Middlebury College Top Questions

Interesting, diverse people do exist, but we self segragate ourselves as a defensive mechanism against judgement and the administrations desire to squash us out.

I think students are pretty open minded, but that's also probably because those that aren't keep quiet because the general atmosphere condemns those who disagree. I think students are very driven to work here which is strange because I don't feel as though job pressure is as intense here as at many comparable schools. I think there are three groups that many students fall into: Hippies, Preppies, Jocks/Partiers. However, students intermingle and the boundaries are less clear cut. Perhaps because there are so few people, kids find it pretty easy to branch out without feeling social pressure to remain confined to one social group.

everyone gets along very well except for a select few groups who are too cool for everyone else. There are not many African-Americans here, and I mean that literally. I think there are more Africans than African-Americans. Most wear whatever is comfortable, some dress to impress (not Africans, students). Different types of students ABSOLUTELY interact. Some of my best friends are from Zimbabwe, Senegal, Poland, Afghanistan...and even WISCONSIN. One is the all accepting really nice, cool people. One might be the not-really-exclusive, but very intimidating sports team. One would be the people who need to eat really quickly so they can leave and do work and the other would be what we here like to call "The Desperate Housewives" - those girls who only go out with athletes, always where pearls and sweaters and are always made up (but even they are friendly once you get to know them). The real thing is you can't judge people by their cover. Middlebury doesn't generally let in jackasses, so take the time to get to know someone before you conclude that it's not worth it. The vast majority of students are from "just outside of Boston" which pretty much includes all or New England. Students are very politically aware and very politically LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT. I talk all the time about how I plan on making $10-15 my first few years out of school so I can travel.

The people here are varied and are very active in the things they love, making it a very cohesive and productive campus.

Most students talk about facebook and getting wasted and call each other "gay". Some people talk about cars. The majority of Middlebury college students are from right outside of Boston. There is a crew of international students who are pretty cool. Alot of them smoke cigarettes and American students are more or less repulsed by this. There are some politically active kids, but most of them focus on environmental activism. Students talk about money and how much they will earn, but I don't talk to those kids so I'm not really sure.

Most students are white, upper-middle class, so-so religious, and wear pretty nondescript clothing. I'm not a fan of nondescript clothing choices. I am not white, or upper-middle class, religious at all, and wear crazy things to class. I don't feel out of place at all. There are lots of different people on campus, a wonderful population of international students, and a general interest in diversity on campus. Obviously, there are cliques, but they're not set in stone. The school is too small to really close yourself off completely from people who are unlike you. And it would be so so boring if that happened. I wouldn't say there is any hostility between cliques, but it's impossible to be friends with everybody, so people either work off the conveniency factor, or are just selective.

Non-preppy kids might feel out of place. Most kids wear khakis, polos, rugby shirts, pearl earings, abercrombie basically. Different types of students interact but minimally. Four tables - preppy kids, internationals, outdoorsy kids, trendy. Most students are from the East Coast, and many are very well off. Most kids are probably center or moderate democrats or not politically active. Students definitely talk about how much money they want to make in the future.

There are many different vocal groups that sometimes get in your face. The LGBT community is one of them. There's always something being brought up that concerns them. I fully support what they are doing, but sometimes how vocal they are over shadows some of the other groups. Or maybe other groups just need to be louder. Who knows. There's two "camps" of what students wear to class. There are the casual kids who wear whatever- jeans, tshirts, sweatpants, pajamas - and then there are those who wear the real preppy looking style - polos, popped collars, that kind of shit. Most students are from the northeast (Just outside of Boston!) and come from a family that is well off. A lot went to private/boarding schools. Some students do talk about how much they will earn in the future. Students are at least politically aware and many are "active." Someone who would feel out of place is someone who maybe went to a poorer public school, dresses and thinks differently...that kind of thing.

It seems like all the international students are quite wealthy. Which is disturbing.

It's a very career oriented student body. Everyone seems to want to make as much money as possible instead of making money. It makes sense that the school would be that way considering how competitive it is to get in. Kids spent all there time in high school doing things in order to get into middlebury and therefore had no time to find out who they were or what their true interests or passions were. As an aftershock of such a competitive school, you get an enormous student body of incredibly motivated and bright individuals, who couldn't care less about anything besides good grades and partying.