<p>What are the real differences between these two schools? They seem like the two most similar schools in the entire country. Which one would you pick?</p>
<p>Middlebury seems to have a bit more diversity, but Bowdoin's town is better. Middlebury is better at sports, but Bowdoin's food is better. Bowdoin has some super cool alumni. But then again, Middlebury has its own ski hill. Gaahhh, both are such perfect schools.</p>
<p>Which would you choose? I chose Bowdoin, but I could have honestly gone either way.</p>
<p>Middlebury is more international both in its student body (about 10% v. 4% for Bowdoin) and in its curriculum. Although less international, Bowdoin has somewhat higher percentages of African-American (5% v. 2% for Midd) and Hispanic students (13% v. 7% for Midd). But both are predominantly white, predominantly affluent/upper middle class (Midd is about 58% full-pays, and Bowdoin about 54%), and draw their respective student bodies heavily from New England prep schools. In keeping with its location, however, Midd draws more students from New York than any other state (86 New Yorkers enrolled as freshmen in 2010 v. 68 from Massachusetts and 41 apiece from Connecticut and California), while Bowdoin draws most heavily from Massachusetts (86 Mass freshmen in 2010 v. 58 from NY, 54 from Maine, 41 from CT, 37 from CA, and 33 from NJ).</p>
<p>Based on reputation, I would have guessed that Midd has more students studying foreign languages, literatures and cultures, but in their latest common data sets both schools report an identical 9% of degrees granted in foreign languages, literature, and linguistics. Midd does easily outdistance Bowdoin in the “area, ethnic, and gender studies” category, 9% for Midd to 4% for Bowdoin, but that’s such a broad category it’s hard to know exactly what to make of it. The biggest difference, though, is that Bowdoin is more science-y, with 17% of its degrees awarded in biological/life science v. 9% at Midd (my guess is more pre-meds); and 5% of Bowdoin’s degrees are in math/statistics v. only 1% at Midd. Physical sciences are close, however: 4% at Bowdoin, 3% at Midd. English (8%) and Psych (7%) are more popular at Midd than at Bowdoin (5% and 4% respectively).</p>
<p>Midd has about 40% more students. Both campuses are gorgeous but in very different ways: Bowdoin is centered on a lovely, classic central quad, almost a Hollywood version of what a New England LAC would look like, while Midd’s campus sprawls up a hillside to a low ridge which offers incredible views of the Green Mountains to the east and the Adirondacks to the west. Bowdoin’s campus is flat, but the ocean and some beautiful stretches of rocky Maine coast are just a few miles away (and Bowdoin takes advantage of that by offering a strong coastal/marine studies program), while Midd is definitely a mountains-oriented school. Skiers and mountaineers prefer Midd. Ocean people prefer Bowdoin.</p>
<p>So would it be safe to assume that, IN GENERAL, more science focused students attend Bowdoin, while Middlebury attracts more foreign language people? Of course, you could still study science at Midd or language at Bowdoin, but you get what I’m saying.</p>