<p>If you had to choose one to be the better college, which would you choose? Why?</p>
<p>Which is more prestigious (I know some of you will attack me for asking that)? If liberal arts schools were somehow incorporated into the US World and News Top Universities list, which would be placed higher? </p>
<p>More grads from Bowdoin get into top schools (<a href="http://wsjclassroom.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://wsjclassroom.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf</a>). Does this demonstrate which school is superior? </p>
<p>Which graduates get the better jobs? Which graduates make more money? Which has the nicer campus?</p>
<p>Also, which has the better students (based off of statistics)?</p>
<p>
The only one of those 3 questions that should have any relevance is “which has a nicer campus,” and even that is entirely subjective. If you like being in a more rural atmosphere in Maine then Bowdoin’s campus appeals more to you; if you like being in a more urban environment right outside of Boston then you’ll probably prefer Tufts’s campus. Both have very nice campuses which have very different appeals.
As far as which graduates make more money/get better jobs that’s not something the school is going to do for you, but you need to do for yourself.</p>
<p>And as far as those professional/grad school admission rankings, they don’t account for all “good” professional/grad schools (which is somewhat reasonable), but also don’t account for the number of students applying, which is very relevant. Tufts has a significantly larger population then Bowdoin and doesn’t send as large a percentage of students to law schools, etc, because a lot are engineers or do other things after graduating.</p>