Davidson does (I know not D3 but similar), Vassar does, Wesleyan has an athletics advantage program - sorry I don’t really have specifics since I don’t have an athlete I just hear from parents. Was surprised when I first started hearing about it a few years ago at Davidson.
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Yes I meant this my comment not to rile up any athletes or parents but to explain these schools want to help all their students and even if they don’t have special programs they know how to help students access alums, etc. I suspect both schools have excellent career centers since the OP mentioned career placement.
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She said:
While the statement may jump from strength in econ to athletic experience, I think it’s pretty clear she wants to hear about the athletic experience from people in a position to know about that, and separately wants to hear about relative strength in econ - from anyone who knows.
As to your view about employment prospects at these schools, I think you may be taking a bit of a simplistic view and overly reliant on big data scoops that don’t really tell the whole story. Lots of kids at each of these schools purposefully (not because they can’t do anything else) seek to pursue PhD studies. That has an effect on the data because PhD students aren’t paid well. Wesleyan sends a lot of kids into fields, like entertainment, that require one to pay their dues early on. Mike White and Michael Bay probably didn’t have big salaries right out of school but I’m comfortable in assuming they made up for it later. Middlebury is widely known for excellence in foreign languages. People who attend for that reason are often not chasing big salaries after college. Just two examples. Neither college has an engineering program, which tends to inflate early career numbers for schools that do. So there’s that.
What I can tell you, and for the OP’s benefit, is that they both send kids into professional life and do so in healthy numbers. I think Middlebury has built a better pipeline into investment banking while Wesleyan tends to show up heavy in consulting, especially economic consulting, but both send kids into both. I don’t know if Wesleyan or Middlebury are hiding anything - I tend to doubt it - but the idea that they have a dirty little secret of underemployment for their graduates belies a true understanding of each school’s ability to place kids. They both do very well and many top firms interview at each campus. You just need to understand that both schools attract a lot of kids who want to do many and varied things and many graduates are not chasing the brass ring. Nothing wrong with that other than it skews the data.
On the question of athletes and advantage, Wesleyan had an unofficial practice of former athletes coming back with employment opportunities that the AD would push out to the individual coaches who would push them out to the athletes. And, no, not for sales. Often, these were banking opportunities. I think that practice has now been formalized a bit. I’m sure Middlebury has a similar practice. In my experience, professional service providers do in fact like athletes and IMO for good reasons.
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Hi there. I ran out of gas last evening when I was replying on a specific item brought up in this thread by another poster but wanted to more directly respond to your original post.
I touched on the athletic connection and employment piece in that response above but I’ll just repeat again that it was a robust aspect of being at Wesleyan for my athlete. Though a physics major, she interviewed with some investment banks and consulting firms that came through the unofficial channel of the athletic director. It was nice in that it tends to put the athlete a few interviews ahead in the process right away … you get past the screeners and start interviewing with people who move the decision needle a bit sooner. Kid ultimately decided she wanted to go to grad school first and opted out but the business professional opportunities for a decidedly STEM kid with zero background in business or econ (other than intro econ classes) were almost thrown in her lap. Worth mentioning her math skills and grades helped a lot with this but there is no denying that the athlete opportunity channel was super helpful. In general, she also thought the Wesleyan career center was also very good. Well staffed, well resourced, etc. I’m sure all of these things are also true of Middlebury, and as I said above, Middlebury does particularly well among the LACs sending kids to Wall Street.
As to econ departments, they’re both very good by reputation. I have heard Wesleyan’s leans a bit more quant and econometrics but I’m sure you can get whatever you want out of it equally at both schools. FWIW, here is a ranking often posted in this forum that lists the top econ departments for LACs. It has changed a little since it was first posted but the spoiler is Middlebury is ranked #4 and Wesleyan #9. Economics rankings: US Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges | IDEAS/RePEc Both schools have points of excellence that are compelling (e.g., Wesleyan film, Midd foreign language). Econ unfortunately doesn’t present a similar clarity of choice in my view.
So, I think people are right. Decide where you think you’ll be happier and go there. Wes is a little bigger but they’re both on the bigger end in the NESCAC. Vastly different locations. Both have competitive athletic departments and are good at a variety of sports, with Midd feeling a little bit more sporty as between the two IMO. You know best which program is best for you and your sport and if you really intend to pursue it all four years then give some weight to that factor; you will be spending A LOT of time with these people so you had better like them and the coach.
In terms of the proverbial “vibe”, the biggest thing I picked up on from my kiddo was that Wesleyan is home to a really wide range of people and is decidedly a “you be you” kind of place. Whatever you are, however quirky you may be, you will be comfortable there. It is a very accepting place. I think Middlebury has a lot of that too. Maybe go over to the NESCAC Spoken Here thread for more subjective opinions and background on each school.
You have two really nice choices. Congratulations on putting yourself in this position.
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Congrats on being an recruited athlete. And congrats on 2 great options. With your interest in career planning You’d be best served by contacting the schools’ career placement offices directly. If you look at their tables, please ask them how many students actually replied to their questionnaires, as especially in small schools these numbers can be limited and may give limited information. But if your question is how much and how well do they help with career planning and placement, those questions may be best served by contacting those offices directly.
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Current Wes parent, and I want to echo this. There’s a wide range of students, and everyone seems to coexist peacefully. My artsy, non-sporty kid is dating an athlete and has friends with so many backgrounds and interests. It’s a really welcoming place.
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Middlebury appears in this site, for example:
And Wesleyan is on this list
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Thank you so much for this really nice reply. This was super helpful and I really appreciate it
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You are most welcome. Do let us know what you decide. You can’t go wrong here.