Middlebury ED1 Class of 2025: How to boost her chances?

D21 is applying ED1 and we welcome all advice.

Stats:
SAT: 1520 (800v, 720m)
GPA: 3.9 unweighted; 4.7 weighted
IB Diploma candidate

White kid from the midwest with no hooks.

ECs have strong social-justice focus; advocacy and leadership.

Recommendations: 10/10

About D21:
Kind-hearted
Collaborative
Quietly confident
Passionate environmentalist
Social justice warrior
Hangs out with friends but not a partier

Plans to major in American Studies, minor in linguistics, and thinks she’d like to pursue a career in advocacy (policy/law).

Before discovering Middlebury, D21 was set to apply ED to Amherst.

Why Middlebury?
Courses in Disability Studies (rare for an LAC)
Minor in Linguistics (also relatively rare)
Large number of courses with social-justice focus (only Williams and Amherst come close)
Tops the list for students with learning differences (which D21 has)
Tops the list for graduating 1st gen students (confirms it’s a supportive environment)
Successful COVID plan has students on campus both semesters
Virtual admissions sessions indicate a warm, fuzzy vibe
Highly rated for quality of food

In the absence of a supplementary essay, how can D21 demonstrate that Middlebury is a great fit for her?

She will contact the admissions officer for our state. Should she simply say she submitted an application and keep it simple, or would it be better to provide more detail?

Would it be presumptuous for her to reach out to the Disability Studies professor?

Lastly, would it increase her chance of admission if she selects that she’s open to either a September or February start date?

Tagging Middlebury peeps:
@MWolf
@“Contented Panther”
@OldbatesieDoc
@helpingmom40

I cannot answer your question, but would like to share that on a visit to Middlebury about 15 years ago, I met a student who had to design his own linguistics major. His dad was a professor elsewhere. Maybe this young man helped Middlebury to create a linguistics major.

Your daughter is a very well qualified applicant. Applying ED should be enough to boost her chances of admission in my opinion.

Looks like she’s done everything right. If it were my kid, I’d be encouraging her to focus on her non-Middlebury options at this point. If she gets in- she’s deliriously happy and done. If she doesn’t, she’s got some schools in the pipeline she can get excited about. It’s really out of her control once the application goes in- the only thing she can control is her attitude!

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You mention she will contact the rep. Has she done the online zoom session already with the area rep ? Sign up on the Middlebury website - my daughter’s friend was the only one on hers last week and had the rep all to herself. The rep told her that it varies from 1-5 students on each call, so lots of personal attention. All the best to your daughter.

I think she has a good chance. The acceptance rate for class of 2024 was higher than years past, due to Covid, I’m sure.

Definitely let the rep know she sent in her ED app. She should do a virtual neon session. I think being agreeable to be a Febby is a pretty big advantage. D20 refused because of the whole skiing downhill to graduation aspect.

Good luck!

Unfortunately, I cannot help you with this, since my kid was accepted via Posse, so she was selected using different criteria. @“Contented Panther” would likely give you a better idea of what she should do

I do agree that your daughter looks like an excellent applicant for Midd. Definitely have her talk to the rep - demonstrated interest helps. I don’t know that reaching out to the Disability Studies professor would have any effect, since I don’t think that they would be part of the admissions.

Good luck!!

Middlebury appears to have accepted slightly over half of its ED applicants last year. In my opinion, they will be even more likely than this figure suggests to accept a fully qualified student such as your daughter. Her work, with respect to getting into college, seems to be mostly finished.

You’ve told us her assets, but be sure they show through in her app. Eg, the collaborative activities/impact, (which is more than just participating in an EC or a leader title.) Or, how she’s been involved in advocacy, including local. Show, not just tell. Maybe this is done, but here you haven’t mentioned what.

@blossom I agree! I’d like her to have other essays done before the ED decision is released. We’re now looking more closely at match schools where she will be happy.

@coffeeat3 Yes, D had a visit with our area’s AO just yesterday. There were 5 others present, all girls, all white, and even one from our underrepresented little city and state!

@helpingmom40 Like your D, the skiing at graduation is not appealing to mine. We did see a video and it looks like some are pulled on a sled so it wouldn’t be a deal-breaker. D’s bigger concern is Febs are not necessarily housed in Freshmen housing. She ended up selecting a Fall start.

@MWolf I’m so grateful for the time you took to tell me more about Middlebury via messaging. It was your input that helped us look further and eventually determine that Middlebury is a great fit. My D is really excited to be applying ED. Thank you for clearing up my misperceptions!

@lookingforward I can’t tell you how much stress my D’s EC list has caused! The problem is that she stubbornly refused to add her more unique ECs until finally the college counselor intervened and told her she had to do it. Left up to my D, she had a somewhat bland list that included Model U.N., chorus, varsity tennis, that kind of thing. She left off all of her disability advocacy work, the racial justice book club she started., etc — basically all of the interesting things that show who she is and what she values. She left all of this off because, in the same way she didn’t want an SAT prep class (“too privileged”), she is uncomfortable with the idea of gaining a benefit (admission to college) from helping those who are less privileged. She wrote a fantastic essay about an epiphany on white privilege she had during her ACLU internship (D and her new friends, 1 Black and 1 Latina, had an encounter with a police officer, something that frightened her friends but that didn’t phase her — and hence the epiphany). She scrapped the essay and wrote a new one on a different topic. I love and admire the unique person she is, so stubborn and with such a strong sense of justice — but it has been really stressful when doing college applications! Anyway this is all TMI I suppose, but yes, thank you for your suggestion which is absolutely right. Fortunately I think My D cobbled together a package that will give the admissions people a glimpse of the person she is.

@GoldPenn Just want to wish your D good luck. My D applied last year ED1 and was deferred, but accepted RD. Like your daughter, she decided to apply for September admission only. Midd tends to defer far fewer applicants than they reject, so hang in there if that’s the result.

Also, she flatly refused to work on supplemental essays until she heard from Midd, so we had a fun holiday season, LOL. She ended up with a lot of acceptances RD, which was a nice surprise.

Hi @GoldPenn

Forgive the tardy reply; work/elections…

Your daughter sounds interesting, and that Midd may be a good fit for her.

She should absolutely reach out to the Disability Profs, and understand what they’re doing and where she could fit in (or not - it would be very unfortunate if she got in and came to focus in one area and then found out she didn’t get on with the key faculty in her area: this broadly happened to me and I spent three years working around one particular faculty member who was the College’s ‘expert’ in my field - doable in the context of my large department, but not ideal.)

Don’t get hung up on the major thing, either - Independent Scholar exists precisely for this! See here, at subsection H: http://www.middlebury.edu/about/handbook/ug-college-policies/ug-policies/academics/deg-prgms-proj

Other advice (and apologies for those I’m boring).

  • ED1 is an important signal of intent. But she also needs to explain why she's chosen to spend her golden ticket on Midd (vice Williams/Amherst/Swarthmore). What is it about Midd that made her make that choice?
  • Midd is big on fit. What will she bring to the class that 8700 rejected applicants wouldn't have done? (Rough math: c 10k applicants, probably 1300 acceptances for 650 spots). How will Midd remember her five years after she's graduated? Will they even recall her at all, or will she be "one who slides through"?
  • One of the reason Midd is big on fit is that Midd is in the middle of nowhere, and winter is loooong. So, has she visited? Even in COVID times, walking the campus and getting a feel for the place is super important; I recall several (6-8) bitterly unhappy fellow Froshes three months in, and most transferred which wasn't helpful to anyone.
  • I don't know how much it matters, but deciding that you only want a Fall Admit is hard to square with the "Midd is my number one choice irrespective" message the rest of the application sends. If you want it that badly, and it's Feb or nothing, she needs to be open to that. (And in any event, there are, I'm told, worse things than being a Feb!) More prosaically, if you enter as a Feb, there's no reason that you should have to graduate as a Feb - the Fall you have 'off' or summer school should easily round up the required credits. I wasn't a Feb, but had several friends who went from Feb-Reg by going to England's University of East Anglia for a semester in that first Fall. By the end, it doesn't matter one way or the other (banter aside, Febs... we love you really!)
  • Absolutely make sure she has an alumni interview. With much less on campus activity and admissions office travel, the alums' views are likely to be unusually important this year. Be yourself - open and honest is by far the best option. She should think about what excites her intellectually, and what she wants to get out of bed for in the cold, grey November VT rain (the worst month by far at Midd). It's not a game, and whilst it can't get you in, it is possible to fail the interview, I suppose - I probably send one a year back with the dreaded "there may be strong reasons to admit elsewhere in the application, but on the basis of this interview etc etc".
  • Underrepresented states (Indiana? Wisconsin?) may help at the margin, but realistically Midd will get admittable candidates from all 50 states, so it's unlikely to be a game changer. (If Midd were reaching out anywhere, I'd suggest it could do with a bit of focus on VT - it's its home state's finest undergraduate college by Frost's proveribal country mile, but it is not always very visible to the best HS Seniors there.)

Hope this helps - good luck!

CP

@“Contented Panther”

Thanks for the great feedback. I just copied the quotes above I wanted to comment on.

— Explaining why she spent her golden ticket on Midd is hard to do without a supplementary. She participated in a small group info session last week with the AO for our area. She will reach out to email a thank you and to let him know she applied ED. Do you think it’s an idea for her to briefly let him know why Midd is a good fit for her? I know AOs are incredibly busy and I want to be mindful of that.

— As for what she will bring to the class, hopefully they will see it in her recommendations and her essay. She doesn’t have a list of tangible, extraordinary accomplishments like some on cc, but she brings kindness, acceptance of others, a willingness to speak up, and she’s a champion of the underdog. That kind of thing. Your question as to how Midd would remember her in 5 years is an interesting one. She and I were talking about that today in fact. There is a girl in her class who will also apply to Midd but it will be RD. On paper, this girl might have a slight edge. She is extremely accomplished musically and has won a couple of national awards. She is the classic overachiever. But under the gloss of perfection is a girl who stirs up trouble everywhere she goes. It’s to the point now where none of the girls will have anything to do with her. To answer your question, the Middlebury class of 2025 would be better for having my daughter in it. The Middlebury class of 2025 could also have this other girl who might go on to win awards for Midd, but the class most certainly will not be better for having her in it. Anyway, sorry to have rambled on but you brought up a really interesting point!

— After reading your reply, we looked at the questions on the Middlebury application and it uses the phrasing, “I would prefer…” which seems to leave it somewhat open.

— Unlike most colleges where applicants can schedule an alumni interview, Middlebury’s process is automated. It sounds like some applicants are assigned an interview and others are not. Do you recommend my daughter reach out to her AO if she doesn’t receive notice of an interview? We are acquainted with a 90-year old Midd alum but I’m not certain if he’s an interviewer.

Thanks for your help! This is my first and only kid so all of this is new to us.

Hi @GoldPenn

Excellent, glad it was helpful.


[QUOTE=""]

Explaining why she spent her golden ticket on Midd is hard to do without a
supplementary. She participated in a small group info session last week with the AO
for our area. She will reach out to email a thank you and to let him know she applied
ED. Do you think it’s an idea for her to briefly let him know why Midd is a good fit for
her? I know AOs are incredibly busy and I want to be mindful of that.

[/QUOTE]

I would if I were her, I absolutely would; the AO will read the note anyway, so you may as well send the message.


[QUOTE=""]

As for what she will bring to the class, hopefully they will see it in her
recommendations and her essay. She doesn’t have a list of tangible, extraordinary
accomplishments like some on cc, but she brings kindness, acceptance of others, a
willingness to speak up, and she’s a champion of the underdog. That kind of thing.

[/QUOTE]

Then that’s good; she needs to demonstrate this in her essay and to the extent that the recommendations draw that out, so much the better. This is also where her alumni interview will drive home the point.


[QUOTE=""]

Unlike most colleges where applicants can schedule an alumni interview,
Middlebury’s process is automated.

[/QUOTE]

To the best of my knowledge, the process isn’t automated per se; what happens is that each region has chair(s) who assign the candidates to the alumni, who then contact the applicants direct. (There are some 4,400 of us worldwide). I’ve not recieved any assignments for ED I yet, so they’re probably not our yet.

CP

Thinking of you this morning and hoping you hear great news for your daughter!!