Middlebury College Top Questions

The school is about medium sized - classes are small but you can avoid people if you want to. The best part is the summer. People are generally pretty impressed if they know where I go, if they are familiar with Middlebury at all. Administration and faculty are pretty conservative. They don't really care about student's input. The college town is pretty nice. There should be more free transportation to Burlington. Recent controversy, was last year, and it was about Anti-Gay vandalism. More recent controversy was the new price tag for tuition.

The best thing about Middlebury is when the weather is nice that atmosphere is excellent. It gets relaxed and is like a foil against the demanding academics that sometimes seem like they are ruining your life. I think I would change how much time we spend on school work. Yes, it's college, that's what we are here for, but there are more important things in life than classes. I think the school is the right size - it's spread out, I recognize a lot of people when I pass them. When I tell people I go to Middlebury, some are like "Wow! That's Excellent!" others respond with "Where's that?" I spend most of my time on campus since there is no real town. If you don't have a car, there's not much you can do. I think there is a lot of school pride, maybe too much at times. Yes, we're all excited to be here, or at least we were at some point. I think I will always remember my Feb orientation. It was tons of fun, and when I was trading stories with my friends who go to other schools mine seemed like it had a much stronger impression on me than theirs did.

Middlebury Transit is a group of elderly highway robbers. Convenience comes at too high a price for such hard-working children. The school, however, is delightful. The weather is just harsh enough to keep everything cozy, the people are kind and accommodating, and Middlebury as a town holds its own as a sand-up establishment.

For artistic kids it's one of the most suffocating places in the world. There is virtually no music scene and the music there is, is pretty bad for the most part. No one really understands, cares, or makes any effort to appreciate artistic endeavors of any sort. It's just really hard to stomach.

Middlebury does not exaggerate about its academic rigor or its dedicated professors. The incredible learning that occurs is certainly one of the school's most impressive aspects. However, the environment is absolutely a double-edged sword. What may appear to be a gorgeous, vibrant refuge from the hustle and bustle of civilization in the fall and spring can also become vicious, bone-chilling loneliness during the five-month-long winter. Similarly, a small campus of approximately 2350 means faces are familiar and the community is intimate, but also means one has no chance from escaping from undesired company, or from the questions of a professor in class. Students from cities will not at all understand the feeling of sheer isolation until they visit. The College can easily become a bubble, even from the town five to ten minutes away, if one does not make the effort to walk there.

Middlebury has a pretty stable relationship with the town of Middlebury, Vermont. No one gets stabbed like at Bates, no one gets mugged like at Trinity, and you can leave your house open and the keys in your ignition when you go to the liquor store. The community is really important downtown, and there is significant collaboration with the college in some respects. The college is the major employer in Middlebury, so people are a little uncomfortably dependent on it. It drives rents up all over town, and certainly has a very influential say in town politics. That being said, the college has done more for the town than the town has ever done for anyone. The small slices of culture in midwestern Vermont are directly solicited by Middlebury College. The college brings music, guest speakers, readers, orchestras, sports events, artists-in-residence, racial and geographical diversity to the town, and nearly all its facilities, events, and resources are open to the public - though privileges are naturally reserved for students. Adversely, the community provides some pretty awesome resources too, that the college could never do on its own. Vermont has a highly-honored tradition of living well, and keeping its priorities in the right place - since no one lives in Vermont to make it big. This manifests itself in several incredible things you won't find anywhere else. First: the Otter Creek Brewery. You can ride your bike or drive here, and drink free samples of micro-brewed beer and eat delicious gourmet whole-seed mustard and pretzels while you decide what beer to buy. Otter Creek has the most incredible deals I've ever seen. You can get a growler, a 64-oz glass jug of beer, for $4. That's almost four pints of excellent micro-brew for $4. (There's a $2 deposit on the growler itself.) Then they have specials on their seasonal beers when the seasons are changing, which is all the time. Last time I was there, I bought a case (24 bottles) of their delicious Oktoberfest for $11. Can you beat that? Then there is the Meat Shack. Follow a dirt road off of Weybridge St one mile out of town until you come to the unmarked farm that has animals on its mailbox. It's not easy to find, and most college students don't know about it. You go down the driveway and feel like you're trespassing until you enter a small red house, the size of a bathroom. Three walls are refrigerators and freezers, filled with freshly-cut vacuum-sealed farm raised meat. Their bacon is unfuckingbelievable. They've got four kinds of sausage, pork-chops, sheep-sticks, hamburgers, Canadian bacon, etc, and you pay the same as you would in the supermarket, for hormone and antibiotic infused crap that will make you shit liquid. And the best part is, the whole thing operates on The Honor System, which, in this case, is a small metal box overflowing with cash. Each customer is asked to fill out an invoice saying what they're buying, and then you put your money in the money box and take your change. Just like that.

I think what makes Middlebury special is the fact that students really adhere to the 'work hard, party hard' mentality. We are not an Ivy League school, but very close to one, which allows students to take a step back and enjoy extracurriculars as much as schoolwork. The town of Middlebury is also a huge benefit because the locals are incredibly inviting and willing to hire students who might need extra cash. The Snowbowl is also a huge benefit because the season ticket is very cheap and having the mountain so close helps you get away for the occasional afternoon if stressed, but not too far away. Another plus to the school is the dining services because the food is truly amazing. There are three dining halls placed on different corners of the campus, and each is remarkably unique.

Best thing- The student body. Most people are open, friendly, in good shape, attractive, enthusiastic, and involved I'd fix up the advising system and make more classes open to underclassmen. Perfect size, location- I love Middlebury. If you're looking for the perfect small, quaint, local college town, this is it. A lot of people don't recognize how prestigious Midd is, but those who know are impressed. Controversies include dining issues- stolen dishes and cost of juice and amount of food waste. Recently, Nick Garza's disappearance has made headlines, though it is a very unique case and not representative of Middlebury, which tends to be very safe. Sports events aren't huge (except hockey) but there is still pride; we like to win.

People are always too stressed with work to have fun.

Middlebury is beautiful. The first thing people tend to notice when they get to campus is how well the campus is integrated into its surroundings. The value of that cannot be understated. Spending four years in a place, its inevitable that you will have good times and bad times, that you will weather some pretty big storms; having a beautiful place to do it in makes it much easier. There is not much of a college town in Middlebury. It has three decent bars, but if you are a city person, none of these bars will do it for you. The good news is that it is an easy shot to Burlington or to Montreal, provided you have a car. The administration of Middlebury makes it easy to be a student there, and I think this is the highest praise that you can give an institution. I spent a total of 0 hours worrying about the administration and the business of going to school at Middlebury. They make it easy to focus on whats important, getting the most out of your four years.