Admitted Students

I definitely chose Middlebury for three main reasons. The location, community, and academics. Location, because coming from Queens, New York, you get to appreciate the fall, winter, and spring year. And seeing them shift from one to the other is just gorgeous. And the view of the Green and Adirondack Mountains too is incredible as you walk to class. Makes you feel like you’re in a movie. And community because you get to form these deep personal connections with your professors, your peers, and even the townspeople, once you become the regulars to their shops during the year. And academics, because as a STEM major, like me, you get to have way more opportunities for undergraduate research with professors because Middlebury only has an undergraduate population, so there’s no competition with graduate students. So that’s definitely a plus.

A first-year seminar is a course, every first-year takes it. It’s a course designed to get you involved in the liberal arts education and what the liberal arts actually looks like. A lot of these courses are unique and are something that professors are interested in but don’t often teach. For instance, I teach a course called the Language of Conspiracy Theories, which is a fun course where we study why do conspiracy theories exist, where do they exist in the 21st century, and why do they keep popping up. Those are the types of courses that you’ll be taking with your first-year seminar. They’re a great way for you to engage with peers in your new class. Your first-year seminar professor is also your advisor. So it’s a great way to get you involved with your first-year experience here at Middlebury and to get you set up for the rest of your academic career. Next I wanna talk to just quickly about choosing a major. This is my third year at the College, and I can say that I’ve been surprised how many students show up, they have a major in mind. They know what they want to do in life. And then after a semester, maybe a year, they’ve completely changed their mind. They’ll go from something that, oh, they were all about science, and now they wanna do something a little liberal arts. Or vice versa. So to find a major, we really suggest taking a broad array of classes. Really exploring the possibilities of what interests you. And you’ll be surprised by what you might want to major in. It’s okay if you have a major already in mind when you get here, and maybe that stays your major. Maybe the major changes. Or maybe you don’t have a major in mind, and that’s great as well. The great thing is you’ll focus on taking different sorts of courses and working with your professor to find the best major for you.

Middlebury students pursue a wide variety of opportunities after they graduate, but we’re lucky in that we have our Center for Careers and Internships to help students navigate that process. Whether it’s attending our various resume and cover letter workshops throughout the year, or connecting with our array of advisors on staff to help direct you with specific questions or in a direction with specific opportunities, there are a variety of resources at your disposal. I personally got a job kind of at the intersection of healthcare and technology, and I used our Middlebury version of LinkedIn to connect me with our extensive alumni network to find and land that opportunity. I have other friends that have gone to med school and law school, others that have opportunities at Google and Goldman Sachs. Whatever direction you are interested in, there’ll be someone that can help support you through that process and land that job post grad.

I’ve definitely gotten to know my professors here at Middlebury. Looking back to first year and second year here, I really wish that I’d taken advantage more of office hours. I think that professors can be really great support systems if you let them be and really take advantage of going in and speaking to them, and just knowing that they’re there for you. My environmental chemistry teacher, who also is my advisor, because I’m an environmental chemistry major, always hosts pizza parties at the end of all of her courses for all the students, and that’s at her house, and we all get together and do different things. So I’ve definitely gotten to feel really comfortable around my teachers. Senior year, I also took an anthropology class, I’d never taken one before, and I really got to know my professor, Trinh Tran, she’s incredible. Well, and we ended up getting matcha outside of class and having dinner and really getting to know her and her story and what led to her being at Middlebury, and it definitely made me feel more supported inside the classroom and also felt that I was able to reach out to her when I needed help.

Middlebury is one of the few universities in the United States that is both need-blind and meets 100 percent of demonstrated financial need. This means that when you’re on campus for your four years, the financial aid office is both flexible and accessible. And once you’re at Middlebury for your four years, you have opportunities to take advantage of the financial resources that the College has. This can come in the form of free J-term skiing lessons that are offered at the Snowbowl, or free outing programs given by the Middlebury Mountain Club.

As an institution, Middlebury supports inclusivity on campus. For example, first gen, low income first-year students have access to a preorientation program called First@Midd which specifically supports them in their transition into higher education. And beyond that, all year round, students have access to plenty of affinity spaces on campus, such as LASA, the Latin American Student Association, as well as BSU, the Black Student Union, and so many others. And beyond that, Middlebury has a financial commitment to supporting inclusivity. For example, right now, I am currently pursuing an unpaid internship in Costa Rica that I otherwise would not have been able to pursue had it not been for Middlebury’s commitment to inclusivity in so many different ways.