She refuses to even look at women’s colleges (and my oldest graduated from Bryn Mawr and loved it). What’s your opinion of Kalamazoo (I know the weather is an issue).
What about College of Wooster?
Bard, Mount Holyoke, Gettysburg, and Holy Cross aren’t all that much less selective than Kenyon.
Check not only the admission rates but also the test scores and the percentage of students who were in their HS top 10% over the past couple of cycles. The Common Data Sets show all that.
The Colleges that Change Lives suggestion is a good one. One of those, Lynchburg College, is a beautiful campus, small classes, and a really good writing program with a number of published authors teaching there. If you liked Gettysburg and are trying to find a substitute for Kenyon, take a look at Lynchburg College. The weather is not bad there, either.
Gettysburg is test optional. I would think a kid with an unweighted 3.6 gpa is a solid applicant, especially one that visits and interviews. Holy Cross the same.
How about Sewanee (The University of the South)? They’re known for their strong writing programs.
http://www.sewanee.edu/
Kzoo is a wonderful place, my kid was very close to going. No gen eds and no greek life were a big plus for my kid, plus diverse students, and strong focus on writing (freshman, sophomore and senior writing requirements, I believe). Definitely more going on than in Gambier! New President taking the reins next year, coming off a huge fundraising campaign, the future looks good at K!
How can you say more going on than in Gambier? Do you mean the town or at the college? There are tons of events going on at Kenyon all the time. Take a brief look at the Kenyon calendar and you will see a full schedule, from concerts, film series, speakers, documentary presentations, sports events…the schedule is full of options for all interests.
I was also going to suggest Sewanee. I have also read good things about Rhodes.
@apple23 I was referring to the town of Gambier, as compared to the city of Kalamazoo. I’m quite familiar with Kenyon.
It is a marvelous place, but not for everyone. On his third visit, including a prospective athletic recruiting visit, one of mine crossed it off the list after he discovered that the Studio Art program does not include ceramics, something he envisioned as part of a possible Studio Art minor in college. As I recall, several other schools, including Oberlin and Vassar, are similar in that ceramics is not offered as part of the Studio Art curriculum class but rather through a community ed cooperative program.
Rather like the blind men and the elephant, the way someone considers “like Kenyon” can depend on what they “see.” It could be great focus on writing or theater, it could be non-residential greek life, it could be swimming or soccer. Sewanee and Rhodes both have substantial greek life and that could be perceived as similar enough to Kenyon, or very different.
Definitely @Midwestmomofboys. I find myself a little hesitant to offer my opinion on many of these threads because it is hard to know what a poster means by “similar to…or like…” without more details.
Oh, and I figured you meant the town of Gambier, but just wanted to clarify 
Good point about the elephant, @Midwestmomofboys. I’ll try to be more specific about what she liked. Greek life is nice but not really important. She really connected with the sense of community and how welcoming everyone was. She was also impressed that writing was a major focus of the college.
Elon appears (with Kenyon and eight other colleges) in a USNWR subcategory, “Writing in the Disciplines,” and might be suitable for her in terms of location and relative difficulty of admission.
Definitely consider Knox College in Illinois. They have a very strong creative writing program and a lot of publications and opportunities for writers.
Goucher, Eckerd, New College of FL, Guilford, Redlands . . .
With the OP’s clarification, I would second Knox and re-affirm Kalamazoo. Both are gems, don’t get the love on CC or in the arms-race of college admission, but are wonderful communities (having visited both multiple times with one of my kids).
Knox has reputation for very strong writing program, that aspect wasn’t on my kid’s radar so I can’t say too much more about that. The President at Knox is terrific, a strong presence on campus. The alumni base is re-engaged and is generous. there are new buildings and renovations happening on campus (though the dining hall still needs work, Kenyon’s dining hall it is not . . . ). My kid and I picked up a very strong community feel on campus.
Kalamazoo is a pretty, compact campus – lots of brick and ivy, range of types of kids, all out for to watch and cheer for the team my kid was talking to about recruiting, so big campus spirit (similar to Knox that way). No gen eds, no greek life, the city of Kalamazoo has a reputation for being a great arts community, so there is more going on just down the street from campus.
Earlham is another midwest favorite, close community, no greek life, though I cannot speak specifically to emphasis on writing in the curriculum.