Bowdoin vs Williams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For Econ, a SLAC, and non-athlete, check out Pomona. A top SLAC (tho perhaps a slightly easier admit for a boy), it has an Econ dept that's top-rate, the sports team combines students from both Pomona and Pitzer, so athletes represent a smaller percentage of the Pomona student body and don't dominate, and has strong offerings as well in the environmental sciences (a focus of a lot of students). Though Pomona is small (just shy of 2000 students), it's part of the Claremont Colleges, a single campus with 5,000 other students at Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, Scripps and Pitzer that functionally operate as one school, providing more social diversity, opportunities to find friends, clubs, classes, etc. It's extremely rigorous but students are known for being nice. It's also beautiful, with great weather nearly year-round, and while not in LA, it's close enough for the occasional getaway and definitely not isolated like Williams. Tho plenty of students go on to Wall Street, it's probably a bit more academic/intellectual in its vibes. Also has fantastic food. It has a huge endowment (esp. per capita), so very generous with financial aid and other resources for research, etc.

Wow. I could have written that. Anyhow, Pomona parent here. I'd also check out CMC, which also has a great econ department. CMC will lean more preprofessional and is a strong feeder to Wall Street. As noted, Pomona will lean more academic/intellectual, although students who want to go into finance have that option. I think CMC might be a little more classically sporty than Pomona or the other 5Cs. I can confirm that the 5Cs are heavily integrated with one another physically, socially, and academically. So long as California doesn't burn down (no promises), both are great options.

[Anonymous]

Both great schools and incredibly hard to get in to either! (7% Bowdoin last year and 7.5% Williams, I believe.) Bowdoin has ED1 and ED2, and Williams just ED1, I think-if too hard to pick try Williams ED1 and Bowdoin ED2 if it comes to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both great schools and incredibly hard to get in to either! (7% Bowdoin last year and 7.5% Williams, I believe.) Bowdoin has ED1 and ED2, and Williams just ED1, I think-if too hard to pick try Williams ED1 and Bowdoin ED2 if it comes to that.

The ED admit rates are much higher at Williams College (around 24%) and at Bowdoin (approx. 15%).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowdoin’s campus is tiny and we felt it was claustrophobic. Felt the same way about Amherst. Williams and Middlebury felt like they were the right size, especially considering their rural locations.

Williams is pretty suffocating. The biggest difference is Bowdoin has an actual neighborhood of people living there, while Williams is a small island with no where to go

To be fair, to the north of Williamstown is Bennington Vermont, to the east is North Adams, to the south, Pittsfield. And Albany isn't too far. None of these are big cities, but for someone who just wants a change of scenery, there are options.

Even then, getting to any of those places without a car is a pain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both great schools and incredibly hard to get in to either! (7% Bowdoin last year and 7.5% Williams, I believe.) Bowdoin has ED1 and ED2, and Williams just ED1, I think-if too hard to pick try Williams ED1 and Bowdoin ED2 if it comes to that.

The ED admit rates are much higher at Williams College (around 24%) and at Bowdoin (approx. 15%).

Mostly athletes