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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]She did none of her homework about the location or academic departments before enrolling at Kenyon. Now she’s outsourcing her transfer search to mom, who is outsourcing it to internet anons.

I predict this will not go well.

[b]Better off staying at Kenyon[/b].[/quote]

Not if OP’s DD is miserable there. What about Oberlin? Denison? Miami U? I agree with the other suggestions in neighboring states,  Macalester, Carlton, and of course U Chicago, which also has an excellent English department and CW program. I’m curious about your DD’s displeasure with Kenyon, other than its location. English and Creative Writing are the College’s “crown jewels” and I’ve only heard great things about their humanities programs and social science programs.  Best of luck to your DD and kudos to her having the courage to change course. [/quote]

There's a really small amount of space for her major in Creative Writing, and she's actually struggled a bit to get the pre-req classes, which really was a surprise to me. You used to need to apply, but now it is based off course registration time. She also feels there's not much overall support for the humanities (this likely won't change no matter where she goes), but she's looking for a place that has more talks and outside academics coming in and lecturing. And the overenrollment has really gotten to her, and apparently living conditions are terrible.[/quote]

I wouldn’t want to go to a small school in the middle of nowhere either, but aren’t freshmen going to have a hard time getting preferred classes anywhere? It’s the case at my child’s SLAC too.

She sounds unhappy, but it also sounds like she has so many complaints that it’s hard to offer solid suggestions—it sounds like she hates the size, the location, the dorms/food, the course offerings (at a school known for strength on that department), the peer group, and the “lack of support for the humanities.” That’s a lot.

Are you sure it’s not about something personal/traumatic? It would be easier to write a good transfer narrative if she had fewer reasons rather than a million. [/quote]
Part of it is me trying (and failing) to translate a moody teen. Kenyon purposely keeps a small numbers and class size to intro creative writing to effectively cap the majors, so all the amazing classes you'd want, you cannot get unless you can pierce through this cap. Her list currently has Uchicago, Pomona, Reed, Tufts, Davidson,  Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Macalester, which is pretty reasonable and most would solve her complaints. There's a few articles about the creative writing resources (or lack-thereof) at Kenyon.[/quote]

I do get it, I have a son at a SLAC and he hasn’t been thrilled with his experience either. Getting into preferred or pre-req classes is very hard at his school too. I think it’s endemic: it’s a major issue at Tufts as well.

I know Haverford and Bryn Mawr well and have a hard time believing they are going to be sufficiently different for her. They are *tiny* schools and the kids I’ve known that who have gone there, even the ones who have liked it, have found the intimacy suffocating at times. I also know several kids who transferred out of Haverford because they couldn’t find their people. There are not that many lectures, talks, etc (small schools!) and the student body has some similarities IMO to Kenyon’s. I know it’s a little bit closer, a better area, and has the tri-College consortium, but I would have hesitation that going there would really solve her problems.[/quote]
Yeah, size can really affect things. DC goes to the Claremont Colleges, and this problem doesn't really exist. Sure you may have a problem getting into an intro creative writing class at Pomona, but you can go to the ones at Scripps, Pitzer, Mudd, or CMC. The schools operate as a small university, which means talks from outsiders are achieved through multiple departments and schools (Cornel West came on campus and the speaking costs were funded by three different colleges). I think the poster either needs a 5C situation or needs to go to a small university.[/quote]

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