Chance Me - Middlebury College

Colleges and Universities A-Z Middlebury College
1

Hi! I just applied ED to Middlebury and would love to see if anyone thinks I have a shot.

Ethnicity=White, Female, Washington
Major= Russian/International

Current Year Courses- IB Physics SL, IB Biology HL, IB English HL, IB Modern World History HL, IB French SL, IB Theory of Knowledge (I am a IB Diploma Candidate)

Common App Essay Topic: Lightweight Rowing and the pride/pain it causes

2 really great recommendation letters from French and History teachers as well as rowing coach

Stats:
1380 SAT (720 Reading, 660 Math)
3.76 Cumulative GPA
4.46 Weighted GPA

ECS:
Ethics Bowl
Philosophy Club
Varsity Crew
ASB
Managing Boys Soccer
French Club President
History Knowledge Bowl
Outdoors Club
National Honors Society

Awards:
Achievement in Research in Psychological Science (11)
ISEF Behavioral Science 1st Place (11)
Varsity Academic Letter (11,12)

2

I was contacted by an alum about an interview, but after I replied, she didn’t get back to me until after the deadline for them to submit the interviews had passed. Since this was not my fault, do you think this will hurt my chances?

3

So, your GPA is low for Midd, which will hurt your chances, but your curriculum is pretty rigorous. Your math SAT is in the bottom 25%, but your reading is in the higher end of their mid 50%. So The SAT won’t likely weigh you down. Your ECs are decent.

While ED1 acceptance rates are 45%, they also include recruited athletes and Posse scholars.

About 40% are recruited athletes, and 30 are Posse scholars. Recruited athletes are all accepted, since they’ve been culled before they apply ED, and the Posse scholars are chosen from about 60-70 Posse finalists, all who apply ED1. So acceptance rate for people like you who apply ED1 is about 30%-35%.

Good luck!

4

Thank you!

5

I think that you should be accepted ED to Middlebury College as you are qualified & since your interests make Middlebury College a match for you. Plus, you add geographical diversity as an applicant from Washington state.

6

Washington State is actually the 17th most represented state when it comes to Middlebury students. Now South Dakota–that would be something.

7

I am going to guess (and really, that’s all it is!) you have a 30% chance of being accepted and a 70% chance of being deferred. I’d be shocked if you were rejected outright. You are a solid applicant, but so are many.

8

On the interview front, have you contacted Midd direct, @clairesxott ?

9

Yes, I emailed the admissions director for Washington but it is all on the alumni to respond to my emails. I am just disappointed that I lost my opportunity to interview at no fault of my own :frowning:

10

I just got rejected from middlebury college ed which is shocking. I have a 4.2 gpa and a 35 composite on my act. I have plenty of community service and extra curriculars. I’ve taken 8 AP classes. 5 this year. I have straight A’s first quarter of my senior year. My courses this year: AP BC calculus, AP English, AP economics, AP statistics, AP physics 2. Previous APS: AP physics 1, AP environmental science, APUSH. If anyone else got rejected or accepted early decision to middlebury for the class of 2024 please reach out and answer I’m so curious! Also let me know what you think of me getting rejected!

11

How painful for you! I think you should have gotten deferred, at least, but I don’t have all your information. You might be a serial joiner of activities, a Jack of all trades and a master of none. You may have low exam grades on your three AP exams taken to date. Your unweighted transcript may be full of B’s. Perhaps in your interview, you said something that turned off your interviewer. Middlebury is not heavily endowed. Sometimes, I wonder if it is truly need-blind for all races and ethnicities. Most likely, there was a fatal flaw in one of your recommendations. Because Middlebury doesn’t have an application essay, they count recommendations a lot. Try to figure out what might have happened before you apply to 10+ more schools. Ask your counselor. Perhaps you can make some tweaks in your narrative.

12

Midd is domestic needs blind.

13

@meredith Midd does have an application essay, and it is important. Second, with $1.1 billion in it’s endowments, it may not have the endowment per student of, say, Amherst, but it is still doing decently well.

@classof2024ah It’s never pleasant being rejected, I know (and I have a lot of experience in that). However, you must realize a few things. The first is that it likely has nothing to do with any lack on your part, nor with anything specific about your application.

Your stats are within the range of accepted students, but Middlebury doesn’t accept based on stats alone. However, even with really good ECs, a great essay and great LoRs, there is absolutely no assurance that you will be accepted.

Many of the reasons that a person is rejected have nothing to do with you being “good enough”. It is not whether you had a high enough GPA, SATs, impressive enough ECs or awards, or that your personal qualities weren’t good enough. It may be that there were too many people who were similar to you in this particular group, whether it be in interests, ECs, course, region of the country, etc.

Being accepted or rejected is often about the particular combination of what the college needs that applications season, your application, and how your application fits in the rest of the application pool. No matter how good your application is, you may be rejected because of the two other factors.

Middlebury accepts about 37% of ED applicants who aren’t recruited athletes or applying through another program. Since most early admission applicants are students who are well matched to the college (otherwise they would be unlikely to apply ED1), this means that at least 1/3, but more likely over 50%, of the applicants who are fully qualified are rejected.

However, with a very good GPA and a great ACT, you will very likely be accepted into a number of excellent colleges. So take a few days to be sad about not being accepted to your first choice, and then go and find yourself another college where you will have a great four years. I do recommend, though, that you don’t obsess over why your weren’t accepted by Middlebury - it really makes no difference, and it can keep you from finding a new college to love.

Good luck - I’m sure that you will end up in a great place!

14

@MWolf says “Midd does have an application essay, and it is important.”

My daughter just applied RD and she said there was NO supplemental essay. This must be a change from past years? She was actually disappointed there was no “Why Midd” essay because she was excited to tell the school why it’s a good fit for her.

15

Ah, I misunderstood. I thought that you meant the common app application essay. They do find that essay to be important, but you’re correct instating that no additional essay is required.

16

Just thought I would update this thread for people looking next year. I was denied from Middlebury ED1, yet got into to both Colby and Bates (go bobcats!). The acceptance rate for those schools was a record low while Middlebury’s rose drastically. Acceptance rates aren’t everything! I was also denied from Hamilton, waitlisted at Dartmouth, accepted at George Washington, Syracuse, American, Conn Coll, Bucknell, and UBC. I was also admitted to Middlebury’s Language School for French which is rare for someone still in High school.

17

Middlebury may not have been fully aware of its own trajectory when they denied your application. It seems they missed out on a good student, actually. Best of luck to you at Bates!

18

@merc81 Thank you! I am very excited I still get to go NESCAC

19

Even better, you had a choice of NESCACs, @clairesxott.