A brief introduction to Shimer College

Shimer College is a very small liberal arts college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1853 in the small town of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, by Frances Wood Shimer, it affiliated with the University of Chicago in 1896, and became one of the first junior colleges in the country in 1907. In 1950, it became a coeducational 4-year college, taking the name Shimer College and adopting Robert Maynard Hutchins' plan of Great Books and Socratic seminars then in practice at the U. of C.

Classes at Shimer College are small seminars of 12 students or fewer, in which the participants discuss original source material. The core curriculum of Shimer, a sequence of courses in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and integrated studies, makes up two thirds of the course work required for a degree. Shimer has offered a study abroad program in Oxford, England since 1963 and a weekend program for working adults since 1981.
Applicants to Shimer College are evaluated on their academic potential, based primarily on an essay, a practice known as open admissions. No minimum grades or test scores are required. The early entrance program, in place since 1950, allows students who have not yet completed high school to matriculate. The system works: Shimer has the highest rate of doctoral productivity of any liberal arts college in the country, with 50% of students going on to graduate study while 20% complete doctorates.

Shimer College has resided since 2006 on the IIT campus in Bronzeville, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Students are able to participate in IIT student life. A BA-JD program is offered, in collaboration with Chicago-Kent School of Law.

Shimer practices democratic self-governance to an extent "rare among institutions of higher education".  Since 1977, the college has been governed internally by faculty, staff, and students working through a structure of committees and an egalitarian deliberative body called the Assembly. Shimer enrolled 104 students in 2009. Notable Shimer College alumni include poets, authors, political theorists, experimental artists, and computing pioneers.

Adapted from the Shimer College featured article on Wikipedia.