@OldbatesieDoc So? Do you mean all the kids my son encountered who went there were lying? Perhaps some kind of new kid ritual? Counting the roommates he overnighted with (self described Bros), the band students he had dinner with (self described NARP’s) and the two kids of my friends he spoke to (one NARP and one self-described cross-over), that’s at least 9 current or now former students who mentioned it. Honestly I had, naively perhaps, never heard of the acronym NARP until driving back from the Middlebury overnight when my son downloaded all his experiences there. We’ve heard of it because people at Midd used it.
As I wrote before, I liked Midd. I would be happy if any of my other kids applied, were accepted and chose to go. I’m sure that it’s possible to get through 4 years there any never be bothered by the Bro/NARP thing. I personally encouraged him not to assign too much weight to it, though he was choosing between all good options so we didn’t really care which he picked. But I can honestly say at least discussing it and mentioning the labels was clearly a thing there 2.5 years ago.
I’m not accusing anyone of lying. Just describing the experience my sons had. Athlete culture at Midd isn’t a standout problem and certainly no worse than any of the other NESCAC schools.
@citivas Your comment about Bowdoin having quite a few athletes but not a strong athletic culture is really telling. One of S19’s teachers told him that he thinks Bowdoin is the right choice for him (if he’s lucky to get in) especially versus Midd. S19 is a XC/track runner, big ultimate frisbee guy, and used to play competitive tennis and soccer and he’s very athletic…but he’s not a jock. When we visited Bowdoin over the summer, we met an ultimate frisbee player and he was so pleasant and relaxed and funny. Not a jock in my definition.
S19 applying to many schools including Bowdoin and Midd but, the more I look at the schools, I think Bowdoin is a better social fit.