<p>In three weeks I'll be going to visit Kenyon. I've already sent in my app, so I am hoping I will like it. I'll be going on a Thursday night.</p>
<p>Can somebody just give me the lowdown on what Kenyon is like? The social scene, atmosphere, etc. Details would be much appreciated! Also what are the dorms like? Are they nice? Thanks!</p>
<p>I could tell you, but that would take away from your visit ;) You should be able to search around on the threads to find some of that info. The best thing to do is meet lots of people when you visit and ask lots of questions.</p>
<p>Beautiful campus located in the middle of Amish cornfields about an hour or so from Columbus. Best athletic facility in the country for such a small school. Admissions staff is very nice. I, as a parent, loved the school and the campus. Our son did not; too small and too isolated. I made him apply anyway and he, thankfully from his perspective, was not admitted. A lot of gum chewers, especially the girls. Weidest thing that I have ever seen during a college campus tour. Our two female flip-flop wearing tour guides chewed gum with open mouths while speaking to us. After mentioning it twice without reaction, we cancelled the tour and got another guide. Almost every girl that we passed during the tour was chewing gum in the style of the most intense pro baseball player imaginable. Weird. And we had just come from the Air Force Academy, the Univ. of Alabama and Vanderbilt University where the students and campuses were immaculate. I guess it was just too much of a contrast. Academics are strong, campus is gorgeous, facilities are great, admissions staff nice, but the school is small and isolated in a nearly non-existent village. Library was nice. Free New York Times newspapers. Wonderful theater in-the-round. Our son had spent a lot of time at Harvard, West Point and the US Naval Academy as well as at the Air Force Academy before touring Kenyon and this may have impacted his impression of the school. Also very different from Deerfield Academy, Andover, St. Paul's and other prep schools where we have spent significant amounts of time.</p>
<p>Juicy,</p>
<p>We have gone to two official visit days (albeit two years apart,) and have visited the campus informally three times, the latest being today. Unlike Icy's son, our daughter has her heart set on Kenyon. The campus absolutely has an academic feel to it and the people seem very down to earth and as she says, "normal." You will not find a predominance of bleached blondes or heavily made up girls, although I am sure they exist.</p>
<p>The semester starts tomorrow, and there were people already sitting around the library and professors in their offices. We definitely get the feeling at Kenyon that students are there because they want to learn.</p>
<p>For lack of a better term, the campus has a rustic feel to it. It feels like a place where dogs and frisbees would be welcome. It almost feels like the summer camp I went to in Maine, where the way nature groomed the grass was more valued than the way man could manicure the lawns. The quads are not well groomed; there were leaves and sticks from the million campus trees littering the grass. Middlepath, which runs through campus is gravel, so it amazes me that YES, there were girls in flip flops in January.</p>
<p>The campus is isolated. And although that was a turnoff to our daughter at first, how often do students go off campus anyway? General necessities are available and I understand that there are shuttles into Mt. Vernon, a few miles away.</p>
<p>With all that said, have a great visit.</p>
<p>This board is closely watched by Kenyon admissions, and to their credit, they were very kind and did address the situation. With respect to the above post, the open mouthed gum chewing was the issue, not so much the flip flops in the Fall. Juicy: Mt. Vernon is hardly a town. It is a small farming village. Columbus is a wonderful city about an hour and ten minutes away. College kids leave campus frequently, especially at small schools. The President of Kenyon has spoken and written on the difficulty of attracting males to small liberal arts schools ( actually it may have been the dean of admissions, a woman who has addressed this issue). The magnificent gymnasium was built, in part at least, to combat drinking related activities that can get out of hand at small, isolated, rural schools. This issue has been addressed by several LAC leaders including the President of Middlebury College when attempting to get the legal drinking age lowered to 18 to coincide with the realities of closed door and binge drinking on small rural campuses. Mallomar: Don't know where the "bleached blondes" or "heavily made up girls" comments come from. But if that's your thing, go for it!</p>
<p>Lastly, the KAC was not constructed to stop drinking, it was built to attract top athletes and provide better recreation for the community and students who pay $$$$/year.</p>
<p>The impressions I posted were general impressions of the campus in response to Juicy's original inquiry, nothing more.</p>
<p>Not bitter in the least, and yes he does, and Mt. Vernon is a farming village. Your rudeness is inexcusable and childish. Are you a Kenyon student? Kenyon has quite openly addressed drinking issues at the school a few years ago. Your response is uncalled for and way too emotional. Mallomar: What do you think of Kenyon students now? The Dean of Admissions at Kenyon has addressed the issue regarding the difficulty of attracting males to LACs in a major national newspaper article within the past 12 or so months. I believe that it was in the New York Times. I believe that there was even a drinking related death or two at Kenyon within the past few years, many emergency room visits by students for alcohol related incidents that, in part, furthered the push to erect the gym and all of its amazing facilities. Much, if not all of this, can be found in past issues of the local paper and in prior postings by others on CC about a year ago. Kenyon is a wonderful school with amazing facilities and a very caring group of administrators and educators that are dealing with real world issues in an effective manner.</p>
<p>Thank you guys for your answers and honesty!</p>
<p>well, back to the OP...my visit to Kenyon was seriously amazing.</p>
<p>I visited like the day classes were starting in the fall, and everything was gorgeous and green. there was a farmers market on middle path, amish people riding up and down the coble stone road. </p>
<p>It was also the day when all of the clubs were out trying to convince people to join, and i spent like 30 mins talking to a senior about sustainable farming and eating local food. he gave me peas from their garden. they were delicious.</p>
<p>then we stood in line for lunch, and kenyon students just came up and started talking to us. the ones that couldn't stop to talk just yelled "COME TO KENYON!"</p>
<p>it was my favorite college visit, and moved kenyon up to #2 on my list, before it was near the bottom. </p>
<p>Have fun!</p>
<p>Kenyon guides wearing flip flops in the winter is totally charming to me. The gum also doesn't bother me. Kenyon kids to me are focused on creative thinking, cooperative learning, intense work, minute attention to what's important and little attention to formalities...the kind of people who bring innovation into the world. I work on Wall Street and it's the quirky brilliant people who do the best work. Love it.</p>
<p>Thanks! I like to wear flip flops in the dead of winter as well, so that is definitely a nice quirk.</p>
<p>Minor point of correction: Mount Vernon, Ohio is technically a "city" of 14,400 people. That's more than twice the size of the "City of Hudson," a town along the Hudson River not too far from where I live that has become a hot weekend destination for Manhattanites who are interested in the arts and antiques. </p>
<p>I guess if you live in the Bronx (or Westchester or Nassau County or wherever) Mount Vernon might seem like a "farming village," but for those of us who live in real farming villages we know the real thing when we see them. Mount Vernon is, incidentally, the county seat of Knox County, Ohio -- which is a real agricultural county. And, not to be argumentative, but I think it's more accurate to say that Kenyon is surrounded by trees than it is to say it is surrounded by cornfields (although there's lots of maize nearby).</p>