Middlebury College
Middlebury, Vermont | Admissions Phone: 802-443-3000
E-mail: admissions@middlebury.edu | Website: www.middlebury.edu
ADMISSION
Admission Rate: 17%
Admission Rate - Men: 18%
Admission Rate - Women: 16%
EA Admission Rate: Not Offered
ED Admission Rate: 47%
Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -1%
ED Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): +12%
% of Admits Attending (Yield): 41%
Transfer Admission Rate: 9%
# Offered Wait List: 1,215
# Accepted Wait List: 914
# Admitted Wait List: 24
SAT Reading/Writing (Middle 50%): 660-730
SAT Math (Middle 50%): 670-770
ACT Composite (Middle 50%): 31-34
Testing Policy: Test Flexible
SAT Superscore: Yes
ACT Superscore: Yes
% Graduated in Top 10% of HS Class: 80%
% Graduated in Top 25% of HS Class: 95%
% Graduated in Top 50% of HS Class: 99%
ENROLLMENT
Total Undergraduate Enrollment: 2,579
% Part-Time: 1%
% Male: 47%
% Female: 53%
% Out-of-State: 94%
% Fraternity: Not Offered
% Sorority: Not Offered
% On-Campus (Freshman): 100%
% On-Campus (All Undergraduate): 95%
% African-American: 4%
% Asian: 7%
% Hispanic: 10%
% White: 62%
% Other: 5%
% Race or Ethnicity Unknown: 2%
% International: 11%
% Low-Income: 12%
ACADEMICS
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 8:1
% of Classes Under 20: 66%
% of Classes Under 40: 95%
% Full-Time Faculty: 84%
% Full-Time Faculty w/ Terminal Degree: 96%
Top Programs
Economics
English
Environmental Studies
History
International & Global Studies
Neuroscience
Performing Arts
Political Science
Retention Rate: 96%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 83%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 91%
Curricular Flexibility: Somewhat Flexible
Academic Rating: 
FINANCIAL
Institutional Type: Private
In-State Tuition: $55,790
Out-of-State Tuition: $55,790
Room & Board: $16,040
Required Fees: $426
Books & Supplies: $1,000
Avg. Need-Based Aid: $48,993
Avg. % of Need Met: 100%
Avg. Merit-Based Aid: $0
% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 0%
Avg. Cumulative Debt: $18,955
% of Students Borrowing: 50%
CAREER
Who Recruits
1. Analysis Group
2. Goldman Sachs
3. Oak Hill Advisors
4. ScribeAmerica
5. CIA
Notable Internships
1. Tesla
2. Bain & Company
3. Merrill Lynch
Top Industries
1. Business
2. Education
3. Media
4. Social Services
5. Operations
Top Employers
1. Google
2. Goldman Sachs
3. Morgan Stanley
4. Amazon
5. Deloitte
Where Alumni Work
1. New York City
2. Boston
3. Washington, DC
4. San Francisco
5. Glen Falls, NY
Median Earnings
College Scorecard (Early Career): $58,200
EOP (Early Career): $61,800
PayScale (Mid-Career): $109,800
RANKINGS
Forbes: 36
Money: 186
U.S. News: 7, Liberal Arts Colleges
Wall Street Journal/THE: 35
Washington Monthly: 6, Liberal Arts Colleges
Inside the Classroom
Located between the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks, Middlebury College is heading toward the summit of Northeastern liberal arts colleges. In the same conversation as (although always ranked just behind) Williams and Amherst, Middlebury’s 2,500 undergraduate students are an exceptionally accomplished crew. Even the frigid Vermont winters do little to take away from the beauty of the college’s historic 350-acre campus or the natural grandeur of the surrounding area. A quintessential New England liberal arts college aesthetically, “Midd” also plays that role when it comes to the classroom experience.
Offering forty-seven departments and programs in which to major and minor, the college requires all students to complete one course in seven of the following eight categories: literature, the arts, philosophical and religious studies, historical studies, physical and life sciences, deductive reasoning and analytical processes, social analysis, and foreign language. Undergrads also must complete four additional courses that meet the cultures and civilization requirement. Mandatory writing-intensive seminars must be tackled—one as a freshman and the second by the end of the sophomore year.
The school’s 8:1 student-faculty ratio allows 100 percent of courses to be taught by professors, not graduate assistants. Most classes are small; the mean class size is nineteen, and 19 percent of sections contain fewer than ten students. The Summer Research at Middlebury program funds 130 students annually to work alongside faculty in a variety of disciplines. Each year, more than 50 percent of juniors take a semester abroad in one of ninety programs in forty countries. The college’s robust international program includes Middlebury Schools Abroad in Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.
Middlebury is renowned for its Language Department as well as international studies. Graduate schools know the value of a Middlebury education (see med school acceptance rates below). The college also produces a large number of national fellowship/scholarship winners. In the 2017-18 school year graduates/alumni took home three Watson Fellowships, Four National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, thirteen Fulbright Scholarships, and five Critical Language Scholarships.
Outside the Classroom
Implementing the Oxford/Cambridge system of residential housing, all Middlebury undergraduates are required to live in one of more than sixty on-campus buildings. First-year students are assigned to one of five larger Commons where they will reside until the end of their sophomore year. More than thirty faculty/staff members regularly eat in the Commons allowing for classroom discussions to continue over a meal. That leaves no room for Greek life, which vanished two decades ago (limited “social houses” do remain). With thirty-one varsity sports teams competing in the NCAA New England Small College Athletic Conference, the Middlebury Panthers put a sizable portion of its undergraduate population in uniform. Less committed athletes can enjoy a full array of club and intramural sports as well as the school’s eighteen-hole golf course, 3.5-mile jogging trail, 2,200-seat ice hockey rink, or six-lane indoor track. Midd offers more than 170 student-run organizations with options in all the usual realms—performing arts, spiritual, social, student government, and more. Outdoor activity clubs that engage in climbing, hiking, kayaking, skiing, and camping are among the most popular groups. Student theater productions are also well attended. The town of Middlebury is tiny and quiet, so some students make the just-under-an-hour drive to Burlington. Montreal, Canada, is the closest cosmopolitan destination with Boston and New York more than three hours away.
Career Services
The Center for Careers and Internships is staffed by sixteen full-time staff members who specialize in areas such as employer relations, career advising, heath professions and STEM advising, and internships and early engagement. Its 156:1 student-to-advisor ratio places it among the most supportive career services offices of any college profiled in this guide. Middlebury’s career counselors are rarely found not actively engaging undergraduates in career/grad school planning. In 2017, the office coordinated 240 events and workshops, and advisors held 2,700 individual student sessions.
For a school of modest size, Middlebury brought an impressive ninety employers to campus to host information sessions and facilitated 500 on-campus interviews in 2017. Every year it helps 800 undergrads find internships and contribute $800,000 to help fund unpaid summer work experiences. More than 5,500 opportunities for jobs and internships are posted online. Further, a generous alumni base is more than willing to assist current Panthers—more than 7,500 alums in a range of professions wait to connect on MiddNet. While the Center for Careers and Internships three- to six-months out employment rate is not as high as that of some other comparably staffed elite schools, Middlebury grads regularly find their way to careers they find meaningful and fulfilling, including many at some of the country’s best companies.
Professional Outcomes
Three months after graduating, 70 percent of the Class of 2018 had landed jobs, 12 percent were in graduate school, and 13 percent were still searching for employment. That was an improvement over the classes of 2016 and 2017 that saw 21-22 percent of alumni still hunting for jobs in the same time frame. The most commonly held jobs fell under the category of “social impact-related careers” (21 percent), followed by financial services (15 percent), consulting (12 percent), technology (11 percent), and health care and science (10 percent). Interestingly, the number of Middlebury grads entering tech-related fields has grown by 55 percent in the last three years. Google is now one of the leading employers of alumni alongside Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, Amazon, and JP Morgan. With a median mid-career salary in the range of $62,000, Middlebury grads are in a similar income bracket with those from Williams, Brandeis, and Bowdoin.
Middlebury students with solid grades will be viewed favorably by graduate and professional schools should they wish to continue their education. Graduate schools attended by members of the Class of 2017 included Columbia, Georgia Tech, Harvard Law School, Oxford, Stanford, and Yale. Members of the Class of 2018 who applied to medical school sported an average GPA of 3.7, a median MCAT score in the 90th percentile, and were accepted at an 89 percent clip (the 2017 figure was 83 percent). Over the last eight years, the most frequently attended medical schools include Tufts, Boston University, Geisel (Dartmouth), and NYU.
Admission
Middlebury College admitted 17 percent of the 9,227 applicants for a place in the Class of 2022. Of those receiving an acceptance letter, 41 percent went on to enroll at the college. The middle-50 percent standardized tests scores of those who enrolled were 1330-1500 on the SAT and 31-34 on the ACT. There is a relatively even split between those submitting scores from each exam. One of the rare test-flexible institutions, Middlebury requires students to submit (a) SAT results (b) ACT results or (c) three SAT subject scores. For those choosing the latter option, the three tests must be from three distinct disciplines (i.e., Math I and Math II will not count as two tests).
Six factors sit atop the pecking order of most important as applicants are being evaluated by the admissions committee: rigor of secondary coursework, GPA, class rank, extracurricular activities, talent/ability, and character/personal qualities. Test scores, recommendations, essays, and racial/ethnic status comprise the second tier of “important” factors. Those who commit to the college through binding early decision are rewarded with a 47 percent acceptance rate, more than three times that of the regular cycle. Middlebury has remained similarly selective throughout the twenty-first century. One decade ago, the acceptance rate was a touch lower at 16 percent; the average test scores were a touch lower too, but the average enrollee looked similar to a 2018-19 freshman. The college continues to use a genuinely holistic approach in the admissions process, and the test-flexible policy can be useful for a certain type of applicant. Even when considering the “special” students being accepted via the early round, ED still provides borderline applicants with an increased chance at getting in.
Worth Your Money?
Middlebury’s list price is about the going rate for elite liberal arts institutions with a total annual cost of attendance of $74k. However, if you qualify for need-based aid, the college will meet your full level of need; the average award is $49k. As with most schools that meet a student’s full demonstrated need, there isn’t much, if any, merit aid money to go around. A school of superior quality, Middlebury rates as a rare liberal arts school that will pay you back multiple times over the course of your life, even if the upfront costs are steep.