Nicer weather would be nice too. Particularly interested in strong writing programs.
Gettysburg would be a great one. Great school, great campus, good merit and need.
Hard to go wrong.
Washington College in Chesterstown, MD has a strong writing program. A little more preppy than Kenyon overall but a solid LAC with excellent merit.
Because of the breadth of schools discussed in these online articles, you may be able to find a few that fit your general criteria:
“The 10 Best Colleges for Writers,” USA Today
“The 10 Best Colleges for Creative Writers,” The Freelancer
“The Twelve Best Creative Writing Colleges and Programs,” PrepScholar
“The 25 Most Literary Colleges in America,” Flavowire
I have heard Gettysburg’s (post 1) English/writing program mentioned in high regard.
Gettsyburg has a very large faculty in English, 30, and a concentration and minor in Writing whether it is part of an English major or not.
I actually visited Washington college with my oldest. It is very preppy and sporty. I do like Gettysburg. Thanks for the lists too.
The reference to Gettysburg (#3) was through a story from a relative’s summer writing camp. One of the students thought to diplomatically ask the professors what some “other” good college choices for this interest might be. Hamilton and Dickinson were the other two that were passed on to me and which I can recall.
I’m not sure if Holy Cross is easier than Kenyon, but it also has a very large English faculty in a relatively small school. Rigorous English curriculum would very much be a part of Jesuit life.
CollegeXpress posts a list, “Colleges for the Student who Wants to Major in English,” that includes Kenyon (as well as Gettysburg and Holy Cross) and may be another place to look for colleges that have academic similarities to Kenyon.
Bennington College has a very strong writing program and is less selective than Kenyon. Not sure it meets your criteria of 'nice ’ weather though.
How much less selective?
Dickinson, Denison, Franklin and Marshall all are a bit less selective but have a lot of the same vibe – all worth a look. None improve the weather, though!
As far a selectivity, we don’t have sat results yet, but psat she got equivalent to 660 verbal but only 520 math. She’s an excellent writer and possibly URM as well as a compelling personal story. She’ll apply to Kenyon without a doubt, but will need matches and safeties.
I would definitely say Denison. They have actually gotten many English professors to move from Kenyon in recent years. It is definitely a little bit more conservative, but has a similar campus vibe and intellectual aspect.
@"Queen’s Mom Is GPA strong? Are some of the more selective test optional schools on your child’s list like Bard? I hear it has an excellent English/ creative writing major.
GPA is an issue because she switched schools after 10th grade from a private school with no weighting to a very competitive public school with a million APs and weighting. I think her GPA will be about 3.6 unweighted
You might look at some of the schools on the Colleges that change lives list as well.
Nice weather? Try Eckerd College.
Mount Holyoke comes to mind. A little easier to get into, lovely campus, solid academics. Part of the consortium with 5 other colleges for social activity and occasional cross registration. The vibes of the two kind of remind me of each other.
Bard is a good tip, and they have some interesting ways to apply that circumvent both test scores and GPA. Again, not solving the weather problem. Very different vibe from Kenyon, though…