I agree with most of the above, but I am going to comment on the gap year, not the rankings issue. I think a gap year needs a really solid plan that shows a significant accomplishment. Future grad schools and employers will note the gap between HS and college, and their first thoughts might be along the lines of “drug rehab” or “mental breakdown” before they think “wonderful gap year”. It raises a big red flag unless you show that there was something you were passionate about doing during that time. Having that nailed down is much more important than the tiny difference in artificially created rankings. From everything written here, it sounds like Bowdoin is the better choice.
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I disagree with this. Most of the people I’ve known who have done a gap year have done it to work and make money to fund college. There was nothing wonderful or passionate about it and there were no big accomplishments other than getting work experience and growing the bank account. Of course that year of work does show on their resumes so there is no mystery about what they were doing.
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I don’t know any employer who thinks this way. I doubt grad schools do either. Why would any of them care what someone did before undergrad? They could have had a distinguished HS career or a rocky one. They could take a gap year or not. Once they go to college all that matters is their record from that point forward. And the idea of of well structured gap year with “significant accomplishments” is for the privileged. For most their accomplishment is making money to help pay for school.
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Making money to go to school is impactful so I don’t think @elf1 is incorrect although I know we all think he meant a svc project or similar, etc. . But helping to pay for college is impactful so working that year to raise funds would be seen as worthy.
But I’m assuming related to OP, money is not an issue so yes what is he going to do with the year ?? It’s a fair question. And I think OP would admit that at this point there is no plan.
And when you’re out of school for a year, what happens with your math, foreign language, or science knowledge, etc so there’s a risk there at a rigorous school of not being ready academically due to the long layoff.
IMO, work counts as an “accomplishment”.
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These are very good points, but to be fair, kids also take gap years to save money for college.
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If you would like to consider an alternative ranking to U.S. News, this site may be of interest:
Beyond viewing its rank, note that Williams places in the 99th percentile. However, this site cannot be used for a comparison to Bowdoin in that schools that were fully test optional at the time the underlying information was collected appear to have been omitted from consideration.
When one school is ranked #1 and the other is ranked #5 (or wherever Bowdoin is now in USNews) – just a handful of places between them – I think they can be considered to be of similar quality. In the university world, that would be like Princeton and UChicago or Stanford. Nobody would sneer if someone chose Stanford or UChicago over Princeton, unless it was for the wrong reasons. Likewise, nobody should do anything but congratulate you for choosing Williams or Bowdoin, again, as long as it is the option that better fits your goals and preferences.
If it were, you know, Bowdoin or Williams vs. the #300 LAC, and there was no huge difference in affordability or programs offered, then we might kind of shake our heads.
But these schools are of the same ilk, are always in every top-10 LAC ranking… so choosing based on tiny perceived differences in prestige I think would be nonsensical.
Since it seems the tutorial option isn’t exactly utilized to its fullest by most kids at Williams, maybe that difference fades. But if you want to do a Law/Government major, Bowdoin offers that. Williams offers a similar minor, but not a major. That could be a very meaningful difference.
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Given the level of aid that Williams provides (among the tops in the nation if not the top), taking a gap year to make money would be less plausible in this context. I am not disparaging the idea of earning money in a gap year in general.
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Quoting prezbucky (quote function not working for me):” But if you want to do a Law/Government major, Bowdoin offers that. Williams offers a similar minor, but not a major. That could be a very meaningful difference.”
I wouldn’t get too hung up on this though, unless there’s a faculty member at one that has teaching and research interests with particular appeal. (And it’s unlikely a student who is interested in history or government or chemistry has a deep enough knowledge of the field to determine that at this point). They both have robust political science departments organized around the four main subfields—American, IR, comparative, theory—and the ability to focus on issues that cut across these subfields. Bowdoin doesn’t call theirs a polsci department but that’s pretty much what it is.
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Have you ever heard someone who took voluntarily a gap year (i.e., not necessitated by financial or other reasons) and had a bad experience? To few students I talked to about the gap year, they loved it or they wish they had done one.
Yes I know several kids who either took a gap year, red shirted or took a PG year and were disappointed. Lots of reasons but things don’t always go as planned. Happy to provide specific examples if you would like.
Not suggesting a gap year can’t be a great experience but it requires some planning, initiative, absence of surprises and luck. This is particularly true for athletes.
Neither approach like most things in life are guaranteed.
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As long as the OP has access to similar courses, I suppose it wouldn’t matter.
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Even though you clearly don’t want a gap year, you continue to push on it.
Let me ask you this as it’s late in the game ? What do you plan to do if you take the gap year ?
You are three weeks from the start of school at Bowdoin. I assume you are enrolled.
When do you need to let Williams know by ?
If you are playing two sides against one another in the same ‘league’ this has the potential to blow up and get messy and lose both.
I can’t imagine you wouldn’t have had to confirm plans to both schools by now.
What am I missing ?
My understanding was that this student is entering their senior year of HS. They are deciding at which school they will accept an offer of coach support for the upcoming admission cycle.
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Ohhhhhh. I see
To the recruited families out there, is an offer of support at these schools as good as gold ?
Would a school honor it if it had a new coach ?
I just don’t see the upside of delay. Just me personally.
But I’m also not believing that coaches at this ilk of school can make admissions decisions. Help. But not assure. And if that’s the case what’s plan C?
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Thanks for your note. You are missing that I am a rising senior, which was 80+ messages above 
Athletic recruitment happens (at least in my sport) the summer before senior year, so you know where to apply ED.
Why would a coach ask you to take a gap year? Is the team full and they are planning for the future ?
Again, what if you apply, agree and the coach moves on ? I don’t know the answer. It’s why I’m asking …or what if you get injured. Would you keep the acceptance ?
So you don’t have an assured admission. But a good shot. That’s great.
Where else are you looking (non Ed). I assume you are not looking at just two schools for app purposes ?
If you do consider Williams, perhaps they’d have some resources to direct you toward a good use of your gap year time. In other words, maybe they can point you in the direction of a govt internship or something like that - you might ask.
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An offer of support is almost as good as gold. To get the coach’s support the Admission has done an academic pre-read first to evaluate if the recruit is admissable. Then the recruit needs to maintain grades and not get into any trouble. Still the essays and all other material has to be submitted and get evaluated at ED before a final “congrats” letter from Admissions in December.
Happens some what frequently. Think of a lacrosse team that already has successfully recruited goalies or FOGOs in successive years. Kids in these specialty positions want an opportunity to play (it’s div 3 so they play for love of game not $). If their position is “stocked” coaches and players have aligned interest in a delayed start.
For OP I am assuming they anticipate an acceptance from either school this next cycle but in the case of Williams would then request a gap year. Very little risk on the admission side. The risk relates to injury, change of coach, emergence of a competitor for the role on the team during the course of the gap year and of course the “lost time” if not utilized optimally.
I know several kids who were the heir apparent for such roles at Ivies whose plans were disrupted. In some cases they have combined gap years, cancelled years (Covid), and incremental eligibility (Covid) such that they are 24 year olds fighting for playing time only to see coaches develop younger players and in one case I know a kid who suffered a career ending knee injury during preseason having postponed graduation by 2 years. He got to watch his team loose in the NCAA finals from the field while his former classmates were in the stands having earned income and professional experience over the prior two years.
If OP takes a gap year he must hope the coach doesn’t recruit a better option. Some coaches will promise, some won’t, and things can change.
It happens.
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