Reply to Transfer schools for Creative writing and History

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Transfer schools for Creative writing and History"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[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]

Be careful with Reed as drug usage among students is common--much too common. Haverford & Bryn Mawr are woke schools. Very woke, not mainstream. If your daughter is not a SJW (social justice warrior) she probably would not like the culture at either of these two LACs outside of Philadelphia.

OP: I understand your daughter's concerns and applaud her courage to seek a better environment. Her current school is small and isolated.

Consider:

U Chicago
Northwestern
Vanderbilt 
WashUStL
Emory
Davidson College
College of William & Mary
Tufts

College of Charleston Honors College--should receive substantial scholarship money.

Ole Miss (University of Mississippi Honors College)--will receive substantial scholarship money & enjoy close mentoring from MFA Creative Writing faculty.

Every Big Ten Conference school has special programs for motivated students who know what they want, but you need to research each university's offerings. You will be surprised. [/quote]

(I wrote the post above.)

Maybe a list from a third party would help:

https://collegetransitions.com/blog/best-colleges-for-creative-writing/

Lists 35 universities & colleges (Kenyon College did not make this list).

For any school of interest (whether or not among this list of 35), it is easy to research the background of the creative writing faculty.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics