<p>well, but money affects things like how well are student projects funded, which in turn directly affects the resume for grad school. I kind of wish our whole system didn't revolve around materialism too, but I as long as it does I think it makes sense to include things like that in ranking...</p>
<p>ecape, I didn't intend my post to be a comprehensive manifesto on how widespread Bowdoin's reputation is. I was just giving an example of what I experienced in an area (Boston) roughly equidistant from the Maine LACs and Williams/Amherst...an area where the people are not unfamiliar with excellent colleges.</p>
<p>Another thing to take into account when trying to draw conclusions about reputation and/or fame, is Maine's location in the northeast corner of the USA. Even if Bowdoin were slightly better than Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore, one couldn't expect it to be as "famous" as those because SAW are generally within a half-day's drive of the huge population centers in the NYC/New Jersey/Philly corridor. Whereas Bowdoin is tucked away in Maine, several states away, with only the relatively small (in comparison to NYC/NJ/Philly) population center of Boston close enough to provide a lot of students who want to go to school within a few hours of home. I would guess that over the years a lot of students have considered Bowdoin, only to have their interest vetoed by a parent saying "I'm not driving you all the way to Maine, when there are so many excellent options in the Mid Atlantic states and Western New England." And if you check the enrollments at SAW and Bowdoin, you'll see that Bowdoin has a LOT higher % of New Englanders, whereas SAW has a lot higher % of students from the Mid-Atlantic states, even though the A, W, and B are all IN New England.</p>
<p>yeah, well I think undoubtedly location is one thing that makes a school what it is, whether you're talking about Harvard or Wesleyan Illinois College. The better resourced colleges originated in the better resourced locations. The colleges that attract the most geographically diverse student body, are the ones with the most resources (ie money). Carleton is another great school that is not as geographically diverse as Pomona or Swarthmore. Carleton is a very good school, but its endowment is the same as Bowdoin's and its location is about as remote.</p>
<p>To whoever started this thread,
Don't worry about how Bowdoin (and A,W, or S) is not very well known. Once you get to Bowdoin things like that will not matter anymore. You'll get involved in everything school like Bowdoin have to offer, and you won't find yourself at any kind of disadvantage when applying to a grad. school or internship (the good ones know how awesome Bowdoin really is). Just have fun and be glad you're not at AWS.</p>
<p>Yeah, whether you go to Stanford or to Bowdoin, what really counts is the work you do while you're there. A 2.5-3.0 GPA from Harvard is worth about zilch. An undergrad degree isn't worth much these days, so most people go to grad school eventually. A high GPA and the relevant experience (ie research, internships) from either Yale or Bowdoin, will give you a lot of the same opportunities.</p>
<p>well, but money affects things like how well are student projects funded, which in turn directly affects the resume for grad school]]</p>
<p>Not necessarily. Many wealthy colleges use their available assets to fund new construction-- e.g. dorms, libraries, more and better dinning options etc. to become competitive with other colleges vying to attract the top students-- and to increase financial aid in order to create a more diverse student body. Often times the aforementioned are funded at the expense of students projects. </p>
<p>And now every college in the country is facing significantly higher energy expenses. Guess what will be cut?</p>
<p>Its true. In eastern Mass, close to everyone has heard of Bowdoin and sometimes knows someone who goes there, but will look at you with a blank stare if you say Williams.</p>
<p>It probably depends where you are in eastern Mass. In Cambridge, Williams is very well-known</p>
<p>Yeah, I didn't know of Williams until I started looking closely at colleges. I always knew of Amherst and the Maine schools.</p>
<p>I'd bet that Williams is known among the Harvard students and faculty in Cambridge, but to the man on the street in Cambridge, Willams is probably as unknown as it is in other Eastern Mass cities.</p>
<p>Go check out Bowdoin's entry at Wikipedia and you'll instantly feel more confident.</p>
<p>bump…bump</p>
<p>I was digging through old Bowdoin threads, trying to find something like this, because right now (silly as it may be) I am definitely put off by the fact that no one at my school has heard of Bowdoin before.</p>
<p>I am probably headed to Bowdoin next year (even if I get off the waitlists @ Princeton or Dartmouth) and I keep feeling like I need to mention “But I was waitlisted at Princeton!” to like, validate myself to my peers when I talk about my college plans. I’m so worried that by going to Bowdoin, I will miss out on the recognition and prestige that I should be getting for all my hard work in high school.
So it’s interesting to read what other ppl think about this.</p>
<p>You must run in very rarefied circles of all your peers are going to places like Princeton and Dartmouth!!</p>
<p>I find myself feeling the same way. Although i acknowledge that prestige isn’t everything, it’s hard when all my friends are going to ivies or other schools equally hard to get into and people asking me “now where is Bowdoin, or BAW-dyan?” </p>
<p>I feel your pain.</p>
<p>It is not all about the name. My son is in two of your three schools and thinks so highly of Bowdoin that he is going to revisit them and his other school before making a decision. FYI Bowdoin is known on an an international level by people my age as Joan Benoit Samuelson won the Olympic gold marathon medal for the US wearing her Bowdoin hat. They have a very proud alumni network much like Dartmouth and Princeton.</p>
<p>SP135 I went to Dartmouth a long time ago and then went to work for Harvard for a number of years. Every prof or administrator in the law, B and Med schools knew about Bowdoin even back then. I used to ask about schools as I was neurotic about that stuff even before I had kids. I think the Bowdoin reputation has soared recently as the Ivys have become a crazy nightmare of over-acheivement. Look at this years admission stats as published in the NYT yesterday. Be proud of yourself, you are into a college that is truly a min-Ivy in the minds of those who know about these things (and make admission decisions) even if the general public doesn’t.</p>
<p>and every young person I know now ( I work in Fiancial Services in Boston) who went there never ever regretted it…</p>
<p>i can relate to this somewhat, because my high school was very over-achiever/ivy-crazy, but this is ridiculous. i know people that have gotten rejected from bowdoin and accepted to ivies. but that’s not the point. the education you get depends largely on how hard you work, how motivated you are to take advantage of opportunities, and also what you major in. arguably you could go to some state school and get a better education than at yale if the school happens to be really strong in a department. it’s all about attitude, and one like yours won’t get you very far at bowdoin. i think if you do choose to attend bowdoin you will be pretty humbled by some of the people you find yourself surrounded by. but i wouldn’t recommend getting into discussions about all the ivies you almost got into…that’s almost as taboo as talking about your grades.</p>
<p>I didn’t see that article. Is there a link for the article about this years admissions statistics?</p>
<p>It is a tad bit annoying to have to tell people how to pronounce Bowdoin all the time.
I have found that many of my dad’s friends who are mostly professors, and people working in the financial world know about Bowdoin though. So whenever my Dad tells people, for the most part they are impressed. And this is in Boise, Idaho.
With being recognized as one of the “New Ivies” and “New Hot Schools” in Newsweek, Bowdoin has certainly been publicized and I think it is showing. I have been stopped 4 times now in a supermarket by people asking if I went to Bowdoin. (because of my sweatshirt) and they were all impressed.
So I think that it comes down to narrow-mindedness in people who fail to recognize any schools other than Ivies as fantastic institutions.</p>
<p>My D was waitlisted and very dissapointed. Bowdoin is one of the most valued LAC 's there is. It is a great education, great atmosphere. You are very fortunate, BE Proud!</p>