About Kaunas Jesuit Gymnasium

Kaunas Jesuit Gymnasium is a private, coeducational, Catholic college preparatory high school situated in the heart of Lithuania's second biggest city Kaunas. It was first founded by Jesuits in 1649. Afterwards, due to suppression of Lithuanian and religious identity it has been closed and reopened several times, last time in 1991 and ever since it has been providing high quality education with a special emphasis on Jesuit values - intellectual competence, openness to growth, love for one's neighbor, faith and commitment to doing justice. Kaunas Jesuit Gymnasium is amongst the most selective high schools in Kaunas. Over 90% of its alumni pursue higher education, many of them proceeding to graduate level.

The school curriculum complies with the standards set by the Lithuanian Ministry of Education. Freshmen (9th graders) and sophomores (10th grade) follow a general program of over ten subjects and are required to take two foreign languages of their choice. Juniors (11th grade) and seniors (12th grade) have more options. They make their own selections of classes from 9 to 12 subjects overall and from 28 to 32 classes a week. The courses are offered in two levels - A (extended) and B (regular). The juniors and seniors can take from one to five classes in level A. In the end of the senior year students are required to take four centralised exams which are administered either in the school itself (lower level) or by the National Examination Center (higher level).

GPA [grade point average]

The GPA is rarely calculated because the admission to Lithuanian institutions of higher education is based on the results of the final senior (state or school) examination and senior year grades in particular subjects. It should also be noted that the Lithuanian grading system is very different from that in the United States. The students are evaluated on the scale from 1 to 10, the latter being the highest grade possible whereas in the United States 70% is often bordering on failing a class. According to the Lithuanian system 7 out of 10 mean that a student is still considerably competent in the subject.

Extracurricular Activities

All of the students of Kaunas Jesuit Gymnasium are required to engage in community service of their choice. Some of the options include work in monasteries, kindergartens, hospitals, and homes for the elderly.

The school also provides a variety of clubs for extracurricular activities, ranging from music and sports to debate.

In Lithuania it is extremely rare for high school students to get internships.

School Year and Graduation

The first semester begins in September and the second semester begins in January. Final exams for the seniors are administered in June, followed by graduation in July. Usually at this time our graduates start the process of applying to universities.