Middlebury College | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Caitlin

Class: Alum
Major: Theatre
Gender: F

High School: Norman North High School
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

Overall, despite how many different kinds of intelligent people go to Middlebury, there was always a sense of a smaller community within that of active and interested people. People always wonder how I got all the way across the country to a small school in Vermont. Either they've heard of it and are properly impressed or they are completely clueless and think I'm crazy for moving away from Football U. Middlebury students are driven, but despite the myriad of things people could choose to be up in arms and active about these days, it was always crazy to me how impassioned students got about the littlest things. "Stop the Lockdown" had people angry. How DARE they lock doors during the day and keep us safe? And "Save Proctor." Now I love Proctor dining hall as much as the next guy, but I think pouring your energy into keeping an old, dirty, but amazing dining hall open, is extremist in the way only Midd kids tend to be. What is immediately important, right in front of my face, affecting my day to day life? That, I'll fight tooth and nail for. Anyone who remembers the New Logo debaucle summer of '08 will see it. It's that stupidly strange power, that we hope will later be harnesed for good in the world, that makes Middlebury unpredictable.

Academic Life

I had several professors who I loved. Who changed the way I thought about teachers-- into real people who could impact my educational and daily life. Who cared about me and my thoughts and passions and dreams. I loved how many smart, creative and excited people there were at Middlebury. Alternately, you hate it, though, it's awful. It becomes annoying or makes you feel small or puts on too much pressure. The theatre department is a special case in terms of Middlebury academics because everyone is so close. Your peers are your family. Your professors are your friends and mentors and life advisors. You can have a 3 hour coffee session with them, and it isn't strange. You pick their brain, they push yours. They remain important after graduation and you rely upon the fact that they had good taste and knowledge. And hope that some of it rubbed off and you will find success in the form of happiness and employment.

Student Body

I had many days where I felt out of place at Middlebury. I think a lot of people did. There are so many different kinds of students, which means so many different ways that other people seem perfect. Most Midd kids had the good luck to be affluent, white and very priveleged. As disgusting as that sub-culture can be to me, I did everything I could to try to seem that, too. As priveleged and as well-educated. Enough money to stay hip. I would have left Middlebury in my first semester if it hadn't been for pride. I was unhappy and thought I didn't have friends. I missed the kind of people I'd gone to high school with. People whose worlds were suburbia, upper middle class, football, and boardgames. People at Midd were so different and I couldn't figure out how to connect. I know I would have left if I wouldn't have had to face my family and friends who I thought would judge me for quitting. My second semester was much better. I had friends and social events. Few people leave Middlebury, but I think more people feel out of place at one semester or another than would let on.