I’ll take a stab at this one . . .
You’ve asked for pros and cons for each school, so I’ll try to throw some thoughts into the mix. In full disclosure, I have a daughter (nursing major) and a niece (psych major) who both attended BC and had positive experiences there. My niece was able to present a paper on her original research at a national conference.
For a prospective History major, the biggest pro for BC is that your son potentially gets to study with Heather Cox Richardson. I’m a big fan of hers and believe that she is a national treasure. If you don’t know her work, I encourage you to read up on her and see what you think. She writes a regular blog and speaks out on current issues of the day, offering a historian’s perspective.
My negative fir BC is that freshman have a 50:50 chance of being housed two miles away on BC’s Newton campus. It is connected to the main campus by regular shuttle bus service. My daughter was housed there her freshman year and didn’t mind it. In fact, she thought it was a positive because it built community among the freshmen quickly. If a student is not well organized and is the type who may have to go back to his room for something he forgot, this might be a problem. Or if he just likes to go back to his room during the day when he has a break in classes, his room is less accessible. The same could be said for living off campus, which most students do in their junior year. My daughter actually loved her off campus apartment wihich she shared with half a dozen friends. C’est la vie.
I recently toured BC with a niece. One of the things that struck me was students at tables raising money for the poor and recruiting student volunteers to work on spring break among the poor in the Caribbean and various locations around the U.S. The sense of student activism for social justice stood out to me.
Middlebury’s strength in international study and foreign language seems to me to cut both ways. They offer more foreign languages than BC does despite being a much smaller college. And they have access to many study abroad programs, which more than half of the students reportedly take advantage of in their junior year. The negative side of that is the disruption to friend groups and social networks during junior year - especially to those who choose not to study abroad and are left behind. Given that hundreds of students are studying abroad each year, the actual number of students on campus is probably about 10% lower than the reported student enrollment.
One observation about a different vibe between the two schools is that Middlebury has developed a reputation as an activist campus over the past decade or two. This past year there have been student protests over budget cuts, but a variety of topics have led students to assemble. In contrast, the administration at BC seems to make it difficult to organize demonstrations on campus. In addition, with schools of business, nursing, and education, there is more of a pre-professional vibe at BC among large parts of the student body.
Just some thoughts about the two schools without repeating comments about the obvious differences in size, location, and environment.