How did Bowdoin acceptance rate become so low?

[Anonymous]

Leave it up to boosters to turn a Bowdoin thread into conversation about Williams🙄

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:CMC at $1.3billion and Middlebury at $1.4 billion, they are panhandlers compared to WASP-B.

It’s called endowment per student. CMC is no slouch at 862k per student. Midd, at 458k per student, is nowhere near CMC.

https://www.collegeraptor.com/college-rankings/details/EndowmentPerStudent/

Why is Williams’s endowment per student so low?

1.4 million per student is not “low”. Is this silly season?

Amherst, Swarrthmore, and Pomona ahead. That is really concerning as Williams had the highest endowment per student of any LAC just 5 years ago.

[Anonymous]

What's up with Principia College? Williams challenger?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Could someone let me know what WASP-B stands for? I tried googling it and clearly I am too tired or something, but I couldn’t figure out the colleges.

It is a fictional creation created by someone who is posting on this thread pretending to be several different posters. Same Shit Different Day.

You are not reading this thread if you think it is a fictional creation. Bowdoin belongs with WASP — and no other SLACs do. Endowment, yield, admit rate - everything. If you want to make an actual, rational argument why it does not belong, please do so. Oh, wait! You can’t…

Bowdoin parent here. The obsession over the acronym is so dumb. Please stop.

[Anonymous]

If they can’t cling to that acronym then they are no longer Elite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Money and location are the keys. WAS-B can annually apply $150 million plus from endowment income to operating budget the other lacs aren’t close. Huge advantage.

Pomona, Grinnell, Wellesley are in the same ballpark

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Big gaps between the little 5 and the rest. Giving a momentum to Colby(money), Holy Cross(Boston proxy play), Davidson(warm weather and Charlotte proxy). Been to W& L too rural and name are negatives. Trinity and Conn College not much positive. Colgate, Hamilton, Middlebury trending slightly down. Bates no money and poor location trending down. Vassar location is negative and vibe is very liberal slightly down. Wesleyan not great location and like Vassar way liberal maybe woke. Big winners Bowdoin and Davidson.

Ah someone wants to insert Davidson into the convo. Good school but come back when it has single digit acceptance rates.

Davidson is wonderful! Definitely on my kid's list!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they can’t cling to that acronym then they are no longer Elite.

Most Bowdoin people don't care about that perception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Big gaps between the little 5 and the rest. Giving a momentum to Colby(money), Holy Cross(Boston proxy play), Davidson(warm weather and Charlotte proxy). Been to W& L too rural and name are negatives. Trinity and Conn College not much positive. Colgate, Hamilton, Middlebury trending slightly down. Bates no money and poor location trending down. Vassar location is negative and vibe is very liberal slightly down. Wesleyan not great location and like Vassar way liberal maybe woke. Big winners Bowdoin and Davidson.

Ah someone wants to insert Davidson into the convo. Good school but come back when it has single digit acceptance rates.

Davidson is wonderful! Definitely on my kid's list!

What makes it wonderful?

[Anonymous]

Does Bowdoin attract the same pool of applicants as Williams? It seems to me kids who like Williams are not the same pool as kids who would like Bowdoin?

Williams attracts polished, maintained everything perfect on paper, type of kids? Bowdoin attracts kids who are not afraid of learning from failures, practical solutions, type of kids?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Bowdoin and Amherst acceptance rates are artificially low because they are need blind for international students. This adds a couple of thousand extra applications every year. Bowdoins acceptance rates for internationals is under 2% but the application numbers pad things making them look a bit selective more than they are.

I still think it’s an insanely tough admit for DMV kids. I feel like recruited athletes and legacies are demographically similar to many DMV applicants and they need to fill those few remaining unhooked spots with different types of kids and not just ones from the same high performing urban centers.

I was surprised to see that BCC sent 7 kids there last year. I have no idea if any are athletes or legacies.

Seven were admitted, or attended? My kid's magnet typically gets several admits, and 0-1 attend. Not a popular application at his school, though the past few years one has applied ED and gotten in. Then no more acceptances that year.

My kid liked Bowdoin, too, for the reason most kids like Bowdoin over other SLACs: the rep for great food and dorms. Ultimately preferred a WASP school, and there now, but it was a tough decision for the ED application. The STEM tour at the WASP and slight location preference tipped her at the last minute.

Must be a typo; surely you meant “ultimately preferred another WASP-B school”

Stop yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Times and college reputations go up or down. Bowdoin has sky rocketed up while Wesleyan, Trinity, Vassar, Middlebury, and Bates have not.

How has Bowdoin skyrocketed up? It was ranked #3 in 2018. It ranked #9 in 2024. It ranked #5 the last two years, but it's not nearly as consistent as AWS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That stock picker nailed it. Long hold on WASP-B. Sell Hamilton, Colgate, Colby, Middlebury, Bates, Trinity. Buy Davidson. Hold Wesleyan and Holy Cross.

Welcome back, Holy Cross booster. We've been waiting for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bowdoin and Amherst acceptance rates are artificially low because they are need blind for international students. This adds a couple of thousand extra applications every year. Bowdoin's acceptance rates for internationals is under 2% but the application numbers pad things making them look a bit selective more than they are.

This. Bowdoin had 13,265 applicants last year, 5,547 of whom were international. So 42% of their applicants are from outside the US, and they accepted 77(!) of them. That's 1.4%.

There were 7,443 out-of-state applicants and 475 from Maine, so 7,918 total domestic applicants, of which 869 were admitted. If you're applying from the States, the acceptance rate is closer to 11%. Still very low, mind you.

[Anonymous]

That’s amazing about Bowdoin’s international magnet. What countries and why Bowdoin.