Shimer College Information

We’re small. Shimer enrolls fewer than 200 students, with no more than 12 per class. We believe in the persisting value of the liberal arts. Affiliated, for a time, with the University of Chicago, we separated so that we could pursue a more focused, rigorous curriculum based entirely on primary sources. Our city is our campus. Located on Chicago’s near South Side, we have easy access to public transportation, Lake Michigan, countless reading series and art shows, museums and cultural centers, public protests and rallies, and endless archives of unadulterated information. We are an active and engaged community of equals. We are a self-governing community that lives by shared accountability and personal responsibility. Every voice is heard, all beliefs respected. We count among us prodigies who left high school early, homeschoolers, transfers, sci-fi writers, multilinguists, painters, philosophers, contrarians, misfits, and the double-jointed.