What is Middlebury REALLY like?

Modadunn
Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:34:36 +0000

He never played a sport voluntarily and is perfectly happy there.



If not voluntarily, has he been forced in some way? :)

Just teasing.

I have no idea since S has yet to begin his freshman year, so perhaps in a month or two I will have better perspective, but I do not think you get into Midd without being a very good student. While giving the details of certain students would give them away, I will admit that I have been very impressed with the tremendous academic success these students have enjoyed. And while some may have been athletes in HS, not all are even playing a sport in college. What I think is interesting about this “culture” if you will, is that you mostly are guaranteeing some solid attendance to your own sporting events, but between academic accolades and awards, sports seem completely secondary to their academic abilities.

I think Williams is a fine school and mostly, I’ve seen it compared to Amherst. It is definitely a lot smaller than Middlebury and equally as isolated. As my son said when visiting schools, he felt he could be happy at any of the schools to which he applied and when it came right down to it, he just felt the community of Midd made him feel very welcome and at home. When he toured the athletic facility, the entire conversation wasn’t about the athletic culture but about how great the professors and how interesting the classes were. When we sat down with the coach, it was clear academics were the priority. And on that note… Williams, Amherst, Midd and a couple of others are all in the same conference and take the same approach to athletics and education.