When I was chin deep in my college search, I was off-put by the other “little ivies” (Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, Williams) that threw rankings in my face during tours and info sessions. I nearly let Middlebury slip through my fingers because Midd kids tend not to brag.
While rankings certainly aren’t everything, they do harbor a bit of truth.
Here are a few of Middlebury College’s most meaningful appearances on 2015 lists:
2 Impact Schools (behind Wesleyan University)
2 Most Entrepreneurial Colleges (behind The Cooper Union)
7 US News National Liberal Arts Colleges
34 Forbes Overall Top American Colleges
9 Their Students Love These Colleges (first of the little ivies)
$18 Best Quality of Life (second of the little ivies)
18 Happiest Students (first of the little ivies)
9 Top Green Colleges (first of the little ivies)
46 Colleges That Pay You Back
16 Best Classroom Experience (second of the little ivies)
6 Best College Library (first of the little ivies)
3 Best Science Facilities (behind US Naval Academy and Cal Tech)
13 Professors Get High Marks (only of little ivy in the top 20)
Middlebury is a fantastic place to be - don’t let good food or nice dorms make this decision for you!
When I was a student at Middlebury they always used to say, “Rankings don’t mean much, but it’s better to be mentioned than ignored.” Regardless of the rankings (and Middlebury has moved around a lot throughout the top 10) It was when I got out into the real world and discovered how well prepared I was to think creatively that I discovered just how great a school it was.
@ReallyOk I was never unhappy about the rankings thrown in my face. Rather, I wished someone had told me about a few of Middlebury’s. At the time I never consciously thought about it, but there was a part of me that assumed Midd just didn’t have these competitive features that other schools brag about. By posting this, I merely wanted to point out that we do have them - and a lot more - so other students don’t have that same negative impression of Middlebury.
“they [the ten other NESCAC colleges] threw rankings in my face during tours and info sessions”
You personally toured every other NESCAC college and found them all to be not only adversely different than Middlebury in their presentations, but also, apparently, indistinguishable from each other?
“I nearly let Middlebury slip through my fingers because Midd kids tend not to brag.”
It seems implausible that you were really led to an under-appreciation of Middlebury’s strengths as a result of their reticence to self-promote. Beyond that, if you are a Middlebury student now, this statement itself is boastful, not because it asserts something that may be based in truth, but because it implies, within your full context, that Middlebury students have a lot (a lot!) to brag about.
Sometimes comparisons between colleges are necessary to make a point. But in this case, simply providing – ideally with sourcing – some of the ways in which Middlebury has been recognized would have better served your message.
@merc81 I’m confused by your last sentence. In his op qwerty does exactly what you request - provide ( often with sourcing) some of the ways in which Middlebury has been recognized. Did I misunderstand what you were saying?
@urbanslaughter: The introductory paragraph of the OP is mostly what I am questioning. However, of the thirteen rankings provided, sources are listed for only two of them. The eleven others may be from PR, but the reader must infer that. As you implied in an earlier post, external recognition can have subtle benefits, and there’s nothing inherently objectionable about showing that Middlebury has gotten far more than its share. In this case, however, the general context in which the information was provided seems both conflicted in its presentation and lacking in verisimilitude.
Regarding PR – and this in no way relates to Middlebury or any other college specifically – they seem to use survey methods that were recognized as obsolete shortly after the release of the Kinsey Report. PR’s rankings may hit on some true aspects of various colleges through a bit of luck, but as a source discussed by college students and graduates, a reference to them should only be made with an awareness of the irony that entails.