I was fortunate enough to be admitted to Yale and Bowdoin and I’m weighing which one to attend. I have always thrived best in small classes.
I know that Yale has lots of large lecture classes, but I also see lots of discussion sections that are run by doctoral candidates. Is this true of most courses in the humanities and social sciences? I can’t find any information online with anything specific about class size and the availability of discussion sections in the subjects that interest me (poli sci, psych, econ, soc/anthropology).
As for Bowdoin, I was surprised to learn that its intro and second-level courses in those subjects all seem to have enrollments of 35 or 50 students. And they don’t seem to have separate discussion sections. A student at the admissions office did tell me that her intro to psych class had 50 students but that sometimes instead of lectures, the professor would break the class into smaller discussion groups that were led by an upperclassman. I thought these courses would have a lecture and a discussion section each week, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I originally thought Bowdoin would offer a smaller, more intimate class setup but am questioning that initial reaction.
If I want to be able to have a chance to talk about the material from class, which college will get me that? Bowdoin or Yale?
@qwerty37 The answer to your question is that you’re asking the wrong question. The differentiating factor isn’t which college, it is which class. Seminars = discussion and direct interaction with professors. Lectures are, well, lectures. Look at the course catalogs for the two colleges, find the classes that you’re interested in and see if they are listed as seminars or lectures. FWIW, and with exceptions, the more advanced the class, the more likely it is to be a seminar. Exceptions include classes that are billed as freshman seminars, such as http://catalog.yale.edu/ycps/subjects-of-instruction/freshman-seminar-program/
The students will be brighter and more accomplished at Yale. Although I am a fan of Bowdoin, if COA is equal, Yale is easily the better value & better choice.
Intro level classes are probably larger at Yale, but as an upperclassman you’d probably be put into classes that are the same size or only slightly larger than those at Bowdoin. But it really depends on which classes you take.
I disagree with @ / Publisher’s assessment. I would say you’ll find equally as bright people at both schools. I know people at Yale who managed to get in with 3.5 (yes, weighted) high school GPAs and could not care less about the opportunities they have available. You really can’t go wrong with either. Yale was always my dream school, so, personally, I would go there. That’s just it though, it’s all personal. Have you had the chance to visit both? If not, I would definitely try. One is in the city, one is not. While I would’ve stuck it out for Yale, New Haven is not my favorite place in the world. As far as classes go, I think it depends. You may have a lot of people in intro classes, but I’m sure you can find information about class sizes on their website. Shoot your admissions officer an email. The teaching at Bowdoin is amazing and they have one of the best government programs in the country.
It’s always funny when someone anecdotally says “I know a person that got in with a low GPA” (for that school), clearly that person had something going for them beyond GPA. I’m absolutely sure that the Yale AOs don’t randomly let someone come in with a lower then average GPA because they were throwing darts that day. @Publisher is correct, as a whole, the Yale cohort will be much more accomplished. Still LAC’s offer things that bigger universities don’t.
My experience is dated – from the 80s – so take this “with a grain …”
I went to Yale quite eagerly, and my best friend from high school went to Bowdoin, having passed up a place at Harvard to go there. We ended up majoring in the same subject by coincidence. I visited Bowdoin many times and he came down to New Haven often as well. We grew to know each other’s friends etc.
I will honestly say that though I loved Yale and almost burst into tears when I see Harkness Tower in the distance, I think that academically the experience at Bowdoin is better. Professors are 95% focused on their students at Bowdoin, while Yale profs are at best 50% focused with a few exceptions. My friend formed many close relationships with profs, was often invited to their homes for dinner, and kept up relationships with some long after graduation. That did not happen to me at Yale. Some Yalies do manage forge similar relationships, but it is certainly rarer than at Bowdoin.
For example, at Bowdoin my friend had a well known Shakespearean scholar for his freshman English course. He was really engaging, very interested in each of his students, and tore their papers apart to teach them how to think and write. my English 129 section leader at Yale was a nice and well-meaning grad student, who honestly had not yet blossomed into a skilled and inspirational prof. Boring, wandering discussions and only cursory comments on our papers were the rule.
I had many crummy profs in my major (Economics); ironically, by far the best prof I had in Econ was ended up leaving Yale and teaching at Bowdoin for 30 years.
Yes, the Yale name will shine slightly brighter, but I do not believe the Bowdoin experience is in any way inferior. And, as we know, Bowdoin may have the best food in the country and the dorms are better and more spacious from what I remember.
LACs have decided class size advantages over universities, and that advantage is most pronounced in survey-level courses – 100s and 200s. As you progress in your major, those differences become smaller. But class for class, they will usually be smaller at Bowdoin. You won’t be taught by TAs at Bowdoin either.
As for national and international rep, Yale is much bigger, and Yale offers more majors. Those are the usual advantages universities enjoy.
Yale is a lot bigger, has more resources, and access to a city (albeit New Haven - but there’s a lot of philanthropy to be done there!). Those are all huge pluses.
However, with any research university (even Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford have these issues), there are problems with class sizes and quality of teaching. Bowdoin has smaller class sizes and a greater emphasis on undergrads, so I do believe the quality of your classes and relationships with professors will be better. I seem to hear similar things from my friends at both schools.