I’m looking into Law School for the future but also the community and connections aspect is very important to me. Both colleges offer the same aid.
It really all depends on fit. Both schools will offer outstanding resources, alumni and professional connections, and name recognition. Both will set you up for law school equally well. Both offer access to beautiful natural settings, and both have similar weather. Are there particular programs or opportunities that you find attractive at one school or the other? If so, that might be the difference. The most obvious difference is small college v. large university. Where would you be most comfortable? Community ties will probably be stronger at Bowdoin, based on its size. You’ll work more closely with your professors and fellow students, and you’ll likely have more chances to do research with faculty if you are interested. Cornell might offer a wider variety of majors (but how many really interest you?) and bigger departments. So it depends on what you think you will value most in your college experience.
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This is a nice choice! As far as law school admissions is concerned, it’s a wash. Either college would set you up nicely for law school as long as you have a solid GPA and an excellent LSAT score.
It will come down to personal preference. Do you prefer a very large, hilly campus on 2,000 acres, with about 16,000 undergradutes and lots of grad students on campus? Or do you prefer a college with less than 2,000 undergraduates on a 200 acre campus and no graduate students? They are both BEAUTIFUL campuses. Will they cost the same for you?
Also, which college at Cornell were you admitted to?
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You’ll get a great education at either. As everyone has said, the experience of a big school is different from the experience of a small one.
Definitely try mapping out four years of coursework as both to see how meaningful the difference is.
The Cornell graduates I know – and except for engineering, they aren’t really recent – felt Cornell was very competitive/grind-y. It didn’t keep them from being successful, but the “easiest Ivy to get into, hardest to graduate from” trope seemed real for them. Bowdoin kids work hard but seem to value balance and see workload as less a point of pride. With that said, if you feel like you don’t fit in there and would be working hard to find your tribe, it’s a smaller pool. This can be a challenge for students seeking a particular affinity group. Take this all with a grain of salt because I don’t know hundreds of kids at each - or you! Personally, I love the LAC experience for undergraduates.
Are you going to admitted student events? My hunch is that your choice might immediately become clear. But also know that you have awesome options, so you can’t make a bad choice.
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You might be thinking that these are good, “objective”, reasons to choose one of these places over the other- and if so, you are wrong. As all the previous posters have pointed out, neither is “better” than the other in “objective” terms.
And, as everybody else has indicated, the main difference will be how the place suits you- which means you have to step back and think about how you felt in each place when you visited. If for some reason you can’t/didn’t visit, then go find student videos about things that you are interested in- activities, classes, etc- and see if you can get a sense of whether one school or the other suits you better.
ps, you will have no trouble getting research opps at Cornell v Bowdoin.
Take Law School out - doesn’t matter if it’s Cornell or Colorado, Bowdoin or Boise State - both will send people to Ivy Law Schools - your GPA and LSAT will matter plus what you do on campus.
These are fantastic and equivalent. Bowdoin (in my opinion) is a bit closer to society than Cornell (which has beautiful Ithaca) - which is enough of a town (you don’t really need more).
Cornell is much larger a university and again, IMHO, a much nicer campus - but what’s your opinion? Cornell will also have more expansive majors - but not sure what your studies will be in.
Both are in gorgeous parts of the country and both will offer you academics at a top notch level.
It may be you end up loving both - can excel at both - and that there is no wrong choice.
Best of luck.
Your success post college graduation (with law school or anything else) will be MUCH more dependent on what you accomplish at college than which one of these outstanding colleges you choose to attend.
Given that they are priced about the same it seems to me that there are enough differences between a LAC and a large university that one should stand out to you as the better fit.
Congrats on two fantastic acceptances.
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For Cornell I got into ILR! It’s a very niche major so that also factors in decision 
I’m incredibly grateful that both institutions covered my full need so finances aren’t a factor anymore
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Thank you for your intake! I think the main issue is that I haven’t been able to visit any of the institutions nor will I be able to attend admitted student events since I’m an international student so I’m pretty much blind deciding
We’ll think about super small - 1900 vs 22000 (undergrad and grad).
Is 1900 big enough ? Or too small ?
OK, so that adds another element. Look at the ILR curriculum. Make a spreadsheet of all the classes you would be required to take as an ILR student. You’d be learning a lot about U.S. labor – labor law, labor history, workplace issues, labor economics, etc. Did you select ILR because of a specific interest in that area of study? Look at the course descriptions. If you select Cornell ILR, make sure this is of interest to you.
ILR is a very small college within the very large Cornell University, which is an advantage for making friends.
At Bowdoin you’d be following the traditional liberal arts course of study. Again, look at the requirements and the course descriptions.
https://www.bowdoin.edu/academics/the-bowdoin-curriculum/index.html
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This is a key point. If this ILR is the field you’re committed to, Bowdoin can’t offer the same. But if you want to explore a bit and are uncertain about what you want to study, Bowdoin will offer you the freedom to do that in a wayILR cannot.
This is really about two very different courses of study. Either can get you to law school. It will be easier to excel in the one that genuinely speaks to your heart.
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I think these schools are equals academically, but here we have the classic “U vs. LAC” comparison.
- Cornell offers more majors and courses from which to choose (just don’t try switching to a Dyson major)
- Cornell is larger
- Cornell will have larger survey-level classes (100 and maybe 200-level courses), but once you get into your major, or upper-level electives, you’ll be in mainly small classes. U’s “catch up” to LACs in that manner.
- Personal attention from, and interaction with, profs will likely be a bit easier at Bowdoin
Those are the usual LAC/U differences, and they are at play here.
Now, more specific differences:
- The towns: Ithaca vs. Brunswick
- Curricular differences/majors
- Campus vibe/sports/social
Both are great. Choose according to preferences, and you’ll choose correctly.
Her major is ILR.
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Right, then OP should compare that track to what they could do at Bowdoin. This can help OP establish academic fit.
Did you perhaps mean different here?
Yes, typo corrected.
And it’s not clear thay the OP will have all the options from their program that Cornell as a whole offers.
While large schools offer much more, many courses are accessible only to students in certain schools and majors. LACs tend to be more “open” in that regard.
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ILR is not particularly advantageous in admissions to US law schools-- so if that’s part of your thinking, disabuse yourself of that. People go to law school in the US after studying philosophy, music, history, math, literature… so undergraduate courses that have a legal component will not help you get admitted. If your plan is to attend back in your own country- that of course is a different story and I defer to you as to whether ILR is the right course of study.
Nobody is “pre-law” in the US. There are zero required courses to apply to law school-- you take the LSAT’s and most people who do well have zero legal knowledge.
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There is no pre-law. If there is a pre-law, ignore it.
Major in whatever you like so that you’ll do well, because your grades are what matter. That’s admissions.
As for doing well in law school, I’ve seen a lot of different people pull it off. Just make sure you’re ready to manage a heavy reading load and that you can write clearly and efficiently. This isn’t creative writing, but whatever you can do to sharpen your ability to respond to a question with a well organized and thought-out written response will be helpful.
If there is grade deflation at one of these, go to the other one. Your grades (and test score) will matter most. If there is a tie-breaker in admissions based on where you went to school, recognize that you’re not comparing Chico State and Princeton. These will both pull equally well with an admissions person who, unlike the average boob on the street, will be well acquainted with Bowdoin.
OTOH, plan for changing your mind. While probably not as common as the med school switch, a lot of people think they want to go to law school and then change course. I’m a lawyer myself, and I’ll pass along some advice from the bar given to me when I was starting out: are you sure there isn’t anything else you’d rather do?
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That truly is part of what I fear. If I, instead of staying in the US, decide to come back to my home country, I am well aware that employers hold Cornell in a significantly highest regard that LACs. While I know that in the US, those who matter (eg. employers and grad schools) know about Bowdoin, I am afraid that if I decide to take a different path than Law School and return back home I will somehow feel disadvantaged from this choice. My hometown is a place that really emphasized the prestige of undergrad degrees.