St. John's University

Saint John's University occupies a wooded campus of several thousand acres in Collegeville, Minnesota, about seventy miles northwest of Minneapolis. Founded in 1857 by Benedictine monks, it remains connected to Saint John's Abbey, the largest Benedictine monastery in the world, and its abbey church is a widely recognized work of modernist architecture. The university enrolls undergraduate men and operates in partnership with the College of Saint Benedict, a women's college a few miles away.

The two institutions share faculty, curriculum, and course registration, so students attend classes on both campuses and effectively experience a coeducational academic program while retaining single-sex residential communities. Offerings center on the liberal arts and sciences, with pre-professional preparation available for students heading toward graduate study in medicine, law, and other fields. A separate School of Theology and Seminary serves graduate students. Class sizes stay small and faculty contact is close, consistent with the Benedictine emphasis on community and stewardship that shapes campus life. Compared with Minnesota's large public universities, Saint John's offers a smaller residential experience with an unusual institutional structure and a strong regional alumni network.