Which Liberal Arts College is right for me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Bowdoin College
1

Hello!

I’ve been spending the week scrolling through colleges. I was hoping I could get some help selecting a college, and will post this in those that have stuck out to me.

A little about me:
GPA: 3.7
SAT: 780 Math 740 CR
4 Year Track Athlete
I generally prefer english to math but don’t mind either. I enjoy history and philosophy. I consider myself to be pretty competitive and love watching sports, and also appreciate art too and enjoy listening to music. I don’t care much for drama/theatre or sciences. While I love to run I don’t intend on perusing in competitively.

What I know I want:
-A magnificent campus. Something small with old and pretty buildings.
-Not Cliquey. I want a group of friendly and open people. This is important to me.
-No Frats. Frankly almost all accounts of fraternities I’ve heard about have been negative. I’d be open to change my mind. I know Bowdoin has an interesting alternative, however. I’d like to hear about that.

What I’m not sure about:
-A rural area. I think I want something rural (similar to what I’ve seen from Williams), but I’m not sure. What are the pros and cons?
-I don’t like to drink or party too hard, but I’m not sure if a college having a lot of this is necessarily a turn off, as hopefully I can just ignore it. Thoughts?
-Often some of these colleges are mentioned as being known for “academic rigor”, but that is kind of vague. How many hours a day is that? How stressful is it? I have a fairly strong work ethic but don’t want to be up late every night doing boring research projects.

Thank you!

2

let’s see what I can answer for Bowdoin
Magnificent Campus? Check
Friendly and open people? Check
There are no frats at Bowdoin (one of the few schools without frats). There are college houses which (you are assigned one as a freshman) promotes events and parties, which you can choose if you want or not to attend.
Rural area - pros and cons are really subjective for this. I don’t mind it at all, in fact, I don’t have time to do all that I would like to do on campus! (activity/cultural wise). So I don’t miss being in a big city at all. That said, Bowdoin isn’t considered a rural school as much as a suburban school. Portland, the largest city in Maine, is pretty close and Boston is a two hour ride.
I don’t drink or party too hard either. Most people here do drink, but they don’t try to force it on you or ostracize you because you don’t or anything. You can definitely ignore it.
For academic rigor, it’s also very subjective. See, naturally, each person spends a different amount on academics. The thing is, you don’t have to stay up late every night doing boring research projects, because hopefully if you align your course choosings with your interests there won’t be any boring research projects, only interesting ones! For example, I often spend more time doing projects than I have too, but that’s just because I find the topic so interesting that I just keep on - it’s a pleasure.

Hope I could help.

3

Bowdoin’s campus is absolutely beautiful. Ranked as one of the most beautiful each year.
Bowdoin students are all super friendly, open, collaborative, nice, etc.
There are no frats. Bowdoin has social houses, and they are non-exclusive social options. Each freshman dorm building is assigned to a house, and it’s basically a way to have fun and have athletic competitions, have costume parties, have a bigger network of friends, compete against other social houses. I’ve heard good things about it!

Bowdoin isn’t rural. Brunswick, ME is a quaint “Maine” town right on the ocean. There are many unique and ethnic restaurants as well as a couple movie theaters and stores. There is a great shopping outlet in Freeport, ME just 20 minutes south (stores like JCrew, L L Bean, Nike, North Face, Patagonia, Banana, etc) Portland, ME is 30 minutes south and is a mini Boston. Also, there is a train about 100m off Bowdoin’s campus that will bring you directly into Boston in about 2 hours. Brunswick, ME is the perfect college town in my opinion, and you also have access to cities as well as the ocean and the mountains. Perfect for either situation. Bowdoin also has one of the best outing clubs in the country; and Maine has many beautiful places to visit (more so than Williamstown I’d say).

I’m also not really a drinker, and I’ll be attending Bowdoin next year. I’ve asked some friends about the drinking/partying scene and they’ve said that it does exist, however, there’s absolutely no pressure to do either. There are so many other options on campus. No one will force you to do anything, and there are definitely students who don’t even participate in anyway. Because Bowdoin is in Brunswick, which is an actual town, you can go out on nights with friends and find other things to do off campus as well if you’d like; the same can’t be said about Williams where there is a sport-dominated culture with lots of drinking (because there isn’t much else to do).

Bowdoin is known for its academics; therefore, it is a hard school. Because I will be attending next year and I don’t know how many hours a day it will be, I cannot help you with that question (sorry!). I have heard that Bowdoin has a very collaborative environment and students don’t stress each other out. Professors are very helpful, and people form study groups all the time. Any good college will be tough; it’s about finding an environment/atmosphere where you will succeed!

Hopefully I could help you a little! Best of luck with this process :slight_smile: