Although Middlebury comes off as just another New England college in another pretty New England town, I found that Middlebury was one of the few colleges on my list whose academic reputation was really justified by its outstanding campus and student body. As we drove around Middlebury for a couple of minutes looking for our hotel, I was amazed by the hustle and bustle town and its very nice main street area. An old fashioned inn took center stage, followed by several ornate churches and a fancy old post office. The houses in Middlebury were extremely nice and well maintained, unlike those in Ithaca. The thing that I perhaps enjoyed the most was the towns impressive size compared to Colgate’s Hamilton, and the way the towns wealth and good maintenance seemed to spread all the way to the outskirts, not just stopping beyond the immediate town as in most other small villages. For dinner the night before the college visit, we found an eclectic local restaurant and bar with very fine food for a great price. It was the kind of town where I really felt at home and comfortable but still intrigued by the town's expanse. Its newer section featured quite a few shopping centers with a few major chain stores.
Moving a few blocks from the heart of town, I shortly came across the campus which sort of blends into the town due to the high number of nearby houses that the college owns for its co-ed Greek houses and for its language immersion houses. The college is immediately noticeable as a mass of grey stone academic buildings that literally looks like a shot out of the colonial era, with the exception of the giant grey marble, aluminum, and glass concoction resembling the Death Star that is the college library. As my tour guide explained, the oldest three buildings on the campus are right in the center, including the gorgeous colonial style chapel. The choice of slate-grey stone became immediately popular and spread all over the campus. The effect is simply awesome. As some famous architect was quoted on a plaque, “"If anyone had told me that gray stone boxes set in lawns could be so beautiful, I would have said they were crazy. Middlebury looks like what everyone thinks an American campus should be but seldom is." As strange as it might sound, the effect of the campus was really jaw-dropping.
I ran across a deer and several red-plumed woodpecker while on the campus and several campus buildings provide fantastic views of the Adirondack Mountains and the Middlebury valley. Along with this fantastic affiliation with the outdoors, the Middlebury Outing Club is among the oldest and most active clubs on campus and provides a ton of opportunities to experience the outdoor beauty of Vermont, including Middlebury’s own ski slope and lodge just a few minutes from campus.
The campus buildings aren’t just old and pretty though, the campus is overall extremely state of the art and almost every surface of the college buildings has been renovated within the past five years. Unfortunately, the schools now beautiful campus and state of the art facilities have left it with considerable debt and the college has made plans to alter its need-blind admissions process, cut almost one hundred staff members, and close a dining hall to limit its debt exposure. Hopefully this won’t be an issue by the time I get to the college, but the facilities are really so nice that I wouldn’t dare question Middlebury’s alumni giving sources, which seem extremely liberal in their support for the college.
I was absolutely astounded by the money all around campus. The students jokingly call it "Club Midd" due to the many luxurious facilities around campus. The school owns its own ski club about half an hour away, which is remarkably cheap for students, in addition to its own beach a few minutes off campus. Perhaps my favorite of these facilities was the student center. At Middlebury, the regular student center for club meetings and such is separated from a really impressive student lounge that looks like a state of the art bar with jumbo televisions for video games and a whole loft full of pool tables.
The language labs seemed especially impressive and the library looked big enough to offer everybody their own space but still personable enough to be easily accessible. The ultramodern library just built two years ago is an especially amazing facility, much larger than you would expect from a school this size. The tour through it took a long time and I loved everything I saw.
Academically, Middlebury is mainly known for its rigorous foreign language programs which are very nicely accompanied by a plethora of study abroad opportunities for students. The combination of foreign language, study abroad, political science, and history, culminates in Middlebury's most popular major; International Studies. The school was especially interesting in its hugely popular study abroad opportunities in that it almost plans on students studying abroad since nearly two thirds of the students do go abroad in their junior year. If a student doesn’t, they just get a little bit more time at the campus to work on their degree. Along with the study abroad options, which are incredibly popular for foreign language majors, the school actively uses the foreign language housing and lunch table programs to wholly immerse the students in their foreign language. The school also turns into a language institute during the summer months, furthering its international reputation for foreign language excellence.
Another interesting academic program is Middlebury's 4-1-4 January Term (J-term), in which the school offers a month long condensed academic program for the month of January and returns to spring semester in February. Courses for this term aren't meant to be very serious, but they allow an interesting opportunity to totally invest in some obscure or interesting field at a time when it doesn't really matter like a semster does. Around fifty classes are typically offered, with subjects in every department such as American Sign Language, Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, and Ethnographic Writing.
Middlebury is also putting a lot of resources into its Environmental Studies program. This major really fits the campus and student body well and typically suits a more liberal slant. The school also has a strong focus on environmentalism and has gone so far as to get its own windmill and recycling center. Nearly half of the food served in the dining halls is grown locally, much of it from the college's own farm.
Middlebury operates on a very unique system of Freshman housing similar to the house system at Hogwarts. A Freshman’s house is chosen of the colleges five main neighborhoods based on their choice of freshman writing seminar. The students corresponding house will include the professor of the seminar and all of the other students in the seminar, which I feel really provides a solid foundation in the college from students who are just getting acquainted. As the very articulate dean of admissions presenting the information session went on to say, the administration is very well connected with the students at Middlebury. Instead of having the usual detached, centralized deans office, each housing group has its own student government and very involved deans that can enact a lot of change and progress in a short period of time, and in such a way that the students and staff are really satisfied at the end of the day.
Overall, this very appealing student-administration relationship is what really put this college over the top. From the outstanding campus, to the very athletically inclined student body and outdoorsy location, to the rigorous academic programs and very worthwhile academic requirements, Middlebury simply seems like a place geared one hundred percent around the students.
Beyond the beautiful campus, the school also justifies its high tuition cost by offering all food entirely free on campus. No meal plan, no campus credit system- take it and go free (with tuition). The whole mentality of being about the students- providing extremely connected and appropriate social activities and an in-tune administration- ultimately sold the school for me. On top of that, the Princeton review has given the school extremely high marks in several categories for the quality of education and professors as well as the overall undergraduate experience for several years in a row. The culmination of the schools fun-loving and spirited student body, convenient institutional size (2,500 students), an involved administration, and true academic rigor make this a standout school.
From U.S. News and World Report
For the Middlebury class of 2012, the average SAT score is 1395 and the ACT range is 30-33. The acceptance rate is just about 20%, with an Early Decision rate of 25%. Also, 71.1% of classes are under 20 students. 44% of accepted applicants enrolled.
From Unigo.com
Whereas the two ends of the spectrum seem to be “uptight preppy white kids” and “environmental hippies,” there are also hundreds of students who fall between the two extremes.
“Students do a lot of work here, it is just the way it is” — this sentiment is echoed across the student body, and nearly all students have had at least one experience being totally stressed out by the Middlebury workload.
“Because the classes are usually pretty small, professors are more than willing to you give you personal attention and most, if not all of them come from amazing academic and worldly backgrounds.”
“Student life at Midd can be idyllic,” writes a freshman, “but also can be boring when stuck indoors with work on a cold, winter day. Many complain about the lack of things to do; in truth, the College does offer a multitude of performances, lectures, and events everyday, but the cold weather and work often are detrimental to large attendances.”
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