<p>Hi doyouhow,</p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptances!</p>
<p>It is unfortunate, but certainly understandable, that you cannot visit the schools that you are deciding among. If there is any possibility for you to contact any students attending them from your own country or to talk with any alums that are in China, that may be helpful for you. Bowdoin also has a Bowdoin Club in Asia for students and alumni. Their website is: <a href=“http://polarnet.bowdoin.edu/netcommunity/page.aspx?pid=649[/url]”>http://polarnet.bowdoin.edu/netcommunity/page.aspx?pid=649</a></p>
<p>I actually do not think there are major differences among the three especially when you compare the vast difference between a liberal arts college education with one at a research university. At these three schools, you will get a great education and college experience-they are among the top liberal arts colleges in the U.S. You must have done your homework to decide to apply to LACs as many Asians tend to apply and favor attending large universities with name recognition. Their reputations are generally earned from the strength of the research by faculty and their graduate programs. LACs on the other hand focus on undergraduate education and subscribe to the ethos that a balanced education that includes many different areas is a strong preparation not only for one’s future career, but also for living an informed and meaningful life. You also will get to befriend or know many of your classmates as well as some of your college professors. I attended a different liberal arts college than these three, and chose to attend it instead of one of the big three ivies that CCers seem to fixate upon. Looking back, I am glad to have had that college experience. I do not think my career trajectory would have been any different for attending a LAC over a prestigious research university; however, I do think that my analytical and writing skills were certainly sharpened with the strong emphasis on class participation and writing assignments at my LAC. I say this, even though, my eventual career has been in the sciences. For further disclosure, I also am an Asian-American living in Asia who has interacted a lot with students and colleagues from China. I know graduates from all three of these schools who are very happy and loyal alumni. I also have a close relative who currently attends Bowdoin and is a happy and loyal Polar Bear.</p>
<p>As I said, the differences are minor but perhaps enought to influence your decision:</p>
<p>Size: Wesleyan (2700) > Bowdoin (1800) > Haverford (1200)</p>
<p>Location: Wes small city in connecticut between Hartford and New Haven. Bowdoin a small town in rural Maine, close to mountains and sea. Haverford is located in a suburb of Philadelphia. </p>
<p>Students: All tend to draw primarily from the mid-Atlantic, NY, NE region even though they have good national and some international representation. All three have roughly similar number of minority students. Bowdoin which had not been ethnically or racially diverse for many years owing to its location in Maine is now one of the most diverse LACs in the U.S. I agree with your point that you will need to integrate into the college community at all three even though there may be some students from your country. I think it is a good opportunity to experience college life in the U.S. From my own experience, many grad students and post-docs from China tend to only associate with other Chinese, and unfortunately some do not develop strong speaking skills despite living in the U.S. for long periods of time and also do not have much understanding of American culture or history.</p>
<p>Course selection: Wes may have more breadth in number of classes because of its size. Haverford has a 3 college consortium with Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr, and offers the opportunity to take classes at Penn. However, due to travel distance and constraints, most students will take courses at Bryn Mawr if they want or need to take a class away from campus. Bowdoin will be more self-contained but still offers a wide range of classes for its size.</p>
<p>Sex distribution: slightly higher F/M at Wesleyan, 50/50 Bowdoin, and 80/20 (if you consider Bryn Mawr which is next door practically). That may or may not be important to you.</p>
<p>Sports: All three have student athletes; however, Haverford does not compete in all sports due to its size. Bowdoin probably has the strongest student-athlete presence. It may have same number of recruited athletes as Wes since they are both in NESCAC; however, the larger class size dilutes their presence at Wes.</p>
<p>Academics: All top notch. If you do well at any of these schools, you should be able to enter a top graduate school in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world. I cannot comment about the social sciences. You may want to look up some of the faculty on the deparmental websites, and even consider corresponding with them. Most are quite open to talk about their department program to prospective freshman.</p>
<p>Music: Wes is probably the strongest but Bowdoin has a strong music scene with state of the art recital Hall. Facilities are more limited at H and it has a combined orchestra with BM.</p>
<p>Frats: Wes still has them but they are a minor part of social life. None at Bowdoin or H.</p>
<p>Honor Code: All three have them. The H code also extends to inter-relationships among students. The Quaker emphasis on tolerance and harmony is quite strong there-some like it as forces members to resolve differences amicably. Others feel it is restrictive at best and artificial at worst. I suppose it boils down to whether you have an idealistic or a pragmatic attitude about human interactions. As a caveat, I would advise you to review carefully what is construed as violations of the academic honor code. While cheating exists in all cultures, intellectually dishonesty has become so rampant at Chinese educational institutions (even if the majority of students and faculty are honest), that not all young students there are aware what the real boundaries are, particularly with respect to plagarism. I am aware of several cases in which the Chinese student violated the honor code of their schools without necessarily trying to be dishonest-they were naive or ignorant about the meaning and ethical rationale for intellectual honesty practiced by American institutions. I also would say that honor codes are much stricter in the U.S., and will be enforced more severely if the student is caught cheating. I know that on the Haverford website one can look up student/faculty judiciary minutes on these matters which in some cases have resulted in suspension or expulsion. </p>
<p>Political: like most top liberal arts college, there is a pronounced tendency to the left (from the American definition). Also all three colleges are noted for their emphasis on service to the community and the world at large. One only has to look at the career paths of many of their alumni. Bowdoin talks about serving the common good, and perhaps due to its location, focuses a lot on environmental or “green” issues. Wesleyan has been stereotyped as “PCU” where everyone has to be politically correct. While unfair, it probably is a place where conservative views may not be as well respected (?tolerated) than the other two. Bowdoin draws some NE Romney-type Republicans and Haverford as a Quaker school necesarily respects a range of beliefs and opinions so there are a small number of social or political conservatives among the students. In spite of this liberal bias, I think you will find that there is considerably more academic and intellectual freedom than you would find at top universities in China. Your right to your own ideas are defended no matter what even if they are at variance with the prevailing ideas among other students and faculty. I don’t want to editorialize but I was disheartened when I read an article yesterday in the NYT about students attending Beijing University who report “deviant” thinking or discussions by their fellow students and professors to school authorities. Differences in opinion in certain sensitive subjects definitely are not tolerated now and sadly it harkens back to the era of “thought police” during the Cultural Revolution. I hope that as a budding young social scientist you will contribute one day to freedom of conscience and expression in academia and society-at-large in China.</p>