Middlebury Affirmative Action

<p>On the collegeboard website, race/ethnic status are listed as important factors considered by Midd. Is recruiting blacks an institutional priority? If so, are there other schools like this?</p>

<p>The simple answer is yes. Middlebury accepts a very high percentage of their black applicants ~ 60-75%, as does other schools in that region such as Bates/Colby along with Bowdoin to some extent. These schools accept so many of their black applicants because their yield rate for black students is very low, so to get a certain amount of black students to matriculate (and to keep accreditation), they have to accept more.</p>

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<p>It has nothing to do with keeping accreditation. It has to do with wanting to assemble a diverse class. Schools in rural areas and predominently white states have trouble attracting students of color for obvious reasons, so they need to accept more to ensure a diverse class. Programs like Posse and Questbridge help bring qualified disadvantaged students to schools like Middlebury.</p>

<p>Black students generally do not apply in large numbers to remote, rural or rural-like schoools. The black acceptance rate at Bowdoin is approximately 45%. I cannot speak to the rate for Colby or Middlebury.</p>