Can you tell me about Bowdoin?

[Anonymous]

Again, these are Bowdoin's stats by race/ethnicity. Thirty-five percent of the school is Asian / Black/ Hispanic or two or more races.


American Indian or Alaskan Native: 0.3%
Asian: 9.3%
Black or African American: 7.7%
Hispanic/Latino: 10.6%
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: 0.1%
White: 56.2%
Two or more races: 8.1%
Race/ethnicity unknown: 0.5%
Non-resident alien: 7.2%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowdoin parent of URM here again. I just want to add one thing: I don't understand the Swarthmore poster. I really don't. Between my kids, my husband and me, we attended over half a dozen colleges and universities. Every single one, including Bowdoin, had its advantages and disadvantages but we were very happy with the education Bowdoin provided, which was rigorous but steeped in a sense of social responsibility. It was a good match for my kid and their values.

My kid also applied and was accepted at other slacs that, I'm sure, are equally fantastic. But, at the end of the day, kid had to choose one and Bowdoin is where kid chose and kid did well. If anyone has specific questions that I can answer, I will be happy to answer but I refuse to get into a competition with other SLACs. These top SLACs are more alike than they're different. For us, the trade off in diversity more than made up by things that suited my kid well: Maine, the outdoorsy, like to ski thing, happy well-rounded vibe.

100% this. My kid is at one of the other Maine SLACs (plus we have several family members who attended other NESCAC schools) and I have nothing negative to say about the others. Too many people want to knock schools down, for reasons that I don't understand (than that this is DCUM and that's what people do here).

On our tour , a parent tried to get the guide to compare the 3 and he absolutely would not go there. Which is the correct response I think (under those circumstances).

[Anonymous]

Bowdoin alum here, though from long ago. Do keep in mind that nearly half the students are on need-based financial aid,

https://www.bowdoin.edu/ir/data/index.html

Yes, there is a preppy contingent, but there is no shortage of non-preppy kids who are not from privileged backgrounds.

Winters are wicked cold and long, but one adapts. My classmates and I conjecture that the long, cold winters forged closer friendships. They also induced one to pick up cross-country skiing! (The Outing Club provides skis, etc.)

[Anonymous]

I don’t get the people saying Bowdoin is remarkably less diverse than its peers.

Looked up the most recent class (2025). Bowdoin is 40% students of color. Williams is 35% students of color. Swarthmore is 41% students of color. Brown is 44%. Dartmouth is 44%.

What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

My ex sister in law went to Bowdoin. She is a New England snot raised by two psychologists. Private school raised and parents have a beach house on the Cape. She’s the kind of girl that buys all the gear, takes a picture on a horse once, and says she rides for the status. Super sheltered and unbelievably self serving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ex sister in law went to Bowdoin. She is a New England snot raised by two psychologists. Private school raised and parents have a beach house on the Cape. She’s the kind of girl that buys all the gear, takes a picture on a horse once, and says she rides for the status. Super sheltered and unbelievably self serving.

And? There are rich snobby people at Bowdoin and every other school. By college age, many kids have figured out how to deal with this demographic from their experience in HS. Go off to school and do your thing and live your life. Why let avoidance of rich snobby people drive your college decisions,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ex sister in law went to Bowdoin. She is a New England snot raised by two psychologists. Private school raised and parents have a beach house on the Cape. She’s the kind of girl that buys all the gear, takes a picture on a horse once, and says she rides for the status. Super sheltered and unbelievably self serving.

Wow, that’s an excellent example. Gosh darn, she must be representative of the whole school, heck, representative of every NE SLAC! There must be absolutely no spoiled rich kids at public universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the people saying Bowdoin is remarkably less diverse than its peers.

Looked up the most recent class (2025). Bowdoin is 40% students of color. Williams is 35% students of color. Swarthmore is 41% students of color. Brown is 44%. Dartmouth is 44%.

What am I missing?

I think the thread was too positive to people felt the need to jump on and find some fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the people saying Bowdoin is remarkably less diverse than its peers.

Looked up the most recent class (2025). Bowdoin is 40% students of color. Williams is 35% students of color. Swarthmore is 41% students of color. Brown is 44%. Dartmouth is 44%.

What am I missing?

Maine mom here again. My guess is people are conflating diversity at Bowdoin with diversity in Maine. Obviously, ME is known for being one of the whitest states in the country (although Portland is changing quite a bit.) but there’s no doubt when people arrive here from other parts of the country they are often like WHOA. I do think the private colleges have a demographic more similar to other SLACs than to Maine as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO Bowdoin is the best SLAC on the East Coast. Sure Amherst and Williams are slightly higher in the rankings, but Bowdoin matches them in quality of education and far surpasses them in quality of life and overall happiness. Outcomes and prestige are comparable these days.

Bowdoin is way whiter and less economically diverse than AWS.

“Overall happiness” doesn’t stem from anything innately Bowdoin but because kids have a huge safety net in their lives.

No it isn't, and the safety net thing is true for all top SLACs

You're clearly an AWS booster who thinks they're the only LACs worth pointing out. Sorry that Bowdoin has been exceeding them for both yield and acceptance rate for the past few years...

[Anonymous]

Yikes, PP being nasty to other kids/colleges (or anyone!) isn’t helpful …

NP here. My main question is why it is hard for people to answer what makes Bowdoin different than Bates and Colby (or Middlebury, or Hamilton, etc). The answers often are along the lines of “if you know, you know” or “visit and you’ll be able to tell differences” BUT (1) what if you can’t visit and (2) my kids has visited other small LACs and honestly the words said by the tour guides are usually similar, even if rhe buildings have a different architecture (plus, you might happen to get that preppy tour guide, or a purple haired theater kid as a tour guide, so you can’t base your thoughts on “vibe” based off your one tour guide).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yikes, PP being nasty to other kids/colleges (or anyone!) isn’t helpful …

NP here. My main question is why it is hard for people to answer what makes Bowdoin different than Bates and Colby (or Middlebury, or Hamilton, etc). The answers often are along the lines of “if you know, you know” or “visit and you’ll be able to tell differences” BUT (1) what if you can’t visit and (2) my kids has visited other small LACs and honestly the words said by the tour guides are usually similar, even if rhe buildings have a different architecture (plus, you might happen to get that preppy tour guide, or a purple haired theater kid as a tour guide, so you can’t base your thoughts on “vibe” based off your one tour guide).

Parent of a Bowdoin alum. We visited and my kid was accepted to Bates, Colby, Bowdoin and Hamilton so I will answer about those but bear in my mind this was just my/ our impression and memory, years out. (I've never visited Middlebury.)

Bowdoin has a better town than all of them (and that means something to do off-campus, safety, ease of transportation home and to other cities - the school has a shuttle to Freeport, etc), excellent curriculum and my kid preferred the students - very, very bright, very well-rounded, very outdoorsy, no frats

Bowdoin to Bates - Bowdoin is in a much better city than Lewiston. Bates students seemed a bit more crunchy. Bates requires a senior thesis which was a bit of a turn-off to my kid.

Bowdoin to Colby - Probably the most similar on your list. Colby was more remote, had a mandatory January program, salary 10 years out was a bit lower-- and was less diverse. (I don't remember what the percentage was then but I just looked it up and only 5% of Colby is Black. My child is Black so that was an issue.)

Bowdoin to Hamilton - Frats was probably the biggest thing. Also, the kids we met were more 'jockish' than the other schools on this list. My kid liked the open curriculum and the town was cute but the school has fraternities which makes a big difference in a small school. Additionally, transportation in and out of Clinton is harder (my kid didn't have a car), salary 10 years out lower and very little diversity. (Again, I don't remember what it was when my kid applied but, right now, Hamilton has 3.8% Black students.)

Other things that were notable about Bowdoin: My kid made a connection with a professor and liked what they heard. The school had amazing food in the cafeteria, really good dorms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yikes, PP being nasty to other kids/colleges (or anyone!) isn’t helpful …

NP here. My main question is why it is hard for people to answer what makes Bowdoin different than Bates and Colby (or Middlebury, or Hamilton, etc). The answers often are along the lines of “if you know, you know” or “visit and you’ll be able to tell differences” BUT (1) what if you can’t visit and (2) my kids has visited other small LACs and honestly the words said by the tour guides are usually similar, even if rhe buildings have a different architecture (plus, you might happen to get that preppy tour guide, or a purple haired theater kid as a tour guide, so you can’t base your thoughts on “vibe” based off your one tour guide).

Parent of a Bowdoin alum. We visited and my kid was accepted to Bates, Colby, Bowdoin and Hamilton so I will answer about those but bear in my mind this was just my/ our impression and memory, years out. (I've never visited Middlebury.)

Bowdoin has a better town than all of them (and that means something to do off-campus, safety, ease of transportation home and to other cities - the school has a shuttle to Freeport, etc), excellent curriculum and my kid preferred the students - very, very bright, very well-rounded, very outdoorsy, no frats

Bowdoin to Bates - Bowdoin is in a much better city than Lewiston. Bates students seemed a bit more crunchy. Bates requires a senior thesis which was a bit of a turn-off to my kid.

Bowdoin to Colby - Probably the most similar on your list. Colby was more remote, had a mandatory January program, salary 10 years out was a bit lower-- and was less diverse. (I don't remember what the percentage was then but I just looked it up and only 5% of Colby is Black. My child is Black so that was an issue.)

Bowdoin to Hamilton - Frats was probably the biggest thing. Also, the kids we met were more 'jockish' than the other schools on this list. My kid liked the open curriculum and the town was cute but the school has fraternities which makes a big difference in a small school. Additionally, transportation in and out of Clinton is harder (my kid didn't have a car), salary 10 years out lower and very little diversity. (Again, I don't remember what it was when my kid applied but, right now, Hamilton has 3.8% Black students.)

Other things that were notable about Bowdoin: My kid made a connection with a professor and liked what they heard. The school had amazing food in the cafeteria, really good dorms.

This is helpful, thank you for taking the time to tap your memory and write this out!

Follow up question for you regarding Bowdoin (I’m not OP but this is in line with the original inquiry)- when you say the student body was “outdoorsy,” what did that mean for your kid? Did s/he regularly go hiking or biking on the weekends? More generally just like to spend time hanging out outside on campus? I am trying to get a sense of what it means when these colleges are described as outdoorsy. My own kid enjoys hiking and bike riding, but feels like no more or less than anyone else (like, he isn’t spending his weekends doing these thingsbecause he’s tied up with school sports,clubs, homework, etc - but he loves to do them when we are on vacations).

[Anonymous]

To answer 18:20

I think with Bowdoin, most people are talking about skiing, hiking in snow and really, not being afraid of the snow because there is a lot in Maine. My kid had friends who didn't like skiing or sports but you really can't hate snow because there's a lot and Bowdoin never canceled class. (I don't know in this covid world but the school would shovel the kids out so they could get to class and advise them to walk with a buddy in case of an accident.)

Specifically, before college, my kid played volleyball, lacrosse and ice hockey and loved to skate and skateboard everywhere. Post-college, they jog, play tennis regularly, ski in the winter (they now live up north and buy a ski pass) and surf in the summer.