<p>I took my daughter to tour Middlebury last week and fully expected to "wow" her with the school (remembering from my college days). She was all excited from the brochures and web site about the academics/opportunites/student body.</p>
<p>Instead, she came away really turned off. It started with the informational talk where the admissions guy kept saying (many times!) "you'll pay to come to Middlebury, but that's because we are Middlebury and do it so well". At one point she asked what things he thought Middlebury fell short on, he said nothing! At other schools, this has been a very informative question to ask because she learns things that the brochures don't mention. At one school, the answer was the course registration process, at another it was transportation to the nearby town, and at another it was the dining hall hours. Small things, but none the less, things that could make a difference eventually.</p>
<p>OK, so the admission guy's arrogance was a turn off. As we toured the campus (mid afternoon) there were few kids walking around campus, in the library or in the classrooms we visited. It seemed dead! We finally found the mass of kids in the gym working out. This supported the impression we had developed of the "Middlebury uniform", sweats with Middlebury written somewhere and the nylon type body underarmor. She even ate in one of the dining halls and went over to a table of students to talk with them about the school. They were friendly enough, confident girls, clearly part of a soccer team, but this reinforced the feeling that things pivot around athletics. </p>
<p>I was sorry for the negative reaction she developed. It is strange how impressions are formed on campuses. Perhaps her impressions could have been different had we organized the trip differently or had started with a different individual. Has anyone experienced this before and is there a way to overcome initial impressions?</p>
<p>Nope, there isn't a way to overcome first impressions...It's OK to make decisions based on them, just be smart about it (ie, I wouldn't make a decision based on the admissions guy at all, but I would make a decision based on the "jock" feel). There are thousands of colleges out there, so there's bound to be more than a few that are "good fits" for the student. After all the student will be happy at a LOT of places...there are thousands of people in every college and it's highly unlikely that the student won't find anyone at all like them at any college. So, to narrow down the list you've got to make some decisions that are arbitrary and feelings-based...this is one of them. Don't feel bad about it. Here's what I feel personally, I visited Tufts once and a bunch of really terrible things happened there at once. My little brother banged his head on a pole, we missed the admissions tour, a student gave us a dirty look, and a glance through the brochure left us feeling that it was very preppy...these things didn't really mean much in terms of substance, and perhaps Tufts was my perfect school and I didn't get a chance to find out...does it matter, though? No, I've found several other colleges where I think I'd be really happy and that's fine with me that Tufts didn't work out.</p>
<p>When we visited Middlebury in April of this year we had the opposite experience. The info session was facilitated by a wonderful person who was open and responsive to all the questions posed. Sure we got a lot of the party line but that is true of all colleges. The presentation was not pretentious. The student who did the tour was a first year young woman who loved the school and was fun to be with.
We had met a wonderful young woman who is now in England on a semester abroad code name Lindyhopper who answered all of my D's questions on CC before our visit and then took time out from her day to spend about an hour with us when we visited campus showing us around and giving us an insider's scoop of the good and not so good of Middlebury.</p>
<p>Finally we had contacted a wonderful professor in one of the departments who met with us. He is in the theater department and had us meet with a young student play writer. Each of our family took a part in the play and read the part and gave the student our input into what we thought of his efforts. My daughter is a playwrite and loved the experience.</p>
<p>We all came away from our full day on campus loving the school. It remains one of my D's top choices.</p>
<p>So tell your D not to be turned off by her experience if possible.</p>
<p>As an aside I have to say now that our campus searches are done and we await the decisions that CC has played an essential role in the process. All of the students and parents who have been nice enough to respond to all of our questions with honsety and insight have been wonderfully helpful. We learned things we never would have known but for CC. Also we met kids from all of the schools my D has applied to who volunteered to meet us on campus and show us around. We took advantage of those offers at most of the schools we visited. So students and parents use CC, this wonderful resource to full advantage.</p>
<p>You can always look at school similar to Middlebury. Places like Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Dartmouth, Brown... and remind your daughter that that may have just been a really off-day at Middlebury...</p>
<p>We had a really bad info session, too (could it be the same person?). We were lucky in out tour guide (who loved the place), the goofy happy way the students kept calling out "Come to Midd" to our group, the professors, and a coach contact that the admissions people set up on the spur of the minute. The good feelings and experiences continued when we went back in the summer for D's interview and a quick check to make sure that the place still felt like a happy potential match. </p>
<p>You probably were there on a bad day. You might: have your daughter do an overnight if she can, or apply and then visit again if she gets in.</p>
<p>On the other hand, maybe you should just walk away from it. That's what we did at Amherst and Wesleyan and we have regrets.</p>
<p>But, of course, we can afford not to have regrets since my D loved Williams, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, and Middlebury, among others and didn't feel the need to put other, rather similar colleges on her list. So I'd say to advise your D to do what seems right given what else is on her list.</p>
<p>Good luck. It's frustrating, confusing, and nervous-making to have things fall flat when you expect them to go perfectly and be really exciting.</p>
<p>i was somewhat afraid of the prep school image myself, but it really was not bad at all
i spent the night, which really helped
i saw many different students, and the classes i sat in on were amazing.
i missed the tour, so my overnight host gave me my own tour!</p>
<p>check out my college visit report on midd, it's my first choice now!</p>
<p>It seems to me that you had a run of extremely bad luck. While the gym IS always packed, the campus is usually full of people, especially between classes. If the weather was bad (most of last week), then people probably were holed up in their rooms or in the library (which I'd expect to be the case most anywhere).
And the "uniform"... It's true, a lot of people wear midd sweats and what not, but not all of us do! I don't own any...
In terms of athletics... There are a lot of athletes, but it's not dominating. Teams just tend to eat together after practice. Chances are, if your daughter had walked up to 80% of the people in the dining hall, she would have had a different impression of them.
Stereotypes exist for a reason, and so there is truth in all of what you saw and said, however there's so much more here (amazing language programs, constant theater productions, incredible musical performances, an awesome library, etc.). It's a truly amazing place that I love so much.</p>