Middlebury vs. Grinnell

Theoden
Thu, 28 Oct 2021 19:14:18 +0000

I would say, go with Middlebury. Yes it’s preppy, but it’s not Southern Prep, it’s New-England, LL-Bean-ish outdoorsy prep, which includes the crunchy-hiker set. The school is probably in one of the most beautiful natural settings in the Northeast between the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains, near Lake Champlain and Burlington.

Middlebury is more preppy-crunchy-outdoorsy. Grinnell is more crunchy-woke-radical.

Middlebury is stronger in the areas you want to study.

Both schools have excellent resources. Both schools attract smart kids. Both offer excellent financial aid. Grinnell’s money comes from Intel stock they got. Middlebury got it by being a bastion of wealth and privilege for over 200 years.

The advantage of going to Middlebury is the social capital you might build by rubbing elbows with privileged kids. I know this sounds distasteful and mercenary - but it has it’s advantages.

At Middlebury 4.4 % of the students - nearly 1 in 20 - have parents who earn over 2 million year, and close 24% - or 1 in 5 - have parents who earn over 700,000 a year.

Some may say this social networking doesn’t happen, and the rich simply hobnob among themselves. So, you’ll hang out with the other 50% of students who went to public school.

And Middlebury, on average, has it’s grads earning more than Grinnell grads when they graduate and more 10 years out.

I dunno what’s in Grinnell Iowa, but I’m guessing topographically it’s a little less interesting than Vermont.

So…what matters to you? Better Program - Middlebury. Outdoors - Middlebury. Social Capital - Middlebury. Career Prospects - Middlebury. Diversity - Grinnell. Drinking and Weed Smoking - a draw.

Mind you, you’ll have a great time at each school and you would be indeed lucky to get accepted to either place.