Middlebury vs. Bowdoin

Colleges and Universities A-Z Middlebury College
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<p>I've looked at a lot of past CC threads about both schools (as well ones comparing them to each other) but I'm still at a loss as to what to do. I've been accepted to both, but I legitimately cannot make a decision. I'm not really optimistic that my waitlists will pan out (although I do live in an underrepresented state so maybeeee), so I'll most likely be attending one of the colleges. I visited both in the past few weeks for the accepted students weekends, and honestly, I was rather ambivalent about Bowdoin but absolutely adored Middlebury. With that being said, I'm not sure if too much of my feelings were dependent upon the architecture/layout of the campus. I thought Bowdoin kind of looked like a bunch of random buildings haphazardly stuck together, whereas Middlebury looked like it rose out of the pages of a fairy tale. I don't know if gauging a school by its campus is too superficial though… Moreover, the host I had at Bowdoin drank while I was there, while my Middlebury host didn't, which might have also swayed my feelings since I don't drink and will probably opt for chem-free housing. I know that alcoholic culture will obviously exist at either school though, and I'm not sure how indicative of anything the few days I spent at both was of the campus life in general. Overall, Bowdoin had slightly better food, better dorms, and a better location (in terms of proximity to shops/things to do), but I loved Middlebury's facilities/campus, J term, and the overall feeling I got from it.</p>

<p>I guess these are my concerns/questions:
1. I'm currently planning on double majoring in neuroscience and sociology/anthropology and minoring in studio art. I also play the piano and will be continuing lessons in college. Which school offers better departments in these areas?
2. Which school has better placement at prestigious grad/med schools? And is there a sizable difference in prestige between the two? I have a pretty typical, overbearing Asian father who thinks Bowdoin is slightly more prestigious/would open up more opportunities.
3. I was named a faculty scholar at Bowdoin (which is basically just a $3000 summer research stipend type thing) and Bowdoin does offer $2000/yr for national merit. Both schools would still end up costing about the same though, so I'm not sure if the added benefits from Bowdoin would warrant picking the school.
4. I'm much more artsy than I am athletic (I'm not athletic at all), so I'm a little bit worried about the jock presence at both schools, as well as the size in general. Do athletes at either school tend to be stuck-up? Is there a rift in the student body between athletes and non-athletes? Also, I know Middlebury's student body is slightly larger (2500 vs. 1800), but does that really have a tangible effect on student interaction/the makeup of the student body?
5. Finally, I think the biggest issue right now for me is that Middlebury's kind of in the middle of nowhere. Bowdoin has arguably more things to do/better access to more urban areas (albeit not by a lot). I think I'm more of an urban girl, which I unfortunately realized after the college application process was over. Is there a huge lack of things to do in Middlebury? I don't really want to spend all of my time isolated on campus.</p>

<p>I'm fine with listening to advice from proponents of either school, although I think I might be leaning toward Middlebury. Thanks in advance for any help! I'm terribly indecisive and that's probably not a great character trait to have when deciding what to do with your future. D:</p>

<p>Also, since I don't want to have to make another thread later… in case I were to get off one or more of my waitlists (at UChicago, Williams, and Amherst), would you personally pick any of those over Midd/Bowdoin? haaaaa I think I've descended into ambivalence about my future.</p>

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<p>Hi! So I’m currently trying to decide between Midd and Wellesley College. I asked some current students many of the questions here, so let me try to answer!

  1. I heard Midd’s orchestra is sort of struggling. In general, its music is sort of weak compared to other LACs. (I play violin and sing, so this was important to me.) However, there are some GREAT performing groups! I know this doesn’t answer your question at all, but I thought I’d put that out there. I know you can take piano lessons, but I don’t know how they compare to those at Bowdoin.</p>

<p>2) Rankings. Bowdoin has a slightly lower acceptance rate (possibly due to its smaller size?) and it’s ranked a little higher on Forbes, but to be completely honest, it’s very very very difficult to differentiate the level of education between the top ten, even twenty, liberal arts colleges. I, personally, do not believe there is a difference in prestige between these two schools.</p>

<p>3) It’s all about the final price!</p>

<p>4) I’m more artsy than athletic as well! This was one of my main reservations. I talked to many students about this, and one girl did mention that often the sport you play (if you play for the college) dominates your social group. That being said, while Midd is very active, not EVERYONE plays a sport, and I actually know one girl who played a sport her freshman year and decided to stop because she didn’t like that her friend group was dictated by this sport. You’ll definitely find your niche!</p>

<p>5) Yes, Midd IS isolated, but I think even in a more “urban” setting like Bowdoin’s, you’ll find you’re going to spend most of your time on campus anyway. </p>

<p>Every school is going to have drinkers and non-drinkers. Your gut instinct is telling you to go to Midd! Go for it! And if we both decide to go to Midd, we could totally be friends! We’re pretty similar!
(I don’t think I’d go to Amherst or Williams over Midd or Bowdoin; not my cup of tea. I also didn’t look into Chicago too much. Sorry!)</p>

<p>Good luck! You can’t make a wrong choice! :)</p>

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<p>I think you can go with your reaction after your visit. It would really be a shame not to if you felt pretty strongly in favor of Midd. US News has them at #4 and #7 (I think) and they are really equivalent schools in academics.<br>
I would guess that their med school placement is about the same. And the size does make a bit of a difference because there are more non-athletes at Midd which adds to the variety of students. There are so many things going on on weekends—from parties to a cappella and theater----that students don’t go to Burlington much, but it’s only 50 minutes away. There are several excellent music professors and piano teachers, I’ve heard (parent speaking here). And an interesting composition professor, Su Lian Tan. The science building is amazing, as I’m sure you saw and I hear that the research opportunities are excellent. </p>

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<p>Hey everindecisive! So I was just curiously scrolling through Midd-related posts and I serendipitously saw this–didn’t have an account but when I saw your questions I decided to make one so that I could respond because I was in a remarkably similar situation a few years ago. </p>

<p>I’m now in my second year as a Neuroscience major at Middlebury and I was very close to going to Bowdoin. The schools are extremely similar in most ways and the decision for most students comes down to the intangibles. However, you have some very specific interests at play and it seems to me that Middlebury might be the more favorable choice for you based on what you’re looking for objectively. Anyway, let me do my best to answer your questions.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>After two years in the Neuroscience program I can honestly say that I have nothing but high praise for Middlebury’s Neuro department. One of the reasons I ended up choosing Midd over Bowdoin was the breadth of course offerings, and to some extent the faculty, in Midd’s department vs. Bowdoin’s. The major is highly interdisciplinary (integrates chem, bio, psychology, philosophy, independent study, and some pretty awesome electives that combine all of these quite nicely). Neuroscience was one of the most popular majors at Middlebury last year (5th most popular, I think?) and there are lectures pretty often on what’s happening in the neuroscience world. Bowdoin is clearly an excellent school for the sciences, but it seems that they perhaps don’t put as many resources into their Neuro program as does Middlebury. One of my hall-mates was a Neuro major who recently switched to SOAN and she loves it. I’ve taken one sociology course and I’m currently in an anthropology course and the material is certainly engaging. I will say that it would be quite difficult to double major with Neuroscience, simply because there are so many requirements for the Neuro major. It would be possible, but you’d be pretty crunched for room in your schedule. I don’t know much about the studio art program but I’ve heard good things–it’s supposed to be one of the more intimate departments because of the high number of professors there are relative to the number of students taking studio art classes.</p></li>
<li><p>I have to admit that prestige and rankings were also a pretty big concern for me throughout the search/decision process (probably more than they should have been). Yes, right now Bowdoin has the lower acceptance rate (15% vs 17% I think ), but Middlebury’s has been consistenly lower in the past. Similarly, Middlebury’s Forbes ranking has been higher than Bowdoin’s in the past (although the Forbes rankings are pretty ridiculous if you ask me). These things are constantly subject to change and a decision, in my opinion, shouldn’t be made based so heavily on a given year’s or a given publication’s rank. From what I understand, thirty or so years ago, Bowdoin was pretty agreeably seen as the slightly superior school, but after quite a lot changed for both schools in the late 80’s/90’s, Midd started to emerge as the more popular of the two, and today the good majority of cross-admits choose Middlebury. Today, I would say that if there is any difference at all in overall ‘prestige’, the slight edge might go to Middlebury, but it would depend on who you ask. As far as medical / grad school placement, I happen to know that two years ago the overall success rate for medical school applicants from Middlebury was 84% and 86% at Bowdoin. Both will be excellent in this regard. </p></li>
<li><p>If the two would end up costing about the same, maybe that shouldn’t be a major consideration. Middlebury is pretty great about providing funding for summer research/internships, so you could look into that once you have a particular opportunity in mind.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m an athlete so I will give you my personal perspective on this. Both schools are very athletics-oriented, with Bowdoin slightly more so (34% varsity athletes at Bowdoin vs. 27% varsity athletes at Middlebury, probably just due to size difference), but based on my own experience, the vast majority of athletes mesh seamlessly with the non-athletes. Actually, now that I think of it, almost all of my closest friends are people who aren’t on my team. Unlike most Division I schools, athletics don’t make up for a substandard application at Middlebury or Bowdoin, so the vast majority of athletes are every bit as academically engaged as the rest of the school. As far as the size difference, YES, surprisingly, I felt that there was a pretty noticeable difference in feel between 1800 at Bowdoin vs 2500 at Middlebury. This actually ended up being one of the reasons I decided on Middlebury–2500 seemed small enough to maintain the feeling of community and intimacy that I wanted, but not so small that I would feel suffocated after the first year.</p></li>
<li><p>Middlebury is quite isolated, which actually attracts a lot of students, but certainly not too isolated to get away to the city for a day or a weekend. Bowdoin is slightly closer to a city (30 minutes to Portland) and to Boston (2.5 hours) than Midd is (45 minutes to Burlington and 3.5 hours to Boston) but Brunswick isn’t exactly a happening place. Middlebury is also 2 hours from Montreal, which is really an awesome international city and a popular break/weekend destination. The campus and the town of 8,500 have just about everything you’d need, but like I said, a weekend escape to the city is always feasible.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I really hope this helps! I don’t know very much about UChicago, Williams, or Amherst, but hopefully this information will be helpful in sorting out your Middlebury vs. Bowdoin decision.
Best of luck and go with your gut! </p>

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<p>These Midd/Bowdoin threads have been going on forever. I can respond to a few of your concerns. There is virtually no difference in prestige between the two. As someone else pointed out, there may have been a time when Bowdoin was viewed as slightly more prestigious. If anything, that’s switched and today Midd may be viewed as SLIGHTLY more prestigious, but it’s not enough to matter. Anyone who has heard of one will have heard of the other. Today USN&WR ranks Midd a spot or two better, but that certainly doesn’t represent any sort of qualitative difference. Interestingly, a few years ago Newsweek published their list of the New Ivies. In that article they stated that it used to be that you wanted to attend any of the Ivies plus Stanford, MIT or a few of the select LACs which, according to Newsweek included Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore and Middlebury. The article went on to say that the list has grown and now includes Bowdoin among other schools. </p>

<p>Don’t misinterpret acceptance rate as an indicator of prestige. Both Middlebury and Bowdoin have lower acceptance rates than Williams and higher acceptance rates than Centre College. Surely, you wouldn’t say Centre was the most prestigious school in that group. </p>

<p>I also wanted to discuss the artsy vs. athletic aspect at Midd. One thing I’ve always liked about Midd is that the students really interact well (I presume this also occurs at Bowdoin). It’s not at all unusual to see the football quarterback or lacrosse goalie attending an art opening. In just the same way, it’s not unusual to see the student who had the art opening rushing out to catch a hockey game. This interaction is a big part of your education. Good luck. It’s a great choice to have. </p>

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<p>Two healthy and vibrant schools. Both have been around forever and these days you’d be hard pressed to find two schools more similar. USNews must agree because they, along with Pomona, all share the same ranking. Each of these schools have a different and distinct locations but all are populated with bright, cooperative, kids and excellent faculty coupled with dedicated administration and great resources. Visit! Tour the facilities and ask lot’s of questions. Listen to a recital. You’ll have a great experience at both. </p>

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<p>5ever, there was one thing I wanted to add. It’s not unusual to let architecture and layout play such a big role especially when all other things are basically equal. I’ve let the workspace be the deciding factor with job offers. You’ll be spending four years there and hopefully want to return frequently for homecoming and reunions. You’d better like the environment. </p>

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<p>Compared to Middlebury, Vermont, it most certainly is.</p>

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<p>Not that it really matters but Bowdoin and Middlebury (along with Pomona) are tied for fourth in the latest USNWR rankings</p>

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<p>re: #1, you will not be able to double major and also minor at Middlebury. </p>

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<p>So, which did you pick?</p>

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<p>Hey, sorry for the late response! Thank you all for your incredibly helpful posts. I sent in my deposit to Middlebury. :)</p>

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<p>Congratulations 5ever. You couldn’t go wrong either way, but I think you’ve made a great choice. </p>