St John's College News
Personal and family papers
Personal and family paperslibrary/special_collections/ St John's College Library's Special Collections contain the personal papers of alumni and Fellows of the College relating to their professional and private lives. (Papers created by College officers in their official capacity are kept in the College's institutional archives.) The personal papers date from the sixteenth century to the present day, with the nineteenth…read moreMML - Written Test Sample
MML - Written Test SampleOur written test does not in itself decide the outcome of an application. Its purpose is to give applicants an additional opportunity to demonstrate their skills, and we shall take this into account alongside all the other information we have when we decide who to make offers to. The test is based on a short passage in English, you have one hour to complete it, and it consists of two halves…read moreHistory - Anushka Chakravarty
History - Anushka ChakravartyAnushka attended Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls in Hertfordshire, gaining A-Levels in History, English and Spanish before coming to study History at St John’s in 2005. She is now doing a Graduate Diploma in Law at City University in London with hopes of becoming a barrister.'With this independence also comes greater control over one’s own schedule and an opportunity to get more…read moreHistory - Jennifer Neil
History - Jennifer NeilPrior to commencing study at Cambridge in 2005, Jennifer attended St. Helen’s School, Northwood where she took ‘A’ levels in History, Latin, Mathematics and Theatre Studies. She is about to embark on the very long and demanding road of training to be a barrister, commencing the CPE/GDL at City Law School in September 2008.'As a prospective Cambridge student and with no insider knowledge, I…read moreEngineering Students Success
Engineering Students SuccessEngineering Subject Centre Student Award 2010Franz Ronay was runner up in the Engineering Subject Centre Award 2010.Every year the Engineering Subject Centre provides the chance for all students studying a discipline related to engineering at undergraduate level in a UK higher education institution to submit opinions and experiences in a 1000 word essay. This year students put themselves in…read moreEducation: A Student's Perspective
Education: A Student's Perspective'It was principally the diversity of the course that attracted me towards reading Education and English at St John’s rather than just English. I chose St John’s as a college because of its central location, its incredible academic and sporting facilities and the way St John’s always tries to help students fulfill personal projects by providing the necessary help with various book and travel…read moreGraduate Accommodation
Graduate AccommodationSt John’s College is normally able to offer accommodation to all its graduate students. This accommodation is either in shared houses or in Family Accommodation. St John's College is a member of the ANUK National Code of Standards for larger student developments (educational establishments). More information on this can be found here: http://www.nationalcode.org/ Shared houses All shared…read moreDean of Chapel - Selected Sermons
Dean of Chapel - Selected SermonsBelow is a small selection of sermons delivered by the Dean:read moreCaltech Exchange - Eric Chang
read moreMIT Exchange - Carl Tilbury
MIT Exchange - Carl Tilbury'I applied for the MIT exchange because I valued the opportunity to study abroad for a year. I especially think it’s a great change of scene if you’re on a 4 year course (I was Chemical Engineering). Boston is an awesome city to live in – it’s much more of a city than Cambridge and is full of college students with the huge number of Universities around and there’s a large amount…read moreMIT Exchange - Mengwen Zhang
MIT Exchange - Mengwen Zhang'I first heard about the Cambridge-MIT exchange program (CME) from another Cambridge student in my class. Since young, I’ve always heard stories about Cambridge, about its academic excellence, its history, and its people. Darwin and Newton, two of the most famous scientists in history, who used to study here. It is one of the places that I would like to see in person. I realized that…read moreSPS - Salima Virji
SPS - Salima VirjiSalima Virji attended James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich, South London.'I studied Politics, Latin and German at A level and found it difficult to decide what to read at university. In the end, I applied to St John's to read Classics, and came up in 2000. After gaining a 2:1 in Part I Classics, I decided to switch to a two-year Part II in SPS. The diverse range and different combinations of…read moreSPS - Oly Duff
SPS - Oly Duff'I came from a statistically average state school in Bedfordshire and was lucky to have ambitious teachers who bullied me into applying to Cambridge, then helped me through the process. I somehow got a place to study SPS. The first year was a bit crazy: settling in to a big college and deciding which of the four strains of SPS to pursue in the second year. But John's is friendly and offers…read moreSPS - Nick Charlwood
SPS - Nick CharlwoodSince graduating from St John's with a degree in SPS (2005) and an MPhil in International Relations (2006) Nick Charlwood has qualified as a solicitor and now practises restructuring and insolvency law in London. 'My experience of the admissions process was slightly unusual as I was simultaneously auditioning for a choral scholarship and an academic place. I somehow ended up with both and, after…read moreSPS - Jonathan Yiangou
SPS - Jonathan YiangouJonathan Yiangou studied English, History and Maths at A Level. After graduating he livedin Parisfor a year, and is currently studying for an MSc in International Political Economy at the LSE. He will begin working in the European Commission, DG External Relations, in October.'I came from a school where conformity and mediocrity were more common than academic achievement, and so to do well…read moreSPS - Thomas Griffiths
SPS - Thomas GriffithsThomas Griffiths attended a state comprehensive in the North East for both his GCSEs and A-levels. He took A-levels in History, Religious Studies, Geography and Psychology. He graduated from St John's in 2007 with a 2.1 in Social and Political Sciences (now PPS).'Early into my first term, I discovered that the lackadaisical lifestyle of the SPSer was a Cantabrigian myth. Although lectures did…read moreSPS - Anna Wood
SPS - Anna WoodAnna Wood started Cambridge in 2005 having studied Economics, Government & Politics, English Literature and French. She is currently travelling and working in London.'I chose to study SPS because of my interest in both people and current affairs. By the end of my three years of study, I really felt I had gained a much better sense of how the world works. One of the main strengths of SPS…read moreSPS - Hamish Falconer
SPS - Hamish FalconerHamish Falconer studied Economics, English, Geography and History at A-level and is from North London . He was awarded the Larmor Award for moral, practical and intellectual achievements and has been offered a place in the Civil Service Fast Stream graduate programme.'I wasn't sure what to apply for at University and was initially sceptical about SPS, having never studied any of its component…read morePPS - Katy Lee
PPS - Katy LeeKaty took A-levels in Politics, Economics, English Literature and Mathematics at a grammar school in Essex. She is now studying for a Masters in Broadcast Journalism at City University, London. 'I applied to study PPS at Emmanuel, and only came to John's through the pooling system. But I'm incredibly glad that I did - the college has provided me with inspiring supervisors, a highly supportive…read morePPS - Richard Curling
PPS - Richard CurlingRichard studied History, Government & Politics, German and English at A-level at an Essex Grammar school. Richard achieved the highest first in the PPS Tripos before remaining at St John’s to read Management Studies in 2009/10. He will begin working in marketing at Google in August 2010.'In sixth form I didn’t have a clear idea of what I saw myself doing either at University or beyond. I…read moreBiological Natural Sciences - Natalie Lawrence
Biological Natural Sciences - Natalie Lawrence'I really enjoyed my time doing NatSci at John’s. The first year is quite intense in Natsci, but I got a lot of support from the College in terms of teaching and guidance. Being in a large college means that there are many other people doing the same subject, so organizing supervisions is much easier. Many supervisions are in college, because John’s has so many biology fellows. Though I did…read moreSolar Thermal installed on the Cripps refurbishment (G & H staircases)
Solar Thermal installed on the Cripps refurbishment (G & H staircases)As part of the Cripps G&H staircase refurbishment, the College took an opportunity to install solar thermal for hot water generation. The savings for this installation were not vast because Listed Building Regulations prevented the use of the optimum location, orientation and angle, however the College continued on an environmental basis. The College registered for the Government’s Renewable…read morePhotovoltaic (PV) installed on the Maintenance Department
Photovoltaic (PV) installed on the Maintenance DepartmentPhotovoltaics (PV), more commonly called solar panels, generate electricity from solar radiation. The College installed PV during the Maintenance Department refurbishment to generate an estimated 12,000 kWh of electricity per year and therefore avoid the purchase of approximately £1300 of energy. We also registered this PV array under the Government’s Feed in Tariff (FiT) scheme, which…read moreInstallation of Voltage Stabilisation on the incoming electricity supplies to the Main College site
Installation of Voltage Stabilisation on the incoming electricity supplies to the Main College siteVoltage stabilisation is a technology that addresses the discrepancy between the actual electricity supply voltage and the optimum voltage that electrical equipment needs. It also deals with the fact that electricity is not ordinarily supplied in a steady level stream, as you might imagine; instead it is full of waves, surges, peaks and troughs, producing power quality problems. Voltage…read moreSt John's Innovation Centre
St John's Innovation CentreSt John's Innovation Centre was opened in 1987 on land owned by the College in the north of the city. The Innovation Centre provides accommodation for early stage knowledge-based companies. It provides business advice to its tenants, offers them flexible accommodation in leasing terms and also allows them to share communal facilities, including conference rooms and a restaurant.The first…read more