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I haven't seen much about this college in Ohio. My impressions:
Wonderful campus in tiny little "quaint" town. but only an hour from Columbus.
Nice "May term" with the opportunity to explore.
Their reputation is good, although I think they sometimes are overlooked because of the many great Ohio LAC colleges, (COW,Oberlin,Kenyon,etc.)

I'm primarily unclear about the academic quality, especially in math and the sciences. Any input?

By Calif (Calif) on Saturday, March 06, 2004 - 12:50 pm: Edit

Denison is an excellent school. It has a strong national reputation, and was ranked as one of the nation's top 50 liberal arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report this year.

Denison has one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, and Granville, where the college is located, is charming and has a lot of character.

Denison possesses a large endowment (over $400 million), and is very generous with merit aid and financial aid.

A fairly large percentage of Denison students pursue graduate studies, and each year a number of seniors are recipients of prestigious scholarships. For example, in the last 11 years, 19 students have been awarded Fulbright scholarships. In addition, 35 students have earned 35 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, placing Denison second among more than 400 Division III institutions in the number of NCAA postgraduate scholarships won.

Denison's science departments are excellent, and this fall it opened an amazing 60,000 square foot biological science building.

Its mathematics department is very good. My roommate during my freshman year at Denison was a mathematics major, and he was quite impressed with the quality of the faculty and how small classes were. It's worth pointing out that a Denison math student placed first at the U.S. National Collegiate Mathematics Championship in 2001.

By Calif (Calif) on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 02:16 am: Edit

Correction: 34 Denison students have been awarded NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, placing Denison fourth among Division III institutions in the number of NCAA postgraduate scholarships won.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 04:57 pm: Edit

How would you describe the students, and social life? Liberal, conservative, greek-oriented, independent minded?

By Mmorgan1984 (Mmorgan1984) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 04:50 pm: Edit

Does anyone who doesn't go to Denison know anything about the school? Has anyone read anything about it in the Princeton review?

By Monkeyqueen (Monkeyqueen) on Thursday, July 29, 2004 - 08:17 pm: Edit

is it similar to kenyon?

By Weenie (Weenie) on Sunday, August 01, 2004 - 12:01 pm: Edit

We just visited Denison on a recent "Ohio sweep." The tour guide described the "political atmoshpere" as left leaning. I always ask that question on tours.

My son liked it a lot. It is very similar to many other small LACs in the middle of nowhere. You either like that sort of place or you don't. It's very individual.

By Fredo (Fredo) on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 12:15 pm: Edit

Kenyon and Denison are similar in that both are small (kenyon very small @ 1100 students, Denison has ~ 2300), private, liberal arts schools in Ohio. Kenyon is a little more isolated than Denison.

Here's my gut reaction as to how they're different: I think that Kenyon is more "quirky" intellectual - our tour guide last summer was a ballroom dancer who walked backwards on her toes the whole time. I know that's not indicative of the entire student body but that's what I think of a Kenyon student: extremely bright, down-to-earth, who sees the world just a 1/2 shade off but still wants to be part of a really strong, supportive community. The kid who thinks a little different but still wants to be part of the group. My daughter loved the Kenyon atmosphere - you could just feel the tradition oozing out of the place. It's gotten very hard to get in.

Denison is trying hard to up it's academic rep. It took away greek on-campus housing. It's a gorgeous campus in scenic Granville. I still think that that type of academic make-over takes a long time and Denison isn't there yet. I think it's still a safety for east coast kids and a match for mid-west kids who want to feel like they're attending an east-coast school. I really wanted my daughter to go to Denison - I thought it would be just enough out of her comfort zone to push her socially and still within an academic comfort zone.

Take what I said with a grain of salt - just my off the cuff opinion/impression of the two of them. Someone else could have an entirely different take on them.

By Calif (Calif) on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 06:06 pm: Edit

Denison is also quite selective. This past year, it received over 4,900 applicants and accepted only 44%. More than half of the incoming class graduated in the top 10 percent of their high shool class and more than three-quarters were in the top 25 percent.