Is there a huge difference in prestige between Williams and Bowdoin?

[Anonymous]

There is a difference, but it is not huge.

And, for the sake of clarity, it seems fair to state that Williams College is the more prestigious of the two schools. But, what great options to have !

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I have a nephew who is facing this decision. He has visited both schools and preferred the environment and students at Bowdoin College. His father and most of his friends (he attends an east coast feeder school that sends many to Ivies/top SLACs) are telling him it would be foolish to turn down Williams for Bowdoin. They are roughly the same cost. Could someone with real world experience share if there's something significant that really sets Williams College apart? Thank you.

Curious which feeder school ? Deerfield Academy ?

Career goal of the student ?

In what fields do the parents work ?

How many students does he know or has he met at each school ? Is the student's experience at each school just a one or two day visit ?

Prestige of LACs only matters in the Northeast US. In other regions of the country many may wonder why he didn't go to a National University.

Nobody that matters would question why the student didn’t go to a National University. Only mindless folks on places like DCUM and Reddit would be that dim.

+1. I would choose Williams or Bowdoin over most Top 30 universities (except HYP, Dartmouth, Upenn, Stanford & MIT). I would def choose a top SLAC over UVA or UMich for example.

Strong disagree. It depends on the student - a big state university like UMich offers a lot of opportunities that a SLAC cannot.

That is true; one is finely fitted bespoke tailoring and the other is a mid-range off the rack type of thing. Ones goes with what they can afford.

We need a full-time translator for this thread. Hopefully, you mean that universities offer more "finely fitted bespoke tailoring" whereas LACs are for those without direction or refinement of a career goal at this stage of their (one's) life.

You are most definitely the product of a non-selective public.

[Anonymous]

Williams is more prestigious than Bowdoin but fit matters. My kid just turned down Penn for Tufts which, I would argue, represents a wider prestige gap. I think he made the right choice, but i guess you can ask him in 20 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Williams is more prestigious than Bowdoin but fit matters. My kid just turned down Penn for Tufts which, I would argue, represents a wider prestige gap. I think he made the right choice, but i guess you can ask him in 20 years.

I am confident that he made the right choice. He can get anywhere from either and having the self-confidence to say "this is the one for me" speaks volumes. Good for him, and yourself as well.