<p>I saw this for another school. I think it is a good way to evaluate what Bowdoin’s peer schools are, and just see where else people got in. I’ll start. I turned down Cornell, Washington University in St. Louis, Middlebury, Colby, Colgate, William and Mary, Boston College, and Wake Forest</p>
<p>bump tenchar</p>
<p>That’s interesting. I was trying to reorder my schools in terms of preference and think I would take all those schools over Bowdoin except Colgate and Wake Forest, and Wake Forest just because I never even thought of applying. I am trying to go between Colgate and Bowdoin as schools I could probably get into with no problem. </p>
<p>If you are going to say that you chose Bowdoin over all those other schools, what was your thinking on that decision?</p>
<p>A couple things: </p>
<p>1) I’m skeptical as to why you would place safeties (or at least what were safeties to me) over a reach school like Bowdoin. And even so, why specifically Colgate and Wake Forest? The schools that I was debating between in the end came down to Cornell, WashU, Middlebury and Bowdoin. All 4 of those schools have EQUAL prestige, ranking, endowment per student, etc. but I chose Bowdoin based on how I felt. That’s why you pick a school, anyway, isn’t it? </p>
<p>2) If I were you, I would hesitate to say that you could get into Bowdoin, and to a lesser extent Colgate, with “no problem.” I would remind you that Bowdoin had a 12.30% RD acceptance rate this year, and with an entering class of less than 500 students, getting in hardly easy, and should most definitely be considered a reach school. Without a doubt, getting into Bowdoin this year was no easier than getting into a Mid-level Ivy.</p>
<p>3) My thinking on choosing Bowdoin was a thought of belonging and feeling. I visited all four of my final schools and found that not only did Bowdoin have a phenomenal program I was interested in, not only was I named a Faculty Scholar, and not only did I love the location, but the students seemed genuine and interesting. Thus, my decision to attend Bowdoin.</p>
<p>@condor14: If you would choose Colby over Bowdoin, don’t even bother applying to Bowdoin. You will have a much much better chance of getting into Colby. Also, statistically speaking, Bowdoin is the hardest school to get into RD, on that list. So, Bowdoin is DEFINITELY not a safety for anyone.</p>
<p>@barvoets: I think the majority of the population would say Cornell and WashU have more prestige than Bowdoin/Midd. </p>
<p>@Cookieis77: I wouldn’t say a 10% difference is a “much much better chance”, considering Bowdoin gets more applicants than Colby. Also, students who would choose Colby > Bowdoin aren’t deterred from applying to Bowdoin because of an admissions stat…I was accepted to both and it was a VERY clear choice for me…it’s all about fit.</p>
<p>Allaboutbooks, I definitely disagree with your first statement. Name recognition DOES NOT equal prestige-just because more people know about Cornell and WashU doesn’t mean that they have more prestige. I can speak for Bowdoin when I say that many alumni have gone on to do things that are just as notable as grads at those two universities. We’ve got the founder of Netflix, Subway, CEO of American Express, one of the two founders of Mayo Clinic, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry W. Longfellow, Joshua Chamberlain, and way to many politicians to name. We also have an arguably more storied 50-75 years of existence than the other two. Being a small school, Bowdoin has a close-knit feel, excellent professors and the small-school-New-England feel that attracted me-and so many others- to it. If all that’s not prestigious for a 1,700 student LAC, with a lower RD acceptance rate than most other ‘prestigious’ Universities, then I don’t know what is. </p>
<p>Bottom line, don’t associate name recognition with prestige. Just because someone hasn’t heard of a school DOES NOT mean it is less prestigious. It certainty isn’t the case with Midd and Bowdoin, both of which are certainly in the top echelon of schools.</p>
<p>In the end if someone considers Bowdoin a second tier school, that’s OK. And if someone considers it a safety, well, that’s OK, too. We’re all entitled to our lists and our assessments of what amounts to a “sure thing”. A note of caution, though. I would check out the Bowdoin RD thread. There you’ll find a couple of applicants with amazing stats (2400 SATs, 4.0 GPA’s, NMSFs, etc., etc.) who were waitlisted at Bowdoin. There were definitely some hurt feelings on the part of some parents/applicants even though they did fine - one ended up at Stanford, the other, Yale. So, proceed with the whole Bowdoin as safety school at your own risk.</p>
<p>From the original list up top I think Middlebury really gives Bowdoin a run for the money. I thought Bates was a wonderful school when I visited with my son. Didn’t like Colby all that much - got a weird vibe from the place.</p>
<p>As for my son he turned down $60,000 in merit scholarship money at a very good LAC in order to attend Bowdoin. I think I was getting a little chest pain typing that last sentence!</p>
<p>Go U Bears!</p>
<p>Hi sorry I have been busy a few days. I’m sorry if this all gets confused, I actually was just asking for barvoets reasoning behind wanting to attend Bowdoin more than those other schools which would have been a little higher on my list for different reasons. We don’t all apply to colleges on the same platform or for the same goals. I’m interested in Bowdoin because I like the idea of going to college in Maine. It’s nice and isolated. To some people this is a negative. To me, it’s a positive.</p>
<p>I definitely am also not applying to college based on the admissions rates. I want to find somewhere where I’ll be happy for 4 years. If I can’t get into a college, it won’t be my academics that keep me out, and then I’d probably be happier not to be there if they don’t think it would work to have me as a student there.</p>
<p>Anyway thanks for the thoughts on Bowdoin and why you chose it. I appreciate it.</p>
<p>edited: itsallgood thanks for the thoughts on colby, bates planning to visit soon and this helps</p>
<p>The kids posting in this thread clearly DO care about what they are discussing. If you don’t, you don’t need to participate in the discussion. If we all went around the internet criticizing everyone who doesn’t share our interests or point of view, telling other people what they have a right to be interested in, what they ought to care about and what they ought to discuss online, no one would have time for anything else, ever. This is why there are millions of different online forums - so you can participate in discourse that is valuable to you. </p>