colby vs middlebury?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middlebury has a better reputation, a notch below AWS. Colby is often lumped with Bates and Colgate.

Both have nice campuses. At Middlebury, you can walk to the center of town in 5-10 mins. Colby is a bit further removed from Waterville.

Colby’s new athletic center is impressive, but Midd’s athletic facilities are also too-notch. Midd also has its own golf course and ski mountain if that’s important to you.

Lots of Middlebury alumni at Wall Street IBs. Top brass at MS and GS are Midd alum.

Both liberal, Midd a bit more so.

Colby has a very good track record with IBs. They refer to it as the “Colby Mafia”.

The original article was on the "Middlebury Mafia," as reported here in the Middlebury student newspaper: https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2024/01/the-middlebury-mafia-do-alumni-and-students-dominate-the-corporate-world

Archive link to the article itself: https://web.archive.org/web/20231115050418/https://themessenger.com/business/morgan-stanley-ceo-ted-pick-goldman-sachs-coo-john-waldron-middlebury-college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know much about Colby, but my nephew is at Middlebury and he told me the student population is very,very liberal. Not sure it would be the best fit for your right of center son, unless they are open to other political views and comfortable being in a very, very tiny minority.

Econ students at these liberal arts colleges tend to have a bunch of conservative men. They're just hush hush in intro to sociocultural anthro, but they stick together for clear reasons.

Why would you want to go to Midd if you have to be hush hush about your views? Not worth spending all that money and 4 years. Go to a school with a better fit like Colgate, Duke, etc.

OP here - newsflash - most athletes at SLACs lean right. My DC has a close friend at Wes who reported majority of athletes are mostly MAGA - and frosh year (in 2020) were heavily persecuted for their beliefs. Even the apolitical athletes were assumed to be Trumpers - sure Middlebury is the same - granola lefties raging at the world while the MAGA athletes party and have fun, and land $125k+ jobs..

Hijacking the thread here. How does your DC's friend find Wes? My kid is very interested.

very very cliquish - if you fit one of the cliques, can be a very fun place. Athletes, theatre, raging liberals, goth stoners, music (top ethno-music department), alternative lifestyle, frat bros (where athletes cross team lines) outdoors enthusiast/hiking, international.. the list goes on - for a school this size, many many groups - but you better belong to one

Food for thought. Thanks.

DC goes to Amherst and finds it quite similar. He also likes to talk about "shadow Amherst," people who nobody knows about the existence of. This article from the student paper seems to explain it well: https://amherststudent.com/article/lets-get-back-work/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know much about Colby, but my nephew is at Middlebury and he told me the student population is very,very liberal. Not sure it would be the best fit for your right of center son, unless they are open to other political views and comfortable being in a very, very tiny minority.

Econ students at these liberal arts colleges tend to have a bunch of conservative men. They're just hush hush in intro to sociocultural anthro, but they stick together for clear reasons.

Why would you want to go to Midd if you have to be hush hush about your views? Not worth spending all that money and 4 years. Go to a school with a better fit like Colgate, Duke, etc.

OP here - newsflash - most athletes at SLACs lean right. My DC has a close friend at Wes who reported majority of athletes are mostly MAGA - and frosh year (in 2020) were heavily persecuted for their beliefs. Even the apolitical athletes were assumed to be Trumpers - sure Middlebury is the same - granola lefties raging at the world while the MAGA athletes party and have fun, and land $125k+ jobs..

Hijacking the thread here. How does your DC's friend find Wes? My kid is very interested.

very very cliquish - if you fit one of the cliques, can be a very fun place. Athletes, theatre, raging liberals, goth stoners, music (top ethno-music department), alternative lifestyle, frat bros (where athletes cross team lines) outdoors enthusiast/hiking, international.. the list goes on - for a school this size, many many groups - but you better belong to one

Food for thought. Thanks.

DC goes to Amherst and finds it quite similar. He also likes to talk about "shadow Amherst," people who nobody knows about the existence of. This article from the student paper seems to explain it well: https://amherststudent.com/article/lets-get-back-work/

Interesting…and sad. Article is five years old. Assume you/DC think it still holds true? Does your DC like Amherst? Are they an athlete? Amherst seems amazing in so many ways, but my DC is turned off by the high percentage of athletes. She felt that Wes would be a better fit since the percentage of athletes is a bit lower. She’s also artsy (visual and performing) but really wants to go somewhere intellectually engaging above all. She floats between groups (nerds, newspaper, musical, art). Doesn’t want to be defined by any one group. All the top East Coast LACs seem to have this problem.

[Anonymous]

We recently toured Colby and my son was turned off by the pronouns. All the tour guides introduced themselves to a room full of people as "my name is __ and my pronouns are __." One girl announced pronouns as "him/his." We also toured Bowdoin and Bates and he got a much better vibe from the kids he met. This is just one data point, but if that is the look that Colby is putting forth as a first impression it tells you the image they want to project.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know much about Colby, but my nephew is at Middlebury and he told me the student population is very,very liberal. Not sure it would be the best fit for your right of center son, unless they are open to other political views and comfortable being in a very, very tiny minority.

Econ students at these liberal arts colleges tend to have a bunch of conservative men. They're just hush hush in intro to sociocultural anthro, but they stick together for clear reasons.

Why would you want to go to Midd if you have to be hush hush about your views? Not worth spending all that money and 4 years. Go to a school with a better fit like Colgate, Duke, etc.

OP here - newsflash - most athletes at SLACs lean right. My DC has a close friend at Wes who reported majority of athletes are mostly MAGA - and frosh year (in 2020) were heavily persecuted for their beliefs. Even the apolitical athletes were assumed to be Trumpers - sure Middlebury is the same - granola lefties raging at the world while the MAGA athletes party and have fun, and land $125k+ jobs..

Hijacking the thread here. How does your DC's friend find Wes? My kid is very interested.

very very cliquish - if you fit one of the cliques, can be a very fun place. Athletes, theatre, raging liberals, goth stoners, music (top ethno-music department), alternative lifestyle, frat bros (where athletes cross team lines) outdoors enthusiast/hiking, international.. the list goes on - for a school this size, many many groups - but you better belong to one

Food for thought. Thanks.

DC goes to Amherst and finds it quite similar. He also likes to talk about "shadow Amherst," people who nobody knows about the existence of. This article from the student paper seems to explain it well: https://amherststudent.com/article/lets-get-back-work/

Interesting…and sad. Article is five years old. Assume you/DC think it still holds true? Does your DC like Amherst? Are they an athlete? Amherst seems amazing in so many ways, but my DC is turned off by the high percentage of athletes. She felt that Wes would be a better fit since the percentage of athletes is a bit lower. She’s also artsy (visual and performing) but really wants to go somewhere intellectually engaging above all. She floats between groups (nerds, newspaper, musical, art). Doesn’t want to be defined by any one group. All the top East Coast LACs seem to have this problem.

Wesleyan sounds like a rubber glove fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We recently toured Colby and my son was turned off by the pronouns. All the tour guides introduced themselves to a room full of people as "my name is __ and my pronouns are __." One girl announced pronouns as "him/his." We also toured Bowdoin and Bates and he got a much better vibe from the kids he met. This is just one data point, but if that is the look that Colby is putting forth as a first impression it tells you the image they want to project.

I’m really sorry to rain on your parade, but all liberal arts colleges are…well, liberal. This is a very normal thing that happens in classes, orientation, and any other time college students meet each other. Your kid might be a few generation too old if he can’t handle pronouns without flipping. Bowdoin is like this and so is Bates, and Williams, and Amherst, and Hamilton, and…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know much about Colby, but my nephew is at Middlebury and he told me the student population is very,very liberal. Not sure it would be the best fit for your right of center son, unless they are open to other political views and comfortable being in a very, very tiny minority.

Econ students at these liberal arts colleges tend to have a bunch of conservative men. They're just hush hush in intro to sociocultural anthro, but they stick together for clear reasons.

Why would you want to go to Midd if you have to be hush hush about your views? Not worth spending all that money and 4 years. Go to a school with a better fit like Colgate, Duke, etc.

OP here - newsflash - most athletes at SLACs lean right. My DC has a close friend at Wes who reported majority of athletes are mostly MAGA - and frosh year (in 2020) were heavily persecuted for their beliefs. Even the apolitical athletes were assumed to be Trumpers - sure Middlebury is the same - granola lefties raging at the world while the MAGA athletes party and have fun, and land $125k+ jobs..

Hijacking the thread here. How does your DC's friend find Wes? My kid is very interested.

very very cliquish - if you fit one of the cliques, can be a very fun place. Athletes, theatre, raging liberals, goth stoners, music (top ethno-music department), alternative lifestyle, frat bros (where athletes cross team lines) outdoors enthusiast/hiking, international.. the list goes on - for a school this size, many many groups - but you better belong to one

Food for thought. Thanks.

DC goes to Amherst and finds it quite similar. He also likes to talk about "shadow Amherst," people who nobody knows about the existence of. This article from the student paper seems to explain it well: https://amherststudent.com/article/lets-get-back-work/

Interesting…and sad. Article is five years old. Assume you/DC think it still holds true? Does your DC like Amherst? Are they an athlete? Amherst seems amazing in so many ways, but my DC is turned off by the high percentage of athletes. She felt that Wes would be a better fit since the percentage of athletes is a bit lower. She’s also artsy (visual and performing) but really wants to go somewhere intellectually engaging above all. She floats between groups (nerds, newspaper, musical, art). Doesn’t want to be defined by any one group. All the top East Coast LACs seem to have this problem.

Wesleyan sounds like a rubber glove fit.

That is reassuring (even from an anonymous person on a message board)! Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We recently toured Colby and my son was turned off by the pronouns. All the tour guides introduced themselves to a room full of people as "my name is __ and my pronouns are __." One girl announced pronouns as "him/his." We also toured Bowdoin and Bates and he got a much better vibe from the kids he met. This is just one data point, but if that is the look that Colby is putting forth as a first impression it tells you the image they want to project.

Were you also there last Saturday? 😃 If not it was the same bunch of guides. However I asked my son about that and he just shrugged it off - “they must have a quota to fill.” He’s not liberal and he liked the campus and the accessibility of outdoorsy activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know much about Colby, but my nephew is at Middlebury and he told me the student population is very,very liberal. Not sure it would be the best fit for your right of center son, unless they are open to other political views and comfortable being in a very, very tiny minority.

Econ students at these liberal arts colleges tend to have a bunch of conservative men. They're just hush hush in intro to sociocultural anthro, but they stick together for clear reasons.

Why would you want to go to Midd if you have to be hush hush about your views? Not worth spending all that money and 4 years. Go to a school with a better fit like Colgate, Duke, etc.

OP here - newsflash - most athletes at SLACs lean right. My DC has a close friend at Wes who reported majority of athletes are mostly MAGA - and frosh year (in 2020) were heavily persecuted for their beliefs. Even the apolitical athletes were assumed to be Trumpers - sure Middlebury is the same - granola lefties raging at the world while the MAGA athletes party and have fun, and land $125k+ jobs..

Hijacking the thread here. How does your DC's friend find Wes? My kid is very interested.

very very cliquish - if you fit one of the cliques, can be a very fun place. Athletes, theatre, raging liberals, goth stoners, music (top ethno-music department), alternative lifestyle, frat bros (where athletes cross team lines) outdoors enthusiast/hiking, international.. the list goes on - for a school this size, many many groups - but you better belong to one

Food for thought. Thanks.

DC goes to Amherst and finds it quite similar. He also likes to talk about "shadow Amherst," people who nobody knows about the existence of. This article from the student paper seems to explain it well: https://amherststudent.com/article/lets-get-back-work/

Interesting…and sad. Article is five years old. Assume you/DC think it still holds true? Does your DC like Amherst? Are they an athlete? Amherst seems amazing in so many ways, but my DC is turned off by the high percentage of athletes. She felt that Wes would be a better fit since the percentage of athletes is a bit lower. She’s also artsy (visual and performing) but really wants to go somewhere intellectually engaging above all. She floats between groups (nerds, newspaper, musical, art). Doesn’t want to be defined by any one group. All the top East Coast LACs seem to have this problem.

DC loves Amherst. He has a large variety of friends from multiple different sources: classes, clubs, the floor he lived on, and even random encounters around campus, though he does not seem to be close with any varsity athletes. Despite the large percentage of athletes, the culture does not feel athletic at all to him; he has only ever mentioned going to one sports game, which was Amherst/Williams football. He also enjoys performing arts, but has found that the music scene at Amherst is significantly bigger than the theater scene. He has had a wonderful academic experience and has gushed about some of his professors—even very difficult ones—in our conversations, and is currently working a research internship there over the summer.

"Shadow" is a pretty common term in his parlance, which was shocking to us given the school's small size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We recently toured Colby and my son was turned off by the pronouns. All the tour guides introduced themselves to a room full of people as "my name is __ and my pronouns are __." One girl announced pronouns as "him/his." We also toured Bowdoin and Bates and he got a much better vibe from the kids he met. This is just one data point, but if that is the look that Colby is putting forth as a first impression it tells you the image they want to project.

Were you also there last Saturday? 😃 If not it was the same bunch of guides. However I asked my son about that and he just shrugged it off - “they must have a quota to fill.” He’s not liberal and he liked the campus and the accessibility of outdoorsy activities.

Just so you know, this is a very normal thing at colleges. You usually start any college meeting with name and pronouns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We recently toured Colby and my son was turned off by the pronouns. All the tour guides introduced themselves to a room full of people as "my name is __ and my pronouns are __." One girl announced pronouns as "him/his." We also toured Bowdoin and Bates and he got a much better vibe from the kids he met. This is just one data point, but if that is the look that Colby is putting forth as a first impression it tells you the image they want to project.

Were you also there last Saturday? 😃 If not it was the same bunch of guides. However I asked my son about that and he just shrugged it off - “they must have a quota to fill.” He’s not liberal and he liked the campus and the accessibility of outdoorsy activities.

Just so you know, this is a very normal thing at colleges. You usually start any college meeting with name and pronouns.

+100, just common practice since 2019 or so!
I do not think we encountered a single school on tour that did NOT do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middlebury has a better reputation, a notch below AWS. Colby is often lumped with Bates and Colgate.

Both have nice campuses. At Middlebury, you can walk to the center of town in 5-10 mins. Colby is a bit further removed from Waterville.

Colby’s new athletic center is impressive, but Midd’s athletic facilities are also too-notch. Midd also has its own golf course and ski mountain if that’s important to you.

Lots of Middlebury alumni at Wall Street IBs. Top brass at MS and GS are Midd alum.

Both liberal, Midd a bit more so.

Colby has a very good track record with IBs. They refer to it as the “Colby Mafia”.

Lol. That's not because it has a very good track record. My spouse went to Colby and he has two friends who have gone on to have good careers at prestigious IBs (in part because they didn't leave to go to grad school like a lot of the others did and worked their way up the ranks). But they say the Colby grads at their IBs are few and far between and credit having landed there to their own initiative not the school's network.

[Anonymous]

OP: did your son have to basically complete an application with essay for Colby’s pre read? Also, how long did the pre-reads take and have the coaches given him a deadline?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We recently toured Colby and my son was turned off by the pronouns. All the tour guides introduced themselves to a room full of people as "my name is __ and my pronouns are __." One girl announced pronouns as "him/his." We also toured Bowdoin and Bates and he got a much better vibe from the kids he met. This is just one data point, but if that is the look that Colby is putting forth as a first impression it tells you the image they want to project.

Were you also there last Saturday? 😃 If not it was the same bunch of guides. However I asked my son about that and he just shrugged it off - “they must have a quota to fill.” He’s not liberal and he liked the campus and the accessibility of outdoorsy activities.

Just so you know, this is a very normal thing at colleges. You usually start any college meeting with name and pronouns.

Eh. I’ve been to a lot of college tours and it’s not all that common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We recently toured Colby and my son was turned off by the pronouns. All the tour guides introduced themselves to a room full of people as "my name is __ and my pronouns are __." One girl announced pronouns as "him/his." We also toured Bowdoin and Bates and he got a much better vibe from the kids he met. This is just one data point, but if that is the look that Colby is putting forth as a first impression it tells you the image they want to project.

Were you also there last Saturday? 😃 If not it was the same bunch of guides. However I asked my son about that and he just shrugged it off - “they must have a quota to fill.” He’s not liberal and he liked the campus and the accessibility of outdoorsy activities.

Just so you know, this is a very normal thing at colleges. You usually start any college meeting with name and pronouns.

Eh. I’ve been to a lot of college tours and it’s not all that common.

It's not just about college tours? Your kid will experience being asked pronouns in many places. On a good note, it's a very normal and quick thing to answer