For one thing they fill in housing slots and class slots that are open because of many students taking a spring semester to study abroad. I don't think this is unique to Middlebury. |
| Thank you. So the practical reason is to fill empty beds from study abroad folks. They’ve been doing it for decades but yes this is the same philosophy that BU, USC etc do. Maintain full capacity on capacity to max tuition revenue. It helps with cost management. Calling them Febs is neither here or there. |
I wasn’t aware of any other small or mid size schools doing this. It’s mostly large privates who make this custom, and Midd |
schools with dedicated spring start programs include Middlebury, the University of Miami, Boston College, Colorado College, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Southern California, and St. John’s College. |
| Is 17 per cent lower acceptance than last year? Or the same? Trying to gauge enrollment cliff. |
But then the study-abroad kids return to campus the following fall, and the Febs are there then too. Doesn't that create an overcrowding situation? |
Hamilton has a January admission program. |
Last year was 14%. |
Aha, but then there are younger students studying abroad! The circle of life! |
Oh great news! So it was easier to get in this year? I was getting worried hearing that top school admission rates were all going down - ivy plus, new ivy etc. |
Kids study abroad in the fall as well |
So Midd's acceptance rate went from 14% (2025) to 17% (2026)? Do we know if it was driven by fewer people applying ED binding to Midd, or just lower number of overall applications? |
They've lowered the number accepted ED. Last year was 519, this year is 491. They greatly increased the number accepted ED during COVID. Perhaps they're starting to bring that number back down? |
yes I think it's better they bring that number down. they still have a way to go as it seems like with even 491, that's a huge percentage of the class: 77% of the Fall starts this year were accepted ED, and 65% of the overall class (including the late-start "Febs", which usually aren't included in official numbers). I think that's still pretty high - 65% or 77% of the class filled by ED. |
+1 |