<p>Marite: My S at Williams does not play sports and is 100% comfortable. Many of his friends are in this same position.</p>
<p>He also does not drink at all, and is not uncomfortable.</p>
<p>I am very aware of the culture at Williams.</p>
<p>If a student visits a number of LACs, he can get the feel for what is the most comfortable for him. If a small outlying LAC is what he wants in a college, the Maine trio is about as good as it gets, in my opinion. Coming from the midwest, he would have a geographical advantage for admissions, just as eastcoasters would have that slight edge in applying to schools like Grinnell, Macalester, Carlton, Col College, Kenyon, Oberlin. </p>
<p>My son and his classmates did apply to a number of westcoast/west LACs and some of them are now happily at Macalester, Col College and Lewis&Clark. The preferences of one over the others seem to be quite personal. A number of other kids are happily at some small Southern schools, that were chosen, again for personal appeal.</p>
<p>while reading this thread i always cringe when one or two word characterizations are used to describe either a school or the student body. generally, these characterizations, as grapejuice suggested earlier, no longer or never did apply. to say one school is preppier, or quirkier, or more focused on athletics, or has a strong debate team, theater program, or whatever, just does not do justice to the overall quality of each of the maine schools. they all provide opportunities to a complete range of student ‘types’. we had never heard these stereotypes before S1 applied to bowdoin from the midwest. now that he’s been there for two years, and i’ve since heard all these labels, it’s my sense that they are either silly, or just not true. bowdoin is not about government and science, even though these are strong departments, their offerings and faculty are, across the board, passionate, relevant, and connected to each other in a way in which students are encouraged to broaden, not limit, their educational experience. i suspect this is the same at bates and colby, at least that is what i hear from friends whose children have attended as well as from S1 who has met and worked with several students from these peer institutions. </p>
<p>midwest schools which are similar include carleton, grinnell, oberlin, macalister, kenyon, among others.</p>
<p>I am not saying that a non-drinking non-sporty student would necessarily be unhappy at Williams, though some folks at Williams suggested as much. In fact, I know some folks who graduated from Williams without getting drunk or being involved in sports. But that does not mean that Williams is not sports-dominated compared to other schools.</p>
<p>And it doesn’t mean that it is.</p>
<p>Morandi: You make a good point and I apologize for the unfair characterization of Bowdoin as about science and government. I thought that Bowdoin wanted to promote that image and those departments.</p>
<p>I am so pleased your son is having a good experience.</p>
<p>Pgirl:</p>
<p>I don’t think that “preppy” is the same as rich or even having gone to a NE prep school. It’s more about looking like something out of Gap (which S1 tended to look like, and for good reason!) rather than a Ralph Lauren ad (though I’m sure there are plenty of RL Polo T-shirts. Maybe what I’m trying to describe is NE suburban.
S1 took himself off to Wesleyan where the dress mode is decidedly non-preppy even though the socio-economic background is the same as C, B&B. His reason was that Wes was bound to be warmer. But he agonized between Wes and Bowdoin until the last minute.</p>
<p>I don’t think an upper middle class public high school kid from the midwest would have any problem at any of the schools being discussed. They all in fact strive for geographical, social, and economic diversity, and if they don’t completely achieve it it’s not for want of trying. From my son’s former private school class, six students (out of about 85) went to Bates, and you could not imagine a nicer bunch of kids – sweet, smart, well-rounded, non-intense, noncompetitive (except in games), and completely not into conspicuous consumption or snobbery. To a large extent, “preppy” means growing up with the assumption that the world is a great place and everyone around you is nice, you just have to figure out how.</p>
<p>mythmom, in our experience bowdoin has done nothing in their literature or website to promote those departments, especially above any others. if anything the relevant image they are trying to promote is laid out in their ‘offer of the college’ which is to ‘be at home in all lands and all ages; to count Nature an familiar acquaintance, and Art an intimate friend; to gain a standard for the appreciation of others work and the criticism of your own. to carry the keys of the world’s library in your pocket, and feel it’s resources behind you in whatever task you undertake. to make hosts of friends. . .who are to be leaders in all walks of life. . .to lose yourself in generous enthusiasms. . .’ i think each of the maine schools provide this kind of experience, perhaps in different settings, but to no less degree.</p>
<p>After touring (in her opinion) waaaaaay too many schools with her big sister, my younger D declared “You should go to Colby–they’re so normal there!” We’re still not sure what she meant by “normal”, but D is going to Colby!</p>
<p>Oh sure. I’d classify the kids that we “met/saw” on the Colby/Bates/Bowdoin visits with my S2 as “wholesome” and socially outgoing. There is no way I could outwardly finger which kids went to boarding school and who didn’t. I think the boarding schools are not as homogeneous as they might have been three or four decades ago and neither are the colleges.</p>
<p>I know many who have gone to Colby and Bowdoin. Not Bates for whatever reason.</p>
<p>Morandi: I don’t doubt it, and I stand corrected. And apologize.</p>
<p>mythmom, your posts are always wise and compassionate and cc is a better place b/c of them. thank you, and please keep them coming!;-)</p>
<p>Here are some Colby v. Bates stats from one of Hawkette’s posts in July 2009.
I believe his main source was Peterson’s.</p>
<p>school apps admits ad.rate enrolled yield USNWR rank
Colby 4835 1492 31% 482 32% 23 (tied w/Bryn Mawr)
Bates 5098 1487 29% 521 35% 25</p>
<p>By the numbers, that’s about as close as can be.</p>
<p>As for endowments, in 2005 Colby had $230K per student; Bates had $116K/s.
(source: [Endowment</a> per Student](<a href=“http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=992]Endowment”>http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=992)).
Of course, 2005 was eons ago. Maybe someone has more current data.</p>
<p>In June, Colby projected its endowment as of June 30, 2009 at $400 million, down from a 2007 high of $630 million. In March 2009, Bates reported its endowment at $185 million as of the end of 2008 (down from $250 million). The same report had Bowdoin at $690 million (down from $850 million) and Colby at $450 million as of the end of 2008. Since Colby’s endowment declined further since then, it seems likely that both of the other colleges’ endowments also declined, so that their relative wealth has remained about the same (but in each case a lot less absolutely than it was, although not so much less than in 2005).</p>
<p>Historically, all three colleges have been almost exactly the same size, with entering classes of a little less than 500 and total enrollment around 1,750 (which I think probably excludes some students doing study abroad with other colleges’ programs, or else the numbers don’t foot at all).</p>
<p>PG–I think upper, middle-class kids from the midwest would fit in at any of these three Maine schools. I could give you the run down on the 8-10 kids from my upper-middle class public high school outside of Boston who went to one of these three in the last six years, but you already have tons of anecdotal information from other CC parents. Your kids are the ones who have to feel comfortable in the college environment–go forth and visit the Maine schools and see what they think.</p>
<p>An upper middle class kid from the Midwest wouldn’t feel out of place at Bates – I can count at least 4 of my friends that fit that profile off the top of my head.</p>
<p>The issue with coming to Bates (to any of the Maine schools, really) from anywhere further than New Jersey is that it is a PAIN to get here.</p>
<p>No more so, really, than Dartmouth, Middlebury, Bennington, Kenyon . . . There are lots of inconvenient, out-of-the-way LACs! Neither Bates nor Bowdoin is that far from Portland – there has to be some sort of shuttle service available from the Portland airport, at least.</p>
<p>College of the Atlantic (on Mt. Desert Island) would be a lot worse!</p>
<p>There is a service Mermaid Transportation that will take students during breaks to Portland, Manchester or Logan airports and back. Just information if people are interested.</p>