<p>Hello all,
I was waitlisted (and then put on the extended summer waitlist) for Bowdoin, and I’m guessing at this point they are not going to let me in, since it is almost July. I have my heart set on Bowdoin and am planning on transferring. I am currently set to attend Middlebury this fall and have a few questions. Will the fact that I am trying to transfer from a LAC of the same standing as Bowdoin help me out? Will not asking for any FA help? Will the fact that I was waitlisted and basically in the group of most-liked-rejected-applicants-for-Bowdoin help? I am aware that in some years Bowdoin accepts mid-year transfers, but how will I know if this year is one of them? Because if it is I am certainly going to try…
Another thing is that at the very beginning of this year I was diagnosed with a disease that has really put a dampener on my happiness/ability to keep up with activities/ECs, and I am afraid that my lack of doing anything in this past half year will hurt my application. I was able to keep straight A’s, but everything else in my life stopped because I was busy dealing with my health. Is there a way to let Bowdoin know this so they don’t think I just quit volunteering, working, and keeping up with my activities because I was feeling lazy?</p>
<p>Any answers would help me greatly. Thanks so much.</p>
<p>You’re making a terrible decision for several reasons. First off, you’ve decided to transfer before you’ve even set foot on Middlebury’s campus. That’s nuts. You haven’t even given Midd a chance. </p>
<p>You should have taken a gap year and reapplied to Bowdoin if you wanted it so badly. If you have your heart set on transferring, you’re taking a spot away from one of the thousands of kids who really wanted to attend Midd this year but never made it off the waitlist. If you have no intention of giving Middlebury a chance, you should contact the admissions office and ask for your matriculation to be deferred for a year. In that time, reapply to Bowdoin and see what happens.</p>
<p>Not really asking for an opinion on my plan so much as answers to my questions. I still want to start my college studies at a good school this fall so I am attending Middlebury rather than sitting around at home for a year. There are always going to be a couple of students like me in every incoming college class, it’s just what happens. I’m sure there are one or two in this year’s class for Bowdoin, and I don’t hate them for taking spots that could have gone to me… I understand why they’d enroll anyway, because attending a prestigious institution this fall could help them to transfer out to their dream schools.
Please don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t do when you don’t know the details of my reasons why. Thanks.</p>
<p>Sorry, but no one feels bad for you, and I agree with Arcadia 100%. Give Midd a chance, or let someone who really wants it go in your place. This is really acting immature.</p>
<p>If prestige is what you’re all about, you’re bound to be disappointed anywhere. It should be about getting a great education, and using the resources of your college to advantage in every way-intellectually, professionally, and socially.</p>
<p>piginahat–it appears your only two responses are from dedicated Middlebury folk. My son attended Bowdoin and had a medical condition which meant he missed much of his senior year of high school. He just kept the college informed, it was that simple. FWIW, I don’t think you’re acting immature. Keep asking questions and good luck with your sojourn …Sorry I don’t know the answer to your transfer questions, but both schools are excellent and will offer wonderful experiences.</p>
<p>piginahat - I am sorry that you received two responses that did not answer your question. I think Arcadia is just defensive of Middlebury. Both schools are excellent.</p>
<p>I can completely understand wanting to transfer from Middlebury to Bowdoin. IMO, Bowdoin has quite a different feel than Middlebury. Additionally, they have different academic strengths - Bowdoin’s government department, Midd’s foreign language departments. I will be attending Bowdoin next year, but if I was in your situation, I would definitely be staying on the waitlist. There will be students in Midd’s class, in Bowdoin’s incoming class, William’s incoming class, etc. that are not attending their first choice and would like to transfer. You may fall in love with Middlebury, but if you don’t, I think transferring is a viable option. I know it is difficult to transfer to Bowdoin, since they have high class retention. However, I know a few people are accepted each year, and going to Middlebury definitely won’t hurt you!</p>
<p>I can’t answer many of your questions, because I don’t know anything about transferring.</p>
<p>For the record, I would give that same advice to anyone regardless of school. I just found this thread because it mentioned Middlebury. If the roles were reversed, (wanting to transfer to Midd from Bowdoin), I’d give the same exact advice. Kids that already have decided to transfer before they set foot on campus bring a negativity that can be pervasive. I’d hazard to say that most kids in the same situation would at least give the school that they chose a chance. I wouldn’t have the same comments if this post was made after the first few weeks of the semester. </p>
<p>But I’ll go ahead and try to answer your question. Your chance of being accepted to Bowdoin as a transfer is extremely slim. They accepted over a thousand students this year, and unfortunately you weren’t one of them. The first-year acceptance rate was about 17%. Let’s compare that to transfer stats. </p>
<p>Last year, 149 students applied as transfers, and 6 were admitted (4%). Of those, 3 decided to enroll.</p>
<p>The year before that, 161 students applied as transfers, 8 were accepted (5%), and 3 enrolled.</p>
<p>The year before that, 196 students applied as transfers, 6 were accepted (3%), and 3 enrolled.</p>
<p>So basically Bowdoin accepts 3-5% of transfer applicants each year. If you didn’t get in when the acceptance rate was 17%, your odds of getting in when the acceptance rate is 4% are very small. If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.</p>
<p>What are you mad?!?
Middlebury is an excellent school and you want to transfer to Bowdoin?!? Good God! That’s like giving Harvard the middle finger. </p>
<p>Jokes aside. Your chances, as stated before, quite frankly are very slim. I won’t repeat what the other guy posted because I think you get the picture. In my opinion, I don’t think “skipping” EC activities will hinder your chances at successfully transferring to Bowdoin. But it certainly won’t help you either. I think that the A’s you’ve earned during your dilemma shows that you are capable of doing well at Bowdoin which I think is most important. </p>
<p>Piginahat - It likely will help your transfer chances if you do not apply for financial aid as I believe that the transfer part of the admissions process at Bowdoin is not “need blind.” While the odds of being admitted as a transfer are indeed long (as the Middlebury fans have pointed out), that should not deter you from taking your best shot at it. And that best shot would include the careful advance planning that you are doing now while you have the time to focus on it. You would be transferring from Middlebury (a Bowdoin peer), which should increase your chances of admission significantly, especially if you do well in your first semester at Middlebury. Perhaps you will learn to like Middlebury but that possibility should not stop you from maximizing your options in case your instincts are correct . .</p>
<p>Frankly, i’m with Arcadia and Oldbatesie on this one. I can’t imagine any set of circumstances that would help the OP’s chances, if they can’t answer the one question any adcom worth their salt would be scratching their head over as they read their application: “What in the world is so bad about Middlebury?”</p>
<p>… seriously? Why not give Middlebury a chance first? … People RARELY transfer from one nescac to the other. Their environments aren’t worlds apart…, in the transfer application they ask why it is you want to leave your current school - how does it make sense to leave one place to one that is nearly identical? I did early decision at Bowdoin and ended up not liking it as much as I thought. And trust me when I say I was Bowdoin’s biggest fan. I still adore Bowdoin but it wasn’t an exact fit for me. You haven’t even given Middlebury a chance yet and you DEFINITELY do not know that you’d like Bowdoin better because they aren’t different ENOUGH to make that decision without attending… don’t you think you’re being a tiny bit rash</p>
<p>it’s silly to transfer. congratulations on getting into middlebury. thousands of kids are envious of you, a few of whom are attending bowdoin in the fall. the schools are so identical that i actually think it will harm your transfer application to bowdoin. transferring is something of a disruptive event and all schools look for, if they don’t explicitly request, legitimate reasons for your transfer application. i can’t think of any legitimate reasons to transfer from middlebury to bowdoin. there might be reasons, but i can assure you, they’re likely to strike the admissions officer handling your application as insignificant at best; at worst they’ll seem ridiculous. yours is a very difficult case to make. if you must make it, though, not applying for FA will help. coming from middlebury will not, in my opinion.</p>
<p>OP, sorry that you have irrelevant individuals posting here. I too get upset when you ask a question, and people want to give you opinions on the content of your question. I don’t see where in the question where it asks “what do you think of my decision?” so I don’t knnow why people are giving their 2 cents, when it’s worthless. </p>
<p>Anyway, taking it from someone WHO GOES TO BOWDOIN, I would say that it is possible. I mean, I wouldn’t put all of my eggs in one basket and bank on getting in, but it’s possible. Particulalry, it helps if your college GPA is strong, and you had a great High School career. The fact that you were waitlisted and not rejected should give you some indication that they see something in you (or else they would’ve just rejected you). </p>
<p>This year you’re REALLY lucky, just because in my class, we had 510 students who enrolled making us the largest class in the history of the school. They really weren’t trying to have transfers, just because of the size of our class. This year, it’s back in the 400 range, so you’re chances are looking better than it would’ve last year. </p>
<p>Good Luck and I hope you get in. Sorry that there were like 10 replies, and only 3 actually answered your question.</p>
<p>I don’t see how your post was more substantial an answer the OP’s specific questions than anyone else’s. Being an “actual Bowdoin student” is no more relevant than anyone else here unless you work for their admissions office.</p>
<p>It’s more helpful than “omgzzzzz juss give middleburrry a chance plz!!1111” Whether my answer was substantial or not, at least I answered his question and didn’t give an unnecessary opinion like almost everyone did here. If you guys read his OP and read his second post, he didn’t ask for your opinion on whether “he’s doing the right thing,” so why you people are commenting with irrelevant posts is beyond me.</p>
<p>we were just giving feedback that we thought would help him even if he didn’t ask for it. And besides his “questions” had obvious answers anyways. </p>
<p>a) OBVIOUSLY it helps to not apply for aid. In fact, I worked in admissions and I know for a fact that they are need sensitive when it comes to transfers and if you apply for aid at Bowdoin as a transfer you have little to no chance.</p>
<p>b) Coming from Middlebury won’t help substantially - they like to wait for Ivy kids to apply. My friend got in from an Ivy with a 2.9 and another friend who was accepted initally out of high school and applied from NYU with a 3.8 was rejected. Which brings me to my next point</p>
<p>c) Being on the list of “rejected students they liked the most” isn’t going to substantially help you out either. Like you can see from point b, it doesn’t really make a difference.</p>
<p>What might help is your unrelenting, though kind of naive and immature, drive to be at Bowdoin. Also, write a letter expressing how much you love Bowdoin. They eat that _____ up</p>
<p>Assuming johnwesley is correct and your first two questions have been answered then I’ll tackle the ones that are left</p>
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<p>I don’t think so. You didn’t make the cut for the incoming class and it is even harder to get in as a transfer.</p>
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<p>Call them and ask.</p>
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<p>Call them and tell them.</p>
<p>In light of the abysmal statistics for transfers that was provided by Arcadia I find the advice that you should try to like Middlebury very relevant. Bowdoin doesn’t take many transfers, it’s a long shot at best. You’ll have to come up with something that you can get from Bowdoin that you can’t get from Middlebury.</p>
<p>Bowdoin didn’t accept any transfers this year, but I don’t know about next year. In general they accept very few transfers. </p>
<p>Give Middlebury a chance – it can’t be that bad. You’re probably having last minute hesitation and just want what you can’t have. A lot of these NESCAC and top liberal arts schools are very similar so you’re bound to have a similar experience. It’s not like you’re comparing Middlebury to Wesleyan or Harvey Mudd. It’s Bowdoin … which is like Middlebury.</p>