This is the official thread for those applying ED to Bowdoin College.
List your unweighted GPA, any SAT /ACT scores, and ECs. What majors are you going into?
Ask your questions, the CC community is here to help!
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I have a strategy question: How are people deciding whether to submit scores to Bowdoin or not?
The prevailing wisdom for college admissions generally seems to be that one should submit scores if they fall between or above a school’s 25%-75% range. But, unlike most schools, Bowdoin’s CDS expressly publishes the test scores of all students, even if they applied test optional. So we don’t really know the score ranges of the admits who submitted their scores. Per last year’s CDS, Bowdoin’s ACT range was 31-33-35, which is probably a little lower than the score range of the Bowdoin admits who submitted scores.
I’m guessing that Bowdoin’s actual 25%-75% range for students submitting their ACT scores would be closer to 33-35 if the test-optional scores were omitted. My guess is based on the ranges of Bowdoin’s peers–e.g., Pomona (33-35), Swarthmore (32-35), Hamilton (33-34), Dartmouth (32-35), Cornell (33-35), Wesleyan (33-35). But I thought I’d tap into the collective wisdom of this forum.
Bowdoin appears to have made a transition to a required submission policy (for matriculation) for the fall of 2016. By comparing these figures to those of the prior year, it would be feasible to draw inferences about its current standardized scoring ranges at various stages of the process (SAT scores also included for greater context):
Fall 2016
SAT Middle Ranges, 54% submitting
CR: 650–750
Math: 640–760
Combined: 1290–1510
ACT Middle Range, 44% submitting
30–34
Fall 2015
SAT Middle Ranges, 42% submitting
CR: 680–765
Math: 685–770
Combined: 1365–1535
ACT Middle Range, 36% submitting
31–34
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This figure appears to represent all accepted applicants (i.e., it includes information for those who chose to attend college elsewhere). By CDS information, Wesleyan’s most recent middle range for attending students is 30.5–34.
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in a test optional world, wouldn’t one withhold test results unless they scored at/above the 75% line, or at the very least the 50% line?
since it’s superscored, and one can take it as many times as necessary to reach the line, money permitting, it would sound like a decent strategy.
This approach would place an applicant with, say, a 32 ACT score in the same apparent position (by this criterion) as an applicant with a score of, say, 30 (if both students applied TO). This wouldn’t seem to be propitious for the applicant with the higher score.
People get so caught up on the send/don’t send if the are on the bubble.
I certainly rather show a 1490 than let them wonder if I got a 1300. If you don’t get in with that score, I highly doubt you would get in TO.
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