<p>I know lots of students doing a semester in one location, and then heading off to a whole new place for the second. It should not be a problem if you plan it out well.</p>
<p>My grad school knowledge only extends to med school and PhD programs in science(beyond the basic tests etc). However, I would say you should get the most comprehensive background available. In your case that may well be the polysci/econ route. I think it may depend heavily on what specific IR area you plan to pursue. I would seek advice from faculty upon arrival. Also, if you don't like the advice of the first person, ask a diff prof for their opinion.</p>
<p>Oh that si great to see that there are students who will go to different places. That's comforting, because I liked both the programmes and wanted to try them both. Then again I have time to decide if I'll change, yet I've always had a general idea of where I want to go and best to get in order because Freshmen Year will be over before I know it. </p>
<p>Yeh, it seems like Kenyon does a good job in grooming kids for graduate school. I specifically am looking to go to Law school and Grad School. As I want to be an International Law Lawyer, I think it is best to do a joint programme and I've always had interests in both fields. I think the best thing is to get some advice from the professors when I get on campus so I can get into the the grad/law school that I want.</p>
<p>Funny you mention Mac. I really wanted to go there but couldn't afford it and Kenyon offered me a scholarship. I was also informed that tuition at Mac goes up every year and would be around 50,000 in 2010, yikes! Of course, Mac wouldn't give me any financial aid either. Just a note about the cable in the dorms, both my tour guide at Oberlin and Mac said that none of the individual dorm rooms were wired for cable and that the only cable access was in the lobby area. My take on it was that not having cable dorms wasn't too uncommon for schools similar to Kenyon.</p>
<p>Just a side note as well: Are students really as negative about Kenyon as I've read in a lot of the posts on this board? I know there are pros and conns to every college, but I've really only heard conns coming from the posts. It troubles me as I am coming in the fall and had a rough time making a decision in the first place. Everybody I interacted with prior to making my decision who had attended Kenyon absolutely loved it. Oh, and, haha, Mt. Vernon is larger than the town I live in now.</p>
<p>The negatives you see are mostly from burned out seniors. In general Kenyon is a great school and people enjoy their time here. Check the older posts for more positive views.</p>
<p>Every school has its fans and its students who aren't fans.</p>
<p>That said, I think the best way to be really happy there is to go into the experience happy. I don't think that I was really that happy going into Kenyon.</p>
<p>Additionally, I think it is easier for people to be unhappy at small schools just because there is more time for thought and looking inward.</p>
<p>Alot of schools has their bad and good things. It is up to you to take best advantage of your four years there and try to be as happy as you can. You can transfer, but why not give it a chance. I'm really excited to go to Kenyon, regardless of the fact that they are in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>The post that strated this thread is incredibly wrong, the whole discussion is based on wrong statements.</p>
<p>The internet at Kenyon is pretty fast, if somebody wants to spend 10 hours a day playing online games, well, probably this is not the right place to be at.</p>
<p>Stuff gets stolen??? Here everybody keeps their place open, so i don't get the "everything locked thing".</p>
<p>The administration is good enough, and the community if you are friendly u'll find friends, if you play on the pc for 10 hours maybe it is not as easy.</p>
<p>Well, Kenyon is a really cool place and it depends what you make out of it. If somebody has 0 initiative than no place is gonna be good.</p>
<p>As a parent of a current Kenyon student I have been reading this and the other thread that started with the same post. My D was pretty annoyed at not getting her choices regarding dorms Freshman and Sophomore years, but in a system where upperclassmen get preference that isn't surprising. And she had to argue with the OCS to get to go away to study next year despite representations about the availability of such opportunities. Most graduates could come up with a list of problems with their alma mater, but I am shaking my head at the original complaints and some of the follow up posts.</p>
<p>"At the same time, we have a right to access to information and Kenyon seems to deprive me of that right."</p>
<p>I wasn't aware that cable access in every room was now a right and that its absence was a major deprivation. And who relies on the MSM these days for news anyway?</p>
<p>"Speed comes and goes. Also, the network is known to go down."</p>
<p>The whole internet complaint thing: I thought college was about academics. Silly me. And unreliable connections? Guess what? This will happen off campus, too, after you graduate. </p>
<p>And complaints about Gambier being such a small, isolated town? Did the writers have their eyes closed on the drive into town and when they took the walking tour?</p>
<p>Since the writers haven't spent four years, or even one, at another institution for comparison, I am not sure how they can be sure that Kenyon is worse than other choices. I get the feeling the seniors would find faults with whatever school they attended.</p>
<p>Hmmm… a lot of this sounds like my son’s prep school. Tiny town, no stores. Teachers and administrators/ancillary personnel all related. Limited bandwidth with subsequent loss of ability for online gaming, peer to peer apps, etc. (I think this is a good thing, even for college students - my daughter had to pay the RIAA $2500 for Limewire usage when she was in college). Small, tight community…but lock your things up. Still…he loved it and he loves Kenyon as well.</p>
<p>Can someone explain what exactly you can’t do on the internet? Is it just that it’s slow, or are there specific things that are impossible or what? I could be called a heavy internet user and in college I’m going to be video blogging with my friends, so this worriesme.</p>
<p>Streaming can be a little slow at times–you’re going to have to find a decent feed if you don’t want it to be choppy if what you’re watching is live–but it’s not something to be worried about. Skype will work 95% of the time, but for the other 5% you’re going to want to pull your hair out. (As an aside, you probably won’t skype nearly as much as you think you will. After about the second or third month on campus people tend to settle in) Kenster will satisfy all of your P2P needs, and if it doesn’t there are ways to get the songs you want without using a client. </p>
<p>To address some of the grievances Kenyon senior has… That was posted about four years ago, so Kenyon_senior is probably enjoying a very good job and comfortable living thanks the prestigious college (s)he went to and is now attempting to steer people away from. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I’ve already addressed the “bandwidth” issue. It’s really not a problem. A bigger problem is the spottiness of AT&T here, which while manageable can be a pain and cause problems. </p></li>
<li><p>Mount Vernon is much more than just a Wal Mart. It has three different Indian restaurants, 10 fast food chains that I can think of off the top of my head (3 subways), multiple electronics stores, and a lot of other stuff. Unless all of this has popped up in the last 4 years, which it hasn’t, we might want to question the clear Red Haring being thrown at us. Minimum wage is also higher now than it was back then. </p></li>
<li><p>There are unlocked bikes everywhere. People leave their coats and backpacks and valuables in the coatroom of Pierce, and you never hear about that stuff disappearing. There was a few thefts that happened in freshman dorms earlier this year, but thefts are few and far between here. A few ipods, though, have been known to go missing. To say that if you leave your stuff out it WILL get stolen is a bold faced lie and obviously untrue. For those looking at Kenyon for its pretty damn good English program - is a hyphen, – is a dash. Don’t know how someone could go four years a Kenyon without having that pointed out–even calculus classes here have to write the occasional essay. </p></li>
<li><p>Administration is fine. Just about everyone in college has issues with administration almost as a right of passage thing, but I would like to hear the rest of the dozen funny (now) stories about the incompetence of the administration of a school that was ranked the 22nd best in the country by Forbes. I’ve had a few friends who have had trouble dealing with various admins (mostly from the Registrar, ironically enough) but no one has more than a story or two to tell, much less 12. Like 99% of people in the world the administration treats you the way you treat it, so if you try to take your schedule to the registrar kicking and screaming you might not be dealt with ideally.</p></li>
</ol>