all-female a cappella singing group called Aquila, practice rooms for student bands, and a thriving jazz club.

Classical musicians may want to get involved with the Music Society, which runs the College orchestra and arranges recitals and concerts. We also have our own record label, “St John’s Cambridge”, which provides an outlet for music by the choir, as well as exciting new talent.

THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ST JOHN’S

1. Our famous annual student May Ball was named Time Magazine’s 7th Best Party in the World and it is always the hottest ticket in Cambridge during May Week. May Balls are a great Cambridge tradition of spectacular, all-night parties held during ‘May Week’ to mark the end of exams and the academic year. For one night only, the Ball sees College transformed into a massive party venue. Previous events have hosted the likes of Basement Jaxx, Katy B, Nina Conti, Rudimental, Bombay Bicycle Club and Ellie Goulding. Tickets are in high demand, and our students and members get priority access. May Week is now, confusingly, held in June after the exams have finished but the celebratory events used to be held in May before the exam season began. The events moved but the name stuck.

2. Archaeologists discovered hundreds of skeletons under one of our buildings during renovations. They turned out to be from the largest medieval hospital cemetery ever found in the UK.

The perfectly preserved skeletal remains of more than 400 people buried between the 13th and 15th centuries were uncovered when the Old Divinity School at St John’s was refurbished from 2010-2012. More than 1,000 fragments of human remains were also found.

The bodies are burials from the medieval Hospital of St John the Evangelist where St John’s College got its name. The existence and location of the cemetery have been known since the mid-twentieth century but the sheer scale was not known until archaeologists began work. Read more on?our website!

3. St John’s is credited with inspiring the creation of Raspberry Pi by a former postgraduate student who founded the charity behind the $35 credit-card sized computer while he was a Fellow of at St John’s. Dr Eben Upton is now an Honorary Fellow.