Intellectual Accelerator Program

Do you want to help spread the ideas on which personal happiness, social harmony, and political freedom depend?

If so, OSI’s Intellectual Accelerator Program (IAP) may be a good fit for you.

The Program

The IAP is a three-year intensive study program designed to help you achieve:

  1. A deep understanding of the nature and importance of philosophy, the principles of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism, and related ideas for living fully and advancing liberty;
  2. Writing, speaking, and teaching skills that are essential to communicating and conveying philosophic ideas clearly and effectively to others;
  3. A network of like-minded intellectuals who can help you level up in your career and your efforts to advance rational philosophy.

The IAP requires four to six hours per week and runs during the academic year, September through May, with breaks during the holiday season.

The program involves:

  1. Reading and discussing philosophical books and essays;
  2. Listening to and discussing recorded courses on philosophy and the history of philosophy;
  3. Participating in live, online and in-person courses, writing workshops, and speaking workshops;
  4. Writing and speaking assignments; and
  5. One-on-one mentoring with OSI fellows.

The knowledge, skills, and relationships you will develop in the IAP will help you to become a deeply knowledgeable and highly effective advocate of philosophy for freedom and flourishing.

Along with weekly philosophy discussions (on Fridays) and weekly meetings with your mentor (times TBD), the IAP schedule is as follows:

Year One

Sep 2, 2024–May 30, 2025 (except Dec 23–Jan 2)

  • The Virtue of Selfishness reading and discussion group
  • Philosophy: Who Needs It reading and discussion group
  • “Ayn Rand’s Morality for Loving Life” live, online course
  • “Foundations of Western Philosophy” listening and discussion group (focusing on vol. 1 of Leonard Peikoff’s History of Philosophy lectures)
  • Writing and speaking assignments, and discussions thereof

Year Two

Sep 1, 2025–May 29, 2026 (except Dec 22–Jan 2)

  • “Modern Philosophy” listening and discussion group (focusing on vol. 2 of Peikoff’s History of Philosophy lectures)
  • “For the New Intellectual” (essay) reading and discussion group
  • Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal reading and discussion group
  • “The Philosophy of Objectivism” (1976 course) listening and discussion group
  • Writing and speaking assignments, and discussions thereof

Year Three

Aug 31, 2026–May 28, 2027 (except Dec 21–Jan 1)

  • Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology reading and discussion group
  • “How to Write Powerfully in Defense of Liberty” live, online course
  • “Conceptual Clarity and Fallacies that Wreck It” live, online course
  • The Art of Nonfiction reading and discussion group / writing workshop
  • “Teaching Objectivism with the Principle of Purpose” live, online course
  • Writing and speaking assignments, and discussions thereof

Tuition

Tuition for the IAP is $3,000 per year. Partial and full scholarships are available (details below).

How to Apply

To apply for the IAP, answer the following questions in a Google document and include the link in the application form below. Be sure to share the document with [email protected] so we can access it.

Application Questions

  1. What do you want to get out of the Intellectual Accelerator Program? (100-500 words)
  2. What do you regard as the correct (or best available) standard for morally evaluating people and their actions—and why? What facts support this standard? How do they support it? (800-1500 words)

Scholarships

If you would like to be considered for a partial or full scholarship to the IAP, please also answer the following two questions (in a Google document shared with [email protected]). Why does philosophy matter to you? And why should it matter to all human beings? (400-800 words)

IAP Application