@urbanslaughter… I think you were taking my general comments a bit too personally. Nothing I said disagrees with your post. The only item of potential disagreement is my suggestion that Febs are “fringe” admit statistically. I didn’t say they weren’t up to standard, but I’m willing to bet they aren’t in the top quartile.
Knowing a few kids offered this option, the ones who accept the Feb offer are those who feel that the school making the offer is the “best” school they were admitted to. I appreciate there may be exceptions, but I feel most Feb kids feel like they were the last ones offered a spot. At a school like Middlebury, there is no shame in being the last one through the door. For each of those kids, there are 5 who were rejected.
If you want to take some time off, but not quite a whole year, then a semester off and a Feb entry may sound like just the ticket. I think Middlebury makes the point of encouraging those who may want to pursue other interests to consider taking a Feb entry. The student who took us around when we visited was a Feb entry. She had taken the fall semester to visit Nepal and understand the culture of the country from which her younger sister had been adopted. I thought that was magnificent.
How do we join the middlebury class of 2021 facebook group if we do not have our middlebury email yet? Can you create your email before you put in your deposit?
@milky99 There is one group that is official so you need the email, but there is another one which is public (has the same name) and I just joined it without committing to Midd!
@EyeVeee I didn’t take anything personally. I wasn’t a Feb. I was just trying to correct your false statement. I don’t mean any ill will, but you’re simply wrong about Febs. The school has been VERY clear about this for years. Just because you have some contrary anecdotal evidence, does not make you correct. I don’t know how to make this any more clear. There is no qualitative difference between Febs and Regs. As I stated before, there is just no reason for there to be. Why would the school want to bring in a lesser crop all at once in the Spring, especially when they could fill each class several times over with qualified applicants?
I finally caved in and made a CC account…
Accepted with September admission! I’m surprised so many people who wanted Sep got Feb when I put no preference and got September…
@EyeVeee no, I am not part of the admissions department, but I did do alumni interviews for years. During that time they made it abundantly clear that Febs were just as qualified as regs (in fact, there used to be evidence that Febs graduated with a higher average GPA than Regs. I don’t know whether that’s still true). The story we were always told was that Febs were chosen based on their perceived ability to fit in during the middle of the year. They did tend to be a more outgoing group.
We have this discussion every year here at CC. If you go look at previous year’s posts during the week that decisions are sent out, you’ll see this same conversation virtually every year.
So incredibly grateful to be admitted to Middlebury. Unless I am admitted to any of my other more reaches, I believe I will be attending. I thought I had completely no change and after being waitlisted by all of my other schools thus far, I started crying with happiness. Congratulations to all with good news and I hope that all others receive good news (or already have)!
So @urbanslaughter, there are really 3 possible reasons for someone to be a Feb.
they ask to be one.
the school randomly selects folks, or
the school intentionally puts people in that group.
There is no way that M gets enough qualified requests to fill the group, so lets not discuss them.
I have a hard time believing much of the admissions process is random. That leaves an intentional group. My contention is that these are the last 50, or 90, or 200 people the school offers admission to. They might have prefect SAT’s, all A’s in every AP class known to mankind, and do everything from feed the poor to star in both the school play and 3 varsity sports…but they are a borderline admit for some reason.
I believe that given the choice, the vast majority of kids (95% plus) would start college in the fall. If a kid with a great application is offered Feb at Middlebury, they are taking a September start from an ivy, or another competitive LAC. Filling a class of 90 Febs would require a large acceptance pool to yield 90. If you want to keep your yield high, you group the bottom of the admissions class, offer them Feb, and hope you saw something in them that others didn’t. There is nothing wrong with managing those statistics.
I appreciate that this may be a conversation every year, but its the only year I care about. You use the words “wrong” and “false” a lot for someone using anecdotal evidence. Middlebury is getting a lot of press for not considering alternative points of view. I think you should take a deep breath, and consider the possibility that someone at Middlebury is strategically selecting Febs to maintain the highest possible yield with the lowest acceptance rate possible. There is no chance that admissions will admit to Febs being the last 90 in. It’s entirely possible if the group is random, but I struggle to believe that’s the case, even after considering your posts.
@EyeVeee I am a Berkeley and UCLA Regents Scholar candidate, and I was selected for February admission at Middlebury despite prefering September. Both of my other options are ranked higher than Middlebury in the reported rankings. So I don’t think that the lower tier students are given February admission, and I don’t think it’s much of a yield thing. Because honestly, if I can’t switch to September Admission, there is no way I will be attending Middlebury over Cal or UCLA given this situation. So they are definitely not protecting their yield with me nor are they with many other students.
Feb admission is not mysterious… Yes, the school “intentionally puts people in that group”. The Febs are generally identified as an outgoing group, a group of students whose narrative hints that they would take advantage of an open semester to pursue an interest or a job/internship and that they have the social skills to handle the college transition midstream during the academic year. I don’t see why people try to label the Febs as more marginal admission candidates than the September admits. There are many different “pools” within an admission cycle and Middlebury happens to have a Feb pool. These kids have the transcripts to be admitted to Middlebury AND they have a history that makes them a strong candidate for the unique Feb experience.
From Admissions: We choose our Febs because we see in them students who will use wisely the time between high school graduation and their studies at Middlebury. “Febs” tend to be highly energetic leaders in their school communities, or students who have already sought unconventional and creative opportunities in their high school careers. Febs typically come to Middlebury ready to “hit the ground running.”
I assume Middlebury pays attention to its graduation rate. If Febs were the last 10% of admits because something in their application was “borderline”, why would they start them en masse in the middle of the school year? Doesn’t sound like a recipe for success when they could integrate them in the larger cohort of regular September admits. Personally I take the admission’s office words that Febs are ready to “hit the ground running” because they are strong students and Middlebury is not worried about their transition to college.
What is the point of this argument? To make someone feel bad at a time they should be happy and excited?
February and September admits alike can be proud that they were chosen from among so many applicants for Middlebury, an amazing school. Anyone who only wants a September start can choose another of their options. February admits can search this site for the many positive comments about the experience of Febs made by students, parents and alumni; from the comments, it seems like Middlebury creates a very positive and exciting experience for them.
Congratulations and good luck to all newly admitted students!
I think there’s a blunt and perhaps not so politically correct explanation that fits most of the maybe not so contradictory data. How? Well Middlebury openly confesses that they don’t offer Feb admission to URMs (and apparently [recruited] athletes), and also that Financial Aid may be less forthcoming. Based on other comments here and elsewhere, it appears that Febs are very “white” as compared with September admits. Would it then be surprising that Febs might have equal or higher GPA and /or test scores, given the willingness to take URMs (and athletes) with slightly lower numbers? Qualified white kids are far more plentiful than qualified URMs, who like it or not are the unicorns all the top schools are competing for. URMs are far less likely to have money for either college or to finance a useful “gap semester.” They would be lost to Middlebury in a heartbeat. So one could be a Feb and above average for Middlebury but that pesky lack of the URM or athlete hook might still might make you a better bet for February than September anyway. If you’re white and mark no preference, you’re a Feb. If you have money, you’re a better risk, maybe you’re a Feb. Even if you mark September, you’re still a better bet to not bolt if you’re white, especially if you have money and maybe you’re even more likely to fit the “leaderly/outgoing/ can deal with the challenge” part too, given advantaged resources and opportunities.