Give two schools and you can find a rank to suit your needs.
Niche rates Bowdoin the #2 LAC and Williams 15. Yes, the #15 LAC. It’s all about methodology.
In the end you - not alumni and not anything else - will make your success and that’s no different than if you went to name your state flagship.
Do some schools have connections, etc that you can use for networking? Yes…both of these would as would your solid public…ie a UMASS. What are you going to do with it? They are not going to do it for you.
Not sure why you would be forced to take a gap year but unless you have plans to do something impactful with it, this is a no brainer.
You are talking about losing one year of future income (including 401k match, future social security payment, etc). You are also risking faltering academically from the layoff which then could hurt grad school prospects. What won’t hurt your grad school prospects is choosing one of these schools over the other.
If your choices were Williams vs a less ranked LAC such as Union or Trinity, the answer would be the same btw.
The info you are gleaning is from publications that are trying to make money.
Both schools are of top regard. You’re creating a narrative that in reality doesn’t exist.
I think the term “academics” for me encompasses the Graduation and retention rates (22%), Graduation rate performance (8%), Undergraduate academic reputation (20%), Faculty resources (20%), Student selectivity (7%) and all these add to 77%. With Williams #1 and Bowdoin #6 is where the dilemma for a gap year comes in. As I said, academics is one component in my decision making. Thank you for sharing the info.
They are a witches brew of overly analyzed data and self-fulfilling prophecy with Williams possibly benefitting as an early tent-pole from which a lot of the modeling flowed (i.e., every entrant is judged by its similarity to Williams.) I would be loathe to base a life-changing decision on any one of them much less all of them mashed together.
I agree with the others about rankings. They generally are meaningless.
But they do matter to certain sorts of people. Especially those in the finance world. If you have any inclination towards a career in high finance (IB/consulting/ER etc) then a Williams degree will be better than Bowdoin.
If not then it doesn’t really matter where you go.
Well put, It’s up to the student to get out of any school what ever s/he applies to. So I agree. And maybe when I look back to this discussion 5-10 yrs from now I will laugh. But now I am in the trenches and need to make a decision, the best decision given hard and soft data and the given conditions (gap year).
No issue with Standford v Princeton but maybe some issue with Harvard (#1) v Cornell (#6) if we focus on Ivies only, since Bowdoin (#6) and Williams (#1) are in LAC category only. I get it where this goes, so no need to overanalyze it anymore. Thanks!
I am thinking Law, so maybe Law School admission (and later Law firms) are these kind of rankings people? Again, assuming everything being equal (same degree, same grades, etc for Bowdoin and Williams).
For Law, prestige is also a factor. But its from the Law school that you graduate from, not the undergrad. Also if you place in Law Review that also matters a lot. If this is the case, then Bowdoin is the easy choice.
You are over-indexing on margin of error in the ranking. You should be thinking of it more like at least +/- 10 ranking positions, not an absolute scale.
Also, not true that no ranking favors B over W. I would post a link but this site blocks it.
Out of 6 rankings I have seen, only 1 puts Bowdoin higher than Williams. And even with +/- 10 positions error because that error applies to both schools I expect that on average W comes always on top. Again, this is more academic discussion now
Nope. There is no law school that would give even a miniscule tiny particulate iota of an advantage to a graduate of Williams versus a graduate of Bowdoin.
While this is a very personal decision I will share that my kid was confronted with a very similar situation 4 years ago. He was very introspective about how he would feel about a lifetime of wondering “what if”. He juxtaposed that against setting aside “name” what did the school offer specific to his goals and how would the time on either side be used. He reached out directly to professors and alum to explore and understand what was the better option.
Ultimately he couldn’t justify waiting a year to start on what was a journey that was fairly well defined in his mind. Here we are 4 years later and he is thrilled to be out in the real world particularly given the disruptions of the pandemic. It worked for him.
I asked him over graduation if he regretted the decision or felt compelled to name drop the road not taken. He indicated he was way to proud of what he has done to waste time bragging about what he hadn’t or could have done.
So my advice is look into both the practical side of things (academics, sports, etc) and consider if you personally will have second thoughts (for some it may matter no shame). Both of your choices are outstanding options so congratulations and all the best!
No one, repeat, no one in your future will care that you went to a school 5 numbers lower in a ranking. No one puts that much emphasis on rankings. These are peer schools. For law school purposes they are equals.
I would take a look at who attends Harvard Law, Yale Law. It’s on their webpgages.
South Dakota State. Boise State. UNC Wilimington. And many many many other schools like that.
Will there be more Ivys and Bowdoins and Williams then those schools - yep. That’s because those schools attracted kids like you to begin with, students with top academic records and test scores whereas SD State or Boise State didn’t. So they have “higher” achieving kids to begin with and just like for undergrad, they excelled at the grad school admission level.
But is the person at SD State disadvantaged if they bring the same record as the Williams kid? Likely not and in fact might have a better chance due to diversity.
The point here is - where you go undergrad will have little impact where you go to law school. The kid at Boise State with a higher GPA and higher LSAT is getting into the top law school ahead of the Harvard grad with a lesser record and a lesser LSAT.
btw - today, many students at top law schools now work b4 heading back. Like business school, it’s becoming more and more common.
You keep bringing up that while you get people are saying it doesn’t matter, in your mind it still does.
I am not you so I cannot change your mind.
But as I mentioned earlier, you give up far more by taking a gap year unless you have something awesome planned during that gap year that will change your life - and I make that statement if you’re looking at the #50 LAC vs. Williams.
As I mentioned up thread there is the practical side.
Lots of experienced people here telling you that in terms of outcomes and graduate school there would not be a discernible difference. Similar resources and academic environment, etc.
Only you can predict what athletic experience differences might be. That should certainly be taken into account and considered against the possibility of what happens if injured. I know several kids whose plans were disrupted by injury and disappoints to have made decisions based on an unrealized narrative.
Lastly it comes down to your own way of thinking. Some will tell you to ignore it or that it is the least important. So far you stroke me as someone that may always wonder what if or geeked to spontaneously utter “I also got into williams” as a way of validating yourself. This isn’t a criticism just a consideration. If you will forever wonder (regardless of whether it really matters) don’t underestimate the importance of following your own predisposition. These are adult decisions so don’t allow yourself to be persuaded.
Once again my kid decided to pass on incremental prestige out of a fear of loosing time. It worked for him. Others may find themselves dwelling on it. Only you know what’s right for you.
but maybe some issue with Harvard (