jacobmatias

My son is choosing between these two schools. He is most interested in creative writing, which neither Swarthmore nor Kenyon has as a major, but rather as a concentration. He would like to get a PHD in English / Creative Writing after college.

Does anybody here has experience with creative writing concentration at Kenyon and what are your thoughts on it? Are students who are doing this concentration happy with the program? Will there be enough free time at Kenyon for writing outside school work? Any other considerations that would come into play for a writer at Kenyon?

Another consideration, although not as large for us as the quality of the program, is that Kenyon after financial aid is about $8,000 a year cheaper than Swarthmore.

I posted similar questions in the Swarthmore forum to get a different perspective.

Thank you for your help.

lexieam

Go to Swarthmore, they have amazing connections and a great program! Also, have your son visit the schools and talk to the professors!

pennypac

I can only reply to you, the both of you, the two of you together, with an anecdote the veracity of which drips with the oleaginous mouthfeel of unctuous butter. I attended a Kenyon College meet and greet back in 2005 with my daughter and had the misfortune of stumbling into the most supercilious buffoon you could ever imagine, who's daughter (he was surreptitiously proud to sing) had been accepted, how do they call it, . . . early? This papier mache man was really silly, and seemed offended when, after letting slip that his son was "going" to Stanford--and I replied, "Oh, Stanford, I know that school. Isn't that somewhere in Arizona?"--looked at me as if his entire life had been drained of its vital force. And yet, what was worst about this fellow was not his utter invisibility. No, it was the stench of his breath that smelled like the very thing of death itself. I could barely stand next to him as he spoke his trifle. Well, his daughter did end up "going" to Kenyon--my own daughter ran into her on several occasions--but she transferred to Swarthmore her sophomore year. I wish only the best for her and hope with all my heart that she graduated a happy person.

mythmom

Dear friend son's has been extremely happy with Kenyon's creative writing program. The young man has finished a very long novel with the support of the Kenyon faculty.

This says nothing about the Swarthmore program which may be superior for all I know. The meager second anecdote is all I have to offer.