Middlebury College Top Questions

Extroverted, slightly obnoxious about their personal views, can be very open-minded but are often too idealistic or naive to see the facts or deal with them well. Either "save-the-world" self-important types or completely self-centered jock types. Can be very "clique"-ish outside of class - it's hard make new friends after your first semester here. Not very practical, academic, don't truly realize how priveleged they are

Very diverse in not just ethnicity and backgrounds but personalities too.

My peers are extremely engaging individuals, each having his/her own interests, extacurriculars, and backgrounds.

Middlebury is filled with lots of interesting, fun, and intelligent people. Sure, there are a few irritating people, but overall everyone is great. It is common for people of all walks of life and interests to hang out. No one is pigeonholed unless they choose to be. I don't think anyone would feel out of place here. It is true that many people are white and from New England, but the admissions department have succeed in bringing people from all over the world. I have friends from Kenya, South Africa, England, Sweden, China, and all over the US.

Students are a mix of internationals and new englanders. These groups should interact more but that is pretty rare. Beyond that there are the hipsters, jocks, and preps and these groups also remain pretty stratified. Everyone is very smart and hard-working.

A closed-minded, boring, lazy person would not fit in at Middlebury. If you're not open to new things, you won't like it here. Also, a person who wants an amazing night life/club scene- don't come to Middlebury obviously. That's not to say we have nothing to do on weekends and nowhere to go out to- it's just that Middlebury is obviously not an urban haven. Kids are very active politically and love to talk about their personal beliefs as well as hear about other peoples'. My favorite thing about Middlebury is absolutely the people. The kids who come here are so much fun, love to try new things, love to learn, and love to talk!

I have so many gay or bisexual friends; people overall don't seem to mind whether people are gay or not. There were some instances of gay hate crimes last year, which were terrible, but overall I'd say that the campus is good. Most people here are rich, you always hear about people being children of CEOs, etc. People here aren't so politically active. I'd say the campus leans democrat and liberal.

The campus is definitely diverse, sometimes even a little too in your face. No one would really feel diverse...I feel like there's enough kinds of people here that everyone could find some niche. Interaction between groups happens, but its limited. I feel like every party I go to is the same 50 people after a while. Middlebury kids are definitely leftist...theres a republican contingent, but a lot of it seems like an attempt at irony.

As a politically active person on campus, I have found a really good group of people (both from the left and from the right) who are willing to engage in open discussion and are open minded. This being said, this is probably not the norm. Many people on campus seem to be fairly apathetic and I sometimes get frustrated with how career oriented some are. But this not all a bad thing, it is good to have a mix of people--this gives Middlebury a certain amount of worldliness. One of the most pleasing things about Middlebury is the amount of International students. They contribute a lot to the community and all have very unique and interesting perspectives. Midd definitely lacks ethnic diversity (read blacks and latinos) but in terms of economic diversity, I honestly don't know. People keep their economic backgrounds quiet. Most of my friends are from Public Schools, but that may just be how I role. Once again, you can find what you want at Midd in terms of the student body.

It is interesting that the student body is homogenous despite the bragging that admissions does regarding how "diverse" Middlebury is. Students who are "from other countries" are mainly ex-patriots whose families have lived abroad. Also, there are not really any overweight students on campus. The student body is extremely active and athletic; most people either work out, run, play a sport, or engage in intramurals.