<p>While there have been some very good athletes at Middlebury over the years, I doubt that many would be considered "great".</p>
<p>Moreover, D3 is not the highest level of any of the sports being played at Middlebury. By definition, Middlebury athletes, even the recruited ones, are several levels down from recruited athletes at BC or Georgetown. </p>
<p>However, I do agree that participation in sports is good life training. But discipline, self confidence, desire to win, etc, are all traits that can be found in kids that want to continue to play sports in college and meet Middlebury's non athlete admissions standards. They may not be as physically talented as the 1300 SAT, 3.0 HS GPA types, but so what?</p>
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While there have been some very good athletes at Middlebury over the years, I doubt that many would be considered "great".
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As pure athletes, maybe not. But if Midd students are considered as scholar-athletes -- facing high academic expectations and ineligible for athletic scholarships -- then maybe they do qualify as "great". Only a handful of other schools (the Ivies, Williams, and Amherst come to mind) are similarly noted for scholar-athletes. Is this a bad reputation to have ?</p>
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But discipline, self confidence, desire to win, etc, are all traits that can be found in kids that want to continue to play sports in college and meet Middlebury's non athlete admissions standards.
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No doubt every Middlebury applicant, whether athletic or not, would claim to have discipline, self-confidence, desire to win, etc. etc. But an applicant with a proven record of athletic success can make that claim more plausibly than most others.</p>
<p>It is not a bad reputation to have if they are truly "scholar" athletes. But a kid who fails two classes in his senior year, has his ed acceptance revoked but is permitted to retake the classes in some Florida community college while he practices his sport and is then re-admitted as a February freshman is not a scholar. </p>
<p>Moreover, while I admire dedication to sport and do think it adds a lot to the college community, I don't think athletes are any more likely to be disciplined, etc, than a typical Midd non athletic admit. There aren't many undisciplined kids that can put together the kind of academic performance it takes to get in these days. And while the academic admits are close to the very top these days, only a half step or so behind the kids getting into Yale, the athletes are just D3. They are not close to being at the top of their sport and there are lots of them that coasted in high school on their innate talent</p>