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(03/05/15 3:29am)
Around a month ago, I was scrolling through BuzzFeed (my procrastination website of choice) and noticed the headline ‘Here’s How to See What College Admissions Officers Wrote About You.’ The article went on to describe that Stanford University students had uncovered a little-known clause in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that allows students to view, as the headline indicates, the comments on their admissions file at the school to which they matriculate. I had always been curious about how applicants at Middlebury are evaluated, and I also kind of wanted to know what my file said about me, so I emailed the Admissions Office to request access to my files.
Last Wednesday, I was the first student this year to view my admissions file. Dean of Admissions Greg Buckles was very patient with me and answered all my questions related to the terminology. I was able to see my readers’ quantitative evaluations of my academic ability, extracurriculars and personal qualities. I also read the comments my readers made on my overall file, as well as what my interviewer said about our interview.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I had a twofold motivation for going in to see my file. First and foremost, I was curious to know what the admissions officers thought about my application, especially about my common app essay, of which I was most proud. I applied early decision because Middlebury was my dream school and far and away my first choice, but going in, my college counselor had warned me that many ED applicants have some kind of hook — be it the support of a coach or geographic diversity or legacy status among myriad other factors. The other reason I went in to see my file was to see what about my application allowed me to overcome my lack of hook, so to speak, and gain early admission.
My main takeaway and word to you, readers, is that your file likely does not contain much you don’t know already. The reader comments mostly enumerated my grades and scores and spoke about my extracurriculars, and my interview comments basically detailed our conversation and my answers to his questions. I did not really figure out why I had gotten in or how I had overcome my total lack of diversity. (The only reasons I can think of are that I had expressed my passion for Middlebury and that my readers felt magnanimous that day.) I also learned my readers’ reservations about me and what they perceived to be my weaknesses.
I caution anyone going into the admissions office to steel yourself, because there aren’t many positive things they can say that you don’t already know. (You know if your standardized testing was good, and you probably have a decent sense of how your interview went.) Admissions officers are so good at their job that they will likely be able to foresee struggles you will have in college based on your high school experience, and they may describe those in your file. I, of course, don’t know you and have no idea what your file says. I assume that you are a strong student and excel in many areas (or else you wouldn’t be here), but that doesn’t mean that your file is all rainbows and sunshine. And I can tell you from my experience that I didn’t learn anything about myself (and a tiny part of me was hoping for an insight that would shape my entire future so I could stop worrying about it).
So while you are absolutely entitled to view your file under FERPA, maybe think twice about whether it is worth your time and the Admissions office’s time as well, because our admissions counselors are absolutely swamped with requests right now, on top of having to read thousands of applications for the class of 2019.
Sarah Sicular ’15.5 is a copy editor from New York, N.Y.
(11/20/14 3:56am)
They say that when man (or woman) makes plans, God laughs. Visiting Lecturer in Sociology and Anthropology Pam Berenbaum started her academic career thinking she would end up a clinical psychologist, a far cry from where she ended up in the field of public health.
“So many of the patients really had public health problems,” Berenbaum said. “They were victims of domestic violence, or they had a sick child and they had no health insurance. And I realized I was so much more interested in working on the structural problems.”
Inspired by her epiphany, Berenbaum then matriculated to the Harvard School of Public Health where she earned her Masters of Science in Health Policy and Management. Her first job after this program was a health economics research position at Harvard Medical School.
Soon after, Berenbaum began working for the lead statistician at a survey research firm in Burlington that the government contracted for public health surveys. After a year there, Berenbaum moved to a job in the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Unit at the Vermont Department of Health. The work there was “more closely tied to the public health topics that I found really exciting,” Berenbaum said.
“I loved epidemiology in my Masters program, so I was excited to do that,” Berenbaum said. “We did all the food-borne stuff, influenza surveillance, vector-borne diseases … for the whole state of Vermont.
After ten years at the Department of Health, “I had developed a surveillance system for hospital emergency departments that was really quite mature and served our purposes really well,” Berenbaum said, “and I was getting bored, frankly. I had done what I could do, and when you’re grant funded, your hands are tied in many ways…you’re not allowed to be that creative.”
Berenbaum began teaching at the College in J-term of 2010, having found out from a colleague that anyone can apply to teach a J-term class.
She then taught during J-term for three years, starting with Introduction to Public Health Policy and later developing the Disaster Public Health class. In the Fall of 2012, when Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology and Director of the Global Health Minor Svea Closser went on leave, Berenbaum taught the Global Health class.
Starting in January of 2015, Berenbaum will serve as the Coordinator of Global Health Programs. Through her new role, Berenbaum hopes to expand the program to encompass even more disciplines and to bring awareness among faculty members of how their coursework relates to the study of health.
“Global health is the ultimate interdisciplinary field,” Berenbaum said. Only a couple of classes are unique to the minor, including the signature Global Health class, which is required of all minors, and the Introduction to Public Health Policy class. All electives that count towards the minor come from other departments including economics, geography, history, environmental studies and biology. Additionally, students are required to take a methods course in statistics, GIS, or ethnography.
Berenbaum envisions adding a capstone class to the requirements for the minor, which would tie together said the content from the students’ electives. She also emphasized the need for more sections of the core Global Health class, since the demand far exceeds its supply.
The course also serves as the “gateway class” for the minor, so Berenbaum would like to have spots available for underclassmen so they can decide early if they want to pursue the minor and plan out their coursework.
However, Global Health will likely be the only class Berenbaum will be teaching in the foreseeable future, as she emphasizes that her new job is primarily a staff position. She wants to work to get the faculty more involved in the program and also promote collaboration with the Center for Careers and Internships (CCI).
“I want global health students to have opportunities to find internships and jobs in the field because it’s such a broad field with tons of different job offerings,” she said. Berenbaum mentioned her desire to offer more pre-professional guidance to students wishing to enter the field.
“It’s not the type of career path where you know what you’re getting into,” Berenbaum said. However, she’d like to help students get on the path they want within public and global health.
“There are many students who have graduated who I’m in touch with still and who I’ve helped get jobs, and that’s really gratifying,” she said.
Many students undertaking the Global Health minor are grateful Berenbaum is staying onboard.
“One of my favorite things about [Berenbaum] is the resources she brings to the table with all her professional experience in so many different forms of public health,” Anna Dennis ’17.5 said. Dennis came to Middlebury thinking that she might be interested in public health, and Berenbaum’s Introduction to Public Health Policy reaffirmed her interest both on an academic and professional level.
“I love teaching … and I love the students,” Berenbaum said. “Every semester I’m like, ‘I would adopt all of you.’”
(02/26/14 6:44pm)
In the fall of senior year at my high school, the question people were constantly asking each other was not ‘where are you applying ED?’ but rather ‘to which Ivy are you applying ED?’ Given this attitude of my classmates, I hope that none of you will judge me on the following dilemma I faced.
I visited Middlebury on March 31st, 2010 (I remember the day because it was the first time I had ever truly fallen in love with a place). The beauty of the campus, with its trees starting to bloom and the backdrop of snow-peaked mountains, struck me immediately as a sign of a tranquil environment, exactly what I was seeking in a college. As I went on the tour and my tour guide elaborated on the academics, extracurricular and social opportunities, I became more and more convinced that I absolutely had to spend four years in this place.
Come the next fall, however, I was trying to convince myself that I loved Dartmouth (the Ivy I thought was most similar to Midd) because of the Ivy-obsessed culture of my high school. Dartmouth is obviously a great school, but it had none of the attributes I wanted in a college. In fact, I hated it; the classes I sat in on, the appearance of the campus, the prominence of the frats, basically everything. Essentially, the only thing Dartmouth had that Middlebury didn’t was the prestige of being an Ivy League school, which, not to sound totally superficial, I truly craved. Today, I thank my lucky stars that I came to my senses and sent in my application to Middlebury rather than Dartmouth in October of 2010 (though I do feel bad about making my best friend write me a peer recommendation. But hey, sunk costs, amirite fellow econ majors?).
With the recent brand re-evaluation (which is covered extensively in this issue), I have several concerns about the future of the Middlebury undergraduate experience. First and foremost, (and this might read as greedy, selfish and/or entitled, attitudes I don’t intend and for which I apologize) with diversifying our image to emphasize the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), the C.V.-Starr Middlebury Schools Abroad, and the Bread Loaf School of English more, I worry about the diverting of funds from the undergraduate institution into these graduate and abroad programs. I want to ensure, as people say, that we ‘maintain the campus’ current lifestyle’. I want to ensure that we still have the funds, for example, to bring the Dalai Lama to campus, to host speakers such as Wade Davis (a follow-up to whose discussion is taking place this week and should definitely be attended!), and ensure that MCAB is able to host as many activities as it currently does. I will seriously drop out of this school if funding for the biweekly trivia night at Crossroads is cut (shoutout to the Ron Liebowitz Search Committee!).
One purpose of this rebranding, it seems, is to increase our presence on the national and international stage of colleges. As I previously mentioned, the only thing Dartmouth had going for it, in my mind, was its preeminence. So shouldn’t I be happy that Middlebury is looking to increase its prestige, since that was the only reason I didn’t want to apply early here was its lack of prestige, at least relative to Dartmouth? My short answer, at least now, is no, because I have come to realize that prestige often comes at the expense of the undergraduate experience. For example, many universities’ research labs overlook undergraduate students when seeking out research assistants, and I worry that if our brand is reconfigured such that our graduate institutions begin to share center stage with our Vermont undergraduate campus, then we will fall into the same trap.
In short, although we are repackaging our brand to play up our other campuses, both domestic and international, I truly hope that the focus of the entity (or whatever you may call it) of Middlebury remains squarely on the eponymous campus and the undergraduate students. It would be a real shame if years from now, when my kids inevitably matriculate to my Alma Mater, they’ll be attending ‘Middlebury University’.