Middlebury Hurting Itself

<p>I am really sorry to hear about the OP’s experience. My DS’s experience was different. When he sat in on a beginning chemistry class, the professor talked to him and another student after class for over 1/2 hour and showed them some of the equipment that Midd had that they could be working with if they went to midd. Also, when our family was walking around the science building on a Sunday afternoon, we met several prof.s who took a lot of time to talk to us about Midd. One time an economics prof. stopped us in the library and asked us all about ourselves and our child. Our son now is a freshman at midd and loving it. He has had little trouble getting the classes he wants.(He had to go on a waiting list for one class, but was admitted to the class several weeks later.)</p>

<p>One thing I agree with is the info sessions are not consistent. (We went to two). I think that if they are led by students that they have more training. Our favorite info sessions were all led by either admissions staff or by a combination of students and admissions. In many ways, because so much info is on line, info sessions are somewhat outdated and the schools that did something a little different were the ones we liked the best.</p>

<p>Sorry the OP had a negative experience at Middlebury - ours was the opposite. We visited during the summer, so there was no opportunity to sit in on classes, but the presentation by an admissions officer was incredibly impressive: he spoke for an hour without notes, without hype, just conversationally about what sets Middlebury apart from its peer schools. Our student guide was an international student who had requested to be a Feb, and she was both informed and compelling. My son got back in the car with the words, “It’s perfect” and no other school could compare in his eyes.</p>

<p>Interesting that the OP hasn’t commented on any of the replies. I’d be interested in his response.</p>

<p>The original post was not meant to stress any one deficiency or to indicate that it is anything but a wonderful school. I liked it for my daughter and was disappointed that she did not. I believe that if their process allowed some access or feedback, it would have made a difference. She was looking for any degree of personal connection without overstepping and could not find it. It really was different in that regard from most other schools we visited. I hoped that by posting the experience they would see how their approach was perceived by at least one family.</p>

<p>I realize that your daughter has been accepted elsewhere, but it would be great if you could email your concerns and observations directly to the admissions office (<a href=“mailto:admissions@middlebury.edu”>admissions@middlebury.edu</a>), as I’m not sure how often they visit this site.</p>

<p>I will preface the rest with the comment that my S really loves Midd - and more so now than he did as a freshman. </p>

<p>However, I will also admit that I found our tour guide a little lacking, both in departmental knowledge and tact, and yes, he was also a theater or Art major. He made some comment about how he came to be at Midd and, reduced down, it was that he hit early decision by accident. I was hugely unimpressed. But as an adult, and as someone who had been on nearly 20 tours between two kids by this point, I wasn’t swayed either direction by just one kid. It’s really short sighted. I don’t know about you, but after I was accepted to college, I never went to the admissions office ever again. </p>

<p>However, the truth is (and prospective students should be made aware) science majors do not typically have a lot of time outside of class and labs in which to give tours. Mostly their jobs are in the labs themselves. My S, however, has very much welcomed questions from visiting students when they stumble upon him in Bi-Hall, which is where he is 90% of the time.</p>

<p>As for scheduling, last year he did have some trouble getting some classes and I would have to agree that Midd could use an extra professor or two in the Biology and Chem departments just to help with some of the intro class sizes. However, his professors were more than willing to work with S along the way, especially when he explained his dilemmas. The biggest stumbling block however is the TIMING of making a specific schedule work vs any schedule. There are always going to be areas in which one picks and chooses. And those not willing or wanting to have an 8am class won’t always get the courses they want. Flexibility is key. S didn’t mind early classes, but conflicting times compounded with lab heavy courses makes it a logistical issue more than anything else. </p>

<p>Bottom line, I am less interested in how the administration interacts with parents or prospective students prior to admissions than how they do so with their current student body and their parents. Is S happy with all decisions made by the administration? No. But I would say his professors are the primary reason he loves it there as he does. I imagine he will have a similar string of memories that reveals true mutual respect and admiration as previously mentioned. I am more than grateful for their attention, encouragement, and unyielding support of my S’s success. So… my advice for a science kid is go spend some time in Bi-hall. Ask some random students what they think. A tour, in and of itself, is really only window dressing to what really matters in choosing a college - the education.</p>

<p>I’m a Vermonter whose D applied to Middlebury last year, was accepted, and decided to go to Harvard instead. It’s true her admissions experience wasn’t perfect, that the tour guide and info session could have been better, but I can also say the same (and to an even greater degree) about Harvard, Brown, Swarthmore, Bowdoin or any of the other schools she got into. To place such an enormous emphasis on an hour-long presentation that by its very nature offers only a limited, introductory and subjective glimpse of campus life is ridiculous. The experience of students who have actually attended Middlebury is far more revealing, and in this regard I can say that every Midd student I’ve ever known has loved their time there and done extremely well afterwards. My D loves Harvard, but I would have been delighted to see her go to Middlebury. The bottom line is that being an intelligent consumer means looking beyond the wrapping.</p>

<p>This is weird because the Midd. tour and info session was my favorite. The admissions officer who gave the info. session was a nicely dressed (very Vermont) gruff looking guy and was extremely friendly. Our tour guide Dan Lee (I still remember his name, that is how memorable he was) was absolutely awesome. He was funny and told us about both the academic and social sides of the school. He told the parents to stand at the back so the students could hear (maybe this irritated some of the helicopter parents…) and he required each student on the tour to ask a question by the end. He took us to see Frost’s chair, and took us to his favorite study spots and told us why. We also spent a long time in one of the dining halls discussing food, because it is of course a very important subject. Again, it was the best visit I had from any of the LACs in NE, and definitely better than the Ivy tours (Harvard was especially bad and turned me totally off).</p>

<p>My interview was also great: basically it entailed drinking a nice cup of coffee and sitting on a park bench while discussing what we were both interested in. I think everything depends on how friendly and talkative you are. I am from the midwest, so maybe it just comes easier to me :P</p>

<p>So glad to see a young articulate student so familiar with the great architect and designer!</p>