Kenyon College is a free-spirited, quaint-but-mighty private liberal arts school in Gambier, Ohio. As intimate a college town as they come, Gambier has zero stoplights and is the hill-top home of this bastion of higher learning where 100% of students live on campus. The average acceptance rate is 34%.
In addition to its close-knit community, other unique aspects of Kenyon include its Middle Path, the walkway and “village green” that connects all parts of campus; its 1,200-acre rural campus that acts as a “living laboratory”; and its ability to combine outside-the-box thinking with academic excellence. For example, despite having a total undergraduate population of just 1,877 students, Kenyon has produced over 130 Fulbright scholars in the last 15 years. Far from being a pre-professional factory or corporate pipeline, Kenyon has an average class size of 15 students, and 30% of students major in natural sciences. Lastly, it puts a great deal of emphasis on writing for all students, regardless of major — as home to one of the oldest and most prestigious literary magazines in the country (The Kenyon Review), Kenyon believes “ that good writing is good thinking” and that clear communication of our ideas “moves us closer to shared understanding.” Incidentally, 100% of young alumni report that they learned to write better at Kenyon.
Given Kenyon’s eccentric and rigorous school spirit, combined with its small annual class size, no one is a shoo-in here.
No Supplement? No Problem
As you may have guessed from our sub-header here, Kenyon does not have a supplemental essay. However, you don’t want your application to land like a tree that falls in a forest with no one around to hear it (does it make a sound?? hello? is this thing on?!). No, you need to stand out. So, instead, you’re going to send an email to their office at admissions@kenyon.edu.
Your email should strike the right balance of personable yet professional: sound friendly, familiar, and enthusiastic, but don’t be informal. Consider this email the virtual equivalent of that “strong handshake” your dad is always going on about. It should be warm, efficient, well-structured, and hearty. It should not feel sweaty or cut off blood-circulation.
Well, that should cover it — good luck!
Just kidding. Our advice is to write an email that feels organic and flows naturally but still hits all the major requirements of a “why this college” essay. Here’s the formula we give our clients when they’re sending emails to demonstrate interest at schools that don’t have supplements:
Say hello. Introduce yourself and explain that you’re reaching out because the Common App didn’t provide a space for you to express your interest in Kenyon, and you’d like to tell them why you’re eager to attend.
Summarize your backstory. This should sum up your academic and personal history. Remember, you want admissions officers to remember you as a unique three-dimensional person, so this is where you get across your personality and share how you discovered your intellectual passion. Tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end that encapsulates this journey, and include a sentence designating what you’d like to major in. For example, our imaginary applicant Janet Doe could say that an assignment sophomore year — reading Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie — led her to realize she loves not just literature but the embodied, narrative genres that breathe life into a story. After spending her upperclassmen years studying hybrid work, she’d like to major in creative writing and theater at Kenyon, where she could continue to work on experimental plays, choreopoems, and performance art.
Reference research you’ve done on Kenyon. This is perhaps the most important part of your email. You’ve given your background, but that doesn’t mean much if you don’t explain to admissions how Kenyon specifically could help you achieve your goals. Remember, they know what their school has to offer. This section is less about listing Kenyon’s general accolades and more about defining how you would take advantage of the school’s unique opportunities to contribute to its scholastic reputation and become an engaged member of the community. In order to do this, reference 1-2 upper-level classes you’d like to take (courses you could only find at Kenyon — not Psych 101, which is taught everywhere) and a professor whose work interests you. You can highlight this professor as someone you’d like to work with, whether by taking their class, researching in their lab, or seeking out their career mentorship. Our aspiring playwright could share her desire to take English 310 (“Narrative Theory”) which would help her answer the questions that drove her to apply to Kenyon — why do we tell stories, what do stories say about our individual and cultural psychologies, and to what extent do they represent or reshape or dictate our realities? She could also highlight access to exclusive internships through the Kenyon Review Student Associates Program.
Say how you’ll get involved with campus life. Kenyon, like most colleges, has a plethora of extracurriculars (120+ student clubs and organizations, actually). Don’t forget to show your well-rounded interests and preview the person you’ll be outside of the classroom. Especially here, where all students reside on campus, a lot of life happens on college grounds, and admissions will want to know that you’ll engage with your peers and be a benefit to their lively community.
Make sure that your email doesn’t exceed 350 words, or 400 at the very most. You want to respect the time admissions is taking to read this, especially because this is not a supplementary message they asked for students to provide. Give your email a final once over, and just like that — you’re ready to sign off and head out to Ohio.
Wondering how to contact the other schools on your list? Get in touch with us here today.