Choosing Middlebury over Williams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Choosing Midd over Williams would be like choosing Dartmouth over Princeton, or Brown over Yale. Not the common choice, but not one that will result in a lesser education.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Choosing Midd over Williams would be like choosing Dartmouth over Princeton, or Brown over Yale. Not the common choice, but not one that will result in a lesser education.

Except many people have never heard of Middlebury and, among the people who have, many couldn't even say which state it was located in.

[Anonymous]

Williams lots more prestige than Midd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Choosing Midd over Williams would be like choosing Dartmouth over Princeton, or Brown over Yale. Not the common choice, but not one that will result in a lesser education.

Except many people have never heard of Middlebury and, among the people who have, many couldn't even say which state it was located in.

I think name recognition of Middlebury and Williams is similar. More similar than Brown vs. Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Choosing Midd over Williams would be like choosing Dartmouth over Princeton, or Brown over Yale. Not the common choice, but not one that will result in a lesser education.

Except many people have never heard of Middlebury and, among the people who have, many couldn't even say which state it was located in.

Williams isn't much better in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Williams but I can see why someone would choose Middlebury over Williams. I don’t think anyone could go wrong with either. It comes down to fit.

+1
Go where he’ll be happiest for 4 years. That said, those two majors are higher rated at Williams, which might mean better class selections for those, better professors, opportunities, etc. I am definitely biased bc I did Econ at Williams and did compare it to Econ at a bunch of the NESCAC schools, but that was a while ago. If he’s deciding which one to apply early to, then go and spend time at both.
I have heard from fellow alums that Williams puts less weight on legacy now than in the recent past, so maybe remove that from his deciding factors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Choosing Midd over Williams would be like choosing Dartmouth over Princeton, or Brown over Yale. Not the common choice, but not one that will result in a lesser education.

Except many people have never heard of Middlebury and, among the people who have, many couldn't even say which state it was located in.

I think name recognition of Middlebury and Williams is similar. More similar than Brown vs. Yale.

Are you crazy? Ivy League is Ivy League for a reason. Middlebury sounds like a prep school—No one outside of a few urban areas will have ever heard of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Choosing Midd over Williams would be like choosing Dartmouth over Princeton, or Brown over Yale. Not the common choice, but not one that will result in a lesser education.

Except many people have never heard of Middlebury and, among the people who have, many couldn't even say which state it was located in.

I think name recognition of Middlebury and Williams is similar. More similar than Brown vs. Yale.

Are you crazy? Ivy League is Ivy League for a reason. Middlebury sounds like a prep school—No one outside of a few urban areas will have ever heard of it.

Ivy League is an athletic conference, nothing more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Williams but I can see why someone would choose Middlebury over Williams. I don’t think anyone could go wrong with either. It comes down to fit.

+1
Go where he’ll be happiest for 4 years. That said, those two majors are higher rated at Williams, which might mean better class selections for those, better professors, opportunities, etc. I am definitely biased bc I did Econ at Williams and did compare it to Econ at a bunch of the NESCAC schools, but that was a while ago. If he’s deciding which one to apply early to, then go and spend time at both.
I have heard from fellow alums that Williams puts less weight on legacy now than in the recent past, so maybe remove that from his deciding factors.

Williams isn't particularly known for classics. Both Williams and Middlebury are leading Liberal arts colleges for economics. They aren't exactly dramatically different in opportunities or resources, so it's more just preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an aspect to consider, Middlebury reported 0 first majors in classics in a recent year based on IPEDS information:

College Navigator - Middlebury College https://share.google/SV2dOpyc5pFzkGlcg

Middlebury has 5 tenure track faculty in the classics department, 5 affiliated faculty.

Williams has 5 tenure track facility, 2 visiting professors, and 3 affiliated faculty.

Number of majors seems to say nothing about actual resources.

However, the size of the student philosophy community can influence the educational environment for a classics major.

I mean there’s gonna be very few classics students no matter where you go. If you want a massive classics community, look at St. John’s.

Colleges with a decent number of classics majors include Oberlin, Holy Cross, Reed, Hamilton and Haverford.

Oberlin has less than 10 majors year-over-year, with a four year average of 5.5: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/birdmanobie/viz/OberlinIRQuickFacts/Story1
Same for Reed, with a four year average of 3.75: https://www.reed.edu/ir/gradbydept.html
In 10 years, only 1 person has minored in classics at Haverford: https://www.haverford.edu/sites/default/files/Office/President/Students-by-Minor-2024.pdf
I guess we have different definitions of decent.

[Anonymous]

Is this for application purposes? My advice would be to apply to both. IMHO, I don’t think your child’s legacy (grandfather and uncle) will move the needle. My DS was accepted to Williams and Swarthmore and he chose Swarthmore. Don’t be surprised when people, who are not in the northeast corridor, have never heard of either college. It happens.

[Anonymous]

I know twins who went to both. The Midd grad had a much better experience than the Williams grad, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Choosing Midd over Williams would be like choosing Dartmouth over Princeton, or Brown over Yale. Not the common choice, but not one that will result in a lesser education.

Except many people have never heard of Middlebury and, among the people who have, many couldn't even say which state it was located in.

Williams has no better name recognition than Middlebury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Choosing Midd over Williams would be like choosing Dartmouth over Princeton, or Brown over Yale. Not the common choice, but not one that will result in a lesser education.

Except many people have never heard of Middlebury and, among the people who have, many couldn't even say which state it was located in.

I think name recognition of Middlebury and Williams is similar. More similar than Brown vs. Yale.

Nobody outside of the east coast wealthy have ever heard of either middlebury or Williams. You’re living in an echo chamber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an aspect to consider, Middlebury reported 0 first majors in classics in a recent year based on IPEDS information:

College Navigator - Middlebury College https://share.google/SV2dOpyc5pFzkGlcg

Middlebury has 5 tenure track faculty in the classics department, 5 affiliated faculty.

Williams has 5 tenure track facility, 2 visiting professors, and 3 affiliated faculty.

Number of majors seems to say nothing about actual resources.

However, the size of the student philosophy community can influence the educational environment for a classics major.

I mean there’s gonna be very few classics students no matter where you go. If you want a massive classics community, look at St. John’s.

Colleges with a decent number of classics majors include Oberlin, Holy Cross, Reed, Hamilton and Haverford.

Oberlin has less than 10 majors year-over-year, with a four year average of 5.5: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/birdmanobie/viz/OberlinIRQuickFacts/Story1
Same for Reed, with a four year average of 3.75: https://www.reed.edu/ir/gradbydept.html
In 10 years, only 1 person has minored in classics at Haverford: https://www.haverford.edu/sites/default/files/Office/President/Students-by-Minor-2024.pdf
I guess we have different definitions of decent.

Using government information (e.g., College Navigator - Oberlin College https://share.google/yvSt6D4RWf2d5a5AH), these are the figures for the number of first majors in classics, ancient Greek or Latin in a recent year for colleges mentioned:

Oberlin: 12
Holy Cross: 9
Reed: 7
Hamilton: 6
Haverford: 5
Williams: 3
Middlebury: 0

The higher of these figures generally compare favorably with those for even large universities, especially when adjusted for enrollment.