<p>Bowdoin isn’t the open minded and intellectually/culturally curious community its sold to be. Its more a place for prep schoolers and rich people who just care about whats in mainstream culture. Theres not much passion here, except to get As. My friendships and relationships were full of such passion and intensity, and consistently moved towards doing new things and exploring new tastes. I don’t get that here. I get blank stares for liking videogames that aren’t FIFA. Unless your content with mainstream and prep school culture don’t go here. And this is even so in clubs that claim otherwise such as Bowdoin’s intellectual society, people here are just into what they were already into. My distress grows every day as there is no one I can talk to and be myself. This place is hollow to me, but I do know most people are happy because its the way things have always been to them. Just watch out if you want a thrill from other people interested in exploring human identity. You’ll just get drunkin Celtics fans.</p>
<p>However, I’ll concede that I may just not have found such individuals at Bowdoin yet or the possibility that finding such people is hard anywhere, but in the former’s case, the fact that it is claimed such individuals are the norm here makes this issue troubling despite it.</p>
<p>Thanks Zeke63, Bowdoin sounds perfect.</p>
<p>It sounds like you are currently attending at the College. If so, perhaps you should consider transferring to another institution thereby opening a spot to someone more appreciative of all that is offered and, hopefully, more mature.</p>
<p>Zeke,
Are you a freshman? It sounds like you have a lot to offer the college. The idea of applying to transfer might give you options as you are figuring out if Bowdoin is the place for you. If you did apply and get admitted through ED, you may like having a chance to choose-- perhaps to stay at Bowdoin, or to transfer to a place you feel is a better fit. It also sounds like you might benefit from a sounding board-- advisor, first year Dean or another trusted person on the campus as you sort through your feelings.
I wish you the best!</p>
<p>Well Bowdoin isss an elite liberal arts schools, and other similar schools like Amherst, Williams, Middlebury are like that too. LACs tend to be in a way homogeneous. Much bigger schools like state schools probably can provide the diversity the OP is looking for. </p>
<p>But you’ve only been at Bowdoin for a month (if you are a freshman) so give it more of a chance and let yourself find your niche.</p>
<p>Perhaps the OP can discover the apostrophe at Bowdoin.</p>
<p>Or that intellectual curiosity is not measured by which video game you like to play!!!</p>
<p>sounds like the OP belongs at Swarthmore, UChicago, Oberlin or Brown.</p>
<p>I’m a junior at Bowdoin, and I totally understand the experiences of Zeke63 and 543210. I had a miserable first year, but things have gotten way better since then–don’t forget that a majority of students at all colleges want to transfer in their first year.</p>
<p>There are many thoughtful people here who want to engage on serious issues. It’s just a matter of finding them, and that takes time, particularly since they are a minority here.</p>
<p>My advice? Get involved with the McKeen Center, whether it is going on an Alternative Spring Break trip or helping Maine high school students apply to college. Spend a summer here working for an academic department or doing research; I met one of my best friends at Bowdoin when we were randomly paired as roommates during the summer. Approach people after class who have said interesting things during class discussions, and see if you can strike up a friendship. Join the UnDiscussed, get involved with a religious group, or join the Bowdoin Film Society. The wider you cast your net, the more quickly you will discover people you love at Bowdoin. There are students who are passionate about academics, didn’t go to prep schools, and don’t care a damn about the Red Sox, I promise you. You just have to be patient.</p>
<p>renaissancemom, your advice is ill-considered. the issue is how the OP’s expectations of what bowdoin would be like have not been met by reality. suggesting schools that market themselves in a particular way misses the point - that the difference between marketing and actual experience at any college can be seen as widely different by some students. it may ultimately be a question of fit, but it may just as likely (if not more likely) be a symptom of how people adjust to their first year in college. you assume that the marketing of swarthmore, oberlin, and brown are somehow less different from the real life lived on those campuses than the divide between marketing and reality at bowdoin. but i know that at any college (including the three you mentioned) there is a difference for some students between what is promised and what exists. resting on the marketed reputations of those schools in comparison to the OP’s actual experience at bowdoin does little to address the issue. </p>
<p>to the OP - i found my first semester at bowdoin difficult as well. i had very high expectations and, since i was from outside new england and fully ignorant of the prep school system, unprepared for my first impressions of the student body. in some ways i wanted bowdoin to look, at least superficially, a certain way. i wanted people to dress in more interesting ways, or be more flamboyant. what i realized, ultimately, was that i was giving a short shrift to people who, though they may have been quiet, or less flamboyant, or less superficially interesting, had profound and meaningful contributions to make to the campus. but they liked the red sox. or they wore khakis. </p>
<p>aside from that, though, there are many people at bowdoin that i found who were not interested in sports, were not from prep schools, were exactly what i was looking for in a student body. i lived in the chem free dorms, which helped, i think. but more importantly i became friends with people from class whose opinions i admired. i would go up to them and say, “hey i liked what you said in class and it got me thinking…” most of the time that led to a conversation over lunch or dinner and sometimes a friendship. other people joined the radio station, or the film society, or a variety of different clubs that exist on campus. </p>
<p>in large measure it is often a product of proximity to home. people deal with change in a variety of ways. but a lot of people do what is most comforting for them until the feeling of intense change subsides. transitioning to college may itself be the reason for certain first-year behavior that tends to mitigate as students grow and become independent. to mean, i found no video game playing, for instance, among my friends my senior year, although my first year roommate did it incessantly. </p>
<p>i empathize with what you’re going through because i went through a similar thing. i considered transferring, certainly, but i stayed. a close friend of mine transferred, but to upenn, in large part to have a completely different experience. i guess what i’m saying is for some students (and i was one of them) transition to college can be difficult. sometimes the school is not precisely the right fit. sometimes fit has nothing to do with it. for me it was a little of the former and a little of the latter. but in staying, i made terrific, life-long friends and got an unrivaled education. i realized much of this my final year there. and since graduating i’ve realized, in comparison with the experiences of friends of mine from other schools, how unique the good parts of bowdoin are, and how common the bad parts are. </p>
<p>i think transferring should be something you consider. but i also think it should be considered seriously. there were reasons you came to bowdoin and those things exist at bowdoin. they may not be readily apparent your first semester. but they’re there. </p>
<p>good luck.</p>
<p>i had terrible roommates my first semester, too and switched at the midterm. i don’t think it was kosher, but i switched into a room that was better suited for me because someone who lived there was friends with one of my terrible roommates and we negotiated a deal with the RA. first year roommates often do have an inordinate influence on the experience of college at first. if they’re bad, it’s tough to enjoy yourself.</p>