Shimer Great Books School at North Central College

"I was a bright but bored and mediocre high school student. Shimer really awoke my love of learning. The discussions were open, enlivening, fun. The reading stretched my mind - even in areas I was not originally drawn to. The interdisciplinary approach helped me to understand how philosophy, politics, economics, science, technology, arts, literature, sociology, etc. are all interwoven, all affected by one another. From Shimer I went on to get a J.D. at Harvard Law School, and after many years of field work in international development, a Ph.D. in natural resources policy (sustainable rural development) from U. of New Hampshire - I enjoyed both of those institutions, but none of them beats Shimer for shear intellectual growth and challenge. This is a terrific school for people who like to read and think."

"I could write pages and pages on my Shimer experience and how it helped shape me into the person that I am. Instead, I will try to be succinct and not bore you terribly. Shimer college is without a doubt in my mind, one of the finest Liberal Arts institutions in this whole country, if not the whole world. The professors, whom we call facilitators, put aside their titles and let you engage them directly, most on a first name basis. In fact, egalitarianism is and hopefully will always remain at the core of the mission of the college, and everyone getting to have their thoughts heard is always a priority which is paid close attention to. The family atmosphere of the college can and should be a culture shock to anyone who attended a conventional four year high school, and it is this very intimacy in knowing almost all of your facilitators and classmates that can also be very intense for someone who is not prepared to have their ideas so publicly scrutinized. But if you can summon the courage to express yourself openly, in addition to listening deeply to the ideas of others, you will emerge on the other side a better person in most respects. Shimer is not meant to be the end of your education, but rather the beginning of a lifetime of inquiry and critical thought. The three years I spent at the Waukegan campus will always be with me, but after two semesters at the Chicago campus, I have ultimate faith that the ideals of the school live on and will be of service to anyone wishing to challenge themselves to think deeper."

"If you are a real live intellectual, this is the place for you! I was challenged and engaged every second I was at Shimer College. The place has its problems, but I found I was forced to develop as a scholar again and again by them, and I would not trade my education there for anything. I thought of the school primarily in two ways when I was there. One was "put a bunch of nerds who love to read and argue together and see what they come up with," and I think that really is a pretty good way to give some insight into what goes on there within the scope of a google review. Another was "group therapy for people who read the great books of Western civilization." After spending a few years reading your way through the source materials of Western culture, and becoming strangely intimate with their authors (after spending hours and hours and hours reading their work) while at the same time trying to live in this strange world that has come to follow them, I think you will understand just what I mean there, and agree that group therapy is a good idea for anyone who digs too deeply into such things. Another little phrase that I said to myself while at Shimer was "It is fun to be a big fish in a small pond... Full of other big fish." I think this is something that is important to think about before going. If you want to avoid being challenged and engaged, and are used to being the smartest kid around and can't handle other people being just as smart as you are, and often smarter, this isn't the place for you. If you are pretty secure in your ability to think and reason, and want to find yourself a group of similar weirdos so you can give each other existential crises for four years... Look no further and welcome home."

"An excellent, incredibly supportive college with a mind-bendingly rigorous curriculum. It particularly excels at bringing out the best in those who have great potential, but "aren't working up to it." Whether you are a bored high-schooler who can barely manage to rub two sentences together or an auto-didact who waits patiently by the door on the day your _Economist_ and JAMA subscriptions show up in the post, if you stick with the Shimer program, you will be astonished at the scholarly heights you never dreamed of reaching when you finish. tl;dr? "Yer a reader, Harry." Hogwarts without the ugly scarves and Death Eaters."

"I am a 1998 graduate of Shimer College, and I would recommend it to all independent thinkers. Shimer offers a blend of Great Books learning, participatory governance, and dialogical education that no other college has ever replicated. Few have even tried. I cannot judge whether what Shimer offers is actually the best education in America, but it is certainly the best that I have experienced. You read original sources, not textbooks; you come to your own conclusions, not the conclusions your professor wants. You participate in the actual governance of the college, not the make-believe of "student government." In sum: if you like reading and thoughtful discussion, and don't care for the mass-produced drivel that masquerades as "education" in much of the world, go to Shimer."