Middlebury College, located in Middlebury, VT, is a small, private liberal arts college known for their arts and humanities programs, their joint engineering programs, and their language schools. Plus, Jason Mantzoukas went there! Last year, Middlebury had a 10% acceptance rate, and it keeps trending downwards. With their test-optional policy (only 42% of applicants last year submitted scores) and no supplement, you might think it only takes a click to convincingly apply to Middlebury. Wrong!
You still need to stand out, because it’s a competitive school. Before you exit out of this page, we want to tell you how to write an email that will demonstrate interest to Middlebury and help you stand out from a growing sea of applicants. You want to take some initiative, reach out, and show them why you’ll be a good fit for their school. This will be very similar to the Why Us essays you’re no doubt intimately familiar with by now (or at least, will be).
This is in no way required. It is just something we have our students do, and we think it makes a huge difference.
The Email
Start with an introduction. It would be weird to start an email with no greeting and what seems like a manifesto on why you loooove Middlebury. Honestly, what a red flag that would be! Introduce yourself and explain why you’re writing, something like there’s no formal place for you to explain why you want to attend their school so you wanted to reach out and introduce yourself this way.
You then want to go into your backstory – why do you want to study what you want to study? If you’re a prospective English major, tell them how you initially got into that. Maybe it was seeing Shakespeare in the Park as a kid with your mom, or you were that kid who was always getting in trouble for staying up late to read under the covers. You should then explain how you’ve developed this passion, like maybe that unquenchable thirst to read led you to get an internship at a publishing house? They want to see that you’ve done some legwork to figure out what you want to do, because that shows you’re invested.
And look, you can change what you want to study when you get to college. You will not be held to this. But, for the sake of application, you want to choose a major that reflects what you’ve done throughout high school, especially if you’re otherwise undeclared.
Next, you need to do some research on Middlebury. Go into their course catalog and choose 1-2 upper level classes to write about. Introductory classes have no place in this email! You want to show them that there are things only they have that you absolutely need to take to pursue your goals. If you’re passionate about Victorian literature, take ENGL 0105 Victoria's Secrets (ha ha). If you want to investigate how literature reflects the world around us, maybe ENGL 0263 American Psycho: Disease, Doctors, and Discontents interests you because you want to see how malevolence is depicted in literature. Write about why they’re cool, don’t just say they’re cool. Explain how these specific classes will help you achieve your goals, teach you new things, et cetera.
Now, you want to do the same thing but with a professor. Nothing more unique to a college than their professors! Find someone doing research/work in your stated interest area, write about why they’re right up your alley, and talk about how you’d work with them. Do you want to assist with research? Become their TA? Have them as your mentor? If you like Shakespeare, talk about working with James Berg. Want to explore feminist poetry? Brett Miller’s your woman.
The last part of the body of your email should be focused on community. What at Middlebury culturally appeals to you? This should connect to what you have already done in high school – so no talking about walking on to the swim team if you’ve literally never swam a lap in your life. Instead, focus on what’s similar. Interested in English and worked on yearbook? Try the literary magazine! The things you choose to write about can be academic or not, so if you were a champion swimmer then yeah, talk about joining the swim team.
Make sure this email is no longer than 350 words, and that it’s very professionally written. The tone should be profesh, confident, and friendly, you want them to want you at Middlebury so don’t be afraid to be likable!!! Send it directly to admissions (admissions@middlebury.edu) and ask if there’s anywhere else you should forward it.
The rest of your Common App needs to be in good shape, too. We have guides on the Common App essay, the activities section, additional information (if needed), and so much more. And, if you need help with those, we’re here too.
Need help with your Middlebury email? We got you, reach out today.