A Mixed Feb Experience

Being a Feb has, for better or for worse, defined much of my time at Middlebury thus far. I am now preparing to work as one of the leaders for Feb orientation after the end of winter term. I look forward to meeting the new class and re-experiencing some of the orientation activities alongside them, but I must say that I don’t envy their next few months to come.

Like much of my class, I didn’t choose to be a Feb, but rather had an offer of spring admission thrust upon me. While ambivalent at the prospect of delaying college another five months, I accepted the offer and began my “Febmester.”

Upon my long-awaited arrival at Middlebury I was thrilled to meet other Febs and hear their stories. I loved exploring the campus for the first time, and I even enjoyed my first classes.

This enthusiasm has gradually worn away only to be replaced by a nagging sense of otherness. Febs are, after all, the minority on campus. The College, understandably enough, addresses our needs after those of the rest of the class.

Last year, I was lucky to have a Feb roommate and live in a first-year dorm. I can’t say the same for many other Febs, who were relegated to seemingly random rooms that were scattered around campus. In many cases, these students were not only denied the experience of living on a first-year hall, but were effectively dissociated from their commons and any support structure that the commons staff is intended to provide.

The College requires students wishing to study abroad to submit applications by Jan. 31 of the preceding academic year. For most students, this provides ample time to explore the College’s academic offerings before finding an adviser, declaring a major and making the significant decision to travel abroad for up to a year.

Because I wanted to study in my junior year, I was denied the opportunity to explore a liberal arts curriculum to the same degree that Regs are able to do. I had only completed four classes at Middlebury before I declared my major.

The news isn’t all bad for incoming Febs. Beginning college with a smaller class makes the task of finding friends a little less daunting. The Feb class itself is perhaps the best part about spring matriculation, and it is the people I found myself surrounded by that made my introduction to the College special.

Most Febs who graduate in four years participate in the mid-year “Celebration” — an event wherein the class skis down a slope at the Snow Bowl in lieu of participating in our own graduation ceremony. This event is called a celebration rather than a graduation because no diplomas are awarded at that time. We have the option of returning the following May to participate in the graduation for the next year below us.

From the very beginning of our time at Middlebury, we are told that integrating socially with the rest of the class may take some time, but that it will occur, sooner or later. After orientation we are well acquainted with 100 or so other Febs, but have yet to even meet the other 80-plus percent of our class. We are thrown into an already well-established social scene and left to fend for ourselves. As a result, many of us feel like transfer students at our own school.

I realize that many of my complaints are the result of logistical difficulties, and that the needs of the many must come before the needs of the few. I realize that I am lucky to be here, and that the Feb program only exists so that extra students can be included in each year’s incoming class.

However, I am sure that the College could do more to make our time here better resemble what the majority experiences.

I wanted to come to a liberal arts college to experience a variety of coursework among a small and familiar student body. What I got instead was a rush to declare a major after only one semester to explore the curriculum. I feel as if I’m still working to get to know the rest of my class, a task that I fear may be futile due to its size. My living situation last year gave me a head start compared to some other Febs in my year, many of whom are living among sophomore Regs for the first time this year.

At the end of my four years I won’t walk up to a stage to “Pomp and Circumstance” to receive a diploma. I’ll likely receive my diploma in the mail instead.

I don’t feel as if my concerns are addressed by the College to any significant extent. I understand that we are a minority, and an artificial minority at that. I know I signed up for a “different” experience when I agreed to be a Feb. My experience has indeed been different. If the Feb program is to be continued, I ask that the College fulfill its commitment to providing each student with access the same educational experience.