At his young age, Middleton was required to complete a year of preparatory school before being enrolled in the four-year program at Mississippi A&M. In essence he did a final year of high school while living in the dormitory and following the regimen of the students at the college. The students were treated like cadets at a military academy, marching to and from all meals, and beginning their day with the first bugle call at 5:30 a.m. Every week day was the same: cleanup and study time in the morning, march to breakfast, a usually short chapel call, classes from 8:30 to 4:00, broken only by lunch, athletics from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m., dinner, and then study from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m., followed by the playing of taps at 10:30, and lights out at 10:40. While Middleton did not particularly savor the military atmosphere, he settled into the routine, and the year passed quickly. The highlight of his preparatory year came on 10 February 1905 when John Philip Sousa brought his band to A&M, attracting people from around the state, and packing the 2000-seat mess hall. The train that would take the band to its next stop was held up for over an hour as the concert was extended by repeated calls for encores.