According to their official numbers, the amount of applications has been declining year after year for the past 3 years. I just committed to Middlebury but I’m now having doubts after choosing it over my state flagship (UT Austin). Is the college declining? The rankings have also dropped over the past few years, and while obviously rankings aren’t everything, they definitely influence the prestige of the school even if ithe school hasn’t changed. No other NESCAC school has seen a similar decline in applications, and most have seen a record number of applicants this year. Middlebury doesn’t even require test scores or have supplemental essays.
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It’s a great school with a long-earned reputation that isn’t going anywhere. Chill out.
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^^ this.
Middlebury is doing fine, and you will have an AMAZING four years! An experience completely different from anything in Texas. At a VERY prestigious school, to boot.
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Great school, beautiful location. If you prefer Austin.Texas to Middlebury VT that is a different story. If prestige is what you are after, the reputation of Middlebury is intact as far as I know. Hope you have a great experience.
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Little Ivy versus Public Ivy. Stop looking at the trees and consider the forest.
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These schools are so different, there must be an obvious reason you chose Middlebury.
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If you search, you’ll find some good analyses of why Middlebury dropped in the US News rankings two years ago. They dropped to 19, then went back up to 13 last year. Long story short, it’s primarily due to a change in the methodology relating to financial resources, together with a few years of over-enrollment.
As for the drop/plateau in applications, I think that can be attributed to a few things: location, affordability/competitiveness of financial aid packages (compared to peers), heavy reliance on ED, and overall marketing. Obviously location can’t be changed, but the rest can.
There’s a new president who’s coming up on one year at the college. Reviews so far are very positive. He has a plan—let’s give him some time to implement it.
Middlebury has weathered storms in the past and has always come out ahead, and I expect that to continue. Congrats on this amazing accomplishment!
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You applied to it and picked it for a reason.
What has changed since then?
Nothing.
Congrats and best of luck.
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No, Middlebury is not declining. It has a stellar reputation and isn’t going anywhere. It has a very healthy endowment and is considered elite. It’s one of the top LACs in the nation and people who matter (employers, grad schools) will have heard of Middlebury. It’s a NESCAC college, which in itself is a great “brand.”
Not sure what you mean by a drop in applications. It had 1000 more applications for the ‘21 cycle than the ‘22 cycle. In the ‘23 cycle, it had another 500 over the previous year, for the ‘24 cycle it was the same as the ‘22 cycle, which is hardly a significant downturn. Applications have leveled out at many colleges since the pandemic years, when there was a lot of uncertainty and people were submitting a lot of apps everywhere. Historical Data | Middlebury
I suspect you are just getting cold feet about leaving your state. UTA is pretty much the opposite of Middlebury. Why did you choose Midd over UTA? Go back to those reasons.
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Middlebury College has received a lot of negative publicity over the past few years due to deficit spending for 15 years which led to over-enrollment of students, cutbacks on spending including reducing faculty members which led to larger classes & housing issues. Moody’s reduced Middlebury’s credit ratings.
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This is the latest I see - which has Midd with extremely strong bond ratings. Moody’s gave a negative outlook - but even if they cut (1/3 chance in two eyars) to an A1 - its still bulletproof.
Many colleges have gone to cut costs - but the student is worried about Midd and its stature, etc - and I don’t see any change. UT is also cutting programs - link below. Midd’s bond ratings are near bulletproof - AA and AA3 - so there is zero concern (IMHO) in what the student is expressing.
btw - one of the reasons UT’s apps exploded was they joined common app. I think both are great schools - and OP could easily pick one and they have. That they are getting fearful on MIdd though - is unwarranted - I mean, there are differences. Few at home will know Midd (that’s the same anywhere but the NE) and all these things might be bothering - but Midd’s financial status or desirability - no different than before.
“August 5, 2025
S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s assigned top-tier ratings to Middlebury’s proposed series 2025 revenue bonds, allowing the College to borrow funds at lower interest rates to finance renovation, construction, and other capital projects.
Middlebury received a AA rating from S&P and an equivalently high Aa3 rating from Moody’s. The agencies both affirmed the College’s current long-term credit ratings. Middlebury received a stable outlook from S&P while Moody’s revised its outlook from stable to negative, due to ongoing deficits.
In its analysis, Moody’s credited the College for maintaining $1.6 billion in total cash and investments as of fiscal year 2024 and for providing substantial financial resources to support and sustain its strong market position.
“The affirmation of the Aa3 issuer rating reflects the college’s excellent reputation as a selective liberal arts college, sizable wealth, and good donor engagement,” continued the analysis, which cited consistent deficits as a main reason for the revised outlook.
Middlebury plans to use the capital raised from the bonds—up to $30 million to be issued by the Vermont Educational and Health Building Financing Agency—to fund the renovations of Stewart Hall and Armstrong Library in Bicentennial Hall to fully convert the space to a Quantitative Center, and to upgrade the Kirk Alumni Center, among other projects.
S&P assessed Middlebury’s financial risk profile as “strong with a sizable endowment and a manageable debt burden” consistent with the rating category. “These strengths are somewhat offset by the trend of full-accrual operating deficits, although we understand that management recently implemented meaningful measures to improve operating results in the near term,” read the report.
“These ratings are a direct reflection of our reputation as a leading liberal arts institution driven by the unparalleled commitment of our students, faculty, and staff,” said David Provost, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “We are already addressing the operating deficit issues addressed in the Moody’s analysis ratings and are optimistic about the College’s financial trajectory.
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Agreed.
Yes, this ALWAYS boosts the number of apps a college receives.
Middlebury and UT Austin have very similar freshman retention rates, which means students are happy and return. Middlebury has a notably higher four year graduation rate than UTA. Middlebury is going to have much smaller classes over four years than UT Austin, which will have larger classes, primarily in the first two years. Obviously size and location are two huge factors. OP should consider if they want to be at a college with 43k students in a city, or a college with 2800 students in rural Vermont. They are going to offer very different experiences.
@Aleje re no test scores required… That has been an increasing trend over the last 20 years that shows no signs of stopping. I won’t go into the reasons for that here, but there are tons of articles and papers explaining this trend. The UC system in California doesn’t accept test scores at all. No one thinks the UCs are declining because of it. It’s because in general, research has shown that course rigor and grades are a better predictor of college success than test scores. (That’s a different discussion.)
Tons of colleges have no supplemental essays. In fact, many peer colleges of Middlebury don’t have essays and they are extremely selective, including Williams, Colby, Bates, Northeastern, and Wesleyan.
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COA may be a significant factor as Middlebury is much more expensive than is UTexas at Austin. (Therefore, delaying one’s graduation from an expensive LAC is not a realistic option for most.)
Plus, some majors may require more time, such as engineering, than a liberal arts humanities major.
Additionally, lots of folks just do not want to leave Austin or UTexas after just 4 years.
Attending school at a dynamic university in an exciting city is something to be cherished and should not be given up easily.
Happens in many cities which host state flagship universities where life is better than good.
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However, there may be other factors based on the money demographics of the families of the students. It is likely that University of Texas students include a greater percentage of students at risk of running out of money for school, resulting in either dropping out, or taking gap semesters during college to work to earn money to pay for school. Or they may have higher volumes of paid work to earn money to pay for school, resulting in taking lower course loads (e.g. 12 instead of 15-16 credits per semester), resulting in needing extra semesters.
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Reasonable thought even though tuition & fees for residents of Texas at UT-Austin are under $12,000 per academic year.
Midd families are either wealthy or on need aid. So money may not be a burden but it may be even to an in state UT kid.
But the OP isn’t doing a where should I go versus thing here. They have decided to go to Midd but are getting cold feet based on some analysis they did. Or maybe homesickness. Who knows?
I don’t think the positives of UT matter here.
Reputation clearly matters to OP and they feel Ike like Midd is faltering and I think there’s no basis for the thought.
My guess is they also say the name to many and it’s u known - which is many schools outside of one’s local area. But those who need to know will know.
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Cost of Attendance - Texas One Stop - University of Texas at Austin lists total Texas resident costs as $32-35k resident, $24-27k commuter. Median household income in Texas is about $80k (much lower than what this forum considers “middle class”), so these are not trivial costs for many Texas residents, so they may depend on financial aid, scholarships, loans, and student work earnings to cover that.
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UT Austin offers free tuition for in state residents who make under $100k
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Yeah, OP here, just to clarify I am not deciding between the two schools. I have already committed to Middlebury, it’s just that it’s much more expensive, and while my parents can afford it, I don’t want to spend 400K on a declining school. Yall are also right that I am getting cold feet partly because Middlebury is pretty unknown in Texas, and I was just looking for some more insight on the college’s future since I saw some concerning stats on DC Urban
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If youre going to work/live in the Northeast, Middlebury is very well known. But yes, if you plan on going back to Texas, most people have probably never heard of it.
It’s a great school so do the best you can.
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