I’m so happy to read this! Congratulations to your son!
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Im so happy for you and tour son 
Congratulations 
to him.
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Wow, an embarrassment of riches. Incredible. But to have to choose 
Congrats to him.
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Thanks, @tsbna44 , @MYOS1634 @DramaMama2021 !
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As a former college CW instructor, I think your kid will be well served by taking a couple of workshops and majoring in something–History or Lit or Astrophysics or anything substantive–so he knows more about the world and has more to say. No matter where he is, if your son can apprentice himself to someone whose work has value to him, he’ll be fine. The existence of a major doesn’t have much to do with that. If he gets it down to a couple of schools, I’d have him look at who is actually on faculty, and who they bring to campus for readings or residencies. Is there a culture of writing on campus? And, of course, look at the journals the institutions publish if they do.
The Kenyon Review, for example, is rightly celebrated, and it seems like the undergrads have a chance to interact with it meaningfully. Which is a major benefit of Kenyon being a small (under your son’s stated parameter) campus with no grad students. UVA, on the other hand, has amazing writers on faculty, but it’s unclear to me how much access the undergrads have to them. (I honestly have no idea, as my friends who went there were all in the MFA program.)
Hoping my own kiddo gets into Kenyon, btw. By far my favorite for him of the places we’ve visited. Possible History major too.
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Thank you! I’m so glad you chimed in! I’m off to dinner, but I’m going to respond back again and hopefully pick your brain some more, if you don’t mind!
My son just got accepted to UVA by the way which became another option for him.
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Your son’s having a good season!
Happy to help if I can.
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I just sent you a PM! Thank you!
Op, this is another board I visit where there is a discussion comparing many of these schools. It may help your decision making. It is anonymous but can be helpful sometimes. Kenyon, Susquehanna Univ, UVA VA Tech - For Creative Writing!?!?!
(editing since this was flagged but I’m new here and unclear why. Seemed inline with community guidelines and terms of service, but editing and reposting in the event I missed something.)
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Sorry that I’m late to the party with congratulations on your son’s acceptances from a month ago. So, congratulations! 
I’ll just add a couple of words of endorsement for Kenyon. I have a friend who is an award winning Broadway playwright who has sent his son to Kenyon. I’m sure that he first investigated whether this is a place where his son could grow and thrive as a writer. I also have another friend who is a Kenyon alum. Although her primary career is teaching, she is also a published author. She is a true Renaissance person with interests ranging from science to drama. If I am to judge by her, she reflects well on Kenton’s ability to turn out well rounded people with curious minds.
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Thank you for that info! Anything to help my S26. He told me he’s going to check out the tenured faculty at each school, read excerpts of their books/writing if available. He’s got a couple of questions to ask each school’s CW dept/staff/professors to hopefully level the field. He’s scheduled to attend his top 4 school’s Accepted Student Days to hopefully give him clarity and direction.
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I love the depth he is going to !!
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Yes! He is learning what matters to him most! We went to an accepted students day last weekend and even though this school checked all the boxes, their CW program felt too small for him so he didn’t get that “This is it” feeling. This school was his #1 back in September too!
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Susquehanna ?? It’s good he’s finding these things out.
No, actually. It was VT! He’s keeping it in his back pocket - just in case.
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I just wanted to thank everyone in this thread who advised me to help guide my son. You helped me tremendously from understanding what makes a school a likely, a target, and a reach. Thanks to you everyone here, my son’s initial list consisted of schools within our budget based on the NPCs including 1-2 schools that pushed that limit a tiny bit.
My son was very blessed to get 10 acceptances out of 11 with that 11th one a waitlist (which he did not accept - Wesleyan!). One school surprised us with a very generous merit/grant offer - Kenyon! - an offer that was well below what their NPC said he would receive. All 10 acceptances offered COA 40K and below, and this is thanks to everyone’s suggestions and advice!
Of the 10 acceptances, my son narrowed it down to 4 based on program strength, campus/community, and cost. S26 has 2 accepted students day visits left, and depending on how the 1st one goes, he may know by this weekend! I will keep everyone posted!
Thank you thank you thank you for all your advice, comments, suggestions since I first started this thread back in September 2025!!! I also owe a lot of thanks to my first post that led me to this Chance Me/Match Me post.
Stay tuned! 
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congratulations to your son and thank you so much for returning with an update. 10 out of 11, all within budget, is a fantastic result 
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I am so invested in your son’s journey now! Congratulations to your son on having these wonderful options.
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I just have a few minutes for an update:
S26’s top 5 included: Kenyon, Susquehanna, UVA, Va Tech, and William & Mary. All of these schools were right at or below our budget! He then narrowed it down to Kenyon, Susquehanna, UVA, and Va Tech for various reasons. You cannot get a more mixed bag of schools than this! Haha!
We went back to each school. Someone here suggested we record/jot down S26’s thoughts after each visit and to observe his reactions. We ended up using these observations/thoughts as additional info for his pros and cons list/talk with me and my husband, and boy did it help S26 tremendously!
We tried to level the “playing field” as well so S26 requested to sit in on a class at each school, have a chat with professors and students. These experiences, while varied a bit, helped inform S26 of his decision too!
Interestingly, S26 did note the vibe at each school, but his decision wasn’t so much steered by vibe. His decision was steered by strength of the school’s English/Creative Writing program and History program, liberal arts education, room for growth & exploration, opportunities, food options (LOL), diversity, and campus size! He told us he will find his people!
More to add later!
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Definitely on tenterhooks over here! But it sounds like your son has found a great school. Looking forward to finding out which one!
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