Kenyon College Admission
Kenyon College Undergraduate Program
Kenyon College Application

The Facts

Kenyon College is a small liberal arts and sciences college located in the town of Gambier, Ohio, and is home to over 1,600 undergraduate students. The college puts an emphasis on international studies, and combines a traditional liberal arts education with interdisciplinary classes. The school is perhaps best known for its fantastic English program (E.L. Doctorow is a graduate) as well as its stellar performing arts programs (Alison Janney and Paul Newman are also graduates.) The school offers its students over 25 majors among its several departments; some of the most popular choices include English, political science, psychology, history, and international studies.

Admission to Kenyon College is quite competitive, particularly for a school of such diminutive size. Last year, over 3,500 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 1,500 of those students were accepted; of those, about 450 matriculated. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1220 to 1410, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 27 to 32. Additionally, over 88% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of 3.76.

Kenyon College has a terrific student to faculty ratio of 10:1, and is actually rare to find a class with more than 14 students. The professors are generally extremely accessible, and are always ready to help a student who may require some extra attention. In fact, Kenyon professors are even known to give out their home phone numbers in order to be available 24-7 to their students. The academic atmosphere at Kenyon is very intense, and students generally take their studies very seriously. However, students say that they don’t really feel an unhealthy sense of competition, and the atmosphere is generally quite supportive among students, and they are always willing to help each other out.

The Social Scene

The town of Gambier, Ohio is quite small, and is basically located out in the middle of nowhere. Obviously, the town doesn’t offer students much in the way of excitement, so it's really up to the students to create their own fun, and they seem to be fairly good at it. There are several national fraternities and sororities at the school, and they are known for throwing some pretty raucous parties that are extremely popular with students. The administration tends to turn a blind eye to partying, so students happily spend their weekends drinking and relaxing after a long, hard academic week.

Sports are also a big deal, and the oddly named Lords and Ladies are a member of the NCAA Division III. Both the men and women’s swimming teams have been extremely successful in recent years, and a surprising amount of students show up to meets to cheer them on.

The dating scene is pretty vibrant, although not incredibly diverse. There isn’t really much else to do, so expect a lot of dating... Yippee!

What’s Good

“There is such an incredible sense of community here. It’s easy to adopt this place as your second home.”

“The dorms are great, and always accessible, even to upper-classmen, which is a perk.”

“The English program is amazing, and our professors are some of the best writers in the nation.”

What’s Bad

“I feel a bit too babied sometimes. There’s always someone there holding your hand, and it gets kind of overwhelming.”

“The party scene can get kind of out of hand on the weekends. Sometimes, you just want to sleep.”

“Everyone here is really rich, white, and fairly conservative. There’s no variety.”

Let the Penn Group help you apply to college.

• View our services
• Send a request now
• Read articles about applying to college