Very useful trip, though in hindsight, I wish we’d visited Denison instead of OWU. Kid just didn’t pick up a particularly compelling vibe (for him) at OWU, whereas he really liked both Wooster and Oberlin very much. He thought Kenyon was nice, but perhaps a little precious/isolated. Curious where Denison would fall on that spectrum…
Help with Ohio Visit Decision: Denison vs. Ohio Wesleyan vs. College of Wooster (or something else?)
Not too late to check out Denison, too. It is a spectacular campus, and nice people, too.
If you go to the Denision-specific site here on CC, I posted a visit report.
Good luck!
Too late for this trip, but it’s still on our “think about it list.” I’ll check your visit report, just looking for a gut check on, say, if a kid really liked Wooster and Oberlin, was on the fence about Kenyon and didn’t care for OWU, would that put Denison in or out of the mix.
I think Denison would still be in the mix. It is not at all like OWU, and although it is closer to Kenyon than the others, Denison is rather unique. Its campus is totally different from any of the others. Many people would say that Denison has the prettiest campus of those schools (the “Five Colleges of Ohio”). Granville also is unique because it almost feels like New England, rather than Ohio. Of all these colleges, Denison is definitely the most “preppy” although non-preps do feel comfortable.
FWIW, I have visited all of these campuses except Oberlin (and only one visit to Wooster).
We visited Denison this weekend, and I didn’t get a “preppy” impression. This is the only LAC in Ohio we’ve visited, so maybe i’m comparing to the other schools we have visited.(DePauw, Sewanee, Rhodes, Centre)
Maybe it was the weather, but my impression was that the Denison students were the most casually dressed of the LAC’s we’ve visited.
Well yes, Sewanee, Rhodes, and Centre are almost certainly more “preppy” than Denison (I don’t know about DePauw).
Plus, for clarification, I do mean preppy style, not whether or not students attended a private prep school.
Probably more Kenyon students attended a private prep school than students at, well, any college in Ohio. However, Kenyon students do not look the part. Someone once said that Kenyon students expend a lot of effort trying to not look wealthy. :-?
FWIW, the preppiest college (at least in style) in Ohio is almost certainly Miami University in Oxford. Denison is sort of like a miniature Miami (in style, particularly the red brick buildings).
My S just came back from visiting Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan and College of Wooster. He enjoyed all five campus visits but preferred Oberlin and Ohio Wesleyan – it was the connection with the professors and classmates that made the difference at these two schools.
You can always visit Denison again. Try to experience ALL the colleges / universities in the same way – sit in on classes, meet with professors, talk with students, etc.
My D’s challenge is that even with 3 college visits, two of which were overnights, one only gets a small sample of both students and professors; however, at small LACS some departments only have a small number of professors. But what if that one person is the most boring one and the other ones are great? And same for students; she really liked one of her college student hosts; another one at another LAC was fine but not as good a match - but who’s to say it could not have been the opposite? Any advice on how to sort out (and these are some of the Ohio schools mentioned above) that random selection from reality? She’s more confused now than before, I think!
I’m not sure whether this will help or not, but in preparation for an individual admitted student overnight visit to OWU I told the admissions office which teacher in our son’s major he wanted to meet (and observe a class) and what type of student might be a good fit as a host (just describing general interests and major). They arranged an amazing visit that involved extended contact with the two faculty members in the department whom he would work with most, plus a chance to meet many of the students in his major. Some of it was just luck and good timing, but I think it helped doing a little research ahead of time and giving the admissions office some idea of what information he needed to make his decision.
Wooster alum here. Due to the rigor of the senior research component, a budding scientist would do well to select it. Independent Study is not just a “senior thesis.” It’s a 100% original contribution to one’s academic field, not some long but soft paper assignment. In the sciences, this would be running a never-been-done-before experiment, presenting the findings, and orally defending them like a Master’s dissertation. Only Princeton’s undergrad research component is equally difficult.
My friends from various science departments did research all over the world, because there is lots of grant money available to travel for such research. This is in addition to their semesters abroad. If I had college to do over again, I’d swap out my English and philosophy studies for physics and geology.