The Montaigne Scholarship Event

Do you like to read - and follow up a good read with an intelligent conversation? Is every new book a chance to dig into questions that really matter? If so, the Shimer Great Books School at North Central College may be the perfect place for you. We want to help open the door.

Scroll through to the bottom of this page for full details on the Montaigne Scholarship and how to participate!

The Montaigne Scholarship provides substantial tuition relief for students seeking to join the Shimer Great Books School at North Central College. It also offers a taste of what students do in the Shimer School, where we read, discuss and write about the “best that has been thought and said in the world.”

• Read a personal essay in the tradition of Michel de Montaigne.
• Write an original response
• Participate in a seminar discussion with fellow applicants

We think of the Shimer School as part of a “great conversation.” The Montaigne Scholarship Event is our invitation to join that conversation and carry it on with all of us in the Shimer School - and with all those authors, like Michel de Montaigne, from whom we continue to learn.

The Montaigne Scholarship Event helps introduce prospective students to the Shimer Great Books School and our unique approach to a college education. It is not a competition between applicants; rather, the reading, writing and discussion that comprise the event are designed to reflect the main features of every course offered by the Shimer School. Here’s how to participate:

1. Read the subject essay.
2. Write a personal response in reply to the subject essay, guided by a prompt set by the scholarship committee. Submit your essay to Stuart Patterson at skpatterson@noctrl.edu before the discussion date.
3. Discuss your essay with other participants and Shimer faculty. Participants will also get a sense of how their fellow students responded and will have the chance to experience the format of a Shimer course.

The scholarship events are free to enter and open to any prospective student interested in attending North Central College as a major in the Shimer Great Books School, including students transferring from other 2-year and 4-year programs.

Successful participants will receive the Montaigne Scholarship of up to $5,000 annually in addition to their current academic scholarship. Scholarships are renewable at the same dollar amounts and do not increase in subsequent years.

The Montaigne Scholarship is not a competition between participants. All awards are based solely on the quality of a participant's response essay and their participation in the discussion. No other aspects of participants’ academic records or other aspects of their application to the Shimer School will be taken into account when determining awards.

Only students enrolled in one of the four majors offered by the Shimer Great Books School are eligible to receive the Montaigne Scholarship. Please see this page on our curriculum for more information on majoring in the Shimer School.

Montaigne Scholarship Events are opportunities for prospective students to meet each other, discuss some big ideas, and get a sense of the kind of intellectual and social journey that awaits them in the Shimer School. Participants in the Montaigne Scholarship who cannot attend on the scheduled Event days can request to be interviewed by a Shimer School faculty member instead.

All those wishing to participate in a Montaigne Event in preparation for enrolling in the Shimer School for Fall 2022 should contact Sophie Juhlin at sdjuhlin@noctrl.edu.