I shared mostly as new information for others to consider. Nonetheless, from reading the article, it appears that members of the Middlebury community believe that its admission results for this year, along with its slip in U.S. News, suggest a softening of its general appeal. On this, I’d say wait and see. Middlebury could be ranked 12th this coming season (for a prediction, see Middlebury Ranking - #9 by merc81), for example, or its decline in applications may simply reflect greater trends that have yet to become widely apparent. Middlebury’s current financial turbulence appears to represent a greater concern, however.