I had heard nothing but positive things about Denison University before I arrived as a freshman in 2001. After only a year there, they asked me to leave, though they would not have had to ask me.
While I did make several friends who were great people, many of whom I am still in touch with, I found the overall student body to be self-absorbed, pretentious and discriminatory. The student body is very much segregated along socio-economic lines , and the "good ole boy" atmosphere amongst the elite is sickening (when you visit, ask the Office of Admissions about the Wingless Angels). There are people who are there because of decades of generous contributions by their fathers and grandfathers, and they are ever-so-eager to tell you all about it.
As with the students, the professors had amongst them a few good apples, but were largely lousy teachers who thought entirely too highly of themselves. Many had recently been laid off by OSU and were just looking for work. The class sizes were small, which was nice, but I found the quality of teaching to be much lower than other (less expensive) institutions I've attended since.
The Denison community suffers greatly from groupthink in regards to the quality of the education which the school offers. It starts with the admissions office and the faculty who constantly repeat how wonderful the school is until the parents and the students become convinced of it themselves, and they pass the propaganda on to other prospective students. Those who don't buy into it are quickly ostracized.
Summary: There are definitely great people there, students and faculty, but they are in the minority. The education isn't horrible but isn't terribly useful either, and is seriously overpriced.
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