Does anyone care to compare the two? Thanks!
I can tell you Denison has an absolutely beautiful campus at the top of a hill in picturesque Granville OH, about 30 mins outside of Columbus. I can’t speak to Depauw.
I’d pick Denison - better academic quality, beautiful campus. Both have important Greek Life, which I assume is a plus for you, but Denison has taken (some/baby) steps to ensure the more problematic aspects (ie., the kind that involves lawyers and kids kicked out of school) have been put under control -although I can’t vouch for how efficient that’s been.
These schools are so similar you really need to visit to decide. They are the same size, same campus look, classic brick buildings and well maintained grounds, except that Denison is hilly and DePauw is not. Similar level of academics (both tied at 51 in US News rankings). Similar types of students, about 35% multi-cultural and a lot of students from upper middle class suburbia. DePauw pulls more students from Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin and Denision more from Ohio, Pennsylvania and the East Coast. Greek life is important at both schools. However when we visited Denison they said there were no Greek houses, all Greeks lived in the dorms. At DePauw there are plenty of Greek houses. Both schools have nice nature parks/reserves to go hiking and both are within an hour of a major city and within an hour of the state flagship university. Both have solid athletic teams. Denison recently won the NCAA III swimming title. DePauw has the oldest football rivalry west of the Alleghenies and a Little 5 bike race modeled after the one at IU that are huge events on campus. The truth is, if you like one you will probably like the other so it may come down to which has the better price.
Oh great question! They are very close to being identical, I would say, right down to their administrations. Both have young, hip, presidents, mostly same number of students, and great academics. Although I’m not sure that Denison has a School of Music like DePauw.
Hills vs Flat, yes. DePauw pulls a lot of kids from Chicago, St. Louis, other midwest states. But they have a few from California, Florida, and the east coast. Denison is more east coast, which some believe is key to their hard drug cuture. (Google it). But DePauw has a much more rich social/greek life. It makes the party school list every year. But it is more alcohol/weed than hard drugs.
If you really want to make an educated decision between the two, I would look at OUTCOMES.Also, what is your major going to be? Depauw has great Fellows Programs for areas such as Media, Management/Econ, Science. Their academic scholarships range from 6-20k based on grades alone. They also have a few scholarships that pay almost full ride- Holton, Malpas.
In my opinion, DePauw wins on the social scene. Denison wins on local vibe. Most everything else they will tie. I’ve spent quite a bit of time at both schools in the same analysis that you are doing now.
I never heard about a large drug culture at Denison (and a D attended there) so I did google it. If you’re talking about the Beast review that was pretty much worthless. 40% of the review is an online rating which doesn’t have clear instructions. I looked at the comments and grades from Denison students and they have ratings of 1/5 because the administration comes down hard on drug users and 4/5 for the same reason. Campus arrests are a reasonable thing to use (40%) but then 20% based on the state wide drug use percentage? Let’s just say that particular rating system has its problems.
Never heard of drug culture at Denison either. Like DePauw, they’re big on drinking and both made the list of most alcohol-induced “incidents” (including comas) that resulted in hospitalization in terms of ratio as well as all the legal trouble that comes with this. Denison administration cracked down on this since it was giving them a bad rep, hence the “better social scene” at DePauw but also the higher risk factor there. I was wondering whether the administration was serious about solving this huge problem (both health and legal) so I guess there’s a sample of one saying yes. 
I wouldn’t say Denison is East Coast, either. Both are Midwestern, even if their vibe is slightly different. DePauw are more preprofessional and more into “studying for grades” rather than “learning because knowing stuff is so cool”.
Erin’s Dad, can you tell anecdotes about good or bad sides of Denison based on your daughter’s experience?
Some differences based on the CommonData Set:
DePauw is church-affiliated ( , but you wouldn’t know it), Denison isn’t.
Denison has higher test scores, DePauw has higher GPAs.
DP: 74% graduate in 4 years, D: 78% graduate in 4 years
D’s campus is 1,200 acres, DP’s campus is 655 acres
DP’s closest town is 10,000 people and large city is 40 miles away, D’s closest town is 6,000 people, large city is 25 miles away.
My D doesn’t like the taste of alcohol so parties never were a draw for her. She knew there were some about but they didn’t really affect her. Her worst complaint was with the young men in the room on the next floor playing loud music too late. You did make me think of the other reason I don’t believe that drug culture rating - Reed wasn’t listed at all.
Ok, well here are a few citations to reference the reasons for my general feeling that Denison has a drug culture.
First of all, compare the safety statistics of drug and alcohol violations on campus at DePauw (8 drug, 22 alcohol) vs. Denison (14 drug, 14 alcohol) https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/colleges/DePauw-University/campus-life, https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/colleges/Denison-University/campus-life .
Also-- http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/does-denison-have-drinking-problem ,
http://www.nbc4i.com/story/25300296/denison-univ-student-accused-of-selling-thc-gummies
http://www.studentsreview.com/OH/DU_comments.html
Also, I realize that TheBeast polls are based on student reviews. But honestly, what better way to get the vibe than from the residents themselves?
Don’t get me wrong. I found Denison to be a very charming school. It has many positives. I actually really loved the town too. But the fact is that there is a drug culture. I’m really glad that ED’s Daughter did not take part in that. There are always kids that don’t. In the end, it really is dependent on who you surround yourself with.
While Denison is NOT technically an east coast school, it does draw MORE east coast students than DePauw. There are resources out there that show the concentration of students from each state. You have to be registered, but I think it’s on Cappex. Check it out. I’m sure it has changed since I looked at it last. Depending on WHERE OP is from, he may or may not feel more comfortable there.
I’ll second an unawareness of any drug culture at Denison from a family member who attended. That’s not to say there aren’t drugs (though it’s marijuana he’s seen) but the drug related incidents are pretty small in number and don’t indicate that there’s a “culture”. There have been recent serious incidents involving alcohol (a male student froze to death last year after a night of drinking and a drunk female student had to be rescued after climbing the Granville grain tower). The party scene was very tame for someone used to visiting friends at large universities and Denison has been actively taming it in recent years.
Here is a link to a lip dub video on Youtube at a large percentage of the Denison student body appeared in. Looks can be deceiving but if there is a “culture” at Denison, it’s a huge sporty culture as a large percentage of the school participates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWm3z-X657U