Kenyon College

Kenyon College is a private institution that was founded in 1824. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,885 (fall 2022), and the campus size is 1,000 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Kenyon College's ranking in the 2024 edition of Best Colleges is National Liberal Arts Colleges, #39. Its tuition and fees are $69,330.

In Gambier, Ohio, it’s hard to tell where the Kenyon College campus stops and the small downtown begins. The hilly campus of the liberal arts college runs into the town’s quaint shops, and the main walkway of campus, Middle Path, intersects downtown. On campus, there are more than 120 student clubs and organizations, including about a dozen fraternities and sororities. The Kenyon student body has slightly more females than males, and freshmen must live in a common residential area. Students are allowed to bring televisions to their dorm rooms, but freshmen rooms do not have cable, and most upperclass students’ rooms don’t, either. A third of students play on the varsity Lords and Ladies sports teams, which compete in the NCAA Division III North Coast Athletic Conference.

The school offers more than 150 study abroad opportunities, including the Kenyon-Honduras Archaeology and Anthropology Program and the Kenyon in Rome program. For a different experience closer to home, Columbus—the state capital and home of Ohio State University—is a 45-mile drive away. Each year, students celebrate the impending spring season with a semi-formal dance, known as the Philander’s Phebruary Phling. Students begin and end their time at Kenyon in song, as the First-Year Sing and Senior Sing are two of the biggest traditions on campus.

The Brown Family Environmental Center is the 382-acre nature preserve on campus. At the site, Kenyon students can take courses in biology, ecology and environmental science, as well as hike, bird watch and volunteer. Students can also engage in outdoor learning in the surrounding rural community through programs and projects coordinated by the Rural Life Center. Actor Paul Newman, poet James Wright and former Prime Minister of Sweden Olof Palme are among Kenyon’s notable graduates.