<p>Hi. I’m an int student seriously considering Bowdoin and may apply ED.
Although I’m not applying for financial aid, I may have to take out a loan and work during summer to pay for my education. I heard Bowdoin has a ‘preppy, prominently white’ student body. I’ve read some threads and they don’t seem like students that worry about money. I’m worried that I won’t fit in because I’m from the middle class. Please tell me I’m wrong!</p>
<p>Rejoice: you're wrong. </p>
<p>I seriously doubt anyone at a community such as Bowdoin's will in anyway look down upon someone because of their financial status, and I'm pretty sure that nobody will care how you are paying for your education.</p>
<p>I'm also applying to Bowdoin and am most defiantly middle class. Though I can't apply ED because I need at least decent Financial Aid wherever I go. Bowdoin is need blind isn't it?</p>
<p>the trouble with schools with wealthy people is not that poorer students are looked down upon, but rather that wealthy students can sometimes seem entitled, or oblivious to the opportunities available to them. they take ski trips and fly to paris and do summer school film programs and drive nice cars. i didn't mind this so much, because bowdoin provided a lot for me, even though i wasn't a jetsetter, didn't drive a nice car, and couldn't afford ski trips. i still had a great time. and i never encountered any weirdness about my inability to pay for things that others could pay for and would pay for. although most of my friends were in the same boat: totally happy getting something at the pub, or ordering pizza and talking about nietzsche and freud lol. very high-low. the wealth at bowdoin is no different than any other top LAC or ivy. it comes with the territory of being at a good school. and it's harmless if you avoid comparing.</p>
<p>pb2002: thanks for the description. so do you think the intellectual vibe at bowdoin trumps the preppiness? i'm looking for some sense of the atmosphere on campus, not the classroom necessarily.</p>
<p>USNWR rates "economic diversity," using the percentage of students receiving Pell grants to measure a school's ecomonic diversity. Among the top LACs, Bowdoin is rated very high in this area:</p>
<p>hi direwolf, </p>
<p>i suppose it depends upon what people you surround yourself by. there are and will always be tons of intellectuals at bowdoin. so, if you find yourself surrounded by preppy folks who for whatever reason aren't intellectuals, i'm sure you can find a group of non-preppy intellectuals. do keep in mind, however, looks can be deceiving. just because someone dresses in preppy clothes does not make him or her anti-intellectual. especially at bowdoin. </p>
<p>the atmosphere on campus, i think, to recapitulate, fosters a greater diversity of subgroups than the size of the student body would imply. there are many niches.</p>
<p>Thanks! After reading this, I will definitely apply under ED. Hope I get in!</p>
<p>My son was admitted to Bowdoin a couple years ago, and ended up going to a different college because it offered what he found he couldn't part with in a particular extracurricular interest of his. Still, Bowdoin has its qualities that can't be located at other top schools. He hated sending in his decline letter, because he knew he was giving up on being part of a community that really was special. One of his biggest regrets about not going to Bowdoin was how impressed he was with the lack of pretentiousness in the admitted students. We live in SW Virginia where people are very mannerly and life is a bit slower in deference to the mountains. Bowdoin kids seemed to be both ambitious and able to relax. Those who work in the admissions office doing interviews were interesting people who were not afraid to be gracious to all the Bowdoin hopefuls.</p>
<p>He also visited Dartmouth, Swat and Middlebury, and had options in our wonderful Virginia in state colleges. But we both felt that Bowdoin students we encountered, no matter how privilged, tended to self-select to Bowdoin if they wanted to live in a community that was not status driven or superficial. The loss of the frats was replaced by social houses surrounding the campus that offer events to the entire student body. Students seemed both sophisticated and human-sized, down to earth, which is by the way what the campus buildings exude. Very nice wedding of a bit of humility in the air in deference to the imposing landscapes and seascapes of Maine. Frankly pretention seems pretty silly when you are minutes from the wide Atlantic, and so, I will chime in to say that it is my opinion that people are not valued for their economic status at all at Bowdoin, and those with much money also like it that way. Our second son intends to visit soon and will likely will be seriously interested.</p>