Anonymous
Post 01/20/2022 17:39     Subject: Re:If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: We LOVED Williams and just hated Bowdoin. Loved Bates.


I'm curious. I think of Bowdoin and Bates being pretty similar. What did you love and hate about them?


My kid felt Colby and Bowdoin were more similar (preppy/wealthy/pre-professional), Bates being more crunchy and laid back. So much depends on one’s tour guide, though! My kid also had a very quirky / nerdy tour guide at Middlebury so got a great vibe there, versus everything I know about it puts it similar to his description of Bowdoin/Colby. Hopefully this means he can find his people anyplace!


I agree.

I have the kid who attended Bowdoin. Applied to all three (Bowdoin, Colby and Bates) and liked Bowdoin and Colby better. Felt they were similar and Bates was too crunchy and didn't like Lewiston. Good school though. I remember being impressed by our guide's description of final project I think they had to do to graduate ? (I hope my memory serves me correctly.)


Yes, you've remembered correctly. Bates requires all students to write a thesis to graduate. Some students are turned off by this requirement but it appealed to my DC (wanted the focus on research and writing). Thesis planning starts in junior year and there are lots of tradition around the thesis including having lowerclassmen bind upperclassmen's theses. Plus there is also the Mount David Summit each year that includes presentation student research, creative work, etc.
Anonymous
Post 01/20/2022 15:52     Subject: Re:If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: We LOVED Williams and just hated Bowdoin. Loved Bates.


I'm curious. I think of Bowdoin and Bates being pretty similar. What did you love and hate about them?


My kid felt Colby and Bowdoin were more similar (preppy/wealthy/pre-professional), Bates being more crunchy and laid back. So much depends on one’s tour guide, though! My kid also had a very quirky / nerdy tour guide at Middlebury so got a great vibe there, versus everything I know about it puts it similar to his description of Bowdoin/Colby. Hopefully this means he can find his people anyplace!


I agree.

I have the kid who attended Bowdoin. Applied to all three (Bowdoin, Colby and Bates) and liked Bowdoin and Colby better. Felt they were similar and Bates was too crunchy and didn't like Lewiston. Good school though. I remember being impressed by our guide's description of final project I think they had to do to graduate ? (I hope my memory serves me correctly.)
Anonymous
Post 01/20/2022 15:50     Subject: Re:If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A lot depends on your definition of safety. It the child is qualified (mid-point of SAT/GPA, etc) for Williams and Bowdoin, then some true safeties (very high probability of getting in) are:
Skidmore, Trinity, Bard, St. Mary's, UVM, Kenyon, Oberlin, Macalister.

And, these are perhaps one small notch less selective than Williams and Bowdoin (and with many similarities to Williams and Bowdoin): Bates, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Colgate, Carleton, Grinnell, Vassar, Ithaca, Tufts,




Hamilton is a pretty hard admit. We liked it a lot, but my DC did not get in.

Smidge you mean like basically as impossible? Maybe Hamilton, Ithaca and Colgate, but not the others.
Anonymous
Post 01/20/2022 15:31     Subject: Re:If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
DC had Colorado College, Occidental, Reed, and UVM in their match/safety sections of list. Save UVM, DC thought they would want to leave region if W/B ED didn't work out.
Anonymous
Post 01/20/2022 15:26     Subject: If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Hobart is one I'd suggest that I didn't see mentioned.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2022 12:08     Subject: Re:If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: We LOVED Williams and just hated Bowdoin. Loved Bates.


I'm curious. I think of Bowdoin and Bates being pretty similar. What did you love and hate about them?


My kid felt Colby and Bowdoin were more similar (preppy/wealthy/pre-professional), Bates being more crunchy and laid back. So much depends on one’s tour guide, though! My kid also had a very quirky / nerdy tour guide at Middlebury so got a great vibe there, versus everything I know about it puts it similar to his description of Bowdoin/Colby. Hopefully this means he can find his people anyplace!

+1 I've seen all of these colleges with two different kids, and have a kid at one of them. I would agree that Bates is definitely more crunchy and laid back than Williams, Bowdoin and Colby. Middlebury (where my kid was also accepted) seems to be morphing a little and might now be more similar to Bates, although there are definitely similarities among all of these schools.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2022 11:42     Subject: Re:If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: We LOVED Williams and just hated Bowdoin. Loved Bates.


I'm curious. I think of Bowdoin and Bates being pretty similar. What did you love and hate about them?


My kid felt Colby and Bowdoin were more similar (preppy/wealthy/pre-professional), Bates being more crunchy and laid back. So much depends on one’s tour guide, though! My kid also had a very quirky / nerdy tour guide at Middlebury so got a great vibe there, versus everything I know about it puts it similar to his description of Bowdoin/Colby. Hopefully this means he can find his people anyplace!
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2022 10:54     Subject: Re:If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Smidge you mean like basically as impossible? Maybe Hamilton, Ithaca and Colgate, but not the others.


You need to get up to date on admissions data. Colgate’s applications were up more than 100% last year, with an acceptance rate in the high teens. Hamilton has been ranked between 9-13 in US News the last few years, with an acceptance rate of 14%. These schools are not safeties for anyone.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2022 09:49     Subject: Re:If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Anonymous wrote: We LOVED Williams and just hated Bowdoin. Loved Bates.


I'm curious. I think of Bowdoin and Bates being pretty similar. What did you love and hate about them?
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2022 09:28     Subject: Re:If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Anonymous wrote:A lot depends on your definition of safety. It the child is qualified (mid-point of SAT/GPA, etc) for Williams and Bowdoin, then some true safeties (very high probability of getting in) are:
Skidmore, Trinity, Bard, St. Mary's, UVM, Kenyon, Oberlin, Macalister.

And, these are perhaps one small notch less selective than Williams and Bowdoin (and with many similarities to Williams and Bowdoin): Bates, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Colgate, Carleton, Grinnell, Vassar, Ithaca, Tufts,




Smidge you mean like basically as impossible? Maybe Hamilton, Ithaca and Colgate, but not the others.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2022 09:26     Subject: If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Anonymous wrote:DD looking at some of these LACs ( theatre interest shaped the list)

Reach: Williams & Middlebury
Target: Wesleyan and Vassar, also considered Brandeis (but ruled out due to too many crumbling buildings on tour)
Likely: Muhlenberg (not quite mountains but close), also considered Bennington. Probably should have considered Skidmore

Had a few others in reach and likely but out of scope to this topic.



DC had Skidmore in likely. Liked the campus as well as Saratoga. Appeared to be good public transit between the school and town. Toured it on own during frosh orientation. Wasn't our plan, just serendipity. Good energy from student tour guides.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2022 08:33     Subject: If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
DD looking at some of these LACs ( theatre interest shaped the list)

Reach: Williams & Middlebury
Target: Wesleyan and Vassar, also considered Brandeis (but ruled out due to too many crumbling buildings on tour)
Likely: Muhlenberg (not quite mountains but close), also considered Bennington. Probably should have considered Skidmore

Had a few others in reach and likely but out of scope to this topic.

Anonymous
Post 01/13/2022 07:01     Subject: Re:If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
We LOVED Williams and just hated Bowdoin. Loved Bates.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2022 19:44     Subject: If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
It’s nog that much easier to get into but has he looked at Carleton?

Anonymous
Post 01/12/2022 18:40     Subject: If your kids loved Williams and Bowdoin what where their safeties/matches
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What does he love about each. Mine loved Williams, hated Bowdoin, and loves Colby now (didn't get into Williams).

Actually has only seen Williams in person, he is basing Bowdoin on what he has heard and read. He loved the mountains, tutorials, academic seriousness without the intensity of say Swarthmore, small chance of getting into the Oxford program junior year and liked the idea of a rural setting. He also liked the small campus. I loved the musuems (he hiked with his brother while I visitted them).

That's useful info. Less selective than Williams but similar in those respects: Colby, Hamilton, Colorado College (but check the block schedule), Whitman, St. Lawrence

This is the right answer. There's a lot of silliness in the rest of this chain. An OP who says Yes to mountains and No to Swarthmore and gets lots of posts suggesting Grinnell (and others cheering them on)? I mean, Grinnell's a great school, but it's clearly not what this kid is looking for.

Agree, though can sometimes be hard if you are looking for a selective but the NE ones may be beyond reach.

If OP's DS is competitive for Williams, then Whitman is a low match, St. Lawrence is a safety, and the other three are high match/reaches. And they all tick the boxes OP has identified. It's a great list.