<p>I think there are those currently at Middlebury posting on the Middlebury board who have tried to provide you with more current information. There have been big changes at the school with regard to diversity and recruitment of low income students.</p>
<p>In terms of ambience, what I'm trying to convey is that there is an emphasis on the arts and on environmental consciousness/responsibility. I know of at least a dozen would-be environmental studies students who were having a hard time deciding between Oberlin and Middlebury. I doubt you'd describe Oberlin as white and preppy and these kids definitely don't fit the profile you're suggesting. It's just not the sort of homogeneous white "prep" environment you are suggesting. I have no agenda in putting this out there except that I don't want people to be deterred from the place without looking at it themselves. I was pretty amazed by it, actually.</p>
<p>My point about the stereotypes is that they do have or once had an element of truth to them but that they stick even when the truth behind them is exaggerated or long gone. Would you consider Swarthmore a place where people study and compete to the exclusion of all else? We're not talking about its level of academic challenge. Academically challenging is quite different from from what I've heard described as a misery culture. Pomona is academically challenging but I've never heard anyone call it an intense place where students spend all their free time in the library. In fact that school goes out of its way to promote the engagement and balance of its student body. So does Haverford. I'd hate for someone to be put off simply because that description was casually tossed about. It's the same with UChicago. It's a far extreme from thinking it a party school to think of it as a humorless haven for nerds.</p>