Hi all,
I am very fortunate to have been admitted to both Amherst and Bowdoin, but I’m having a really hard time deciding between the two. I know there are several existing threads about this, but I’d love some thoughts about my specific situation.
I really like both colleges. For Amherst, I love the diversity, the five-college consortium, and the open curriculum. I’ve talked with several current students over the phone and all of them have enthused about Amherst and the people. When I visited on admitted students day, however, I didn’t have the most amazing experience - it seemed as if all of the prospective students I talked to were already set on going elsewhere. I also got the vibe that people seemed a little stressed out… but maybe that’s because finals are so close? I’ve also read online that the social life/community at Amherst is not very strong.
Bowdoin, on the other hand, is a little more uncertain. The last time I visited was almost two years ago, and it was the first college I looked at. I wasn’t completely in love with it, but that may have been just because it was my first college visit. Also, I have family that live in Brunswick, so I’ve been going up to that area every summer for the last ten years. That is a big concern for me - I think I want to go to college somewhere new and unexplored. From what I’ve read online, however, Bowdoin students seem more chill, activist-y, and outdoorsy - all of which are things I definitely want in a college.
I’m not quite sure what I want to study yet, but as of now I’m thinking either physics or international relations. I also really love languages, history, and art.
Any thoughts? Anything I got wrong in my assumptions of each college?
Thanks in advance.
(Btw I posted this in both threads to get balanced responses, sorry if you see this twice!)
My son is a first year and he also had Amherst on his list and had a clear preference for Bowdoin (full disclosure: he ended up applying ED to Bowdoin and withdrew his Amherst application once he was accepted)
Of course, they are both outstanding schools and I really don’t think you can go wrong either way (but I suspect you don’t want to hear that right now as there is a decision to make!!)
His experience at Bowdoin has been terrific. It is, as you describe. A place of collaboration and community. If your idea of “social” is collaborative, friendly, open and therefore not cliquey, elitist, or cut throat then, yes, that describes his Bowdoin experience and Bowdoin is a social place.
Is there any chance you can spend a day/over night at Bowdoin? It sounds like your hesitancy is what you felt a few years back doesn’t foot with what you have read on line. If that’s not possible, do you know any current students at Bowdoin you could speak to?
The things that attracted my son to Bowdoin, in no particular order, and I’m sure not exhaustively, were:
Tight Community that was intellectual and driven but not uber-competitive with each other
Liberal and outdoorsy but not over the top so as there are plenty of professional minded students. The kind of school where you may have a future author and a future CEO on your hall and you are all friends
A school where everyone is happy and proud to be there (there are lots of surveys that show Bowdoin as one of the happiest student bodies. An example would be the website, niche)
Great food - he wanted a campus that dined together (versus separately or off campus) and he kept reading about Bowdoin’s amazing food. I visited him in early April and he confirms the food is incredible and the dining halls are a very happy place
Lots of clubs and sports teams but in a unified campus. He wanted lots of options (writing for the paper, student government, club sports) but he heard that at some schools the sports teams become like proxy-fraternities and that is a turn-off for him. At Bowdoin, he has many friends on varsity teams and many that are not at all interested in playing or watching sports.