Haverford vs. Bowdoin

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>I just was wondering if anyone had any opinions on attending Haverford College vs. Bowdoin College as a transfer. I was admitted to both, and have to decide by next friday.</p>

<p>They were two of my top schools so I'm really excited about both.</p>

<p>My prospective major would be Government at Bowdoin w/ a Latin American Studies minor/concentration. At Haverford it would be Poli Sci w/ a Latin American Studies minor/concentration.</p>

<p>Also, at Haverford I have a really good / almost definite chance of playing soccer (have already talked w/ the coach and I am can go to pre-season training in Brazil w/ them). Bowdoin, is less of a sure thing. They finished second in the NESCAC last year and the few kids who I know of on the team are really really talented players, probably above my level. The coach said I could try to walk on, but he didn't seem as optimistic.</p>

<p>What to do???</p>

2

<p>I would go to Haverford. Especially if playing soccer is important to you. At Bowdoin, if you don't end up playing soccer you may feel overwhelmed by the dominant presence of an athletic culture on campus. Also, the weather in Maine is nothing to take lightly- it can make the year seem really long.</p>

3

<p>If you were injured and couldn't play soccer, which school would you prefer?</p>

4

<p>if i were to get injured i would still say that haverford does have the slight edge</p>

5

<p>i went to bryn mawr and i really like haverford's community. it's student body seems really close and active. i dont know much about bowdoin, but i think itd be really easy to transfer to haverford and feel accepted.</p>

6

<p>Well,</p>

<p>Where do you plan to live and what do you want to do after school?</p>

7

<p>i'm really not sure what i want to do after school. possibly go into law but not definitely sure. Also would have an interest in doing something w/ a non-profit or NGO or something like that.</p>

<p>As far as where I would like to end up living. I would say either Philadelphia / NYC / Boston, mainly northeast, but also would like to live internationalliy at some point.</p>

8

<p>do u mind posting ur stats?</p>

9

<p>yah sure, no problem, here are my stats</p>

<p>High School GPA - 3.45 unweighted 3.8 weighted
High School Courses - 10 Honors or AP Courses
Race - Hispanic
SAT's - Critical Reading: 630, Math: 640, Writing: 650
SAT II - Spanish w/ listening 640, Math IIC: 650</p>

<p>College Courses/Grades:
First Semester:
English: A
Spanish: A
Writing Seminar: A-
Calc 1: A-
Business Law: B+
Econ: B-
I was in my university's business school, but switched into honors college in arts and sciences</p>

<p>Second Semester:
Honors Intro to Philosophy: A
Honors Writing Seminar: A
Advanced Spanish Course: A - i was the only underclassmen in this course
Honors History: A-
Honors Art History: B</p>

<p>At mid-sememster these grades were 4 A's and 1 A- (in art history)</p>

<p>Really really good application. Spent a lot of time on it. Definitely think this helped a whole lot. I also included an essay i had to use for others schools. more or less a/b an important experience in your life (more or less the one from the first yr. common app). wrote about running the philadelphia marathon, definitely think this was another factor or at least a memorable essay that helped me get in.</p>

<p>Also had excellent recs. These also helped a lot I believe</p>

<p>Extracurrics (this is what I think got me in, both in high school and at college I got really involved. also addressed this in essays: i.e. I made the best out of a situation that I was unhappy in.)</p>

<p>College:
Spanish Club - President
Weekly tutor for young kids in inner-city philadelphia
Volunteer at a day care for kids who are HIV+ or whose parents either have AIDS or are HIV+
Amnesty International
Bread for the World
LASO - latin american students organization
AIDS Quilt volunteer
S.T.A.N.D - similar to Amnesty - specifically a/b Darfur
Special Olympics - volunteer
Philadelphia Marathon - finished 5th in my age group
Kennett Square Tax Clinic - Tax Preparer and Translator for low income Mexican farm workers
Sigma Delta Pi - Spanish Honors Society
Dean's List First & Second Semester
National Society of Collegiate Scholars</p>

<p>High School:
Class Council - 9,11,12
Youth Community Service Group - 10,11,12 selected by town manager and selectmen
Peer Leaders - 11,12 group that helps underclassmen w/ social phobias / just having trouble adjusting to high school
Special Olmypics - 11,12 - was chosen to sit on the board that helped organize the first special olympics in conjunction w/ a school for physically and mentally handicapped kids. my senior year i served as the student chairman
Newspaper - sports correspondant for my high school's newspaper</p>

<p>Athletics:
Soccer: 9 Freshman Team, 10 JV Captain (no sophs made varsity that yr.), 11,12 varsity, also played on very competitive club team, participated in lots of camps + summer showcase tournaments, went to a D1 school so wasn't good enough to play there. Also refereed in local league.
Indoor Track: 9 Varsity participant, 10,11,12 Varsity letter winner - 11 team won the league
Lacrosse: 9 Freshman team, 10 JV Captain, 11 Varsity - team won the league
Outdoor Track: 12 Varsity - won league</p>

<p>hope this helps anyone who's interested. good apps are really really key nowadays. I sincerely believe that this was a huge factor that got me in. Also spoke w/ track and soccer coaches. They didn't help me get in at all actually, but i did fill out an athletics supplement and i think they did inform admissions that i would be playing if i got in, but i don't think it was a "hook"</p>

10

<p>While Haverford is undoubtedly an eminent school, I think that Bowdoin is more prestigious, at least in the Northeast (namely, north of PA!). Moreover, Bowdoin alum are known to privilege one another, and place well at law schools. Again, both are extremely good schools, and in the final analysis, you are behooved to go where you think you will enjoy more. But, I thought I would throw-out my New England bias, for what its worth.</p>

11

<p>anyone else have any thoughts about my situation??? I have to decide by this friday.</p>

12

<p>have any others here applied as a transfer and heard from haverford or bowdoin yet?</p>

13

<p>i'd go to bowdoin unless you seriously seriously wanted to pursue the soccer thing</p>

14

<p>It sounds like your own leaning is to Haverford... is something holding you back from finalizing that decision?</p>

<p>This process might help: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=51596%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=51596&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

15

<p>esperame. why bowdoin. just curious what your reasons are?</p>

16

<p>my parents are pushing me towards bowdoin for various reasons despite the fact that they know playing soccer would be a big thing for me</p>

17

<p>do you want to share what the "various reasons" are?</p>

18

<p>in addition to the PM i think you've got to put the soccer thing into perspective...if thats what you really want to do and feel that you'll stand out the most at haverford...u should go there...but if soccer is something secondary to you...go to bowdoin</p>

19

<p>the various reasons mainly has to do with the fact that bowdoin has more name recognition both nationally and in new england.</p>

20

<p>I'm a little bit surprised that you're having such a difficult time with this and which requires you to post on 4 different sites? If you check out the Bowdoin site, the kids there are saying that the schools are nearly identical in terms of academic resources and name rec and I have to agree. Other than Wellesley, most LACs don't have national name recognition to a lay public. For profesisonal/grad schools and top employers, the top 10 LACs all have similar "recognition" (which is very high) as educated people are in the know. I am basing this on my experience from working in the Mayor's Office of NYC, on K street in DC, being recruited by Mckinsey and BCG, going to a top med school, residency and fellowship. I have never had to repeat the name of "Haverford" in any of these situations. I am curious as to what ranking system without methodological flaw you are refering to that says that Bowdoin is more prestigious than HC or so much more so that it trumps all of the things that you find attractive with HC?</p>

<p>US News has flip-flopped on LACs #5-10 for the last 10 years which shows you that even a "complex" ranking system (although still flawed) suggests that the differences in these schools are microscopic. More importantly, any of the top 10 LACs have too many opportunities even for the most engaged students to pursue fully in their 4 years of college. If that's the case, then where you will be happiest is more important.</p>

<p>That being said, HC does have its location in a safe and leafy suburb of the 5th largest city in the US. It also has a unique relationship with BMC which greatly expands the opportunities already available to students. Such things are not included in any ranking by US news.</p>