Pros
* Small, pleasant campus in a near-idyllic location; low-key campus atmosphere • Most students, faculty, and staff are genuinely committed global concerns • Interesting international student population • Faculty & staff compensation & benefits competitive (when compared to higher ed institutions, anyway)
Cons
For an institution that touts its "Be the Solution" tagline, this place suffers from quite a few serious problems with its leadership and policies. Admin staff are made up mainly of yes-men and yes-women who answer directly to Middlebury and whose actual leadership credentials are questionable at best: Their priorities seem to be traveling all the time (presumably to raise funds and recruit students) - not actually providing leadership. Policy-making is a wholly top-down "process" that has recently involved nothing but a pretense of shared responsibility. There is really no accountability where admin staff are concerned - they get away with arbitrary decisions, unfairness, and incompetence but never seem to get challenged or sanctioned. Favoritism in hiring, retention, and promotion is the norm, with alumni and pals undeniably getting the best treatment (until they fall out of favor). A meritocracy MIIS is not. Faculty are pretty much treated like staff and have no real job security (unlike the vast majority of colleges and universities, professors at MIIS can't get tenure; they have to seek approval for contract renewal, which looks like a very arbitrary process). Competition for students has forced admissions to apply embarrassingly low standards. That it's so easy to get into a grad program at MIIS should be a source of shame (not that really dedicated and accomplished students don't earn their degrees here, but some graduates probably should never have been allowed to stay, let alone get degrees).