Sorry, I’ve lost track, @Lindagraf. Are the costs the same for Kenyon and Dickinson?
@LucieTheLakie Dickinson is cheaper. But it isn’t the primary factor.
Just had a funny conversation with D. She isn’t going to Whitman ( @doschicos , I hear you already), but she thinks it sounds like a totally great school. She says we need to tell everyone about it and that more East Coast kids need to apply there. (We live on the East Coast, but she failed to see the irony, haha!) She is now feeling very sorry for the colleges she has rejected, especially Clark and Whitman, both of which make numerous appearances in the Princeton Review lists.
She is wondering why Clark and Whitman have relatively high acceptance rates when they clearly have a lot of great qualities and smart students. I am wondering that myself. Especially Clark, which is easily accesible to East Coast kids for sure. Is it just like real estate, as in location, location, location?
Yup, at least in Whitman’s case. I’m sure it would be much more selective if it was in New England. It’s just a hike to get to.
Well - some colleges really do try to game the system and increase applications to make the numbers look better. Fee waivers, lots of outreach and mailings etc. For some schools that can artificially inflate the selectivity. Some schools really go after that, others don’t
I’m not knowledgeable about either (although a friend’s English major daughter loves Kenyon), but I have a couple suggestions besides the very good advice above.
Look at the course catalogs for her areas of interest – does one offer more options than the other, are there classes that get her excited about attending?
My son has concerns about finding the right career path; he got very excited about career centers and internship opportunities. For a LA major who doesn’t want to go straight to grad or professional school (can’t remember if she had any specific goals in that area, but assume that she doesn’t), she might benefit from a well-staffed and helpful career center. If the fit for both is good, it’s worth looking to see if there are any obvious differences.
Good luck. Such great choices.
Having not read a single post on this thread, I’m going to answer the question anyway and with complete disregard for manners (hehe):
The cool kids go home to the school that offers the best “fit”.
Or…
They go to UW-Madison. Numen Lumen! (only UW would come up with a “Latin” phrase that isn’t actually proper Latin…like it’s satire. haha)
Well thank you @prezbucky . I shall keep your suggestions in mind for my 15 year old:-)
This is really splitting hairs. I know happy students (and awesome graduates) of both schools. And while I’ve never visited Kenyon, I read the book AND saw the movie. 
“Alma Mater”: http://www.amazon.com/Alma-Mater-A-College-Homecoming/dp/020148935X
“Liberal Arts”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqIuv_JX5wM
As a former English/Psych student myself, I’d give the edge to Kenyon, if only because the school is slightly more selective and the campus famously beautiful.
Dickinson was nice enough, but after several college visits, it kind of got lost in the haze. And I’d really looked forward to visiting there with my son, but he and I were both rather underwhelmed. (In fairness, we had that reaction to a lot of the SLACs we visited.)
Good luck!
@prezbucky did UW steal that phrase (Nume Lumen) from ElonU, or the other way around?
I’m betting on UW having it first… though I bet this will turn into another “we were the first to jingle our keys during kickoff” feud like we have with northwestern. Being much cooler than northwestern, obviously Badgers innovated that one. hehe
Edit: UW began with Numen Lumen circa 1854. Elon’s first year as a school was 1889.
Clark wants a certain type of student. And certain types of students gravitate to Clark. It’s applicant pool is not broad, but it is smart and creative.
1 Like
Agreed @brantly . But I still don’t understand why it isn’t more popular. The NE is densely populated and there are so many smart, creative students. I think it just doesn’t have the name recognition.
We looked at Clark and the neighborhood kind of killed it for us. Well me, at least. I have no issue at all with urban areas (Temple made the list) but that area just depressed me.
I know kids at both Kenyon (2) and Dickinson (1). The K kids are loving it, the D kid wanted to transfer but is sticking it out. There’s my minute sample of opinion for you 
I think Kenyon is probably the school to pick if your daughter is okay with it’s small population and rural location. I have been keeping my eye on Kenyon and it seems to be moving up the ladder every year. I think it’s just a matter of time before it’s one of the very top LACs along with Amherst et al. If your daughter isn’t sure she might as well go with the prestige factor
Well Kenyon has a hill to climb to make it to Williams or Amherst, Swat, Pomona… but it’s among the top 30 (or so) LACs anyway. Quite a good school.
@prezbucky I agree, but it’s come a long way. It’s now on people’s radars, the same people who at one point only left the east coast for Ohio in order to attend Oberlin. Just watch, it’s the next big thing. I predict Denison and College of Wooster will also start climbing the ranks.
Well, for every school that moves up the ranks, someone has to move down. That’s why its challenging. But, they all are becoming more selective.
Does an increase in selectivity make a school better per se?
I suppose if you considered the student as part of the university, you could say that the university (or college) is better if better students are in it.
But if you are the student, doesn’t quality have more to do with the quality of teaching and opportunities?
@prezbucky Agreed, and that is why our LAC research included where faculty received their Ph.D, as a marker for quality of faculty. Did not surprise us to find that, at least in target humanities and social science departments, there was not a noticeable difference in faculty training between. tippy top LACs and those in the USNews mid50s. Other metrics, including lower acceptance rates and peer and counselor rankings, contribute to US news rankings, not faculty training per se.
@prezbucky , Kenyon is 25 on USNWR for LACs. Forbes ranks it 60 for private colleges. That’s pretty good I reckon:-)
Kenyon had 8 profs in Princeton Reviews list of 300 best profs in the country. I think that is very respectable. Carleton had one. I was surprised by this, as Carleton is more highly ranked. Amherst has two, Swat has one. Just had to look, being obsessive.