<p>Hello, valuable,
My D was also waitlisted and is very disappointed. She does not attend a school where students are likely to go far from home and she wanted a very different experience (i.e. different demographics) than those found at colleges in the area. So she pinned all her hopes on Kenyon. She also had a rough senior year - "mono-like" virus that she could not shake, NHS activities she could not attend, etc. , so her record probably looked like she had lost motivation as well. I talked to the state counselor for Kenyon who was very kind and encouraged her to show enthusiasm for Kenyon, saying that the committee really wanted to select students who were seriously interested in Kenyon. I'm having a hard time getting D out of the slump - she thinks her chances are slim since there are 200 on the list - but she plans to write a letter expressing her interest. I strongly encourage you to let the committee know (by the end of April!) that you really care about the school - who knows how far it may take you? And GOOD LUCK wherever you land!</p>
<p>yes kzmom, I was equally disappointed so let your daughter know we are in the same boat. I have always set high standards for myself and I was very let down when Kenyon waitlisted me. It is hard for me especially because I applied to 10 schools, got rejected from 5, waitlisted at two (kenyon and tulane) and accepted at three, american, scu and my state school rutgers which i dread attending. SCU and American gave me no money what so ever so I can't even consider them an option. Rutgers is my only option. I hate the idea of going since on top of it being too close to home and wanting a different experience, it is not a liberal arts school, and it is most definitely not kenyon. i fell in love with kenyon when i stayed ovenight. In hopes of being taken off the WL, I have already wrote 2 letters to admissions (one about my goals in life and the other about why kenyon is for me and that I will definitely attend if accepted), sent 2 recs (western humanities and spanish teacher helped write wonderful letters reinstating my interest), sent my mp3 grades (all As even with senioritis! lol), along with a note from a close family friend who is an alumni who gives scholarships every year (hopefully he has some pull). I knew kenyon was a reach for me so I am glad I got waitlisted and not rejected. although I too feel my chances are slim, i can not help but feel that I have shown so much interest that they have to take me off the waitlist. you should tell your daughter that 200 is a good number compared to other LACs where they WL 1000's. I think if 2 years ago the figures were: 580 WListed, 220 accepted spot on WL, 59 ultimately offered spot, 50 enrolled then that means more than half of this waitlist should also disappear. Tell your daughter to remember that Kenyon is not every1's first choice and that there are many kids who will be accepting a place elsewhere because kenyon was their match and they do not feel like waiting on the list because they are not passionate about the whole thing. I have kept continued contact with my admissions rep and I have a positive outlook on the situation. I know i have done all i can to get myself noticed and show interest. i do not think that out of those 200 kids, there are many kids like me who are just dying to get in. I am sure many kids got waitlisted and didnt even bother sending their card back, got accepted somewhere else, didnt want to go to kenyon in the first place etc. when it comes down to who they take off, they are taking those most interested. i know I am one of those ppl because i have done so much. if i, sadly, do not get off the list, all i can tell myself is that i tried my best and that i can always transfer. there are quite a few ppl on CC who have already turned down a spot on the WL or know someone who turned down a spot. even if I dont get offered a spot in may, they hold the WL throughout june because there are kenyon students who are probably WL at Harvard dying to get off and when they are offered a spot there will be one for me or your daughter. i promise you that the only ppl that stay on the WL that long are going to be the ppl that want it the most. just tell your daughter that hope is not lost. i am so nervous everyday thinking i wont get in. i am so depressed thinking about rutgers when it is not how i picture my college experience. i am praying to god i get in kenyon considering it is a reach for me, i got rejected everywhere else, and that I come from a family with little education and a kenyon experience would mean the world to me. im just praying they let me in. i hope i am not a sympathy WL since my alumni friend wrote for me and they didnt want to upset him. i try not to think about that. i just hope that they liked my interview, overnight stay, but my stats just werent up to par with other KC applicants. i hope I am chosen. okay now you see how passionate i am lol i hope ur daughter and I both get off the list. will she definitely take a spot if given one? i told myself that kenyon is the only school i will go in major debt for. im meant to be there.</p>
<p>My daughter is accepted and visiting this week. She is deciding between Kenyon and Grinnell; I'll let you know. So far, she really likes Grinnell.</p>
<p>valuable:
If you can not afford American, how will you pay for Kenyon? Unfortunately, I doubt that you will get any money from them, especially coming off a waitlist. I just hate to see you have your hopes up too far. Rutgers would be great I'm sure!</p>
<p>kenyon says they meet 100% need so that is why they should give me more. plus, i know an alumni who will direct a scholarship to me if I am accepted. i also had stated in previous posts that kenyon is the only school i would go into "debt" for. i love the school so much. but i understand your concern. american is the same price as kenyon.</p>
<p>i was accepted...but im not going</p>
<p>My D was accepted and is visiting now. We'll see what she thinks. She was given need based aid but what they calculate your need to be and reality are quite a ways apart, in addition the FA package includes loans as part of the aid. Set a realistic number on how much debt you are willing to accumulate. Figure out what your monthly payments will be and remember bachelors degrees from LACs don't go very far in the job market. They are best as a stepping stone to graduate school where you are likely to accumulate more debt.</p>
<p>click</a> here to read the post
mizsic's comparison between Grinell and Kenyon is awesome. She gives good pointers on why her daughter chose Grinell over Kenyon.. Worth a read for everybody interested in Kenyon and Grinell.
:)</p>
<p>Does anybody have a comment on that post?</p>
<p>I am going to write one soon.</p>
<p>I posted few questions , but I am not sure if I asked the ones that I really needed to.</p>
<p>I read the book by Kluge. He is a writer who graduated from Kenyon in 1964 and now teaches creative writing at Kenyon. In about 1991, he spend a year as a visiting professor and living in a freshman dorm at Kenyon. His book is about his experiences during that year. He loves the school, but writes about a small college from an insider's perspective (disputes among the faculty, etc.) It is very interesting, and I wouldn't say it provides a negative impression. I will be glad to lend it to you next year, and you can pass it around and look at it.</p>
<p>Thank you so much MotherOfTwo!:) I will anxiously wait for the book.</p>
<p>blip r u on msn?</p>
<p>nope...just doin some CC surfing..hadn't been here for somewhile...</p>
<p>Both kc_lady and I have posted our responses to mizsic on the Grinnell board, if anyone is interested .</p>
<p>MotherOfTwo and kc_lady, I am really glad you responsed to mizsic. They were well written and fair replies, unlike mizsic's prior post.</p>
<p>I did not intend my comments to be a review of Kenyon: they were intended to reveal what kinds of things influenced my daughter in making her decision. There were things that both she and I like very much about Kenyon ( i believed I stated many positive things as well), and others that we did not. That is also true of Grinnell. She just liked more about Grinnell than she did about Kenyon. </p>
<p>These are my impressions and only my impressions, not statistics. Had she not had Grinnell as a choice, she most likely would have chosen Kenyon over a large university like Berkeley or UCLA. What I meant be the comment on Ivies is that Kenyon seemed to have many more East coast (and Ohio) folks than Grinnell. Kids that would have gone to schools in New England in any years except these extremely competitive, cutthroat years of demographic bulge.</p>
<p>The comment on smoking waa about cigarette smoking. My mom died of COPD, so I am particularly sensitive. The faculty and staff did not refute this statistic when some of the parents cited it.</p>
<p>My D also liked the structure of the curriculum at Grinnell. Instead of frosh dorms, there are frosh seminars and tutorials. That tutorial prof becomes the student's advisor and meets with them weekly in class and in their office to plan the students' curriculum.</p>
<p>yea MotherOfTwo and kc_lady..awesome, yet fair posts!</p>
<p>I did not mean to be pejorative about Kenyon. I don't believe I was being slanderous. I was not citing facts and figures; you all are much better researched than I.
I was merely talking about our experience visiting Kenyon on two particular days in April, just two days. Not really enough time to decide where to spend the next four years. She just had a "feel' for Grinnell that leaned her in that direction. Neither of us disliked Kenyon in any way. In fact, I liked many things during my visit. </p>
<p>Things I loved about Kenyon (my daughter aside: however she is the one that made her final decision):</p>
<pre><code>Again, drop dead beautiful campus located on a hill surrounded by rolling terrain and a river (who could ask for more in terms of physical beauty?)
Incredible performance by no less than six a cappella groups.
Large, large English Department
Kenyon Review, David Lynn
Good cafeteria food in an architecturally stunning building
Availability of the admissions officers to answer questions
The Kenyon Inn
The village of Gambier
The bookstore
The fitness facilities
The theater
President Nugent
Middle path
More foreign language offerings, including Italian
$$
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<p>Things that I did not care for at Kenyon:</p>
<pre><code>Cigarette smoking, butts littering Middle path (just my impression folks, I am from California where smoking is frowned upon: my own personal history is that my mother died from cigarette related disease, so I am sensitive to it: I know how seductive it can be, and how deadly)
Fraternities (I guess I was na
</code></pre>