My daughter is an athlete interested in playing for a liberal arts college in the NESCAC. She’s had her early reads come back positive and has two firm offers of support for her application at Amherst and at Bowdoin and will be applying to one of them early decision in the fall. The problem is that she loves both colleges but needs to accept one offer soon so that the other coach can continue recruiting.
She describes herself as a smart, sporty, outgoing, goofy person who likes the outdoors. She’s interested in a possible political science major and is considering maybe going into law or government or something involving public policy. She’s happy in small towns and liked both Brunswick and Amherst. She loves both of the coaches and feels both schools have good teams for her sport. Cost/financial aid will likely be similar at both.
Any thoughts that might help her make the decision between the two colleges? Thanks!
If it helps, your daughter may be able to put program strength aside in this decision, as either of these colleges could make a good choice for the study of government and politics:
I doubt anyone can answer this for you, as both schools are stellar, and only you/your daughter will know the little particular things that matter uniquely to your family.
You might ask for financial aid pre-reads at both, to make sure the FA is similar.
Has your D had a chance to meet/zoom with teammates from both schools? If not, she should do that.
Lastly, just an n of1 my D preferred Bowdoin to Amherst for the following reasons: she liked the campus better, thought Bowdoin students were friendlier, and liked that Bowdoin has multiple dining halls, including an on-campus bar/grill.
Congratulations to your D, she can’t make a bad choice!
Although it may seem a bit trite, multiple dining hall options at a small LAC can make a difference in one’s personal life. For example: If a couple breaks up, one or both may prefer to have the option of the bit of privacy/distance offered by dining in separate facilities.
@LizzieSue Both are wonderful schools, and your daughter can’t go wrong with either. But for what it’s worth, my sporty (though not a recruited athlete) extroverted daughter preferred Amherst over both Bowdoin and Williams though in the end decided to go to a larger school. She was very familiar with Williams as a legacy there and did weekend overnights (pre-pandemic) at Bowdoin and Amherst.
She said the single large dining hall at Amherst helped with a strong sense of community she found among the Amherst students. She said the students would often congregate and spend hours hanging out/studying in Valentine dining hall or “Val sitting” as the students called the practice. She liked being able to run into everyone on campus at meal time. However, she thought Bowdoin’s food quality was a cut above for college food. She liked the idea of the 5 College Consortium at Amherst. She took a free bus to visit a friend at Smith and they biked around Northampton which she thought was a cool college town as well w/tons of shops, restaurants and music venues. She definitely thought that the larger community of 30,000+ students in the area around Amherst was a nice feature. She found the Amherst area much more lively and energetic than Brunswick and certainly Williamstown. As a STEM student, she was gobsmacked by Amherst’s new Science Center though it was still a work in progress when she visited. After her visits, she decided not to apply to Bowdoin since she just “didn’t feel the vibe” there and didn’t appreciate the esthetics of the Bowdoin campus as much (especially the 1970s era high rise dorm on campus).
@Publisher UChicago but was waffling between Amherst, Williams and Chicago until after the admitted student days. She knew that we were rooting for her to choose Williams for selfish reasons, but we let her know that it was completely her decision. UChicago was the right decision for her and she’s loved her 3 years there even through the pandemic though she likely would have loved her experience at any of the schools. Hopefully the OP had or will have an opportunity to visit Bowdoin and Amherst before her D has to commit to ED.
Both are wonderful schools! Congrats to your daughter! I am of course biased, but I will happily share my perspective.
I have similar interests as your daughter (public policy/political science, among others). Although I was accepted to Amherst and WLed at Bowdoin during the RD round (I am most certainly not an athlete haha) this most recent year, I firmly believe I would have chosen Amherst over Bowdoin if given the choice.
Not that this should be a big factor by any means, but Amherst, generally speaking, has a slightly stronger reputation as a liberal arts college, often considered to vie with Williams for the #1 slot in the country. Bowdoin tends to trail very slightly behind the WASP schools, but only barely. The different is so minimal that this point is hardly worth mentioning, but may be something to consider if your D is considering grad school.
Amherst beats Bowdoin in every aspect of diversity. First of all, Amherst is one of 5 schools in the country (along with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT) that are need blind to ALL applicants, which enriches the school’s socioeconomic and international diversity more significantly than Bowdoin. Furthermore, while over half of Amherst’s domestic class of 2025 are of color, 40% comprise of Bowdoin’s.
Along similar lines of financial aid, something that made me fall way less in love with Bowdoin was their notable spending on amenities, detracting from their financial aid (this is a chief reason as to why Bowdoin’s food is notably good). Here’s a link to the famous podcast: Food Fight | Revisionist History
Amherst has the 5-college consortium, which offers numerous academic and social opportunities beyond Amherst’s intimate scene, whereas Bowdoin does not boast a comparable network.
If your D is considering law school (as I am), when looking at top law feeder schools adjusted for undergraduate enrollment, Amherst ranks #3 (behind only Yale and Princeton), while Bowdoin ranks #25. Top Feeders to Law School
I personally liked the college and town vibes better at Amherst. Maybe it was due to the diversity there, and I am an LGBTQ+ person from heteronormative Maine, but the ambience felt more inviting. Ofc, this is highly subjective to the individual!
There are also numerous reasons to choose Bowdoin over Amherst as well! Food, more relaxed vibes, and beautiful Maine environment come to mind especially! But for me, Amherst would be the easy choice. Best of luck to your daughter, she can’t go wrong!
Congrats- 2 fabulous choices and your D will have a fantastic experience at either!
Worth noting that in addition to political science, Amherst has a Law, Jurisprudence & Social Thought major which is a quite strong and popular department.
As for athletics - something small to consider may be the travel time. Amherst is more centrally located in the NESCAC league so that can mean less travel time and overnights for games. Both schools are academically demanding and it’s a bit of a juggle with work and sports, so that could be a minor point to consider.