What are the main differences between Vassar and Kenyon, particularly in terms of social scene?
What type of student would fit in better at which? Which would be better for a student who was shy in high school, looking to break out of his shell a little in college?
I got accepted into both colleges haha i still have to choose
Well, I have no direct knowledge of either campus’s social life. But based on their environments – Kenyon being quite rural and Vassar essentially suburban (small city…) – there is probably more to do in Poughkeepsie while at Vassar than there is to do in Gambier, OH while at Kenyon.
For urban shenanigans, Vassar is fairly close to NYC while Kenyon is about an hour from Columbus and Akron.
This, of course, confers no advantage to either school regarding a Greek or party scene. But it does speak to the restaurant, music/movie, club/bar, museum, and (potentially…) sports events scenes available to students of both schools.
Well I can’t speak for Kenyon but my son is a senior at Vassar . Big difference is Vassar has no fraternities sororities and i hear that this is a big part of Kenyon social life but in a alternative fashion. Best word to describe Vassar is iconoclastic. Very artsy very counter culture theater is big sports are not. Not much to do in Poughkeepsie per say except all that suburban America has to offer but lots to do in the Hudson river valley and people really do go into NY by train on the prettiest 90 minutes of your life. Housing at Vassar is fantastic with lots of public space and the senior housing is cool where they have apartments with kitchen separate from the rest of campus. Lots of really great historical sites all around Poughkeepsie and the hudson valley has always been the center of the arts in America. We went to New Palz a couple of times nice state university there. Rhinebeck a couple of times. Very scenic area and if you have a car everything that is anything, NY, Boston, Yale, East Coast, in striking distance. Also Vassar is large by liberal arts college standards. Lacking fraternities there are not tons of large parties to go to. Some school sponsored events there are always Halloween parties but not big parties every weekend as far as I can tell. Mostly people are in clubs formal or informal. Son ended up sticking with people on the wellness floor and being in a group playing D&D in one of the public rooms in the dorm and doing a couple of plays every year. Hudson valley us so beautiful.
Vassar has college owned townhouses and apartments that offer fourth-year (and some third-year) students an alternative to traditional residence hall living.
https://residentiallife.vassar.edu/residence-halls/halls/tathsc.html
One of my kids spent a couple of days visiting both and ended up at Vassar. Kenyon is absolutely gorgeous (although Vassar’s pretty amazing too), but even though it’s only an hour from Columbus, the students at Kenyon didn’t seem to venture there much. My kid gets into NYC with a friend or two at least once a month. Also, as @robotrainbow mentioned, the parties at Kenyon seemed to be centered around the frats, and my kid much preferred the more “chill” party scene at Vassar. Vassar is well-known to be very diverse in a lot of ways, and my kid seems to have a group of friends that reflects that. Both colleges offer a terrific education, but it was extended visits and an overnight that helped distinguished one from the other - at least for mine. Congratulations on having the choice!
Vassar has a much better alumni network than Kenyon. Kenyon has an alumni base that’s really focused on fiction writing, and they’re much more of a middle-of-the-country place. Vassar has a far better network in the major cities, particularly NYC, DC, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Where did the student trying to decide between Vassar and Kenyon choose to go, and why?
It’s neither true that Kenyon’s alumni base is really focused on fiction writing nor that Kenyon’s alumni base is in the middle of the country. While Kenyon has produced a number of distinguished writers, and maybe Kenyon has a higher percentage of alumni in the writing field than some other schools, the actual number of Kenyon alumni who are involved in writing is less than the number of Kenyon alumni involved in, for example, finance or education.
Vassar probably has a stronger alumni network in NYC since the school is only 2 hours from NYC, but Kenyon has a huge number of alumni living in NYC. Kenyon has more alumni living in NYC than in Chicago and LA combined. However, Kenyon has more graduates living in LA than in Boston.
How important is an alumni network anyway? It seems to me the majority of college graduates will make little use of their alumni networks during their entire lives.
My kid toured Kenyon, which is nearby for us. He applied and was waitlisted. Got in to Vassar and is there now. In the meantime, my spouse and I have been back to Kenyon a couple of times for cultural events. So here are my thoughts:
They’re both super nice colleges, and really both are a little isolated for different reasons, but obviously being able to get to NYC easily is a whole different thing to being near Columbus.
Kenyon is whiter and the students are generally very well-off, as Kenyon does not have the luxury of a large endowment to allow them to pursue applicants from underserved backgrounds. Vassar is, for an elite institution, doing pretty well for diversity. There are plenty of very well-off kids there too, but also a lot of kids from pretty poor backgrounds as well. Middle class kids are a bit of a rarity, is my sense.
Both Kenyon and Vassar are taking steps to improve their strengths in the STEM disciplines. You can get a great education at either college, for sure.
Both schools have serious issues with substance abuse, as do probably all elite LACs. I was a little surprised by the number of ambulance rides out of Vassar. And I seem to recall a Kenyon kid died of alcohol poisoning a while back. My sense (being an elite LAC grad myself) is that elite LACs attract a lot of smart, shy kids who are looking to break out of their shell, like yours, and who unfortunately make their mistakes with drugs and alcohol freshman year of college, instead of in high school.
For our son, Vassar is a much better fit culturally.