Hello! It’s the last quarter of junior year and everything is moving as expected (read: really quickly.) I’m not exactly thrilled to be back in school, but I did have a good break! Anyway, during that week I visited Grinnell, Oberlin, and Kenyon, and got some valuable insight into schools that seemed pretty similar on paper. Without further ado, here are my totally subjective impressions of these places:
Oberlin: I didn’t think it was too rural at all! I liked the campus itself and the town seemed cozy. However, not much else enticed me to apply. The tour guide was a senior theater major who had been a tour guide for the past few years but still seemed oddly nervous and not composed throughout the tour. Whenever she spoke about academics, it felt like she made an effort to downplay the academic intensity of the school lest we feel overwhelmed, and never once talked about her own experiences with her professors or advisers. Also, I’m not personally a fan of the Winter Term Project, which would require me to spend January designing an academic project for three out of the four years. It’s a nice option, but I don’t necessarily want to commit to working through winter break. We were shown a dorm that seemed way too large, and she admitted that she felt bad because no dorms are actually that big.
The info session was better, but it showed me that this wasn’t the school for me. There was a lot of emphasis on personal growth over four years, but almost no talk about what students did after graduation. I value learning for the sake of learning, but I also recognize that I’m going to need to get a job at the end of four years. Ultimately, there was a vibe that I can’t quite explain now that told me I didn’t want to be here.
Kenyon: Beautiful, beautiful campus. Mount Vernon is almost twice the size of my town, so I’m not concerned about the location. I loved that the campus was integrated with Gambier, and I didn’t even mind the hills. There was clearly school spirit among the students even if it was more understated, and I appreciated that. It seemed like the school had a certain humanities/social sciences bent which I’m not sure if I like because I think I want something a little more well-rounded. There seemed to be less of a focus on social activism and politics and more emphasis on Greek life and athletics (neither of which are relevant to my interests) but it didn’t feel overwhelming at all. I think I could find my crowd here and have a great four years. I clicked more with my interviewer than I did with the tour guide or with the student involved in the admissions presentation.
Grinnell: By far the most remote, but also by far my favorite. I felt like there was a really good balance in the academic interests of the students but that most of them came together when it came to politics/activism and the myriad of resources and opportunities available for students was the most impressive of any school I’d toured. The tour and info session ran really smoothly. They chose to have four tour guides take a grand total of seven students on a tour, and that kind of intimacy made an impression. We had about an hour to kill before my interview, so we headed to the cafeteria for lunch and naturally got lost only to be approached by a kind admissions person who essentially walked us to where we needed to go. I just felt welcome! Plus, the food was really good. The way my interviewer described the Grinnell community was right in line with how I felt about the school and was exactly the type of community I wanted to be a part of. The finances are such a long shot, but a kid can dream.
Sorry this is absurdly long!
But it’s still interesting to hear about what you do and don’t like about it.