Davies-Jackson Scholarship

In Their Own Words: Experiences of Previous Scholars

The teaching of St. John's is very challenging intellectually, offering a far more in-depth look at what you are studying. Your supervisors seek not merely to teach you facts; they teach you new ways of thinking. Cambridge itself is a beautiful place that I will never forget.

Michael P. Gallen, 2005

While the academics here don’t disappoint, there’s nothing to fear either. What you will find is that encounters with lecturers and professors are more demanding, more intensive, and more probing than in the U.S… Your professors will stretch your mind in ways that it hasn’t been before… While it has been admittedly difficult, I have balanced John’s Rugby with major commitments to a Cambridge activist group, spending time with my wife, and traveling to Italy, Spain, and Scotland (along with the occasional pub crawl, of course)… Simply being in the UK affords the opportunity to see society from a different perspective, and it is just this sort of intercultural understanding that is most needed in the world today.

George Maher, 2001

My time at Cambridge has been one of the most intensely challenging and rewarding academic experiences. I have greatly solidified my knowledge in my subject area and have had a chance to work with academics and researchers who are the top in their fields. I have also had a most wonderful opportunity to work on other parts of my person, both physically and mentally. I have taken up playing the guitar, I now swim and run regularly, and I have been able to travel in continental Europe, as well as to take a brief journey to Africa.

Delicia Reynolds, 1999

I’ve never been in a place that drew students of the caliber that I met at St. John’s. I found new inspiration for learning every time I turned around, and it’s an inspiration that I’m confident I will draw on for the rest of my life. If you come from a small college like I did I guarantee that Cambridge will be an environment that will astound you, if you let it.

M. Colleen Willenbring, 1997