Midd, Dartmouth, Brown, or Yale?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi all!
So a bit of background, I am a high school senior from interior Alaska looking to go into interdisciplinary environmental studies and political science. I am very involved in activism and music, and getting outdoors is really important to me. I am broadly academically interested, love experiencing different cultures, and want to have a college experience that balances an intense intellectual side with a more lighthearted social side (not huge parties per se). I want to go somewhere that will equip me to make real change in the world.</p>

<p>By a stroke of unbelievable luck, I was accepted into my first choice of Middlebury College, as well as Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale. Right now, Yale has offered me significantly better financial aid than anywhere else but it seems like we will be able to bargain with other schools so it won't be an issue. However, at this point, I'm at a loss for how to make up my mind (and prestige has no bearing on me), so any perspectives would be appreciated!</p>

<p>Middlebury: Has been my top choice all along. This is the only school I have visited so I might be a little naive.
Pros: strong environmental studies program (& Bill McKibben!), amazing sustainability opportunities, great food, fantastic natural environment & culture in Vermont (I'm absolutely in love with the area) & outdoors activities, more undergraduate concentration (also big for me), risk-taking opportunities through the Program for Creativity & Innovation and Center for Social Entrepreneurship. I feel like I really share values with the college.
Cons: less opportunities for activism or music, less institutional resources, sort of perturbed by the impression that people are less intellectually serious and more focused on sports or partying & also less socioeconomic diversity, possibly would need to take on debt to go here</p>

<p>Dartmouth:
Pros: amazing undergraduate focus, also more rural and opportunities for outdoorsy activities, perhaps a more diverse and academically driven student body than Middlebury?
Cons: I don't know too much about Dartmouth, the frat culture seems like a significant turn off.</p>

<p>Brown:
Pros: Amazing activist scene & focus on environmental/social justice, family connections, musical opportunities, culture of independent thinking, diverse city & student body, known for being the happiest Ivy!
Cons: Might be hard to get out of the city, might need to take on debt..</p>

<p>Yale:
Pros: AMAZING financial aid (I would graduate debt free), influence from graduate school of environmental studies, stunning architecture and residential college system, worldly & amazing student body, strong undergraduate focus for a top tier university, can get away to East Rock Park, diverse city with great food, one of the best undergrad art scenes, crazy resources, happy student body..
Cons: More urban environment, not quite the personal attention as an LAC, maybe too large of a university..</p>

<p>This is a whopper of a post & I definitely need to make up my mind with campus visits, but I would really love to hear any sort of perspectives on these schools!</p>

2

<p>Shocked no one has responded yet. I’d argue Yale will offer you the broadest and deepest academic opportunity at a bargain cost. The students there will be - forgive the over generalization - wonderfully diverse and brilliant. BUT, no one will confuse New Haven with Hanover or Middlebury. Don’t know how you will tolerate the very city, gritty city, feel the moment you set foot off campus greens. I’d personally pick Yale over Brown given your preferences, and Dartmouth over Midd. Yale vs Dartmouth in my mind is a decision only you can make. Dartmouth may be the best mid-point compromise for you taking all factors into consideration - broad, deep, strong academics, wealthy school highly supportive of students, rabid alum base engaged and helpful on multiple levels to new grads. </p>

3

<p>This is an easy choice – YALE! </p>

4

<p>How much debt are we talking about among them? That is a significant factor, especially if your parents can’t pay the net cost of each and you have to take it on as debt. Approaching about aid adjustment (ug 'bargaining) is delicate and may not work out.</p>

<p>Given what you said I think you’d like Brown very much. I’d knock Dartmouth out. Yale is sort of the elephant in the room here. All these colleges are undergraduate focused, even though Yale has the grad school it’s undergrad is a basic liberal arts college, with Midd a significantly smaller undergrad class.</p>

<p>Brown location is on College Hill, in its own little idyllic bubble. Although students do interact with the community --on way is through the Swearer Center for Public Service. A kid from a poor neighborhood in Providence is going to Brown this year and talked in his essay about the influence the Brown students tutoring and debate coaching had on him.</p>

<p>My daughter got a bicycle when she was there and she frequently rode the East Bay Bike trail to Newport, quite a long trip through a series of tiny towns along the water. I went once but I couldn’t make it all the way. She also participated in the Brown Outdoor Leadership hiking trip in the White Mountains. Brown Outing club has a series of events, many of them paid for.</p>

5

<p>The OP will graduate from Yale debt free. How’s that not a very inviting offer for the OP from Yale???</p>

6

<p>It would be an excellent and smart choice. I’d pick it. But I understand OP would like to delve into each and think about it.</p>

7

<p>It seems like easy access to the outdoors is important to you; you mentioned that right at the top of your post. Given that, I’m surprised at the number of people who suggested Yale as a top choice, over Midd…it’s in New Haven, and not exactly close to the great outdoors. Midd, however, is quite rural and right near a huge national park/forest. It also has the oldest undergraduate environmental studies program in the U.S. (as you likely know). It really doesn’t have a resources problem.</p>

<p>You said that Middlebury has been your first choice all the time; you know the most about it; you’re in love with the area; and you’re not worried about the cost. Fewer institutional resources are not a problem as long as Midd has the resources YOU need to succeed, and being one of the top 10-15 SLACs in the country with a large endowment, I’d say that you’ll have no issues there. Again, given that it’s one of the top 10-15 SLACs in the country, I don’t think that the students are any less intellectually serious than the students at Dartmouth (also known as a “party school”) or Brown or Yale. They’re probably just work hard/play hard. It’s not like Midd is a D1 school with a rocking stadium every fall weekend.</p>

<p>The opportunities for music might be a real problem. Midd says that all of their music department offerings are equally available to majors and non-majors. They have a concert hall, an electronic music lab, a student-run recording studio, and 9 practice rooms plus a music collection in the library. Probably not as impressive as Yale’s or Brown’s, or even Dartmouth’s. But probably sufficient for your needs. As I was looking up the page, the sidebar advertised four very different events happening in the month of April: a jazz ensemble, a philharmonic + chorus event, a Bach festival, and an African music & dance ensemble. I get the sense that there’s a relatively thriving music community on campus, at least form the website.</p>

<p>The lack of socioeconomic diversity…perhaps, but you’re comparing it to Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown. ALL of those schools have the same problem. They’re dominated by the upper-middle-class, and poor and working-class students are going to make up very small proportions of the population at all of them. They all also meet full need, so there are likely to be some lower-middle-class students there.</p>

<p>It seems to me that you liked Midd from the start and got a bit overwhelmed you got also got accepted to a bunch of other great schools. I’m willing to bet that you’d be perfectly happy at any of them, as all of them have significant chunks of what you like. But if Midd’s your first choice and they’re willing to match the financial aid offers of the other places, then go there.</p>

8

<p>I’m confused at the advice being offered here. I’ve been to all of these campuses (am I alone in this?) - numerous times - love the outdoors - and can totally relate to the OPs dilemma. There is no panacea here. Each school has its drawbacks based on the OPs preferences. To answer a few points made above:</p>

<ol>
<li>There is no denying that Midd simply is not a diverse school and tangibly less so than all his other selections. </li>
<li>Hanover is a beautiful town in a region I personally prefer for outdoor opportunities over even Middlebury</li>
<li>While I love Brown’s College Hill’s location, and it is certainly tamer city wise than Yale, wilderness is not exactly next door, the campus experience is still a very urban one</li>
<li>Dartmouth’s conservative frat house, post prep school, party school rep is based more in history than today’s reality. Having said that, no one would confuse Dartmouth with Swat. Today’s student body is majority on financial aid and the Pell Grant and int’l student numbers are among the highest in the country among the elites.</li>
</ol>

<p>Again, personally I see Dartmouth as possibly the best compromise here. But if the OP can hold out until the weekends to escape urban life, Yale’s academics, student body, and financial offer are a simpatico trio hard to tun down. Midd and Brown are envious additional options, just see them as a bit less in less in synch with the OPs vision.</p>