This year, 1,041 students completed the third annual Middlebury Zeitgeist survey. This represents 43% of degree-seeking undergraduate students, according to the Spring 2021 Enrollment profile, a compilation of demographic data collected by the Registrar's Office this spring. The 903 on-campus learners in the sample size represent roughly 45% of the student population on campus this semester



Participants in Zeitgeist 2021 were divided roughly equally among classes. The class of 2024 had the highest number of participants, with 208 respondents.  



This year’s survey allowed students to select all racial groups they identify with, meaning that some students are counted more than once in analyses that break down responses by race. 

Seventy-one percent of respondents identified as white, compared to 59% of domestic student respondents who identified as white in the Spring 2021 Student Enrollment profile — though the student profile separates international students into a distinct racial and ethnic category. 

The second-largest group of respondents — at 12.6% — was students who identified as Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander. About 7% of respondents identified as Hispanic or Latinx, and about 2% of respondents identified as Black or African American, while 5.4% of respondents identified as biracial or multiracial.



Respondents were also given the option to indicate multiple gender identities in this year’s survey. Nearly 56% of respondents identified as cisgender female, while only 36% of respondents identified as cisgender male. The remaining respondents identified as nonbinary (nearly 5%), transgender male or female (0.85% combined), or chose not to respond to the question. 

The Spring 2021 Enrollment profile, which used a binary classification of gender,  reported that 53.4% of degree-seeking students were women and 46.6% were men.



Nearly 40% of Zeitgeist survey participants are on need-based financial aid, and just under 9% of respondents are first-generation college students.


There was also an uptick in the number of queer respondents — students who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer or questioning — at about one-third of respondents, compared to 28% from last year’s survey.

Nearly one in three respondents hail from New England states. One in five students are from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or the D.C. area. Twelve percent of respondents are from the South, 12% are from Pacific states, 9% from the Midwest and 5% are from the Great Lakes region. Nearly 8% of respondents selected “International” as where they are from. 

More than half of respondents consider their hometowns to be suburban. Twenty-eight percent are from urban hometowns and 18% are from rural areas, results that are consistent with last year’s Zeitgeist.

More than half of respondents (52%) attended public high schools, and a third of respondents attended private/parochial day schools. Nine percent attended boarding schools, and 5% attended a charter/magnet school. These demographics are roughly consistent with last year’s results.





Fifteen percent of respondents were varsity athletes. Notably, nearly 40% of all varsity athletes respondents attended private/parochial schools, compared to 31% of non-athletes. 



Ten percent of this year’s respondents reported having one or two parents who attended Middlebury College. The class of 2024.5 had the highest proportion of legacy or double legacy students, at 15% in total.

Differently-Abled Students

Nearly 13% of participants identify or have identified themselves as differently-abled. According to the Disability Resource Center (DRC), one in every six students at Middlebury contacted the DRC for a form of disability-related accommodation during the 2019–20 academic year.

Major Groups of Respondents