<p>On paper, Bowdoin is a fantastic fit for D. However, she has visited twice - once with a friend and then again recently with me - and both times she’s had a very hard time getting a pulse for the overall campus vibe. There just didn’t seem to be any real sense of community or school spirit. Given Bowdoin’s awesome rankings on quality of life, we’re having a hard time figuring out why this is the case. </p>
<p>Would love to hear from current or past students (and their parents) on how close knit the Bowdoin community is, what type of students it attracts, and what activities/traditions are most popular. I know the outing club is huge (and that’s a really big draw for D), but what else brings the students together on campus? </p>
<p>I can give you a glimpse on how tight the community at Bowdoin seems to be. I attended Explore Bowdoin a couple weeks ago which allowed me to stay at Bowdoin for 4 days and get a feel for the school. From the very beginning I could tell everyone at that school was very close. The administration and the students had a quality relationship and many of the students were very close friends regardless of whether they lived in the same house or not. There is a great dynamic going on over at Bowdoin and I think staying there for an extended period of time really helped illuminate that for me. Sorry I couldn’t address your other issues, but I hope this helped. </p>
<p>The quality of life and student happiness rankings are some of the few rankings that I actually pay attention to…mostly because I’m not sure how a person can gauge a school’s sense of community when they’re visiting for the day. </p>