Thoughts on Bowdoin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never once in my entire life thought about Bowdoin before I read this thread.

Are you the same PP from the Davidson thread who has never once has met a Davidson alum? If not, the two of you should definitely meet in the land of provincialism and limited life-experience.

Wow, snobby much? Perhaps those who who haven't heard of/aren't interested in schools such as Bowdoin and Davidson have other schools on their radar.

My guess is the first poster quoted here has no recent experience with college admissions. Like all too many of the folks posting on this forum, s/he is posting based on outdated perceptions from 20-30 years ago when most high school students only applied to schools in the region of the country where they grew up. Since then, travel has become more affordable, it's become easier to communicate with friends and family who are far away, and the Internet has enabled colleges to market themselves more effectively to students all across the country and around the world. This sure doesn't look like Kansas, Toto.

You make a good point about the ease of communication. 30 years ago long distance phone serve was very expensive and that was the only way to communicate over distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never once in my entire life thought about Bowdoin before I read this thread.

Are you the same PP from the Davidson thread who has never once has met a Davidson alum? If not, the two of you should definitely meet in the land of provincialism and limited life-experience.

Wow, snobby much? Perhaps those who who haven't heard of/aren't interested in schools such as Bowdoin and Davidson have other schools on their radar.

My guess is the first poster quoted here has no recent experience with college admissions. Like all too many of the folks posting on this forum, s/he is posting based on outdated perceptions from 20-30 years ago when most high school students only applied to schools in the region of the country where they grew up. Since then, travel has become more affordable, it's become easier to communicate with friends and family who are far away, and the Internet has enabled colleges to market themselves more effectively to students all across the country and around the world. This sure doesn't look like Kansas, Toto.

You make a good point about the ease of communication. 30 years ago long distance phone serve was very expensive and that was the only way to communicate over distance.

Travel, especially air travel, has not become more affordable at all... if anything, quite the opposite. This is a huge reason we are looking for schools withing driving distance of home.

[Anonymous]

Air travel is significantly more affordable now than 20 years ago. Especially in markets where Southwest flies (Bowdoin is 30 minutes from Portland, so this applies here), travel is much easier in many ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never once in my entire life thought about Bowdoin before I read this thread.

Are you the same PP from the Davidson thread who has never once has met a Davidson alum? If not, the two of you should definitely meet in the land of provincialism and limited life-experience.

Wow, snobby much? Perhaps those who who haven't heard of/aren't interested in schools such as Bowdoin and Davidson have other schools on their radar.

My guess is the first poster quoted here has no recent experience with college admissions. Like all too many of the folks posting on this forum, s/he is posting based on outdated perceptions from 20-30 years ago when most high school students only applied to schools in the region of the country where they grew up. Since then, travel has become more affordable, it's become easier to communicate with friends and family who are far away, and the Internet has enabled colleges to market themselves more effectively to students all across the country and around the world. This sure doesn't look like Kansas, Toto.

You make a good point about the ease of communication. 30 years ago long distance phone serve was very expensive and that was the only way to communicate over distance.

Travel, especially air travel, has not become more affordable at all... if anything, quite the opposite. This is a huge reason we are looking for schools withing driving distance of home.

Bowdoin is accessible via Amtrak, several of my DC's friends use it during Christmas and spring break, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any public school parent considering Bowdoin? It seems to me that most of these SLAC's are of little interest to the vast majority of high school grads in this area (those graduating from public schools), but private school parents seem to love them.

Not true. Bowdoin alum here, public school grad with kids in public school. My kids would love Bowdoin (as did I).

It is an excellent school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowdoin_College

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never once in my entire life thought about Bowdoin before I read this thread.

Similar reaction. Yeah, it's a school. Wouldn't think more (or less) of someone because they went there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Air travel is significantly more affordable now than 20 years ago. Especially in markets where Southwest flies (Bowdoin is 30 minutes from Portland, so this applies here), travel is much easier in many ways.

Nope. People's Express in the 1980s was cheaper than Amtrak (then, which was considerably cheaper than it is now). I should know -- 7 years in a long distance relationship.

And even in the late 70s I knew lots of public school kids from my area (SoCal) who went to places like Bowdoin.

Sometimes I think that the internet has encouraged a whole cohort of naïve people to think their lives are unprecedented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any public school parent considering Bowdoin? It seems to me that most of these SLAC's are of little interest to the vast majority of high school grads in this area (those graduating from public schools), but private school parents seem to love them.

Not true. Bowdoin alum here, public school grad with kids in public school. My kids would love Bowdoin (as did I).

It is an excellent school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowdoin_College

I have no doubt that Bowdoin is a terrific school based on its high ranking, but if you have to cite to Wikipedia to prove the point you can't expect future employers to appreciate the school as much as more well known top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any public school parent considering Bowdoin? It seems to me that most of these SLAC's are of little interest to the vast majority of high school grads in this area (those graduating from public schools), but private school parents seem to love them.

Not true. Bowdoin alum here, public school grad with kids in public school. My kids would love Bowdoin (as did I).

It is an excellent school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowdoin_College

I have no doubt that Bowdoin is a terrific school based on its high ranking, but if you have to cite to Wikipedia to prove the point you can't expect future employers to appreciate the school as much as more well known top schools.

The Wikipedia link was included as information, not to prove any point. Bowdoin's ranking (#4 in the U.S. News & World Report Survey) as a national liberal arts college speaks for itself.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/bowdoin-college-2038

Forbes ranks it #20 overall, #19 in Private Colleges, #14 in the Northeast:

http://www.forbes.com/colleges/bowdoin-college/

The acceptance rate is about 16%.

Whether or not you are familiar with it, it is in fact a top school.

[Anonymous]

^^^P.S. Forbes ranks Middlebury #41.

[Anonymous]

So your point is that the Forbes ratings are dumb?

Whatever you think about the various places each school should rank, Bowdoin (and Middlebury and even now Davidson) rank in the elite of LACs. It isn't a big group - probably 10-15 or so schools, with a combined enrollment smaller than most public universities!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never once in my entire life thought about Bowdoin before I read this thread.

Are you the same PP from the Davidson thread who has never once has met a Davidson alum? If not, the two of you should definitely meet in the land of provincialism and limited life-experience.

Wow, snobby much? Perhaps those who who haven't heard of/aren't interested in schools such as Bowdoin and Davidson have other schools on their radar.

My guess is the first poster quoted here has no recent experience with college admissions. Like all too many of the folks posting on this forum, s/he is posting based on outdated perceptions from 20-30 years ago when most high school students only applied to schools in the region of the country where they grew up. Since then, travel has become more affordable, it's become easier to communicate with friends and family who are far away, and the Internet has enabled colleges to market themselves more effectively to students all across the country and around the world. This sure doesn't look like Kansas, Toto.

You make a good point about the ease of communication. 30 years ago long distance phone serve was very expensive and that was the only way to communicate over distance.

NP here. Heck, 40 years ago I was living in Ohio and I knew Bowdoin was a respected small liberal arts school. Guess that first pp doesn't get around much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So your point is that the Forbes ratings are dumb?

Whatever you think about the various places each school should rank, Bowdoin (and Middlebury and even now Davidson) rank in the elite of LACs. It isn't a big group - probably 10-15 or so schools, with a combined enrollment smaller than most public universities!

Huh? I have no opinion on the rankings. I am only providing information.

I don't know why you fixated on a Wikipedia link. The rankings speak for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any public school parent considering Bowdoin? It seems to me that most of these SLAC's are of little interest to the vast majority of high school grads in this area (those graduating from public schools), but private school parents seem to love them.

Not true. Bowdoin alum here, public school grad with kids in public school. My kids would love Bowdoin (as did I).

It is an excellent school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowdoin_College

I have no doubt that Bowdoin is a terrific school based on its high ranking, but if you have to cite to Wikipedia to prove the point you can't expect future employers to appreciate the school as much as more well known top schools.

+1
It's interesting how defensive people become when they're told that their alma mater, or a school their child is considering, isn't even on the radar of most other people. Who are then labeled "provincial" for not having heard of the school or if they have heard of it, not being interested in it for whatever reason.

[Anonymous]

I think the issue is less about the fact that a pp hasn't considered the school and more the way a pp makes that statement. When I reread the statement, I realize that its abruptness might just be a statement of fact (as in I never really thought about it before) but it initially came across as dismissive (as in I couldn't be bothered to think about that pathetic school).