<p>Staying with the LAC tangent, if you’re considering both St. John’s College and Deep Springs, you might also want to consider [Shimer</a> College in Chicago](<a href=“http://shimer.edu%5DShimer”>http://shimer.edu). At ~125 students, Shimer is about halfway in size between St. John’s and Deep Springs; it has a Great Books curriculum like St. John’s (with which it shares common roots in the old U of C Hutchins program), and a participatory governance model like Deep Springs. </p>
<p>As it happens, David Neidorf, president of Deep Springs, is a former faculty member at Shimer and spoke at Shimer’s commencement last spring. (Further completing the circle, Chris Nelson, president of St. John’s, is on the Shimer Board of Trustees, which he chaired until recently.) </p>
<p>On the cost front, at last check Shimer’s tuition is about 1/2 of the tuition at St. John’s, and the annual [Montaigne</a> scholarship](<a href=“http://shimer.edu/montaigne]Montaigne”>http://shimer.edu/montaigne) also gives applicants an opportunity to earn a full or half scholarship based on writing and discussion skills. On the legal front, Shimer is probably the only school of its size to offer a 6-year [BA-to-JD program](<a href=“http://www.shimer.edu/academicprograms/ba-to-jd-program.cfm”>http://www.shimer.edu/academicprograms/ba-to-jd-program.cfm</a>), in cooperation with Chicago-Kent. And whether they take advantage of that particular option or not, many Shimer graduates – insofar as “many” is a word that can apply to Shimer graduates – do in fact go on to successful careers in law.</p>
<p>(Why yes, I’m a Shimer alum. How did you guess?)</p>