I’m officially visiting Middlebury and UVM in mid-April. One of my dad’s friend’s daughters goes to UVM and I think she’s going to show us around there. At Middlebury, I’m going to try to hit all the basics (talk with students, admitted student tour, check out the town) along with others (ski hills in the area and hiking trails). I’m not sure how to get into contact with the professor, but it would definitely be a great way to learn about the program. I agree with you that now is not the time to be shy. Additionally, some recent graduates from my high school go to Middlebury and NYU. I’ve been trying to get into contact with them as well since they can offer a personal perspective.
Thank you for bringing light to this topic. This is very concerning. A big part of Middlebury’s appeal for me is the environment, especially the campus. They already want a ridiculous sum of money( my family is upper-middle-class and my parents say they are fine paying but I don’t want to swamp them with an obscene bill every year) so I would hope the money for room&board isn’t going for a hotel room.
1 Like
Contact the Admissions Office in advance and ask them to schedule appointments in advance with the professor(s) you want to speak with during your visit.
Campus visits usually have an info session in addition to a tour. These can often prove to be helpful. I don’t discount the value of your dad’s friend’s daughter because she will likely tell you the truth as she knows it rather than a tour guide who is selected based on his/her ability to deliver a sales pitch, but I would also schedule an official visit so you can attend an info session if they have one. Then skip the official tour.
3 Likes
I know these lists are all subjective, but Wall Street Journal ranks NYU at 26 and Middlebury at 40 which is why I said this. I’m not sure what Middlebury’s acceptance rate was this year, but NYU said it was like 12.9%. I agree with you though that the average Middlebury student is probably smarter than the average NYU student or scored higher on standardized tests or whatever but NYU gets like 9x as many applications.
We connected with someone who went to my son’s school when we visited Middlebury (in addition to the official tour). It was really helpful.
I think the feeling of each campus will be so different and maybe that will help you decide.
Congratulations on the great options!
1 Like
Thank you! I agree that I need to be there to fully understand.
You’re comparing apples and oranges. At NYU, Stern is exceptional. And Tisch is exceptional. Both are among the best in the country. They help to boost NYU’s ratings. But you’re not looking for a business school or a performing arts school. Middlebury is a liberal arts college. In an apples to apples comparison, the apt comparison is to the NYU College of Arts & Sciences without the other undergrad colleges at NYU. In that comparison NYU is no better than Middlebury and might not be as good.
1 Like
Well said.
Forget about those lists; they are manipulated crap. This is coming feom someone who hires a lot of people for top top paying jobs. You need to dig into the course offerings and the profs. You are the (nice and kind) boss now; contact the admissions office. As @Bill_Marsh brilliantly suggested in his usual brilliant way.
3 Likes
Roger
I’d say a rank difference of 10 or so is never significant, even if you think the ranking is good.
2 Likes
Bill_Marsh, I really appreciate your detailed post on this. My kid is also weighing Fordham (full tuition scholarship x 4 years) vs. NYU Tisch (tech theater, full pay, no financial aid at all.) Kid is mainly an arts kid, but also has gardening/horticulture as a major hobby…
Not sure if you have considered this, but note that biology and computer science are at opposite ends of the range when it comes to major-related job and career prospects after graduation (of course, that can change in the future).
1 Like
You’re welcome. PM me if you have any questions. My son is a Fordham alum and a friend works on campus and has a son beginning college there this fall.
2 Likes
Ok, so it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve said anything on this thread. Basically, Spring Break and college visits happened. I really thought that this would help me decide which place suited me the best, but it didn’t. Middlebury which was my #1 before my visit sort of fell. I knew that it would be remote, but it’s really remote. Burlington being only 40 minutes away is really nice though (it’s a cool town with a beautiful lake). The campus itself was amazing though, it felt big but quaint. After touring, I met with a senior who’s like my second cousin once removed? Anyways she’s from Hawaii and said that the distance from society is something that can bother you from time to time. I learned that Middlebury has one of the highest percentages of students admitted to med school (90%?). There is also an Amtrack line to NYC that will open up soon. I still love Midd, but the location is definitely something that I’m not very excited about.
Next, I guess I’ll talk about NYU. So I did the Home for the Weekend thingy and I guess it was insightful. I did not learn much about the LS core program from it, but I did do some research. I think that if you’re going into CAS for like biology, you can take the CAS classes for bio? There is also sort of a stigma against LS that I noticed, it literally was not mentioned once at the entire event, but whatever. I learned that I do like where it is located in NYC. Also, Midd does not have AC (which doesn’t matter since it’s Vermont) but NYU does for every dorm except a few but AC is not a factor at all.
BU. BU probably rose the most in my opinion. I forgot how much I love Boston, especially Brookline. They also have very good Bio and Comp sci programs along with having bioinformatics as a major.
Anyways, thought I would update this forum.
2 Likes
Did you attend a BU open house? We were there on Friday for the CAS open house then at NYU on Saturday for the Home for the Weekend. My D and I were really impressed with BU’s CAS program and the students who spoke. The faculty at the expo were very engaging and seemed excited to share information about their subjects.
As for NYU, keep in mind that the event was really geared to NYU in general, like general opportunities beyond NYU, housing, and a session with generic advice for success for college that could apply to any student going to college anywhere. I think that information about specific academic programs is being delivered through virtual sessions. My D attended one last night for CAS. I didn’t want you to get the impression that the reason why LS wasn’t mentioned was because of a stigma; it just wasn’t the purpose of the programming, which I personally think was a missed opportunity by NYU to have in-person sessions unique to each college. Check to see if there’s an upcoming LS specific virtual program that you can attend to get more information about it.
1 Like
All of the NYU emails went to my spam inbox so I missed all of the virtual programs about LS and I don’t know where to find recordings. I was in Boston Sunday night and Monday morning and there were no tours open, so we just walked around and went inside buildings. Is there anyway to access recording of the BU open house?
Middlebury, like many small colleges with lots of pre-meds, has a pre-med committee. Such pre-med committees typically discourage weaker applicants from applying. This can be a good thing, because applying would be a waste of considerable time and money for many such applicants. However, a medical school admission rate of 90% suggests that Middlebury discourages all but the very strongest applicants from applying.
3 Likes
You may want to reach out to NYU to see if they have recordings of the virtual programs. As for BU, I think they’re holding another open house this Friday. When my D registered it asked if she was attending in person or virtually but it wasn’t clear if they actually have links for each session. I’m just not sure. Maybe you could reach out to ask if there are any recordings available or if you could attend it virtually this week. She attended a session about academic opportunities in CAS and one about the first year experience as a CAS student.
1 Like
This website provides information on the number of med school applicants from the top LACs in fall 2021, along with acceptance rates.
Here are some of the numbers:
Amherst: 82 applicants
Wesleyan: 73
Wellesley: 69
Williams: 67
Davidson: 63
Carleton: 59
Middlebury: 57
Swarthmore: 50
Pomona: 54
Bowdoin: 40
1 Like