Choosing Middlebury over Williams

[Anonymous]

Note that the figures above are for graduating classics majors, and therefore represent a single class year.

[Anonymous]

How much Greek and Latin has your child done? I love SLACS (my dc is currently very happy at one), but the difficulty with classics at a Slac is that they won’t have many upper level classes. They tend to have a small dept, and they have to cover beginning Latin and Greek on up, and often offer literature and history classes in translation for non-majors, so if you’ve already done AP Latin and some Greek there may not be many classes where you are reading texts in the original. Universities with a grad program in classics will have joint classes where juniors/seniors are in seminars with first year grad students, and there are required Greek and Latin literature surveys that grad students take to prep for their grad exams that undergrads can also take, so the grad program ensures that there are a fair number of advanced classes to choose from every term. If you are considering grad school, that makes a big difference in preparation. Of course, if you just have an interest in the ancient world and are planning to go into banking or law or whatever a classics degree from a Slac is fine, though you won’t have as much choice in the classes you take. Most people are more interested in literature or history, for example, and in a small department you might get mostly one or the other in a particular language— if you’re into Greek history you’d rather be taking classes on Thucydides and Herodotus, but if the one Greek literature prof is more into poetry than prose you might find yourself taking classes on Homer and Euripides and enjoy it much less. In general, I think Slacs do the popular majors very well, but if you have a more niche interest you need to look closely at the faculty on staff and the classes offered each semester to make sure it will work for you.

[Anonymous]

You CAN’T be serious. Would you choose to go to community college when you could go to MIT? At least it will open up a spot for someone else who values all that Williams has to offer.

[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.

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

Can confirm lol

[Anonymous]

holy cross has great scholarship for classics fwiw

[Anonymous]

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

IPEDS also reports that Middlebury has 4,000+ undergrads.

According to Middlebury's Office of Institutional Research, there were 10 classics majors and 3 classical studies majors in fall 2024.

[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.

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

You might want to get out a bit more. They are pretty well known among the Sand Hill Road and Stanford communities. I know multiple 8 and 9 figure families in this community with kids at Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Williams. I know kids from other families at other to SLACs as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You CAN’T be serious. Would you choose to go to community college when you could go to MIT? At least it will open up a spot for someone else who values all that Williams has to offer.

Not really sure what you are trying to say here. I'm pretty sure that you aren't either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You CAN’T be serious. Would you choose to go to community college when you could go to MIT? At least it will open up a spot for someone else who values all that Williams has to offer.

The trolls are out in full force today.

[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.

Any many people think Penn State is far superior to University of Pennsylvania. Does that make it so?

[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.

Looks like Williams has the top-rated econ program in terms of faculty publications, but Middlebury is close behind.

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

[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.

Any many people think Penn State is far superior to University of Pennsylvania. Does that make it so?

I’ve never met anyone who thinks that. Both universities are widely known.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Looks like Williams has the top-rated econ program in terms of faculty publications, but Middlebury is close behind.

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

Any school on that list is fine. If you’re looking towards economics grad school, you’re better off doing a math major anyway. Williams has more faculty in economics (partially due to its development economics program) but it’s not a distinct amount more than Middlebury. This is hair splitting that Williams grads think matters.

[Anonymous]

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

IPEDS also reports that Middlebury has 4,000+ undergrads.

According to Middlebury's Office of Institutional Research, there were 10 classics majors and 3 classical studies majors in fall 2024.

+1, IPEDs is a mess. I don’t know why people don’t follow institutional research.

[Anonymous]

Why would it be crazy? If you’re into prestige, applying to a lac is borderline stupid.