Shimer College

Shimer College is a unique 154-year old, private, liberal arts college located just minutes from downtown Chicago. Students read original sources, not textbooks, and discuss them in classes of no more than twelve students joined by a faculty member who guides the discussion rather than lectures. These classes are conversation at its best: everyone works together to make each meeting an adventure in intellectual discovery. If you like to read and think and have meaningful discussions in the classroom and beyond then Shimer is the place for you. Shimer is about education in the noblest sense of the word. It’s a place to learn how to think, not what to think. It’s a place to develop a breadth of knowledge in the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences that is very rare in our age of specialization, yet extraordinarily useful in todays ever-changing world. It’s that rare place where everyone’s views are valued, where careful and caring discussion and respect for difference are the rule, not the exception. Shimer College is an intentionally small, exceptionally student-centered college. Our students develop their capacity for critical thought and interpersonal communication through careful reading of the Great Books, those classics of Western Civilization which will sustain a life-long passion for learning. The college shares space on the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Campus. While we offer small classes we can also offer the full range of student activities and opportunities available on a large campus. Our students live in IIT housing, eat in their dining hall, have access to their health service and most of their student organizations.

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