W&L and Miami are both in small towns but very different. Miami has about 20K students, W&L has about 1800.
My D21 is at Miami and loves it. She is not a party girl but her and her friends have a lot of fun. They have gone to ballgames in Cincinnati, haunted park at Kings Island, trips to Dayton etc. Although Oxford is a small town, it is only about 45 minutes to Cincy and Dayton so there are outlets for the kids to do “big city” things
I got my master’s at Miami Ohio. I was quite fond of it, but know the experience is very different for undergrads. The grad students kind of have their own circles, but occasionally we might go to one of the bars where there were more undergrads. But mostly, our group was pretty low key. Oxford was great, imo. I have fond memories of different parks and trails, the outdoor amphiteater, Western lodge, phenomenal faculty, and one street that went all out with holiday lights. The residents would sit outside their houses with hot cocoa as a long line of cars would slowly pass down the road. It’s nice to hear that your D21 is enjoying it. IMO, it’s a gem. I wanted by D25 to apply. I thought she would really like Western. But she prefers to be in the northeast.
Not kid related but still about rejection.
I had 2 interviews (one being a peer interview and job shadow) for a second job. The staff seemed to like me. The hiring manager said she really liked me and emailed me saying I was staff approved and would be reaching out.
Then I get the auto rejection email from the organization. This one stung a bit I admit. I have been trying to get a second job for awhile now. I have much free time and I needed the extra money to be honest. But my credentials are pushing me out of staff jobs. I’m “too expensive” yet I am not asking for pay for the letters after my name. I just want to help people and be hands on. The hours and the job itself was perfect. I have had a few other auto rejections where I didn’t even get an interview but this one rejection I didn’t see coming.
Thank you for your kind words. I hope all our kids get accepted into their dream schools.
I’ve been having the same problem. Lawyer wanting to leave law and do “law adjacent” job.
I think people assume we will get bored and leave.
I’m in full on negative mode today in terms of potential admissions for D25. I swing from, “yes, she’ll probably get in to at least a few” to “it’s going to be a brutal year at all colleges and her safeties might not be safeties and OMG I dread that aftermath”. Currently I’m in the latter mindset. 
Anyone else??
(In reality, I think she’s got a pretty good list of a couple safeties, 4-5 targets and a couple reaches, so I shouldn’t worry too much, but, ughhhh.)
This is 100% me too.
FWIW, here’s something on college admissions rates to help everyone calm down when they get stressed, on how college admissions rates at most selective colleges are increasing, contra public perception:
Definitely going through the same range of emotions…and it makes me so angry at myself and the system. 26 years ago, my son’s stats would have probably gotten me into an Ivy league school…and now these kids need to have basically saved the world and gotten a noble peace prize in order to get accepted.
Oh me too. My recurring nightmare is that there’s something wrong with S25’s application. Like his essay is flagged for being written by AI (it wasn’t) or a recommender says something unflattering, or the school sends the wrong transcript. All of which are silly worries but I would like this process to be over now, thank you 
Yes!
I’m stressing over her one likely B+ on her first semester transcript - in Calculus. (Shes had a total of 4 B+s all high school, in a really tough school and curriculum.)
I, on the other hand, had As and some Bs in HS, a mediocre SAT score (compared to today) and didn’t think twice about only applying to 2 colleges: UVA and VA Tech. Got into both.
Different times. And very frustrating.
I had a dream the other night about the slightly blurry jpg of her transcript that D25 added to the common app (one of those battles I chose in that moment not to fight). In my dream (nightmare), the AO just chucked the whole app in the trash bc the image was not perfect. 
Interesting article, thanks for posting it. It’s clear the data is point us toward hope for our kids. And it is still hard not to worry about needing to prepare for the worst while the waiting game is still going on.
I appreciate the longer view you regularly promote here, though. Thanks. This will all look very different on May 1 when the kids are the ones in charge of their next steps.
I’m absolutely alternating between “my kid is awesome, every program should want them” and “omg what if they don’t get into any of the programs they think they would thrive at?” We didn’t apply to any schools that are overly competitive admission however the program itself housed within the schools are extremely competitive.
I’m getting so many emails from the College of Wooster and University of Tulsa, rolling out the red carpet for the kid. “Here, we filled out the application for you!” (practically). Feeling pangs. He’s not applying to either place. But geez, they are both great schools and how nice to imagine that someone actually wants you. Wish someone would solve for my desire to live many parallel lives at once. Or figure out how to make life a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book with abundant opportunities to reboot and reconfigure.
Thanks for this article! I thought it was the total opposite. Feeling a little more hopeful for DD whose grades improved sophomore year after taking meds for ADHD. She then started to dream bigger - that a 4-year college she wants to attend is actually possible. All the schools she applied to have over 50% acceptance rate so I’m hoping she gets into at least one of her schools!
Same here!
We’ve reached the demographic cliff year. My D25 hopes it works in her favor. She told me she’s glad I didn’t have her a year earlier. 
Oh yikes, I hate to break it to you but 2025 IS the cliff year as in our year has the largest number of graduating seniors. It’s next year that it starts to ease:(
So this is the peak year? I won’t tell her.