Kenyon College Top Questions

Racial groups are sparce on campus, as well as soci-economic groups. Financial aid should be awarded to far more students than it is, considering the price of Kenyon. Students are predominantly left, which gives the campus a liberal pull. Many students who come to Kenyon are intraverted, as we see on middle path as students walk past each other silently, and in their own little worlds.

Religious and LGBT groups, as well as other groups from dodgeball to a film making club are very active on campus. Each semester a fair is held so that students have the opportunity to get information on all the groups. While groups such as frats and sports teams tend to stick together, none of them are exclusive and the members have many friends outside of the group as well. Since Kenyon draws wealthy students and artsy students, classwear is anything from a dress and heels to ripped jeans and flannel.

The Kenyon campus is very open. Students, professors, as well as administrators take part in the LGBT community. Every student has his/her people which they can hang out with and relate to. Most students dress presentably to class. However, everyone has their days and sometimes their bad week. I guess a lot of the students here come from wealthy backgrounds, however, I think Kenyon does a good making all of the students fit in.

raciaL: i'm one of like three mexicans religious: there is a church on campus but I don't know one person who has bene to it socio-economic: upper-middle class; upper class out of place: minority from a lower socio-economic class different types of students do not interact tables are separated by one sport you play most kenyon student's are from the east coast. predominantly left

Kenyon is mostly white, but I don't think this has a huge effect on diversity. I have met rich kids, middle-class kids, and poor kids from all over the country - in most cases, I have not found that their race was a defining feature in their character or sense of self. Most of my friends are international students, so even though they are light-skinned, I have learned a lot about diverse cultures, from Chinese to Romanian. Most students wear what they are comfortable with wearing - I have seen skirts, Uggs, leggings, skinny jeans, t-shirts, baggy pants, worn-out sweaters, jeans, sweatpants, boots, sandals, and more. For the most part, only kids who put time into their wardrobe put time into noticing what other people are wearing. Most people do not care enough to judge other people based on their clothes, unless they smell. Since Kenyon is small, students from all age groups, all grades, all ethnicities, etc. interact in class, in their dorms, and extracurricular activities. I can usually find people to eat with at any meal, even though they are not the same people each time. A lot of students come from the East Coast and most students are liberal-middle, politically. Most students do not have a life-long goal of becoming really rich, although some may dream. Kenyon is very generous with financial aid, but because tuition is so expensive and Kenyon only has a limited amount of money to give, there seems to be a huge pay gap that is a small reflection of what is happening in the economy nationwide. Middle-class families who make too much money to qualify for financial aid can't afford to come to Kenyon, so there are generally more rich or poor students than middle class students.

Kenyon is not especially religious. There are not a huge amount of non-white people here, but we're working on it, and it's respectable. I would feel comfortable sitting down at any table of friends (not so much at a frat or team table). Kenyon leans to the left, but is blessedly free of the uniqueness contest I saw at so many colleges like Sarah Lawrence.

Because Kenyon is an expensive, private, liberal arts college, it's mostly made up wealthy white kids. The "minority" percentage of students is about 14{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}. However, we have the Unity House which does lots of LGBT programs, the Snowden Multicultural Center, Black Student Union, etc. There are black and white kids in the gospel choir. Students hail from all over the country and a number of foreign countries to, and I'm willing to guess that about the half students come from private schools and half from public high schools. There's definitely some snobbery. For instance, I had a friend here whose dad is the vice president of a major company. Once when we were in his car, my friend asked me what I thought of his car. I said, "It's really nice," and it was. He actually said, "Yeah, this is what happens when your family does very well for itself." However, most people don't shove it in your face if they've got money. Personally, I went to a public school with 2,200 kids. Fights in the halls were common. You don't find too many students from that kind of high school here. I think the people who feel most out of place here are the ones who barricade themselves in their rooms and don't make an effort to get to know people. People aren't just going to come to you-- you have to go to them. At the dining hall, most people sit with the people who live on their hall. I don't mind eating meals by myself sometimes; it's not seen as weird. Students are very politically active. They're overwhelmingly democratic and liberal. I'm sure there were people who voted for Bush in 2004, but I only knew one person and he didn't make it common knowledge.