The 1896 Microcosm tried to predict what the future would be like in 1921, even though these predictions are not without some teasing of the co-eds. Among the "advancements of the college during the past year" apparently the female students will have outnumbered the male students. The essay pokes further fun at the females by declaring, "Who would have dreamed of this twenty-five years ago?
In the 1896 Microcosm, a student writes a poem about what is the Dickinson co-ed. This poem pokes fun at the women who study at Dickinson, and about how much they study. The author teases that the co-eds are well-versed in about every single type of subject imaginable, and yet those subjects are only a taste of everything they study at Dickinson.
In the 1896 Microcosm two women from the class of 1895 were initiated into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Emma V. Harry and Amy Fisher were two of the first women initiated in this fraternity based on overall academic excellence. Membership to this fraternity was determined by the resident members of the chapter.
The Dickinsonian printed a picture from 1892 showing an all-male editorial board for the newspaper. The caption explains that although co-eds were not represented on the newspaper's staff, they had entered the college eight years prior to 1892.
In 1896 the first Y.W.C.A. was formed in Carlisle in addition to the Y.M.C.A. Mary S. Dunn, the State Secretary of the Y.W.C.A., visited Carlisle in 1895 and began organizing the association. The Y.W.C.A. included in its membership all the ladies of the college and preparatory school, as well as some of the alumnae. Ladies from the school that were chosen to run it were Mary Thompson as president, Frances Logan as Vice-President, Anna Isenberg as Corresponding Secretary, Grace Vale as Treasurer, and Helen R. Horn as Recording Secretary.
Amy Fisher, an 1895 graduate of Dickinson College, was the first woman to teach at the Preparatory School. In 1896 she is included in the Preparatory School faculty, noted as "In Charge of Study Hall". While teaching at the school, she was also earning her Master of Arts degree in 1897. After obtaining her degree, she became the assistant principal of a high school in Doylestown, Pennsylvania until 1904. She resumed her employment at Dickinson College in 1932 as curator of the Dickinsoniana collection.
Emma V. Harry writes a memorium in honor of another sister of hers, Lydia Celestia Harry, who died May 2, 1895 in Carlisle. She had entered Dickinson's preparatory school in 1893 and would have graduated with the class of 1897. Angella Harry was another sister of Emma Harry who had died in 1893 at Carlisle.
   On one of the first pages of the 1896 Microcosm is a picture of the Ladies' Hall, located somewhere on West Pomfret Street in Carlisle. It was purchased by President George E. Reed on May 16, 1893 for $5,000 from Samuel M. Hepburn . Originally it was used to house a local fraternity, Alpha Zeta Phi, but then in 1895 it was turned into a residence for women. The building was called "Ladies' Hall" until February 7, 1905, when it was renamed in honor of John Zacharias Lloyd. He was a recently deceased Methodist clergyman and trustee who bequeathed $10,000 to the College.
Writers in the 1895 Microcosm make fun of various students in a humorous section titled "Appropriate Gift Books". In this section they "recommend" certain book titles appropriate to each person. Two female students are included in this jesting, a Miss Root, who was recommended to be gifted 'Little Women' and a Miss Horn, who was recommended 'Between Two Loves'. Some of the other book titles given to the male students poke fun at women and relationships.
The men of the class of 1898 humorously lament in their class history about the lack of co-eds. The Microcosm states that the men were worried greatly because "'98 had no co-eds. The mere thought was at first unbearable." The male students continue on their lament of co-eds that "what would a class do without any of the dear ones to keep order in class meetings, fill the undesirable offices, soften the hearts of the Profs. by those bewitching smiles of which only Dickinson co-eds are capable or guilty (which ?), and the various other trifles which only the girls can do."