<p>Here's a piece of corny, but good advice: Go with what your heart says. Your head may make sense, but ultimately, your heart knows where you will be happiest the next four years. And if it doesn't know just yet, it will, after a visit to both campuses.</p>
<p>^^^^ well said</p>
<p>As someone who visited all the NESCAC schools during my college search, and stayed overnight at both Bowdoin and Middlebury, among others, I will tell you that I liked Bowdoin the best of all of them! The Middlebury campus is very spread out. People said that, in winter, it could be a long, cold, uphill walk to where you're going. I know that on one of the rainy days I was there, I found all the gray (sky, vistas, and buildings) a bit depressing. It was also quite a hike to town from the dorm, and LONG ride to Burlington -- 45 minutes with lots of traffic lights. </p>
<p>Bowdoin had what I thought was the best layout of all the NESCACs... great, centrally-located dorms, walk to Brunswick's cute downtown in about two minutes, or take a quick drive to Portland, whose waterfront shopping district reminds me of Montreal, but doesn't need a passport. (Pretty soon Montreal will, which will cut down on quickie trips over the border!) Freeport (!) is even closer for shoppers, like 15 minutes. I'll happily have the slopes a little further away in order to have everything on campus so convenient. Plus, my favorite, you can see the ocean from the tallest building on campus, and some kids live in oceanfront homes! And Boston, where so many of my friends are going to school, is a bus or train ride away! A big surprise to me was that the weather is also noticeably warmer on the average at Bowdoin than inland!</p>
<p>The dorms also were nicer at Bowdoin than Midd, especially for first-years, and the living arrangements aren't so restrictive (Midd has a commons system which kind of locks you in, for better or worse.) </p>
<p>As for arts, Bowdoin's refurbished arts museum, a campus landmark, will reopen in October. And who can beat the whole Longfellow/Hawthorne legacy? I do agree that Midd is more "crunchy" -- AND it served LOTS of Ben & Jerrys! </p>
<p>I'm not bashing Midd, because it was my second choice among the NESCACs. It's a great school! Once I saw Bowdoin, though, that was it for me, which was amazing because I didn't expect to like it so much! (Actually, I just visited it so I could tick it off the list!) But those things I listed above were just the things that mattered to me -- you should spend time at both and see which one "speaks" to you! I could just "see myself" - those corny words that everyone talks about - at Bowdoin!</p>
<p>Never mind about reputation; it's which one feels right for you! Good luck! :]</p>
<p>yeah middlebury's campus is REALLLY which i like but it's not more "spacious" than bowdoin, it's just got lots of annoying roads and stuff and in the winter it does get tough to move around</p>
<p>"yeah middlebury's campus is REALLLY <em>spread out</em>"</p>
<p>correction</p>
<p>I also got accepted to both and right now i'm torn between majoring in economics (then getting my MBA) or med school. Which of the two awesome colleges is better in econ? sciences? are there differing acceptance rates into grad school?</p>
<p>..they're both really good..</p>
<p>the whole point of a "liberal arts" school is so you can "find yourself" and hopefully your major AT college. Don't worry about that now. But bowdoin is definately better at sciences and middlebury at foriegn languages but middlebury and bowdoin both have unbelievably strong economics</p>
<p>aabar, if you're thinking premed, Bowdoin's probably the place for you. It's very strong in biology and the sciences and does a really good job with med school placements. .</p>
<p>i'm also interested in how the two compare for economics...and how they compare to other nescac schools for econ.</p>
<p>a student from my high school is at Midd as an Econ major right now. my scholars bowl coach is the Econ AP teacher and she seemed to think it was a good program.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your fine choices. Years ago, I was accepted early write to Bowdoin and RD to Middlebury. After visiting both schools twice, I followed my heart and went to Middlebury. I've never regretted this decision. I think that Middlebury has opened many doors for me. I'm sure Bowdoin would have as well.</p>
<p>As mentioned earlier, there has been Midd/Bowdoin cross admit data floating around for years. While the decision that others have made shouldn't really influence your personal decision, I was astounded to learn that more than 75% of students who were accepted to both Middlebury and Bowdoin ultimately chose to enroll at Middlebury.</p>
<p>There have been numerous threads comparing Middlebury and Bowdion. I'll look for some and post a link.</p>
<p>i really doubt that..I think that has just been a stat someone has made up. I go to Middlebury High School and Middlebury College accepted 3 people this year from our school...and in the past years they've always accepted around 4 students.</p>
<p>Bowdoin hasn't accepted anyone from our school in 6 years..I was the first and only this year. And they rejected everyone who got in to middlebury (including our valedictorian).</p>
<p>I found the stats in an old thread. The cross admit data is from fall 2000. There were 164 cross admits to Middlebury and Bowdoin that year. 50 went to Middlebury, 15 went to Bowdoin, and the rest went elsewhere. So 77% of cross admits in fall 2000 chose Midd over Bowdoin.</p>
<p>In PR's college guide, under Midd's entry, Bowdoin is listed as a school that cross admits "rarely prefer." Under Bowdoin's entry, Middlebury is listed as a school that cross admits "sometimes prefer." </p>
<p>And you know that Middlebury gives preferential treatment to local kids, right? They try to keep the percentage of Vermonters at around 5%.</p>
<p>But as I said earlier, where other people decided to go shouldn't influence your personal decision.</p>
<p>I don't know where someone got the idea that Bowdoin has a higher yield than Middlebury, But midd's yield has surpassed Bowdoin's every year since at least 1995. Can't find the statistics right now, but I am telling the truth. </p>
<p>Thats not really a reason to pick a school, however, nor is cross admit data.</p>
<p>And in all fairness, Middlebury has just as many athletes as Bowdoin. Because about 900 more students attend Middlebury, however, varsity athletes occupy a much smaller percentage of the student body, which leaves room for a larger artistic culture (athletics and the arts aren't mutually exclusive, but most varsity athletes wouldn't have time to participate a full-scale theater production.) I know nothing about Bowdoin's academic arts departments, but their extracurricular offering in music and theater seem seem limited due to its small size. Bowdoin is one of only two NECSCAC schools without a student orchestra (at more than 85 members, Midd's is one of the largest among small liberal arts colleges nationwide), for example. </p>
<p>And of course more kids from your high school will be accepted to middlebury, Cilyboi, you live right near the school. Vermonters get application tags from the admissions office</p>
<p>That said, Aloutak, you gut seems to say Bowdoin. I'd just do an overnight at both schools before you make the final decision.</p>
<p>Here are the links to Bowdoin and MIdd 's admission stats for past decade (each school offers an easy to read one page table with admission/yield etc.)
Even so, it is difficult to make a head to head comparison since Midd admits a fair number of students for Feb. enrollment. Just comparing Sept admission, Bowdoin's admission rate is slightly more competitive and Midd's yield is slightly higher. Here are the sites so folks can draw their own conclusions. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/administration/instres/factbooks/factbook2006/%5B/url%5D">http://www.middlebury.edu/administration/instres/factbooks/factbook2006/</a> for Midd click on the admission option under Academic Calendar</p>
<p>Thanks for all the information. Haha, I like you guys gave me all this information and then at the bottom of your post say, "Oh, btw, you shouldn't consider what I just posted in making your decision." I really don't see much of a difference in the acceptance rates/yields, there're virtually identical. I'd consider those minute differences. But, after a big application material mess (they pretty much lost my application), I just found I got into Dartmouth too. Right now, I think I'll go to Bowdoin. I just really like it. Although Midd. and Dartmouth gave me better finaid packages, but Dartmouth not by much. Thanks again! anymore thoughts?</p>
<p>Things like relative yield rate or selectivity or selective and skewed data about "cross admits" should have nothing to do with your decision as to which college to go to. These are just micro pieces of data - both schools have become ridiculously competitive and these tiny distinctions have no real meaning in pratical terms. Which school is preferable will depend in the end on subjective factors that are unique to each individual unless your focus is languages or sciences in which case Middlebury would have the edge in one area (languages) and Bowdoin in the other (sciences). </p>
<p>Some find the Middlebury campus isolated, too spread out, depressing, and too architectrally homegenous (too much granite). Others find the campus to be incredibly beautiful, with the hills and surrounding mountains. Some find the Bowdoin campus too compact and cluttered and the architecture too diverse. Others find the Bowdoin campus to have a perfect quad with a wonderful balance of buildings from various architectural periods surrounding that quad. My point is that these reactions are highly subjective and which school you will like will depend on your reaction to the environment as much as anything else.</p>
<p>right..but just to clarify. when you look at last years acceptance rates bowdoin was just a little behind midd. Like torasee said, no big difference. But this year, both schools have published their RD + ED acceptance rates, and bowdoin dropped to 18% while middlebury went to 23%.</p>
<p>Hmm..the yield thing is weird. If you do the calculations yourself with the total number accepted/number matriculated, you see that bowdoins is much higher. Try it out..the whole feb thing might throw it off. that factbook is pretty confusing. also, maybe the attended number includes those taken off wait-list. Anyways. i agree completely with what torasee said. </p>
<p>the cross-admit data was "in an old thread"..got a link to the page? there's made-up stats all over these forums.</p>
<p>Arcadia- thanks for the stale "stats" but similiar too many other posts- we all know that you in the admissions' office distorts the facts. Your heart should tell you what is right for you!!</p>