Kenyon College Top Questions

Kenyon has great academics. One can find joke courses or less-than-par teachers who seem uninspired or of the same or a less level of education the the average student; but, if you care about what you study, you will rarely fail to find something great.

The English department, our largest and most well respected department, is highly overrated. The creative writing program is particularly bad. Visiting writer positions (visiting writers are the lifeblood of any small program) are handed out for political reasons. The staff poets are not especially accomplished, either as poets or as pedagogues. The students like to think of themselves as writers, but, on the whole, are not well read and not very talented.

The small school size allows for small class sizes. Professors know all their students' names (except for intro level lecture courses). Most students study a lot, and in general the academics are difficult, but manageable. Students are not very competitive. Also, it's fairly easy to get into the classes that one wants. The requirements are acceptable by my standards.

Professors here are great. The majority of the classes here are twenty people or under, but even in the larger classes the professors make an effort to know your name. And they all have office hours where you can go in to talk about an assignment, a test, or just to chat. One time I went into my creative writing professor's office and he ended up pulling out journals he had from when he was a little kid and we swapped tales about the ridiculous stories we'd written as kids. Pair that with my /Paradise Lost/ teacher, a class with about 70 people in it, who knew my name when I went into his office and said to me as I was leaving, "Ms. Day, please forgive me for poking fun at you, it's all in good spirits." Almost every professor I've ever taken a class with still remembers me and says hello to me around campus. They probably know their students so well because class participation is a big focus here--teachers often don't lecture all the time, but instead insist on students adding their opinion and occasionally engaging in debate.

Academics at Kenyon are close-knit and very important. Everyone at Kenyon has some kind of academic pursuit that they care about, and you do find kids having conversations about classes at dinner tables or even parties - discussing the Civil Rights Movement or the merits of a stream-of-conscience narrative over beers. Professors are laid-back and honestly care about getting to know students, especially in upper-level classes. I've found them all to be very helpful during office hours, even if you're a non-major, if you put work and time into the class. Participation if very common, but the academic atmosphere is friendly. My favorite classes have been in the history department - Roman history and African American history, and also Creative Fiction (short story writing). The education is the part of Kenyon that I value the most (and the reason I haven't transferred) - it's a true, classic liberal arts education that is not pre-professionally geared, but for the sake of learning itself. That said, I would NOT recommend the freshmen IPHS class.

The distribution requirements can be tricky to follow--read the course book carefully. Also, if you want to major in certain fields (Bio, Chem, maybe Eng), you just about need to take an intro level class as a freshman. Some of the classes that are meant to help people get distribution requirements done (Intro Psych, Art History) can be bad or good, depending on the prof...try and talk to people about it! All of that aside, I've loved most of my classes. Most professors really enjoy thier subjects and are willing to discuss points of interest. Class participation really depends on the class and the professor (and the time slot!). Several of my profs give daily reading quizzes to make sure that everyone's done the reading, which is really good in a seminar class--it means everyone is prepared!

The academics of Kenyon are top quality. The professors here take time to get to know you and will look as you as peers. As a result, the typical Kenyon professor is dynamic and and wants to see you improve as a student. The students here are (generally) not competitve.

The professors know who you are very quickly, since many of the classes are small. There's a lot of studying that goes on here since the level of academic excellence they expect you to be at is high. The academic advisers for the most part are helpful as well, though I have heard stories from people whose advisers are unhelpful. Class participation is very common, especially in seminars. In a way, most people are competitive, but it's never verbally discussed, as are grades. Intellectual conversations take place anywhere at anytime. There's never a dull moment when it comes to talking politics or philosophy. I love my seminar on the Black Public Sphere this semester because it takes a topic people rarely hear of and looks at it from different angles. The writing portion is hard, but it's a skill we need to learn. Kenyon's academic requirements aren't too bad. I don't have to take math or English or chemistry anymore. I plan to major in International Studies and Sociology. The Sociology program is awesome, but I don't like that you cannot focus on an established area of the world (i.e. Western Europe) for International Studies, so I've had to work my way around that. I wish they would offer minors in languages such as Spanish or French or in Political Science. The education is geared towards more education as well as getting a job.

The professors know their students well. Classes are small and supportive. Some professors can even tell how a student is feeling based on the work that student turns in. Of course, that kind of knowledge depends on class, how much you interact with a professor, and in some cases, the department. I'm an English major, and despite the fact that it is one of the largest departments in the school, class sizes are still pretty small- small enough that all the professors know the kids in their classes and remember them from year to year. We're not a very competitive school. No one knows their class rank until graduation, and it doesn't matter. Academic support can be found in a number of different places, and the first place most people start is with their friends. Kenyon is definitely about learning for its own sake, to the extent that some departments discourage professors from talking about practical job hunting skills or career opportunities. It can be stressful when you're an English major with no direction.

The relationship between professors and students is one that is very intimate. I have been over to multiple of my professor's houses whether it was just as a visit, or to eat dinner with the class. The classes are generally challenging although there are certain classes which are harder than others. I have learned a great deal, and have been able to reach out to many areas of academia which I may have not been able to at a different school.