How did Bowdoin acceptance rate become so low?

[Anonymous]

7% acceptance rate, lower than Amherst and Williams. Feels like impossible to get in. Why is Bowdoin so popular in recent years?

[Anonymous]

You’re splitting hairs. All of these schools are crap shoots.

[Anonymous]

It’s one of the OG test optional schools, and might seem more chill and less waspy than Williams and Amherst, maybe?
What’s the ED acceptance rate?

[Anonymous]

It’s TO and attracts so many full pay kids who don’t test well.

[Anonymous]

It's a very small school. And many of the spots are filled with athlete recruits. So there's not much space left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a very small school. And many of the spots are filled with athlete recruits. So there's not much space left.

+1

This in a nutshell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s one of the OG test optional schools, and might seem more chill and less waspy than Williams and Amherst, maybe?
What’s the ED acceptance rate?

15%.

[Anonymous]

The app increases are pretty obvious in some respects. Social houses, Maine is beautiful, college owning private islands and having various climate/environmental research institutes appealing to a generation concerned with climate change, amazing food, great social culture known for being filled with nice people, and if you’re desperate for civilization, you can get cheap tickets to Boston from Portland.

Williams is nice, but the culture is a bit overly serious and intense with no access to the rest of the world. Amherst is hit or miss for a lot of people. Bowdoin, along with Pomona, is a feel-good lac with nice vibes that younger kids like. It may get a slight boost in apps from Mamdani also.

[Anonymous]

We’ve known a few kids go in recent years and they all say they love the quality of life.

[Anonymous]

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.

[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. 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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Every top lac is basically the same numbers game with a few quirks. With Williams you’re gonna see a lot of love for NYC privates. With Pomona you’re going to see internationals all from UWC and particular types of private schools getting various acceptances while others barely get 1 acceptance every 4 years. Bowdoin has a bias towards students from Maine, will get strong ED picks from top private school students in urban areas and a desire to fill geographic diversity.

[Anonymous]

It is a numbers crunch, like most of the other SLACs. About 1900 students. A full range of sports teams eat up a ton of seats (31 teams including football). Then there are the legacies, minorities, geographic diversity, etc. So not a lot of seats left for middle class/UMC non-minority kids from major metro areas.

You bump enrollment to Middlebury's roughly 2,800 or Wesleyan's 3,000 and that is a lot of extra seats for NARPs so the numbers change dramatically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

[Anonymous]

Maine: The way life should be.