I am currently thinking to take my Early Decision at Kenyon.
Can anyone of you guys tell me what the pros and cons are?
My DD is a freshman and she loves kenyon, she tells me she’s living her best life lol. But if she could change one thing it’s the dining hall food, but she’s also a picky eater so we just made sure she had items in her room just in case the dining hall isn’t serving food she doesn’t like.
Have you visited Kenyon? I just visited earlier this week. Kenyon’s campus is beautiful, but located in a very, very small town; and I think Columbus is around an hour out. I definitely think anyone who is wary about being in a small town may not like the Kenyon experience. However, all of the students I came across were adamant that they had a lot to do in their free time on campus.
A few other things you may want to think about: Kenyon is a very writing-intensive school. If you’re a math/science person who does not want to spend time a lot of time writing, say in their physics courses, you may not like Kenyon’s curriculum. Kenyon also has /depth/ requirements in addition to breadth requirements. That is, you have to take two classes in each of the core areas, but these two courses must be from the same discipline. For example, if you take a bio course to fulfill the natural science requirements, you have to take /two/ bio courses; taking one chem course and one bio course, for instance, may not meet the depth requirements.
Personally, I loved Kenyon and am likely applying ED. Everyone I met was super nice, I liked the rural surroundings, and the campus and its buildings were beautiful. Good luck!
Folks – Note that Moody’s Investors Service in November 2017 downgraded Kenyon’s bond rating to A2 with a stable outlook, from Kenyon’s earlier rating of A1. This is still a good rating, being the 6th step down from the top on Moody’s 21-step rating chart. But financial trends merit watching.
Below is the link to Moody’s rating-downgrade statement:
Only visited so please take my impressions with a grain of salt.
Gorgeous campus ! Beautiful setting. But it is small, rural & just under 1700 students.
If you fit in, great. You should have an amazing two years. Then do Junior year abroad, then labor through your final year.
One social faux pas and you could be very miserable in such a small, isolated setting where everyone knows everyone & all their business.
Should be a two year college with transfer agreements with other universities for one’s final two years.
And before anyone gets mad at me, Paul Newman was, and still is, my favorite actor.
Also visited Kenyon. Spectacularly beautiful, even on a cold winter day. Can’t imagine how much nicer it is in the Fall and Spring.
The admissions folks were very friendly, professional, and made us feel at home. Interview, informal chat/info session, and tour. It was mentioned the Library will be renovated soon, so things will be a bit disrupted and shuffled around for the next year or so. The academic buildings were great, including the small houses that host faculty offices/classes. Very comfortable.
The little town of Gambier was bigger than we expected, and has new construction underway. The much larger town of Mount Vernon is not very far away, making Kenyon less isolated than we pictured.
Kenyon has one large, beautiful dining facility, a mix of old and new construction/architecture. No meal tickets/plans/cards etc. Just show up and eat what you want, all included in the cost of attendance…great idea.
The Kenyon Athletic Center is incredible. If you visit, make sure you see it.
Hardly anyone (other than above poster) ever mentions Mt. Vernon, which is a decent-sized small town of 20,000 with normal amenities only 10 minutes down the road. Heck, we live 10 minutes from our nearest shopping and 20 minutes from my kids’ high school. Sure, you can’t WALK there, but when I was in college we never walked anywhere off campus.
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Pro
Kenyon students remain at and graduate from their college at an elite level, an indication that they appreciate both their college and their time in Gambier:
Just as important, Kenyon College has a superior reported retention rate (freshmen who return for their sophomore year) of 95%.
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