Chance me for Bowdoin?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Bowdoin College
1

<p>Hi everyone, I’ve really become interested in Bowdoin and was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of what my chances of admission are :)</p>

<p>Some basic info: white male, upstate NY, public hs is regarded as one of the best in the region. I’m interested in studying either psychology or political science. Would strongly prefer an urban atmosphere or at least proximity to a large city but as you can see it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker.</p>

<p>GPA 3.9 UW (my school doesn’t weight GPA so I have no idea what it is weighted, 42 in a class of 321 - top 13%)
SAT 2080 (740 CR, 660 M, 680 W)
SAT II: USH 770, Lit 710, Math 1 670
33 ACT (35 English, 32 Math, 32 Reading, 31 Science)</p>

<p>APs:
World History 4
US History 5
English Language/Comp 5
English Lit/Comp (senior year)
Government (senior year)
Psychology (senior year)
Statistics (senior year)</p>

<p>ECs/volunteering/other stuff:
-Editor-in-Chief of student newspaper for two years, was Entertainment Editor as a sophomore and involved as a freshman. Won a national award for a piece I wrote this year
-Involvement in Student Government all four years, getting a higher level position next year too
-Mock Trial as a freshman and sophomore (disbanded but regional champions)
-Self-published a novel a couple years ago, have promoted it at local community events
-Key Club
-Scrabble club lol, also disbanded
-Play two instruments
-A few school-wide academic awards
-I work as a page at the public library
-member of Spanish Honor Society
-Link Crew
-Student mentor at high school summer program</p>

<p>Thanks so much for the help!</p>

2

<p>I think the 33 ACT is more impressive than the 2080 SAT. </p>

<p>I think Bowdoin would be a high match or match for you. You might get in, but you should apply to other schools.</p>

<p>LACs of similar quality include:</p>

<p>Pomona
Middlebury
Haverford
Carleton
Vassar
Grinnell
Reed
Hamilton
Colby
Bates</p>

<p>For more of a “match” selection, you might consider these:
Macalester
Kenyon
Oberlin
Trinity
Connecticut College
Lafayette</p>

<p>All of the above are quality LACs.</p>

3

<p>I never do these chance me threads because I don’t feel qualified enough to respond, but I am replying to disagree with the above poster. You do have good stats, but I don’t think Bowdoin can really be considered a high match and especially not a match. It’s quite selective, so I would think Bowdoin is still a (low) reach for you!</p>

4

<p>You’re a very competitive applicant and will probably get into many if not most of the schools you apply to, but Bowdoin is not a match for anyone. </p>

5

<p>If you are from upstate NY, you might want to consider Hamilton College as well. It is very strong in both Political Science and Psychology. If you have ever taken AP Psych, you might be happy to know BF Skinner himself was a graduate</p>

6

<p>I love Hamilton! I’m taking AP Psych next year and it seems, on paper, to be my ideal school - I love the open curriculum and the emphasis on writing. Seeing as they’re both top LACs, how would Bowdoin compare to it in terms of student body, campus environment, etc.?</p>

7

<p>I wouldnt discourage you from throwing your hat in the ring. I’m sure you know that there is absolutely nothing urban or large city-ish about Bowdoin…Portland and Freeport are there, but they are not exactly the go-to social spots for Bowdoin students. If you are leaning in any way towards the excitement and movement of a city Bowdoin probably isn’t for you.</p>

8

<p>Bowdoin and Hamilton are very similar, D loved both and applied to both ED, Bowdoin ED1 (deferred) and Hamilton ED2 (accepted). As it turns out, Hamilton is a slightly better fit for her, but she would have been happy at either, more so than any of the other NESCACs. Bowdoin does seem a bit more jock-oriented, Hamilton probably has the better science facilities due to the new construction, but you really can’t go wrong with either.</p>

9

<p>^Thanks for the info, I was aware they had a lot of cross-applicants but I didn’t know Bowdoin tends to be more sporty. I’ll be visiting and interviewing this Friday - if it’s anything like Hamilton, I’m sure I’ll love it!</p>

10

<p>A lot has been written recently about the athlete/non-athlete (NARP) divide at Bowdoin, including, in my opinion, the rather shockingly low academic standards Bowdoin has for some of its athletes. Yes, there are rules about how low they can go, but you don’t ordinarily expect a 3.5/27 student to get in to a school of Bowdoin’s caliber. There’s also the issue of the off-the-books “athlete houses” that sub for frats, but that may exist at a lot of schools.</p>

11

<p>Update: visited and interviewed at Bowdoin today, LOVED it. Interview went really well too. I’ve got a few more schools to visit next week but as it stands right now I may be applying early decision. The college search is winding down…</p>

12

<p>All the NESCACs are roughly the same in terms of sportiness. They are all bound by the same recruiting rules and play each other for league championships. Some are better at sports than others but even the ones that are not so good have roughly the same number of recruits and the same number of athletes. All NESCACs will have a small number of athletes (about 10 per year), who are in the bottom of the school’s range in terms of GPA and SAT scores but are outstanding athletes. Bowdoin is middle of the pack in terms of its performance in the sports wold (well below Williams, Amherst, and Middlebury). Hamilton is at or close to the bottom of the pack in terms of athletic performance but it has all the athletes in terms of numbers – they just aren’t as good as the athletes at Williams or Amherst of Middlebury. The only real difference is that some of the bigger NESCACs (Tufts, Wesleyan, and Middlebury), the athletes are slightly less visible because they make up a smaller percentage of the student body . .</p>

13

<p>@MrMom62‌, what are these “athlete houses” you’re talking about? If you’re referring to the college house system that DO sub for frats, those have nothing to do with sports. Every freshman is assigned a house (8 houses) when they’re assigned their freshman dorm. You are affiliated with that house from before you get to campus freshman year and stay affiliated until you die. You are placed in a house based on which house the advisors think best suits you. It’s not a jocky, fratty thing. There are competitions/games between the houses, etc. A lot is said about the divide between athletes but it’s played up. According to my friend who is a rising sophomore, the divide is more myth than fact. (I’m a rising freshman.)</p>

14

<p>Try looking here:
<a href=“http://bowdoinorient.com/article/8849”>http://bowdoinorient.com/article/8849&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The athlete houses are off-campus and by invitation only. Don’t worry, we didn’t hear about it either during any of our three visits.</p>

15

<p>I’ll defend the “high match” (25-40% chance of admittance) judgment:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>OP’s GPA is strong and a 33 ACT is above the mean for accepted applicants.</p></li>
<li><p>Acceptance rate is 15% </p></li>
<li><p>OP is stronger than the average applicant based on the numbers.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>OP is not a “match”… but based on numbers, he’s a high match or, at worst, a low reach. I define low reach as having a 15-25% chance of admittance.</p>

16

<p>Current Bowdoin student-athlete here. Got a couple opinions to give.</p>

<p>Low student athlete academic standards: If you know anything about NESCAC recruiting, then you’ll understand when I say I was an A-Band recruit, currently a Sarah and James whatever whatever scholar (Top 20%) and hold a GPA over 3.9. Now that I’m done bragging, I will say that there are many athletes with far lower GPAs, and a number with equal or higher GPAs. But in the end, as the article that MrMom62 points out, the average GPA of the student-athletes on campus is not statistically significantly different from the average “NARP” GPA. </p>

<p>Now obviously you could claim athletes tend to take easier courses (I would say in general there might be a small but significant difference there, but that’s entirely a judgement call based on a year’s experience), but in general its very close. While some athletes may not have quite succeeded in terms of grades in high school, that may have been in part due to spending a lot of time on athletics, and may be smarter than their GPAs suggest. Also, playing sports at a high level demands good time management skills, which definitely comes in handy in college. Anyways, what I’m saying is that I don’t see the athletes at Bowdoin dumbing down the school. In general, they want to succeed as bad as anyone else and Bowdoin athletes are also Bowdoin “people”, if you know what I mean.</p>

<p>As for the off-campus houses, yes they exist, yes the college does not publicize them for obvious reasons, yes similar houses are present on (well technically off) practically every college in the nation. If you’d like to know more about them and are a prospective, feel free to message me.</p>

<p>Athlete-NARP divide: I would say it exists, but I would also say it’s not a big one, especially compared with other schools and it seems to be shrinking over time. Most athletes are very close with there teams, which tends to happen when you spend so much time together. Other athletes are not, it’s really a personal choice. Most are somewhere in between. I would say as an athlete, there is certainly no negative stigma around having a “NARP” friend.</p>

<p>So yeah, let me know if you have any questions. Glad I don’t have to turn in this piece of writing…</p>

17

<p>^^Just curious, from your perspective, which of the other NESCAC schools seem to have more of a student athlete/non athlete divide? </p>

18

<p>Oy now I gotta hope I’m not offending any other NESCACers on this thread. This is mostly based on hearsay so take it as you will, but I’ve heard Williams, Amherst, Trinity, and Bates have the most significant divides. As for ranking the rest I won’t try, but in my opinion I don’t think it’s a huge issue at bowdoin.</p>

19

<p>I didn’t get the sense that there was any divide during my visit - in fact, the tour guide was a student athlete and he seemed to be exactly the kind of engaged and intellectually curious student I would expect from Bowdoin.</p>

<p>Question: since Bowdoin is test optional, which ones should I send? Definitely my ACT scores and definitely not the SAT, but what about my subject tests? My interest in U.S. History and Government came up a lot in the interview, so probably that one, but what about Lit?</p>

20

<p>I am no expert in this by any means but I would without a doubt think you should submit your ACT and your SAT2 UShis and Lit. those are great scores!</p>