Kenyon: The "I Was Born in a Small Town" Edition

[Anonymous]

If you put aside the silly (and as the poster noted, unwanted) my SLAC is better than your SLAC posts, there is a lot of good advice here. I know a number of students who have attended or are attending Kenyon, and they love it, but they also loved it when they visited, and when you are talking about smaller rural schools, a thorough visit (or two) will be important. Be sure to visit when school is in session or it might feel like an abandoned movie set, and if possible go to an admitted students day after acceptance (not possible with ED if that is what you are considering) because then your child will meet many of the students who would be her classmates. There are lots of advantages to small rural schools, including Kenyon, as noted in many posts above, and it is also kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity for most students since jobs and grad school are less likely at such places. But they are not for everyone, and some students will transfer every year, as will also be true with schools in cities or large state schools. The other thing I would add, most (though not all) kids love college as it is a great time, and that is true regardless of where they go, and hope your child does too.

[Anonymous]

W&L poor guy again. I do think remote schools work hard to create events and an environment where there’s often something happening. But if there’s a nearby or attached town - which in my view is a net benefit - there will always be kids who’d rather spend time there. As my daughter said at a lacrosse camp recently, “they have ice cream in the dining hall. I don’t get why some girls are buying ice cream in town!” Cheap, just like her old man. ~Sniff~

[Anonymous]

I'm from Northern Virginia and I went to Grinnell. It was a fantastic experience. Because the college is remote, there is a lot going on there. It really builds community. It was also a completely different environment for me. The skies got so dark at night! It felt open and vast and full of possibilities. And it times it felt isolated and frustrating, so it was handy to have a friend with a car who would be willing to drive a couple hours to get somewhere else. Even if somewhere else wasn't much different.

I also learned I didn't want to stay in Iowa, and probably preferred not to live in such a rural community if I had a choice, so it helped me with my grad school search.

My children are very different from me, but I'm going to suggest they consider Grinnell (or other remote SLACs) in their college search. It helped me grow into the person I am, and I'm pretty happy with how I've turned out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why pay big bucks for Kenyon when Carleton, Grinnell and Oberlin are all better and similarly located in small midwestern towns? Kenyon is a backup school.

I don’t really agree that Kenyon is a back up school but the others are slightly better. Also, Oberlin isn’t similarly located because it’s in a town with much more going on than Gambier, which has a small hotel and one restaurant and nothing else. Oberlin has a new hotel and restaurant, about 10 other places to eat, a movie theater, two coffee shops etc. and they are all across the quad. Grinnell has a town as well but it’s slightly further away and has fewer shops and restaurants but the campus is lovely. I’ve never seen Carleton so I can’t comment there. Of the three I know, Oberlin has the most to offer overall.

Oberlin is definitely not considered academically stronger than Kenyon. Kenyon is generally considered more intellectually rigorous than Oberlin and Oberlin more "artsy" Both are in small towns, but Oberlin has a bit more built up around the college in large part because of the performing arts aspect of the school. Carleton and Grinnell are considered above both Kenyon and Oberlin--though it depends on programs.

[Anonymous]

Bump, because I like the song.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why pay big bucks for Kenyon when Carleton, Grinnell and Oberlin are all better and similarly located in small midwestern towns? Kenyon is a backup school.

I don’t really agree that Kenyon is a back up school but the others are slightly better. Also, Oberlin isn’t similarly located because it’s in a town with much more going on than Gambier, which has a small hotel and one restaurant and nothing else. Oberlin has a new hotel and restaurant, about 10 other places to eat, a movie theater, two coffee shops etc. and they are all across the quad. Grinnell has a town as well but it’s slightly further away and has fewer shops and restaurants but the campus is lovely. I’ve never seen Carleton so I can’t comment there. Of the three I know, Oberlin has the most to offer overall.

Oberlin is definitely not considered academically stronger than Kenyon. Kenyon is generally considered more intellectually rigorous than Oberlin and Oberlin more "artsy" Both are in small towns, but Oberlin has a bit more built up around the college in large part because of the performing arts aspect of the school. Carleton and Grinnell are considered above both Kenyon and Oberlin--though it depends on programs.

[Anonymous]

Being in the middle of nowhere is one thing that makes the Kenyon experience so incredible. You necessarily get to know everyone else. Jocks socialize with Goths. Art nerds with math nerds. Etc. if only more of the world were like this.

[Anonymous]

Great relationships result from being away from it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great relationships result from being away from it all.

Don’t disagree, but for some kids who want a different experience near or in a big city Kenyon would be a lousy choice. Strikes me as a particularly important place to visit first since it’s rather extreme in that sense. NYU/BU on one end and Kenyon one of those on the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great relationships result from being away from it all.

Don’t disagree, but for some kids who want a different experience near or in a big city Kenyon would be a lousy choice. Strikes me as a particularly important place to visit first since it’s rather extreme in that sense. NYU/BU on one end and Kenyon one of those on the other.

Well yeah. I think that kind of goes without saying. If someone wanted to go to school in a city yet somehow wound up at Kenyon- that’s kind of their own fault.

[Anonymous]

I’ve gotten to know a half dozen Kenyon grads. They all loved Kentucky n. Even borderline fanatics. All smart and successful and really nice people too.

[Anonymous]

Good school. But no real economic diversity. Lots of prep school kids and public school kids are from places like Darien or Scarsdale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good school. But no real economic diversity. Lots of prep school kids and public school kids are from places like Darien or Scarsdale.

Or Bethesda. BCC especially.

[Anonymous]

I love Kenyon, but PP is correct about it being somewhat of an economic bubble: NYTimes Upshot article showed that Kenyon had 20% of students from the top 1% family income level. It's in the top ten colleges/universities on this metric--which is surprising for a highly selective college in the middle of nowhere.

As to earlier, which is a back-up discussion.
Looking at the CDS, Kenyon and Oberlin have nearly identical SAT ranges, but Kenyon average GPA is 3.94 while Oberlin's is 3.57. Kenyon has a slightly lower acceptance rate 25-26% to Oberlin's 28-29%.

Grinnell and Carleton have SAT ranges that are about 30-50 points higher, no GPA info but ranking suggest similar to Kenyon/Oberlin. Acceptance rates 20-21%. These two have the slightest of edges over the selectivity of the other two but we're getting into meaningless differences here--at that point you should look at preferred location, programs of interest etc over "ranking" in my view.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love Kenyon, but PP is correct about it being somewhat of an economic bubble: NYTimes Upshot article showed that Kenyon had 20% of students from the top 1% family income level. It's in the top ten colleges/universities on this metric--which is surprising for a highly selective college in the middle of nowhere.

As to earlier, which is a back-up discussion.
Looking at the CDS, Kenyon and Oberlin have nearly identical SAT ranges, but Kenyon average GPA is 3.94 while Oberlin's is 3.57. Kenyon has a slightly lower acceptance rate 25-26% to Oberlin's 28-29%.

Grinnell and Carleton have SAT ranges that are about 30-50 points higher, no GPA info but ranking suggest similar to Kenyon/Oberlin. Acceptance rates 20-21%. These two have the slightest of edges over the selectivity of the other two but we're getting into meaningless differences here--at that point you should look at preferred location, programs of interest etc over "ranking" in my view.

Oberlin stats are deceptive. Oberlin recalculates HS GPA based on core courses, removing all "fluffy" courses. Read here https://www.oberlin.edu/blogs/whats-gpa

Oberlin also combines its stats with conservatory students. Oberlin Conservatory is world-class and conservatory students' academic stats tend to be lower than the regular Oberlin students. This will depress the overall GPA.