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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How do people have such fine-grained and confident opinions about stuff like this? I taught at Bowdoin for two years at the beginning of my career, and I've taught at two other LACs mentioned in this thread. I haven't taught at Williams, but my kid is now making a down-to-the-wire decision whether to go there (which is why I clicked on this thread). I've chaired grad admissions committees with quite a few applicants from both schools over the years. But I have no idea -- couldn't begin to tell you -- whether Williams or Bowdoin is generally better. Given my kid's interests, Bowdoin looks less good -- for him. So he didn't even apply there. Is Williams therefore the better school? In my own academic field, Bowdoin is better than Williams.  You'd think I'd have a more general opinion, but I have no idea which school is 'more prestigious.'

If, by contrast, the question is about the attitudes of people who know little about the schools apart from rumor and branding impressions, why care about that?[/quote]

Thank you for being the voice of reason and experience. My kid applied to Williams and Bowdoin and was accepted to Williams and dinged by Bowdoin. As it happens, Williams is stronger in my kid's interests, studio art and math, but if they were interested in Environmental Studies, for example, Bowdoin is superior. They are both outstanding, and trying to parse differences in overall prestige seems futile.[/quote]

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