<p>Just visited Midd this weekend for an overnight. Beautiful campus, nice people, great food, clearly a tight knit place with lots of on campus parties on the weekends. But what else? Does it get old, after 4 years? What keeps it fresh and fun?</p>
<p>Can someone tell me:
1) What entertainers/performers have come to Midd (ie: other major campus tours such as Kid Cudi, Girl Talk, comedians, etc)? How often? Once a year or more?</p>
<p>2) Do students road trip to Burlington? Ever? Now and then? Frequently?</p>
<p>3) How intensely competitive are the academics? Are students supportive of each other or in competition with each other?</p>
<p>4) is there truth to the rich, white kid stereotype? I'm not much into the country club set.</p>
<p>Well, your country club is likely to be populated with successful, intelligent, ambitious, athletic and attractive people with lots of different experiences - so if you’re not into that, then Middlebury probably isn’t for you.
;)</p>
<p>1) Maybe twice a year? I honestly don’t get why that’s made such a big deal of on tours, though. I mean, any small school is going to have a couple of big entertainers a year. For most people, that’s enough. If live music is your passion, you should probably be at NYU, not in Middlebury.</p>
<p>2) I went to Burlington for dinner once. Honestly, it’s pretty rare. I didn’t hear of that many kids going. Although, I transferred after two years, and I think upperclassmen might go more often. Since there are very good restaurants close to campus, there normally wasn’t really a purpose.</p>
<p>3) They’re not competitive. Everyone is passionate about their academics, but that doesn’t translate to bitter rivalries. </p>
<p>4) Yes, it’s largely a white, rich campus. It definitely felt like most kids I met were from Farmington, CT, or “twenty minutes outside of Boston.” There definitely is diversity there, though, if you’re willing to look for it. There are also a lot of international students, many with very interesting and diverse experiences.</p>
<p>My impression as a parent who reads and hears a lot about Middlebury is that it is a very vibrant community. This may be true of all liberal arts colleges, but Middlebury is a little larger than many and has a lot of well rounded very involved students. Many of the activities take weekend time, so students may not want to take off for Montreal or even Burlington. I would guess that students go to Burlington more in the range of 2-4 times a year. The Flynn Theater there gets great performers. But on campus students are: rehearsing in a cappella and other music groups, preparing for theater performances (check out the Middblog reviews from the many performances that happened last spring), writing for the newspaper and Middblog, doing everything from building kayaks to making pottery at the Midd-owned Old Stone Mill (there’s a list of student “tenants” on the Midd website under Old Stone Mill that is quite an interesting array), participating in environmental activism with Bill McKibben and otherwise, and, of course, practicing sports. Seasonally students are involved in the community garden and, as soon as winter comes, many are skiing on the weekends. And this is not even mentioning the various clubs and student government.</p>
<p>if you don’t think you’ll love it, save the spot for someone else…It isn’t an urban experience. It is supportive, interesting, academic, and social. There is NOT cut throat competition. People who like to shop for fun or go to clubs might be unhappy. Outdoorsy, friendly, skiiing and hiking types love it.</p>
<p>I have to say, the most important thing to me when looking at schools was that it be a small close campus with a strong intellectual vibe, but I definitely wanted a more urban environment. I wasn’t even interested in looking at Middlebury initially, but I’m so glad I did. I’m someone who LOVES shopping for fun, in fact, today, after years of legal practice, I own a store. Having said that, I could not have loved my years at Middlebury more than I did. I’m still a huge fan and enjoy going back to campus and sharing the experience with my family and friends. I think I just connected with Midd. It’s important to remember to be open to different types of schools. At 18, I was just too young to know what I wanted most. You (meaning anyone looking at schools) probably are too. I’m glad Middlebury found me.</p>