<p>I am a rising senior and have been thinking about Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin in maine. Which college do you think has the overall best academics/social life/atmosphere out of the three. Thanksssssss</p>
<p>What is the best for one is not the best for another. The best way to tell which one fits you best is to visit.</p>
<p>Personally, of the three, I didnt even apply to Bates, got accepted at Colby, and will be attending Bowdoin. So I will obviously tell you that Bowdoin suited me the best.</p>
<p>There's not a single person who has ever attended all three, and so on what basis would they "think" about this question at all?</p>
<p>Why don't you go visit?</p>
<p>well mini, i AM planning to visit all three colleges, but before i do i want to hear from other kids who have gone through each one, and see if they enjoyed their college experiance...all i was asking was a question, you dont have to be rude</p>
<p>I don't know much about Bates, but I've visited Colby and Bowdoin. </p>
<p>Colby is literally situated at the top of a hill, miles away from ANYTHING, any houses, any restaurants. The "city", dare I call it that, that lies outside of these couple miles is mostly motels. I think there might have been a McDonald's, but honest to God, I don't think there was. This CAN be a good thing in that the Colby community is really close-knit and everyone hangs around on campus all the time.</p>
<p>Bowdoin has a small "town" which is really more like a strip mall. It is one or two streets with a total of maybe 50 restaurants and boutiques. Personally, that wasn't nearly enough activity for me, but like I mentioned above, some people really enjoy the summer-camp sort of feel, and it definately has its benefits.</p>
<p>Personally, I found Colby's architecture more charming. The school seemed more planned out and matched and organized. Bowdoin seemed a little more all over the place. Both had very charming, typically northeastern and LAC campuses that I enjoyed immensely.</p>
<p>Now I've given you some facts, so it's your job to go out and figure out which place suits you better. :)</p>
<p>i actually found (and find - since i attend the school...) the town around bowdoin to be quite charming and not at all "strip mall"-like. it seems, to me, like the quintessential new england town (as opposed to the suburbs i grew up in, where everything actually <em>is</em> a strip mall). if what you mean is that everything is right there for you (like a disney theme park), then i guess i can see where you're coming from, but strip-mall has such a negative connotation.</p>
<p>walk down maine street (the main drag) and you'll find a nice park, small shops and restaurants, and all the essentials, so you don't have to walk too far in the bitter cold - but you can go running or biking to the beach or through the residential areas surrounding the school, there is a bowling alley, chain restaurants (and strip-malls) and a large movie theater a bit further away (5 minute drive), and portland's less than a half-hour drive away. it struck me as a perfect college setting - the only things i found wanting were the level of integration between the town and the college (like, say, princeton, dartmouth, or maybe kenyon, though it was rather small) and, perhaps, the lack of nearby nightlife/etc.</p>
<p>i never visited bates, though i have a friend who really loved it (liked it better than bowdoin, except for the city...), but i found colby to be rather barren, both in terms of its surrounding town and in terms of the school itself's appearance.</p>
<p>to the op: all three schools are quite good, and each one has its own strengths. i don't think you should pick one based solely on the fact that it is the "best" of the three in some anonymous forum-dwellers' opinions. do some research and find out what is unique about each of the schools, and use that to help determine which one is best for <em>you</em>. good luck!</p>
<p>(... of course, if i had to choose one, i'd choose bowdoin. but i'm more than a bit biased.)</p>
<p>I'd choose Bowdoin between the three for academics and social life, but Colby's one edge is that the community is tied together like a fisherman's</a> loop knot, mainly b/c all they have is eachother.</p>