KVA420

I'd like to do English at Kenyon, but I know it has one of the best English programs out there and I'm not really sure what my chances are...

3.77 ish GPA, unweighted
My school refuses to weight GPAs, or to put them on a 4 point scale (my transcript says 94.37, not 3.7)
They also don't give us a class rank, so I can't really provide that info. It's a pretty small prep school in Virginia. Most of our classes are pretty rigorous (even the non-APs), definitely more so than at the public schools in the area. We don't have much of a reputation to out of state schools though - especially not those outside of Virginia. A pretty high percentage of people who graduate my school end up at UVA or Virginia Tech.

My SATs are kinda low:
math - 640 (just retook them, hopefully this went up considerably)
c.r - 740
writing - 690 (i'm hoping this went up some too - i'm a fairly good writer, I would say, so I'm not sure why it was so low in the first place)
National Merit Commended Student (commeded scholar? can't remember the official title)

AP US History-5
AP English Lang-4
AP Spanish-5
AP World History-3 (sophmore year)
(AP Scholar with Honors)

Freshman and sophmore years I was in honors math classes, junior year I took precalc and now I'm taking AP Calc (and struggling a lot - I'm an english person)

This year I'm taking:
AP Bio, AP Gov, AP Calc, AP Lit, and Spanish lit (this will my 6th year of Spanish)


ECs
band - all four years - i play the sax
spanish club - all four years - copresident this year
model UN - junior and senior year - president this year
national honor society - 10 - 12 (junior national honor society in 9th grade)
varsity field hockey - all 4 years
varsity lacrosse -all 4 years
I've volunteered with my area rec center and coached 10 - 12 year olds in volleyball (fall and spring) 9th, 10th and 11th grade
and I also volunteered at a children's hospice this summer
This isn't an E.C, but I also recieved a Scholarship Award from my school (Brian Slattery McCann Memorial Scholarship award, if the name is at all important)

hm I'm not sure if this actually matters at all, I have a feeling it does not, but it's on the common app so i thought i'd throw it on here: i also have a dual citizenship with canada.

any help is appreciated...is there any hope for me with my mediocre SATs?
thanks!

rdt425

Your SAT scores are not as bad as you think. You probably fall slightly above the 50th percentile for Kenyon. Standardized test scores, although important, are not as important as your GPA and having a rigorous course load.

The best thing you can do, since you already retook the SAT, is to work on your essays. It is expected that you will be able to write well. Be quirky/creative. Kenyon looks for students who show interest and enthusiasm. Visit campus if possible, and definitely interview.

collegefreshie

For kenyon you truly need to stand out. I submitted DVDs and art portfolios. If you have an essay you're proud of, send it in. Show them that you're worth it!

neumes

collegefreshie, can you give more info about arts supplements? My S is v. interested in Kenyon and has strong background in music and photography. He was thinking of a CD with singing in addition to a portfolio of 10 photos. The Common Application isn't too clear about this. What was your DVD, if you don't mind telling us?

rdt425

If your son is interested in art and music, you can submit a cd of your artwork or a music recording to the admissions office and they will have the respective faculty members review it. I think you should know that this is the first year that Kenyon will offer scholarships for music and art. Between 4 and 6 students will be selected for a scholarship up to $12,000, renewable for 4 years. Music applicants will be narrowed down to a group of finalists who will audition on campus in February. Studio art applicants will interview with the faculty members.

If you want more information, or need a copy of the scholarship forms, they can be found here on the Kenyon website:

for music: Music Scholarship - Kenyon College
for art: Studio Art Scholarship - Kenyon College

Both the application for the scholarship and the Kenyon application will need to be completed by December 15th.

If you have any other questions about music at Kenyon, feel free to post on here or PM me. I am a senior music major and I also work as an interviewer in the admissions office, so I can answer questions from more than one perspective.

neumes

rdt425, fantastic response. Many thanks for your answer and for the links.

collegefreshie

I submitted a DVD with a performance of a Chinese project a friend and I did that included writing Chinese lyrics and composing our own music. I also submitted a full-color 10 piece art portfolio.

neumes

Thanks, collegefreshie. This is useful info.