Kenyon College Top Questions

Kenyon's academic culture revolves around a sort of culture of common pursuit. You aren't sequestered by discipline here--I've had math and music majors in my political theory courses--and if you're looking for a lot of competition in your studying, you're not going to find it. I've found that--with a few exceptions--Kenyon students shy away from talking about how much work they have and tend to frown upon comparing scores. Of course we have our freakout weekends and our all-nighters, but we go through those trying times together, as friends and fellow students. I love my professors. I haven't been as bold about building relationships with them, which has been one of my biggest regrets as a student, because I find that the student-professor relationship is one of the best things about Kenyon. I've gone to professors' houses for dinner and eaten brunch with them at Middle Ground; I see my advisor at the church on campus. Classes are small--I think the biggest course on campus in terms of enrollment is a intro Bio course, and even then I'm pretty sure they split people up into smaller lab groups. As a humanities/social sciences kid, I think my biggest class has been about 40 people. I don't think it's hard at all to complete the diversification requirements. The whole academic culture at Kenyon, which encourages exploration and branching out, lends itself well to completing diversification. Students will take Economics just for fun and find out later that it completed their quantitative reasoning requirement--surprise, you took a math class!

I have yet to be in a class in which the professor doesn't know my name after a week of classes, which says something, because I'm in Intro Psych, which is one of the largest classes on campus. My teachers care just as much about my education as I do, which lends itself to a wonderful academic environment. It is very common to see people walking or eating with professors. I've certainly done it. The program here is good as well. I'm a Drama major, and will likely pick up Philosophy as well. The drama department is one of the most professional I've seen, and my philosophy teacher is the best teacher I've ever had.

Academics are tough, but up to par with some of the best high schools in the nation. College is so different from high school; there is much more unstructured time in which you decide whether or not to use for academics. But class sizes are small and teachers definitely know if you are not keeping up with the reading or the assignments. And they are not afraid to fail you.

This really depends on the department. As a molecular biology major, pursuing honors research, I'm on a first name basis with every biology and chemistry professor, even if I've never had them for a class. The department is small but manages to do a lot. If research is your thing, Kenyon is the place to be. While our lab facilities don't live up to a Research I university, there are tons of opportunities for students to get involved in research with professors, including a summer fellowship. Most departments are big enough that if you just want to float by semi-anonymously, you can but small enough that if you make any kind of effort you can be really involved.

Kenyon students are not competitive in general. However, that does not mean that we don't strive for the highest grade. It's just that we work with one another, together. Kenyon classes are challenging, even with non-science classes. I got to spend time with many professor outside of class. I would meet them for questions in class or just seeing them outside of class and talk. Kenyon's education does not prepare you for a job, just for the sake of learning many different things. That's the best part.

Amazing...wonderful...some classes are way eaiser than expected, but given that other are insanely challenging in the best ohmygosh-i-would-have-never-thought-of-that-but-thats-so-true-and-brillient way, its a nice balence.

I know professors by name. Although since I am still used to calling my elders by their last names, that has still stuck with me. But once a professor is comfortable, as I know it will happen, then they will speak to you as friend. But don't get the idea that all the professor will speak down to you, not here at Kenyon.

Every professor knows my name, even some whose classes I have never taken. Kenyon students sometimes have intellectual conversations outside of class; it does exist, but gossip is more prevalent than political discussions. Learning at Kenyon is very liberal arts in nature, almost to an extreme. The president especially has expressed contempt for career-oriented education, and for this perceived elitism she has received much criticism from alumni.

Professors are very friendly and hardly stand-offish at all here. Every student has a faculty adviser--I have nothing but praise for mine. In terms of classes, they're generally very good, given that you're actually interested in the topic. I've made a couple of mistakes by taking some classes that it turns out, I have no interest in. Class discussions are generally very laid-back, and not heated at all, as can be conversations outside of class. We're very much a "learning for learning's sake" campus--although if that turns you away from the school, know that most companies are looking for trainable graduates, not necessarily people who already have a degree pertinent to their field.

I love the academics here at Kenyon... and the fact that students actually care about their classes! In high school my friends would give me a hard time for putting so much work into my homework assignments, but here that's expected of you. That being said, classes are challenging, but definitely not overbearing. They're doable. Class sizes are very small. Even as a freshman, my largest class size is an Intro Psych class with about 25 students. Classes are interactive and engaging. In high school I had problems paying attention to teachers lecture, but at Kenyon I have no problem with that. All of my professors know me by name, even in the classes that I don't participate in as often. Kenyon's requirements are very easy to work with. There are a few general requirements, but they're very flexible! For instance, I'll probably never take an English class here (even though Kenyon is known for it's English department!), because Spanish fulfills my humanities requirement.