If your son hasn’t done so already, I would have him map out what 8 semesters would look like at all the colleges he’s been accepted to or are still in the running. Have him look and see, are there interesting classes that fulfill the requirements? Or is there a sense of drudgery when trying to find a class. When he combines the distribution requirements, major requirements, etc, where does he feel he’s going to be happiest academically (or, where would he be less than happy…easy to eliminate).
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From your description of your son, I would say both Wesleyan and Kenyon would be a spectacular fit. I am surprised that more people haven’t mentioned them: they are great for both writing and film, and the vibe is strikingly liberal. Students couldn’t be any nicer and while both schools are academically rigorous, they lack the competitive nature of some other schools - like Oberlin. Unfortunately I think you will find that both Kenyon and Wesleyan come at a cost, too; they do give merit aid, though, so you might get more from those two than you did from Oberlin.
One more thing to consider: if your son is planning to get a Masters after undergrad, you might want to have some money to contribute toward that. It sounds like you have some really good in-state choices that won’t cost much - but you need to decide your son’s best fit, and if it’s worth the extra $.
Personally I wouldn’t even think about Oberlin if Kenyon and Wesleyan are on the table. My family worked consulting in higher ed and Oberlin had some pretty serious internal issues. It shows well but there are some termites in the woodwork there. Make sure you visit again and really look in depth to see if there are any issues before you submit your enrollment deposit.
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I would add that Kenyon has a very active theater and film scene and nice music opportunities for non-majors. You can pm me for more information (I have a very happy sophomore there).
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Wesleyan and Kenyon haven’t made their decisions public yet, so OP doesn’t know if they’re actually options yet. They’re just potential options at this point.
Curious if you got your Kenyon decision tonight, and if it’s now an option?
I don’t know yet. I’ll ask my son, since he’ll receive the notification.
Waitlisted at Kenyon. We exhibited no interest to both Kenyon and Wesleyan, so in my opinion they are both long shots.
Curious if you’ve made a decision! We are also looking at K and Oberlin and my child was also waitlisted at Kenyon. I have a friend who attended K and she can’t speak highly enough about it.
We haven’t. He is leaning towards K, but hasn’t committed yet. If you have any Kalamazoo specific questions, please feel free to reach out.
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Have you already visited K?
There is a session tomorrow.
Thanks for this. We live in Kalamazoo, so have visited many times.
I actually posted it for aultra. Hope they had a chance to visit.
Not sure if they are local too.
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Did you guys make a decision yet? My son is still uncommitted, but leaning towards K.
No! But she is also leaning towards K. Her $$ package is really good from K and there are various other things that just put it at the top of the pile. Here are her hesitations:
- Visited on a Sunday morning and didn’t get a very good sense of the students. Any help here? She is an intellectual, thinker, liberal kind of kid. Actually, also interested in film, but not as a major. Wants kids who want to stay up talking about books etc
- She is interested in environmental studies/science as a possible major and they don’t offer it. However, it’s available as a concentration, it seems you can design your own major, and biology looks strong in her areas of interest
- We’re a little worried about her feeling out of place as a Floridian or it being a little bit of a suitcase school
- The name…lol. She’s pretty ready to embrace it. But she admits it’s a little bit of a negative.
Re Oberlin, I think the cost factor is too negative to overcome for us. Like you, K put a much better offer on the table for us than Oberlin. In fact, all in, they have the best financial offer other than our state schools (which we don’t want because FL is a mess and they’re a bad fir)
The kids are definitely intellectual, deep thinkers and liberal. My kid loves the open curriculum not to avoid work, but to control his own education. I don’t know if I told you my son is also interested in film, but during the isolation of the pandemic he worked his way through the films of various directors just to make use of his time. Right now he has Covid and could be staring at the wall, but he’s upstairs watching YouTube videos on urban planning for a research paper he’s writing on bike infrastructure in Amsterdam. 
I definitely don’t get the feeling it’s a suitcase school, here they talk about the “K bubble.” Kids are very involved in campus life. I do hate that they do those events at weird times when you can’t feel the vitality of the campus. We did one event on a rainy cold Saturday morning late fall and there were no students out and about. Then my son spent a day there on a pretty winter school day with students everywhere and it felt SO much better.
I wouldn’t worry about the Florida thing. If she’s open to the climate here, I think she’ll find her people.
Please feel free to ask any questions you have about the area.
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Yeah! My daughter is interested in a wide variety of stuff. Probably will minor, maybe double major. Sounds like the students are what she is looking for.
I didn’t get to go on the visit and her visit with dad was a little rushed. They were trying to remember if the city seemed fully walkable from campus with food, coffee etc easily within reach without a car. She won’t have one.
Our other question is about travel–is this going to be a big pain? She will fly. I know you have Detroit and Chicago, but we’re not sure about the last leg of that. Thank you so much. We are in the home stretch.
There is a lot accessible in the neighborhood. It’s in the historic neighborhood called East Main Hill where many restaurants are located. Downtown is also a short walk away (15 minutes). That’s where many shops and restaurants are. Especially during non-Covid times, downtown is very nice. There are monthly Art Hops there and many students attend. Also, a nice art museum.
To be honest the corridor leading into the colleges is not the prettiest, but it is about to be improved. Not in 10 years, but right away. Our city has had a project for a few years where they interview those in neighborhoods and are improving areas, including adding bike lanes, improving pedestrian pathways, etc.
One other thought, K is directly adjacent to Western Michigan which is building a brand new student center, so that would be available too. I wouldn’t say that the social lives of K and WMU overlap that much, but the larger campus adds lots of cultural opportunities. For example, right now The Gilmore Keyboard Festival is happening. It’s nationally renowned and would be accessible to K students. My son and I are attending one event for that at K’s chapel next week (if he’s recovered from Covid).
The travel part is something I’m less familiar with. There’s a FB page for K parents where many people discuss that. You might want to join that. They make it seem like it isn’t a big deal, but I can understand worrying about that.
Good luck!
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Here’s WMU’s new student center. It will be just a few minutes walk from K. Opening this fall.
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Thanks! I know she wants to be able to walk to places (it doesn’t have to be a lot of places, but at least some places). That student center looks cool. WMU’s proximity was another positive for her. There just are a lot of things in K’s column that no other school on her list could offer.
Regarding travel, apart from DTW and Chicago (MDW or ORD), don’t forget Grand Rapids (GRR).
There are non-stops dirt-cheap flights from many FL cities to it. Allegiant Air.
It is only 50 min from KZoo. So either rent a car or even take an Uber ($80).
KZoo airport (AZO) mainly connects on United, American or Delta to ORD, MSP or ATL.
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