<p>Kenyon has a national championship men's & women's swim team, but I haven't seen this mentioned in any posts. DD is a good h.s. swimmer looking for a college where she can swim & get a good education. She's not fast enough to be competitive at a top 10 DI swim school (Auburn, UF, Stanford), but could be competitive at a smaller DI school or a DIII like Kenyon. Does anyone know about the environment at Kenyon for swimmers? are they isolated from the rest of the student body? Does the rest of the student body support the swim team (since there is no football team)? Any thoughts about the Kenyon swimming program would be appreciated</p>
<p>Kenyon's swim teams are well known to everyone, so there is little reason to bring them up, but I have seen some other posts if you search around on the site.</p>
<p>Has your D checked her times against Kenyon's? I'm not saying she isn't fast enough, but Kenyon swimmers have won the past 29 (men) and 22 of the last 25 (women) DIII championships. These are links the the top times and records for reference: Top</a> Times - Kenyon College Record</a> Book - Kenyon College</p>
<p>I wouldn't say swimmers are entirely isolated from the student body. They do spend a large amount of time together, but have plenty of time to make other friends etc.</p>
<p>You are mistaken that there is no football team, it just happens to be rather poor to mediocre depending on the year. In general I would say the student body supports the swim teams.</p>
<p>It sounds like she/he has looked at the times. The swimmers are far less isolated then you would likely find at a DI school, but because of the time that athletics take up, most of the sports teams tend to stick together. However , the word isolated isn't the one I would choose. As to the swimming program, I have a few friends on the team, it's a big commitment for 6 months of your year. The team tends to do very well academically.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Yes, her times are good enough for Kenyon. The head coach has emailed her & is interested. My concern was whether being a swimmer would mean she wouldn't meet other students. She has been swimming competitively for 10 years--swimming high school varsity since 7th grade. It's a huge time commitment (20 hours/week all year, not just in season). I assume college will be that & more. The reason for looking at Kenyon is that she is interested in a LAC & she wants to swim in college. But, it's so small & isolated, I'm concerned that there won't be much beyond swimming & studying.</p>
<p>Swimmers are incredibly active in the social scene at Kenyon! If she wants a great education with the chance to swim and be one of the best then Kenyon is a great match.</p>
<p>There's lot to do at Kenyon. It doesn't usually feel isolated when you're on campus, even though it obviously is. You have to be some species of turtle or really unaccustomed to fitting in socially to feel like there is nothing to do. Also, the small size is Kenyon's biggest advantage.</p>
<p>Agreed completely with the above posts. If your daughter's really dedicated to swimming as it sounds like she is -- yes, most of her friends and tight-knit circle might be from and within the swim team but I don't think that's bad at all. One of my closest friends is on the swim team and she couldn't be happier and every time I meet someone that's a swimmer, I'm impressed. But as long as she's willing to go outside and meet new people and mingle, she definitely won't have a problem fitting in. And from the sounds of professors and the like, being dedicated to a sport and your academics generally gives athletes a great sense of time to juggle their athletic, academic, and social life.</p>