Middlebury Hurting Itself

Modadunn
Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:41:23 +0000

I will preface the rest with the comment that my S really loves Midd - and more so now than he did as a freshman.

However, I will also admit that I found our tour guide a little lacking, both in departmental knowledge and tact, and yes, he was also a theater or Art major. He made some comment about how he came to be at Midd and, reduced down, it was that he hit early decision by accident. I was hugely unimpressed. But as an adult, and as someone who had been on nearly 20 tours between two kids by this point, I wasn’t swayed either direction by just one kid. It’s really short sighted. I don’t know about you, but after I was accepted to college, I never went to the admissions office ever again.

However, the truth is (and prospective students should be made aware) science majors do not typically have a lot of time outside of class and labs in which to give tours. Mostly their jobs are in the labs themselves. My S, however, has very much welcomed questions from visiting students when they stumble upon him in Bi-Hall, which is where he is 90% of the time.

As for scheduling, last year he did have some trouble getting some classes and I would have to agree that Midd could use an extra professor or two in the Biology and Chem departments just to help with some of the intro class sizes. However, his professors were more than willing to work with S along the way, especially when he explained his dilemmas. The biggest stumbling block however is the TIMING of making a specific schedule work vs any schedule. There are always going to be areas in which one picks and chooses. And those not willing or wanting to have an 8am class won’t always get the courses they want. Flexibility is key. S didn’t mind early classes, but conflicting times compounded with lab heavy courses makes it a logistical issue more than anything else.

Bottom line, I am less interested in how the administration interacts with parents or prospective students prior to admissions than how they do so with their current student body and their parents. Is S happy with all decisions made by the administration? No. But I would say his professors are the primary reason he loves it there as he does. I imagine he will have a similar string of memories that reveals true mutual respect and admiration as previously mentioned. I am more than grateful for their attention, encouragement, and unyielding support of my S’s success. So… my advice for a science kid is go spend some time in Bi-hall. Ask some random students what they think. A tour, in and of itself, is really only window dressing to what really matters in choosing a college - the education.