My daughter is a Psychology major with a passion for theater and these are her top 3 choices so far. She wants a great (friendly, active, inclusive) student community, a very active theater department, engaged students in the classroom. Trying to get a feel for the student body so any comments along those lines would be very helpful. Not really interested in location or ranking comments. Thank you for your help!
Based on your daughter’s passion for theatre, Kenyon, especially, could make a great choice from this group.
Grinnell sounds like what she describes…friendly, active, inclusive (and we’re talking REALLY inclusive and diverse: students span the gammet… 20% intl, every StateofUS, LGBTQ, and economic strata represented.) Basically, its a be who you are, that’s cool, kinda place. Daughter describes it as very smart kids but with a twist… everyone has that little something extra (she’s a Sci-Chem girl, very talented artist and plays tennis.) All Grinnellians seem to have multiple and often diverse majors and passions (and the multiple majors is made easy as its an open curriculum school, so just pick classes that suit your interests and major(s)… which because their students are multi-talented seem to end up being quite wide range of classes thus succeeding in the LAC objective of being broadly educated without the inflexibility of Core requirements.) Theatre dept does a couple of shows a year that daughter says were excellent. And, the friends she knows that have participated have enjoyed their theatre peers and Directors, etc. A quick look at RatemyProf and you can compare reviews for each schools Psy faculty (assume all would be equally good for that major at elite LACs.) Grinnell has a NeuroSci concentration if daugther has any interest in that. Oberlin has such big music based reputation, I’d tend to lean towards the other two (and isn’t nearly as economically diverse.)
@IzzysMom Thank you SO much for your thoughtful reply. What you say really resonates with my perception of Grinnell. But I was wondering if you could clarify your last sentence:
Oberlin has such big music based reputation, I’d tend to lean towards the other two (and isn’t nearly as economically diverse.)
Thank you!
Both my kids looked at all 3, with multiple visits, overnights, class visits etc. – one preferred Grinnell, the other preferred Oberlin (neither chose any of them). From their experiences, I would describe Grinnell as very open, welcoming, with incredible resources for academic, career, etc. One kid went through athletic recruiting at all three, and really liked the integration of “types” of students at Grinnell – at his recruiting visit, his lunch with the team was with lots of students who were not on the team, from kids with blue hair to Polo t shirts. While Kenyon is known for its theater, it was described as very competitive so some students can be disappointed about the actual opportunities. Other considerations are that neither Grinnell nor Oberlin has greek life, whereas Kenyon does (non-residential, but greek life members live clustered together in the dorms), and that Kenyon is one of the least economically diverse LACs in the country (according to a 2017 study by NY Times – https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html.
Three great schools, with lots of overlap, but some significant cultural differences.
@time4adventure In order of socioeconomic diversity from most to least (according to The NY Times study published in 2017), it’s Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon. Percentage of students coming from the top 5% of income were 24%, 37%, 48% respectively.
They are all great LACs, well known for inclusivity, political liberalism, and strong academics with Kenyon (as mentioned above) having Greek life while the other two do not.
The theater program at Oberlin is superb.
Regarding student vibe, I don’t have firsthand experience of Grinnell. I find Kenyon’s student body to feel a bit more mainstream than Oberlin’s. If your child hasn’t checked out the Oberlin student blogs, they offer a good cross-section of student experiences and perspectives.
Your daughter might want to check out the psychology and theater department webpages for each college, particularly the research and teaching specializations of the professors. As these schools are all relatively small, she should make sure that specific areas of interest within psychology are well represented. Within the theater programs, there may be information about recent productions that might help her to make a decision.
I agree with everything said so far about Grinnell, just wanted to add my son’s experience. He graduated last year as a Psych/Econ double major. He went directly into a top Industrial/Organizational PhD program. These PhD programs prefer several years of work experience before starting grad school which was his plan. He applied to only 4 programs which were between very good and perfect fits fully expecting to be denied.
He visited both Oberlin and Kenyon, both great schools but didn’t apply to either. Oberlin felt to left (he is very liberal) and Kenyon just didn’t click. Kenyon is one of the most beautiful campuses I have every seen.
Lastly, son did Grinnell in London junior year and was with a lot of theater majors/minors. They theater kids had some amazing classes which involved seeing lots of shows in the West End and I think masterclasses. His two favorite classes where Walking Around London and Museums of London.
IMO
Most Politically Left to Least: Oberlin, Grinnell, Kenyon
Diversity: Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon
Theater: Kenyon, Grinnell=Oberlin
Psychology: Grinnell, Kenyon, Oberlin
Here is the link to my full take on being a Grinnell Student: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/22753100#Comment_22753100