Kenyon wins praise in Times, college guides

Kenyon basked in its share of national recognition this summer, reaping praise in the annual crop of college guides, rankings, and education supplements.

Perhaps the most noteworthy tribute came in the 2007 Kaplan/Newsweek How to Get Into College Guide , where the College is described as one of the twenty-five "New Ivies." The article counts Kenyon among a group of "world-class schools" with "great academics and first-rate faculties," appealing to students looking beyond Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. It highlights the College's combination of intellectual rigor and friendly collaboration, while also mentioning the low student-faculty ratio, small average class size, and sense of community. "Kenyon is often called a writer's college," the guide says, noting that authors such as E.L. Doctorow and Laura Hillenbrand were students. As a plus, says Kaplan/Newsweek , "Students can stay fit in a $70 million athletic center that opened in January."

A special section on higher education in the July 30 New York Times lists Kenyon as one of twenty outstanding "off the beaten path" colleges. The story suggests that students look beyond the twenty-five or so "usual suspects" that often end up on high school seniors' lists. In the piece, David W. Breneman, dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, praises Kenyon's excellent tradition in the humanities, creative writing, and theater. "It's not an accident that Paul Newman is an alum," he says. The article also notes the College's status as home of the Kenyon Review .

In the same week, Time magazine published an article called "Who Needs Harvard?," in which students were encouraged to look at top-notch institutions beyond the Ivy League. The article praises Kenyon's practice of writing individualized acceptance letters to admitted students.

For the second consecutive year, Kenyon is ranked number thirty-two in U.S. News & World Report 's annual listing of the nation's best liberal-arts colleges. Williams College took the top spot, followed by Amherst at number two and Swarthmore at number three. Oberlin's listing is number twenty-two, Denison University's forty-eight.

The 2007 edition of the Princeton Review 's "Best 361 Colleges Ranking" lists Kenyon at number eight for the "most beautiful college campus" and number nineteen for "best college theater." Kenyon is also listed as one of 163 schools on the list of "best Midwestern colleges."