Hello,
I am a senior awaiting my admissions decision to Kenyon. I applied as a Biology major but have lately wanted to shift to economics and I was wondering how the econ program is at Kenyon. Is Kenyon a school with connections to NYC or Chicago for business/finance? What have recent econ majors done with their degrees? I plan on double majoring too but I’m not exactly sure what it will be. I am basically deciding between a liberal arts education and IU Kelley or U of I at this point.
Thanks!
I am a huge fan of Kenyon. My dad went there, and I frequently recommend it to students. Unfortunately I do not know much about econ there, but in general Kenyon has more connections to the east coast than the midwest, despite being in Ohio. Plus, being small, it won’t have a ton of connections.
Also, liberal arts colleges like Kenyon are generally not good places for people who are unsure of their plans. IU Kelley, or UI would be better for such people. Kelley has a ton of connections nationwide and is especially strong in Chicago. But even if you decide to not do business, IU is a well above average state university with lots of options.
Finally, you can get a “liberal arts education” at most state universities. Attending a LAC is not required in order to do that. The main advantage of schools such as Kenyon is that you would have closer contact with professors and those professors are more likely to be good at teaching – because they know that teaching, not research, is their real job. Classes will be smaller too.
@NROTCgrad thank you! That’s interesting, you are the first person to tell me that a state university is better than a LAC for undecided students. What makes you say that? I am worried that IU does not present the best overall education however. Kelley is great for business but should I end up wanting to study bio, I feel as if Kenyon would allow a major switch to be easier. Is that not the case?
Also if anyone else has something to add about econ, feel free to do so.
Well, a state university is not better, in every way, for undecided students. What I am saying is that large schools offer more majors, and thus more options. If you decide to major in something that Kenyon does not have, then you have a problem. For example, obviously Kenyon does not have a business school (which I presume is a major reason for your dilemma).
On the other hand, it is true that switching majors can often be harder at a large school compared to a small school. That depends on the school, and the department you want to get into. But I would suggest that if you are well suited for that major, then you will be able to transfer without much trouble.
You are correct, for most of the majors that Kenyon offers it will probably provide a better education than does IU. It is just that IU offers more majors. So, there is that trade off.
There is one way which small LACs like Kenyon might be better for undecided students. They typically have fewer distractions and students have more opportunities to consider their options. Sports like football often interfere with academics at larger schools, and students can get so caught up in all that. In fact, I persuaded an undecided student (here on CC) to choose Kenyon over Notre Dame because of this. So, it just depends.
As a parent who went to a LAC and now has one kid at a large state flagship and a high schooler looking at LACs – I agree that the real benefit of a LAC is close connection with faculty, and more attention from administration overall. The breadth of offerings – both across multiple departments and within a single department – is likely to be more comprehensive at a flagship than a LAC. For instance, even a substantial department like History, Econ or Government/Poli Sci at a LAC is smaller in number of faculty than at a flagship; that smaller number of faculty can offer a smaller number of classes, which are themselves smaller in enrollment than one would find at a flagship, means fewer choices. Maybe the choices available at a LAC are great for the specific student, they don’t care about depth in particular historical period, for instance, since they are not studying it. But if their interests evolve, and it does become important, or the one or two faculty who teach in a student’s preferred area go on sabbatical or are just people that student cannot abide to work with – there are few options left. At a big flagship, given the size of departments, there often (not always) is someone else you can take classes from if someone leaves or you don’t like their style. That comes at a price though – at a flagship, a student needs to be more of a self-starter, someone who marches into career services freshman year to start a plan, since career services is not going to coral the freshman and find ways to get them in there.
There are definite advantages to each model, and it really depends on the specific student which is a better fit.
Also, I would suggest investigating the double major options at Kenyon in more detail. We were told by admission rep at Kenyon that, with comprehensive exams in the major, that discourages students from double majoring. However, we heard from another rep that something like 20% double major – is that less than at comparable LACs? I don’t know.
This article isn’t specifically about Kenyon, but it seems to ring true for the experience my kids are having at their small residential LACs: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/l-jay-lemons/the-gold-standard-the-powerful-impact-of-residential_b_4633443.html
With respect to making connections with NYC/Chicago business-types, during our tour of Kenyon, one of their students talked about a “Skype Studio” they use to allow “face-to-face” interviews with reps from companies that can’t make it to Gambier.