Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what's bowdoin doing right? Their yield is very strong considering they don't have the weather advantage of claremont schools and preftige advantage of aws.

Malcolm Gladwell - "If you’re looking at liberal arts colleges, don’t go to Bowdoin. Don’t let your kids go to Bowdoin. Don’t let your friends go to Bowdoin. Don’t give money to Bowdoin or any other school that serves amazing food in its dining hall.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/07/18/malcolm-gladwell-sets-debate-over-whether-good-campus-food-prevents-more-aid-low

Gladwell's hyperbole, like much of his schtick, is more about marketing sound bites than factual reality. Who (other than Bowdoin) is to say what the right % of low income students is for an incoming class? Why is 22% better than 11%? Would 80% be better than 22%? Colleges have a challenge to balance a myriad of demands when assembling a class.....URM, international, first gen, legacies, athletes, gender, geography, arts, etc. to create a richly diverse student body. If Bowdoin targets 11% for low income students then that's the number that works for that college. Bowdoin is, after all, a private college that operates as a business. There are many very good public colleges available as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what's bowdoin doing right? Their yield is very strong considering they don't have the weather advantage of claremont schools and preftige advantage of aws.

Malcolm Gladwell - "If you’re looking at liberal arts colleges, don’t go to Bowdoin. Don’t let your kids go to Bowdoin. Don’t let your friends go to Bowdoin. Don’t give money to Bowdoin or any other school that serves amazing food in its dining hall.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/07/18/malcolm-gladwell-sets-debate-over-whether-good-campus-food-prevents-more-aid-low

Bowdoin's excellent response: http://community.bowdoin.edu/news/2016/07/bowdoin-responds-to-malcolm-gladwells-food-fight-podcast/

Look- when you cherry pick one school that has poor dining/residential offerings and has a lot of low income students as the balance that needs to exist between valuing luxuries and serving the common good, you're missing the big picture.

Pomona for instance is not too far behind Vassar on this very measure (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/17/upshot/top-colleges-doing-the-most-for-low-income-students.html), yet it has excellent food: https://www.niche.com/colleges/pomona-college/campus-life/ compared to https://www.niche.com/colleges/vassar-college/campus-life/ Why is it so much better? Well for one reason, it charges almost $1000 more for the meal plan. Kids on financial aid get the meal plan covered. If Vassar did this, it could have great food too. But they've consciously decided to keep food crappy.

The two don't have to be mutually exclusive. Colleges can be luxurious, have wonderful dining halls, but they can also be doing a lot for low income students. Bowdoin is doing its best to bring in low income students, but as a new england LAC in a privileged area, it's not well-known. Vassar is in upstate New York in a working class town, so of course it attracts more students who're low income.

Anonymous wrote:what's bowdoin doing right? Their yield is very strong considering they don't have the weather advantage of claremont schools and preftige advantage of aws.

Malcolm Gladwell - "If you’re looking at liberal arts colleges, don’t go to Bowdoin. Don’t let your kids go to Bowdoin. Don’t let your friends go to Bowdoin. Don’t give money to Bowdoin or any other school that serves amazing food in its dining hall.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/07/18/malcolm-gladwell-sets-debate-over-whether-good-campus-food-prevents-more-aid-low

Anonymous wrote:Are you an alum or trying to make yourself feel better that your kid was just rejected by HYPS?

What's your point? Based on your comment I'd guess that you aren't a graduate of any schools on this list so why exactly are you here?