<p>My daughter has narrowed her search to three schools within 2 hrs. of home. This is my first child to attend college so this is a new experience.
My daughter has a 30 ACT and 4.0 with the most stringent courses available. Some of her high school classes were Kenyon classes. She is also an athlete, XC and Track. She is debate captain.
Environmental studies/pre-med.
Daughter is very outdoors oriented and decidedly not preppy. She is liberal politically and loves the natural sciences.
Other schools she has considered and dismissed are, Ohio University, Ohio Northern, BW, BG, Case, Miami of Ohio, OSU.</p>
<p>Her thoughts on the three schools.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Kenyon- She loves the athletic facilities and coaching staff. It is her #1 choice academically. She has had an interview, two visits and an overnight planned. Coach is very interested in having her attend. She is concerned about the isolation of the campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Heidelberg- Likes the campus and the vibe here. Already accepted and awarded an academic scholarship and invited to scholars day competition. Some concerns are the ability to be accepted to med-school out of Heidelberg. Coach here is her favorite and the program seems a natural fit for her... has friends attending. Heidelberg wants her badly, which is nice. </p></li>
<li><p>Denison- Her favorite campus, she said it reminds her of a small Ohio University. We have yet to have an official visit. Sports facility is nearly as nice as Kenyon. She is concerned about the party school reputation and the appearance of being preppy.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I see where your daughter has been awarded an academic scholarship to Heidelberg; will financial considerations be a factor at any of the schools?</p>
<p>Also, has your daughter looked at Ohio Wesleyan or Wittenberg? They seem like they may be similar to the other schools that she is considering.</p>
<p>She has our support to choose without financial consideration. All three schools are within our price range, any additional merit scholarships will be icing :)</p>
<p>I was looking at some data from the USNWR website, and Heidelberg seems to have low rates for freshman retention (62%) and 4-year graduation (39%). Just a thought, but you might want to investigate the reasons for these as part of your due diligence efforts.</p>
<p>Yes, we had a conversation about those numbers at Heidelberg. The recruiter has a meeting scheduled for my daughter with the staff responsible for pre-med, and a meeting with a recent graduate of med-school who attended Heidelberg for his under.</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t she apply to all three and see where the money lands? And I really wonder why you say D is preppy but don’t mention the same about K.</p>
<p>If you can afford Denison and Kenyon (and get accepted to either one), then she should forget about Heidelberg. It is not anywhere close to the same league as the other two. Nonetheless, she can definitely get accepted into med school from Heidelberg.</p>
<p>Kenyon has gotten much more competitive in the past couple of years. A 30 ACT might not be sufficient now.</p>
<p>We live 20 minutes from Oberlin so I think maybe that is too close She never really considered it. She also wanted a school with more focus on science.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your daughter’s acceptance to Denison! I’m also applying there (turning in my application today, actually). What ultimately made your daughter decide that Denison was the right school for her?</p>
<p>Thanks,
My daughter and I visited last summer, then we returned with her mom for an official visit, tour and her interview. Daughter then drove herself down and spent two days on campus, staying with the team and sitting in on classes.
She visited Miami, Ohio University, Kenyon, Heidelberg, B&W and Hamilton.</p>
<p>The only place that truly excited her was Denison, and I don’t know if she could even put it to words.</p>
She never really considered it. She also wanted a school with more focus on science.</p>