College receives record 7,978 applications for admission

MIDDLEBURY, VT – When the Class of 2014 arrives on campus next fall, it will be the most selective and most qualified incoming class ever accepted at Middlebury College.

The College received 7,978 applications for admission and accepted 17.5 percent of those applying to be first-year students – both of which set new records for the College.

In addition, Dean of Admissions Robert Clagett says the academic profile (based on grade point average, class rank, and standardized test scores) of the admitted students is the best in Middlebury’s history.

“As Middlebury has grown in stature and prestige, we are attracting more highly qualified applicants than ever before,” he said. “This year, more than 30 percent of our applicants received our top two academic ratings (on a scale of seven) and, since we were able to accept just under 18 percent of our applicants, it signals that we did not have room for some of the most highly-qualified applicants in the country.”

The number of applicants to Middlebury College has risen sharply in the past five years, just as the number of high school graduates in the United States has increased as well.  In 2005 the College received 5,256 applications as compared to 7,978 this year, an increase of 52 percent.

In terms of selectivity, in 2005 the College accepted 28 percent of its applications as compared with 17.5 percent this year.

As the pool of highly qualified applicants has grown, Middlebury also has been able to increase its diversity on campus. The number of applicants who identified themselves as students of color totaled 1,287 this year as compared with 1,075 last year. Similarly, the number of international applicants this year was 1,504 as compared with 1,275 in 2009.

In examining Middlebury’s popularity among well-qualified high school seniors, the dean of admissions said:

“I believe Middlebury has continued to gain significant visibility for its superb faculty, facilities, and educational opportunities which, along with our beautiful setting and close-knit community, make for an ideal learning environment.

“We have become identified not only as a great liberal arts college,” Clagett remarked, “but also as an institution where ideas are turned into action, such as with our approaches to promoting carbon neutrality and international education.”

Coincidentally, the dean’s comments came during a week in which the College received national attention from the U.S. Department of Energy for the Solar Decathlon house designed by students, and from the New York Times for launching Middlebury Interactive Languages, a company that will offer online language program for pre-college students.

The final chapter to the Class of 2014’s admissions story will not be written until early May when the admitted students decide where they will enroll next year. Middlebury expects to matriculate about 580 first years in September and another 90 in February, for a total class of 670 students.