Ask the Dean

How do you get to know a college without visiting?

If you are a high school senior, you have no doubt worked very hard to get to this moment. The final weeks of your spring semester are often a time for celebration and reflection. Needless to say, this is not how you expected the remainder of your high school career to unfold. And now you are being called upon to make a decision about your next four years during a time of great uncertainty. If you’re just beginning the college search process, you’re likely replanning your campus tours and wondering how you’ll start to narrow down the colleges on your list.

Here at Kenyon, we realize that an in-person visit to campus is a critical part of your decision-making process, and nothing can replace that experience. Instead of spending time in the coffee shop to get a sense of student vibe or sitting in on a class to envision yourself in your first college seminar, you are likely browsing websites, virtual tours, Instagram tags, videos and ratings guides — anything to give you an idea of what attending a certain college is like.

These are all good things to do, and my colleagues and I are committed to doing everything we can to help you experience Kenyon from where you are. With that mind, I offer the following thoughts:

• Seek out personal connections: Online offerings can tell us a lot about a place, but not everything. Use websites and virtual tours as starting points to formulate your impressions, and then talk to people who know you best: your teachers, coaches, family members, friends and neighbors. They may help you consider things from a different perspective and remind you of what got you excited about a particular college in the first place. Admissions officers are also eager to connect you with current students and professors — they can answer your questions, yes, but they can also better acquaint you with the people who have chosen to study and teach at that college.
• Pay attention to how colleges are responding in this moment: This is an extraordinary time in higher education, and the ways in which a college communicates with its students and faculty often speak to what that college values. In turn, the ways in which those students and faculty respond and come together can tell you a lot about the strength of a campus community.
• Take care of yourself and trust your instincts: This goes without saying, but being kind to yourself and taking care of those who are close to you is the most important thing you can do at this moment. This is a time to take stock of the people, places, things and ideas that matter most to you, and knowing what those are will help lead you in the right direction.

WITH SO MANY SCHOOLS TO CHOOSE FROM, HOW DO I BEGIN NARROWING DOWN MY OPTIONS?

Before the college brochures make their way into your house, I recommend asking yourself a series of questions to help you define the type of environment in which you will be most happy and do your best work.

Do you like the idea of being the smartest student in your class or being surrounded by really smart kids? Is it important to find a specific course of study or to have a wide range of options? Do you like the idea of meeting five new people a day or finding five people who will be your friends for life? Are you drawn to familiar people and places or are you excited by a new region, meeting students from across the nation and around the world? Do you prefer to work in a highly collaborative environment or are you energized by competition?

Knowing who you are provides a protective armor in a process that can be overwhelming. Not only are you inundated with communication from the colleges, everyone you know has an opinion of what is a good college and what is not, and feels very free to express it. And being able to say, “I’m the kind of person who…” is very empowering.