<p>well...if ur looking for the big names, no lib arts are going to get it for you</p>
<p>if ur looking for that "WOW" from every person u meet, first, ur attending college for the wrong reason, second, u won't get it from most lib arts schools, third, the gen pop is stupid, my hair cutter never even heard of Cornell....so do u think, he would know what bowdoin was, he would prob thing it was a type of stake</p>
<p>its all different, many ppl confuse UPenn w. Penn state, and northwestern w. northeastern, etc...</p>
<p>a lot of ppl confuse Univ of Il at Chicago with the real U Chicago...</p>
<p>I'm not looking for college for the name recognition at all. I'm looking for the experience and opportunities. YOU, bball, are the one who brought name recognition up as putting Scripps significantly below Bowdoin.</p>
<p>I thought I should add that stats-wise, Bowdoin and Scripps are quite close, at least if you're only looking at stats of top-10% of class and SATs. I realize those stats may not necessarily mean much since there are so many more components to applicants and top-10% really isn't very specific. Then again, I wonder if maybe the history of these schools affect what people think of their academics more than their current reality does sometimes. For instance, I get very different reactions from people who associate Smith as being what it was pre-1970s (ie the best education offered to a woman), vs. people who associate it with being just "a good liberal arts college". What'd ya think?</p>
<p>For what it's worth, I finished high school in the Boston area a long time ago, and the students I knew around there seemed to be more enthralled with Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby (Maine's 3 elite liberal arts colleges) than they were with any in-state liberal arts colleges. It seems to be the same these days, as those 3 have a high % of students from Massachusetts (where people have fairly high standards about colleges). It seemed to be common knowledge that Bowdoin was something special, and in English classes it was mentioned that both Longfellow and Nathanel Hawthorne were Bowdoin grads. (The rumor that Longfellow and Hawthorne invented the keg party while at Bowdoin is, however, unsubstantiated.) My point is that even though you became aware of Bowdoin only recently, you can rest assured that it is not some obscure place that has suddenly become notable. It's a big-time LAC, and has been for a long time.</p>
<p>Both are excellent, well-regareded schools. Scripps is female only, BUt is part of the Claremont cluster, which means that you can take courses at the other Claremont schools. Scripps is in a location of great weather.</p>
<p>Bowdoin is coed. However, its locations in Maine means that you have cold weather. If you count the whole Claremont cluster, there are more kids there than at Bowdoin.</p>
<p>Academically, you won't go wrong with either one.</p>
<p>one other plus for Scripps is that they offer merit money....walking around in shorts in Janary is a nice way to go to college, IMO. Definitely visit if you can.</p>
<p>bball: the correct spelling is Claremont (no i).</p>
<p>unless weather is your number one priority go to bowdoin. it's so much better academically and YES good grad schools value degrees from these two schools quite differently, it's like comparing dartmouth to usc.</p>
<p>collegeprep, if you're going to be making statements even I can tell are ridiculous (for instance, bowdoin isn't regarded as highly as dartmouth, scripps is regarded better than usc) at least put some context on what you're saying. I looked at your profile and see you are either a hs senior or a college freshman judging by the age. College guides and US News are not always reliable sources of information.</p>
<p>"My point is that even though you became aware of Bowdoin only recently, you can rest assured that it is not some obscure place that has suddenly become notable. It's a big-time LAC, and has been for a long time."</p>
<p>I guess my little suspicion, which I wasn't very clear about, is that, granted they are both very good schools, Bowdoin is not as great compared to other LACs as it once was, and that Scripps is on the rise, and that they are in fact currently comparable. Since this suspicion isn't terribly substantiated but for looking at college guides, opinions?</p>
<p>BBall--"u yea, Clairmont, Pomona, great schoolls</p>
<p>just b/c something is in the clairmont corsotium or w.e. it is called, doesn't mean it is prestigious</p>
<p>Clairmont and Pomona are great, scripps, i don't know anyhin about it"</p>
<p>First of all, someone who spells like this (or simply is as careless as this) is not someone from whom I would take advice about the relative merit of one college versus the other! Second, when you are talking about "prestige" (which is a lousy reason to choose a college IMHO) women's colleges (not "girls schools") have to be looked at a little differently. They will never really have the same selectivity as coed schools because they only appeal to half of the student population. And the "Seven Sisters" simply have more name recognition than Scripps because of their age and location. Scripps is a fantastic school, and one of the most beautiful campuses anywhere. I believe they can also boast of the highest SAT scores of any womens college, as well as the best food of any campus! I don't know that much about Bowdoin, but my sense is that it will be much different than Scripps in atmosphere. I know that I would not prefer it for either of my kids despite its reputation, but I don't know you, so I can't really say.
What I can say is that I am a Scripps Graduate (25 years ago!) and while I cannot pretend to know what the experience is like now, I am so impressed every time I visit by the thoughtful new building additions and the things I see happening around campus. Also, our alumnae magazine is filled with the most impressive stories about students, alumnae and faculty that honestly humble me--we get a couple of other schools' alumni magazines at home that don't impress me nearly as much. I only wish I lived closer so that I could attend more events!
One of the best things about Scripps is that you can select from so many different activities on the different campuses, but still return to beautiful dorms that are well-kept and quiet. It's honestly the best of both worlds. I don't know much about your prospective major(s), but I think the Joint Science Dept. is very well respected by graduate schools, and Southern California is a pretty interesting place to be for Environmental Science.
Only one caveat--if you have any bitterness about not being accepted by Pomona--you have to be strong. It's human nature to compare, and while I think that most people at the 5 C's recognize that the stereotypes aren't valid, you can see just by the threads on CC about Women's Colleges that people have a tendency to denigrate them. You will hear the other 5 C's students say things that may be hurtful--and you have to be firm about the advantages that you have, being a Scrippsie. I certainly have no regrets--despite the fact that no one on the East Coast has heard of it. But I believe that Nancy Beckavac is out to change that, as she has been back to NYC for events quite a few times in the last year. My D is at Swarthmore, and honestly, not a day goes by that I don't regret not pushing a bit harder for Scripps, but that's another story. Good luck.</p>
<p>Whoa! Scripps is not like USC in any way shape or form--not even in name recognition, if that's what you are trying to say! You cannot make blanket comparisons about name recognition between east coast and west coast schools--period. Just think for a minute why the Claremont Colleges do not have the same name recognition---reason it out! Wow, I really think this California girl needs to go home;)</p>
<p>what i meant was that if aws can be compared to hyp then bowdoin~dartmouth and scripps~usc. when you talk about quality of education you're talking about that of the present not what it was or what it will be, ecape, you said scripps is on the rise and i have to agree but the quality of education at the present is still not on par with bowdoin. however i strongly disagree that bowdoin isn't as great of a school as it once was, i think it's still a great school and will continue to be for a long long time. bowdoin is a wealthy school, with the endowment almost three times that of scripps, and i'm sure this means more resources for the students. one can easily argue that by attending scripps she can also take classes from nearby pomona, mckenna and harvey mudd which offer comparable education to bowdoin, but if you compare just the two school, scripps vs bowdoin then it's quite clear that bowdoin beats scripps in almost everything except maybe the weather and location.</p>
<p>per the # of students, the endowment of Scripps and Bowdoin is virtually identical as well. Scripps -about 180 million for 700 students. Bowdoin -about 500 million for 1700 students. </p>
<p>"the quality of education at the present is still not on par with bowdoin"</p>
<p>how about some substantiated differences, preppy? you're speaking in generalities that don't mean so much. and yeah, the quality of education at scripps includes taking classes at those other schools, i hardly think you can look at any school in a vacuum. i'd like to know in real terms what makes educations at the two schools different, from someone who has such strong opinions.</p>
<p>I agree women's schools tend to be looked down upon unreasonably, sometimes. Since women historically weren't encouraged towards careers, /of course/ you're not going to have as many famous alum from women's colleges. I know another girl who transferred from Smith to Bowdoin, and according to her academics between those schools are quite comparable. A girl from Scripps who visited Smith said her classes in the Claremonts were smaller and more seminar based, but comparable. By property of translation (and going on the perspective of only two people), that would make Scripps and Bowdoin comparable.</p>
<p>Ecape, I don't know if I would agree with you on your comparisons of Bowdoin to Dartmouth. If you were to actually to compare the two schools side by side, I wouldn't say there is not much of a difference (both academically and socially, trust me I know because I have visited Dartmouth and sat in on a few classes). The only difference is the size of the schools, and that Dartmouth has more resources due to its large endowment. I would also not agree with your statement Bowdoin is "not as great as it once was compared to other top LACs". Where are you getting this info? Cause it sounds like your pulling it out of you @ss! Bowdoin has made alot of improvements over past few years and will continue to do so into the future (e.g. construction of a new science lab building, construction of two new freshmen dorms, renovation of all first year dorms by 2008, a new state of the art music/ concert hall, renovation of the Bowdoin museum, and new state of the art hockey rink to be completed in the near future). I would like to know what other LAC is making such captial improvements? Bowdoin is also planning to add 20 new faculty members, for departments where there are alot of majors. So tell me where are your generalizations coming from?</p>
<p>I wasn't saying definitively that "Bowdoin was not as great as it once was." I apologize for that statement, if that's how you interpreted it. It was more of a /question/... only b/c myself and people around me don't know that much about any of these schools. (You can go back at my post and look, I'm pretty sure I made it clear it's a /question/ so I don't think the profanity is needed.) But if you look at numbers which may or not mean anything, like SATs and the Wallstreet Journal feeder school list, Bowdoin falls behind Dartmouth. That's where the comparison between Dartmouth and Bowdoin came from</p>
<p>oh yeah, btw RFL, visiting and sitting in on a few classes /hardly/ qualifies as a lot of knowledge about schools. but your /opinion/ is still appreciated</p>
<p>Ummm...bowdoin isn't close to the same level as Dartmouth. Dartmouth's scores are almost 100 pits higher, its acceptance rate is half the size, etc. Dartmouth is on the level of AWS. I was at a party at a lakehouse full of Bowdoin grads and they looked at me like I was a superstar for going to Dartmouth. One kid talked to me about how he applied to get in three times, no joke. To top it off, I didn't even go out of my way to mention I went to Dartmouth.</p>
<p>"I was at a party at a lakehouse full of Bowdoin grads and they looked at me like I was a superstar for going to Dartmouth."</p>
<p>Wow... the way some people obsess over schools really sort of disgusts me. And SATs aren't terribly definitive (although I think they may be accurate much of the time), b/c I know people w/ lower SATs than me doing better at top colleges.</p>
<p>"Dartmouth is on the level of AWS."</p>
<p>By your logic, slipper, this is not necessarily true. If you are looking at SATs, yes. If you are looking at acceptance %, no. So which is meaningful?</p>
<p>B/c by that logic, if you are looking at SATs, Scripps and Bowdoin are very close. But if you look at acceptance %, Bowdoin is very close to AWS.</p>
<p>You are right, Dartmouth is MORE selective than AWS when it comes to percentage accepted (15%). Also it has higher scores...so um, it wins on both accounts.</p>
<p>So Dartmouth is more selective than AWS every account (yield, top 10%, SATs, acceptance rate, etC), and Bowdoin is close to AWS on ONE account, Bowdoin is close to Dartmouth? No way.</p>
<p>Honestly I think the fact you have to argue so much that Scripps is close to Bowdoin is indicative of how it isn't in the eyes of most people.</p>