<p>I know that I am not roommates with dor solely on the fact that I live solo. Why is it so important for you to figure out who I am. If you want to me about what I write fine? Send me a private message. I have had enough experience at freshman parties at places such as Moore, Coleman, Maine, and Winthrop. I know what I am talking about. I am not speaking for the whole community, but I do feel as if my statement do represent more than a few disgruntled students.</p>
<p>What about other departments and graduate placement? Does Midd send more kids to B-school while Bowdoin sends more to med school? I'm choosing between the two and i need to decide REALLY soon so any info or insight into academics, life after, social life would be great.</p>
<p>yeah pre-med is the way to go at bowdoin. i've never heard of b-school from middlebury? middlebury has lots of economics and more people go to middlebury if they just want a 4 year college education and not looking for stuff after</p>
<p>Pre-med (and the sciences in general) is Bowdoin's longstanding strength. (Little known fact: Bowdoin actually used to have its own med school (a very long time ago).) Middlebury's strength is in languages.</p>
<p>and most of that is from middleburys SUMMER language programs..they train CIA agents there. clearly that carries over to the college itself too..</p>
<p>This thread is degenerating into trollery. Anyone can can into anywhere the h*ll they want from either Middlebury or Bowdoin. Just pick one, already.</p>
<p>Everyone needs to take a step back and just chill. Allison, in regards to your comment, you yourself state that you're a white girl so how would you know what the minority opinion is? Do not pretend that you know what the common beliefs here are...you don't. For every person you find here who shares your sentiments, I will find two others who don't, so don't you dare try and represent the minority group. Let us get one thing straight, I am not roomates with hellojane, and I do know who he is (I do not know what gave you this idea). I merely express my own experiences here and clearly state that my opinion does not represent a whole, but Allison don't you dare try and belittle my opinions and try and represent yours as the greater one. I have had many conflicts here, some of which oliver can attest to, and some have been resolved. Everyone needs to stop flaming one another and just accept one another's opinions. Allison, why don't you try talking to me personally instead of outwardly shooting me down so that I can fill you in on what its like being a minority here.</p>
<p>Just a quick throw in for Colby.</p>
<p>Beginning this summer, Colby will have the largest Nuclear Magnetic Resonance machine in the NESCAC (tied with Wesleyan and Williams). The science programs here afford Colby's students great access to some of the most cutting edge research in chemistry, Biology, and Physics. For Bio, in particular, special facilities include the Perkins Arboretum, the Colby-Marston Bog, an ABI Prism DNA genetic analyzer, a scanning and transmission electron microscope suite, a Becton-Dickinson FACSCalibur flow cytometer, several laboratory microcomputer clusters, a well-equipped GIS laboratory, a radioisotope laboratory, a cell culture facility, two greenhouses, an herbarium, numerous environmental chambers, and animal and aquarium rooms. The Professors are fantastic, affable, and highly accessible. The students are friendly, outgoing, and always willing to help/study together/ go the extra mile to make something worth while. I'm a Bio major with a concentration in env. science and a minor in chem, and I am more than satisfied with our science departments and my decision to enroll here. We send many kids to top research labs and grad schools every year, not to mention top med, dental, and vet schools.</p>
<p>We have many science labs, a great science library, and a new Chemistry building on the way. Moreover, the science department professors here are highly credentialed with ample research and real-world experience:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.colby.edu/physics/facstaff.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.colby.edu/physics/facstaff.html</a></p>
<p>I know there are many, many other factors that must go into this type of decision, but I just thought I'd mention that Colby, for it's academics, anyways, shouldn't be entirely written off just because of it's slightly less than Midd and Bowdoin reputation and/or U.S. News rank. And, although I never had to choose between Midd and Bowdoin, I have friends who've chosen Colby over Bowdoin, Swartmore, Vassar, etc.</p>
<p>Anyhue, best of luck, and I hope you end up at the school that's best for you =).</p>
<p>dor, when did i shoot you down? please point it out. i've been doing my best to 1) stay out of this, and 2) be very civil/polite when i do join in the conversation.</p>
<p>and as far as "the minority opinion" goes, i didn't realize that there was just one! both of my roommates and many of my closest friends here at bowdoin are "minority students," dor, and it's not like we don't talk about controversial events on campus (... like the one right before spring break), or about how they (and i) feel about bowdoin in general. i only have one "minority friend" (the fact that i have to identify her as such is so ridiculous. this entire thread has gotten ridiculous.) whose feelings come even close to yours or hellojane's, and she is nowhere near as negative as you two are - she has her issues with the school, and thinks she would have been happier elsewhere, but she still finds ways to have fun, and she really values the education she's gotten here.</p>
<p>i'm sorry your experience has been bad here, dor, but i think you're trying just as hard to represent <em>your</em> opinions/experiences as the so-called "greater" ones - or at least more prevalent than they actually are. but all i can speak from is my own experience - perhaps i am in the minority and most bowdoin students actually hate bowdoin and just don't tell anyone.</p>
<p>Oops, I forgot to add a few more quick links to some lists/info of/about research opportunities at Colby:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.colby.edu/physics/research.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.colby.edu/physics/research.html</a></p>
<p>**(The professors are always itching to sign lab assistants, co-authors, and even first-author researchers onto their research team)</p>
<p>It should also be be noted that JanPlan is a great way to get some lab experience-- I have some friends who are now doing some serious research who got there start with a JanPlan research internship at the college.</p>
<p>haha, johnwesley, you're just annoyed because wesleyan isn't involved in this decision. ;-)</p>
<p>but seriously, this thread has gotten severely off-topic. and johnwesley is right - both are great schools, and you'll (<em>probably</em>) be just as happy at one as you would be at the other.</p>
<p>And to quote allison:
"billsh1 - oliver did not say that they shouldn't be heard. he was answering the question about whether their sentiments are common on the bowdoin campus (answer: no)."</p>
<p>How do you know these sentiments are not shared amongst students on campus? Why don't you try talking directly to the person targeted about the controversial event before spring break instead of your friends about it? You'll learn a lot more about it, surely a lot more than you did from your friends. I know her personally, and don't pretend like you can relate to her for an instant just because you have casual chats about it with your friends. If you have a problem with me, feel free to talk to me about it, but do not feel like you know me or know at all what any of us really go through.</p>
<p>First of all, that's not "shooting you down" by my definition, but I'm sorry if you felt that way. The post was intended as clarification of what Oliver was responding to and what his answer was, as Billsh1 seemed to be misunderstanding Oliver's original post.</p>
<p>As to the rest...:
"... don't pretend like you can relate to her for an instant just because you have casual chats about it with your friends. If you have a problem with me, feel free to talk to me about it, but do not feel like you know me or know at all what any of us really go through."</p>
<p>I echo this back to you. I <em>also</em> know her (... or "them," really), for one thing - but, more importantly, you do not know me, my friends, what "any of us really go through," what I have and haven't "learned about" the event in question, or the nature of our so-called "chats." You seem to get very upset when people make assumptions about you/"minorities at Bowdoin"/etc., but you are doing the exact same thing, whether you realize it or not. (PS - I don't have a problem with you. As you have pointed out several times, I don't even KNOW you!)</p>
<p>With that said, I am going to pull back out of this thread, because I don't think either of us are currently being particularly helpful to prospective students. I've stated my thoughts on the subject (Bowdoin/Midd/Colby) several times in this and other threads, and that's really all that I have to contribute on the subject.</p>
<p>Maybe we are being helpful. It seems that there is more than mere bashing to this thread. There is a debate that normally does not occur at Bowdoin, and maybe anonymity is the key to talk about issues that no one wants to talk about being here. Most of the frustration here is that that persons such as dor and me have experienced issues here that the administration does not want to deal with. Its not about bashing Bowdoin its about getting a message across, and the system does not work in the best interest of minorities.
Many times I feel that we are here to give this place some color despite the quality of the experience. If this place wants change, it wants students to work with the system to ensure that change, but the system is broken, and some needs to fix it.</p>
<p>bowdoin has a great system which works amazingly well in the interest of minorities. erby and elmor are minorities and they work in the admissions office? bowdoins diversity goes up each year? i was just at bowdoins experience weekend..there is tons of diversity</p>
<p>are you seriously still crying about how noone likes you? because now it's getting old for everyone. if you want to be emo go write in your journal about how "the administration" doesn't care about the minorities..lolol</p>
<p>If the minority issues at bowdoin are something you are passionate about, which you well should be, maybe it's not time for "SOMEONE to fix it," but time for YOU to initiate a change. Trust me, that's how you get things done, it's the only way-- take a look at history. Even if you don't see immediate results, if you have genuine propositions and you articulate them with care, you will set it off on the right foot.</p>
<p>and the negative, attacking posts on this thread are kinda ridiculous. I'm not going to bowdoin, i've decided to go elsewhere, but i hope when you get to bowdoin, silly boy, you'll be inspired to soften up a bit and learn how to deal with difficult people. After all, people at bowdoin (and seemingly all other similar schools) are "soooo nice." Yeah, well, maybe they just seem that way, I don't know, this thread has confused me and redirected my plans away from Brunswick and toward Hanover.</p>
<p>aloutak, best of luck at dartmouth.</p>
<p>I began this thread by asking a simple question that I hoped would help me make a decision about where to matriculate. Unfortunately, rather than assist me, people like hellojane and dor turned it into a forum espousing their unhappiness with the people at Bowdoin. I checked and hellojane has left almost 40 messages telling us how miserable she is. Now aloutak tells us this whole convoluted chat has convinced him or her that Dartmouth is the better school. I can't believe one would make a decision based on two unhappy girls who seem to hide in their rooms living in misery while they try to convince students not to attend their school. </p>
<p>I may still not know where to go, but I do know that unless these women get out and try to change their lives, they will be unhappy for a very long time. There are 1,700 or so students at Bowdoin. While the school is small, it is certainly big enough for them to find friends if they make some kind of effort. If they don't they could be destined to be unhappy for the rest of their lives. On the other hand, anyone who makes a college decision based on two points of view out of 1700, is not exercising very good decision making either.</p>
<p>touche Nukesm</p>
<p>Just to clarify, Nukezm, I didn't make my decision about Bowdoin only on what I've read on CC. It was a very small part of decision. Dartmouth was better for me.</p>