**Bowdoin Class of 2017 Regular Decision Discussion**

Colleges & Universities Bowdoin College
121

<p>@college_query: Haha! I can relate to your daughter on some level. I’m the oldest in my family with two siblings; therefore essentially the guinea pig.
I lived in rural Saudi Arabia where we didn’t have a high school. I mostly had to self study in freshman and sophomore year with a little help from my 8th grade teachers. I missed two years of whatever EC’s I could do during that part of my life. I discovered CC just this January after all the applications were sent. Also, my parents took no active role in my college search; they gave me their blessings and told me the amount of money they could pay for college.</p>

<p>Anyhow, my struggles have taught me a lot and I’m glad because now I can help my sisters who’ll be going through the process in a couple of years. Making it easy on them makes me happy! :)</p>

122

<p>When we visited Bowdoin I was left with the strong impression that they take the idea of the “holistic” application process very seriously. We visited alot of schools, at least 20, and they all claimed to review each candidate by the strength of their entire application…but with Bowdoin, I really believed it. Maybe because it’s such a small school - I left feeling like they really treat each new class like a puzzle…and they’re trying to fit pieces together…so it becomes a little bit less about just culling the best and the brightest and more about creating a group that represents alot of different strengths. I don’t think anyone should walk away from a Bowdoin “rejection” thinking that there is something they could have done better, or more.</p>

123

<p>I think you are right and I think that type of care and consideration is a defining quality of these fine small liberal arts colleges- and very different from some of the larger schools to which my daughter applied. For the most part so far the Bowdoin faculty and administration has seemed to hew to that same path (and the food is good too). Getting waitlisted or worse from one of these fine schools is best viewed as a natural consequence of competition at a high academic level and nothing more. Virtually no one gets in everywhere.</p>

124

<p>If anybody cares to compare, I was accepted based on the following:
2280 SAT (800 Writing, 680 Math, 800 Reading)
SAT II: 720 US History, 650 Lit, 550 Math II
AP: Econ (Micro+Macro), Spanish, Statistics, World History, US History, US Government and Politics, English Lang & Comp. All 5s except for government/world. Gov i gave up on and world was freshman year
GPA: 3.76 unweighted, 5.35 weighted
Class Rank: 8/420
Essay: Felt quite confident in both, but that’s an entirely subjective observation
Recs: No clue of quality, assume both were good as the teachers and counselor knew me well and get along with me
ECs: Newspaper Editor-in-Chief (biggest one, put a lot of effort into improving our school publication), two year varsity tennis captain, Key Club, NHS, Spanish NHS, helped a friend kickstart a recycling initiative in our school
Service: Various types, added up to around 60 hours excluding a summer camp counselor position that was unpaid (subject of my CommonApp essay, also a major interview talking point for me, definitely helped me in the college process)</p>

<p>In terms of other schools, I got into Carleton, Wake Forest, Gettysburg, Richmond, and Tulane, but will likely attend Washington & Lee on a full ride Johnson Scholarship. Waitlisted at Wash U and waiting on Davidson.</p>

<p>Doonerak made a strong point above me about the fact that no one gets in everywhere, especially where such strong schools are concerned. Bowdoin, much like Wash U, is not interested in top applicants it thinks will bolt for other places, as it is trying to build a diverse, unique class.</p>

<p>That being said, in my case, I’m half Chinese and happen to have a long and varied legacy, which the school sent us a letter about assuring that family legacy did not have a large an impact as some think. I can’t judge whether either helped, but counterbalancing that was the fact that a friend from my school committed ED for football, and another friend from the town (different school) also was accepted, and with such a small class I was surprised to see 3 students (especially from New England) from the same area admitted.</p>

125

<p>@Helen_Street, not to be disrespectful, but anyone who considers a top 10 liberal arts college like Bowdoin to be a safety school may have delusions of their own merits. No one is guaranteed entry into a school with less than a 17% acceptance rate, and to presume such seems arrogant to me</p>

126

<p>“Waitlisted. I must say, I’m a bit surprised, considering I’ve received offers of admission from a couple of Ivies, and several much more competitive schools… Ah, well, Bowdoin wasn’t really near the top of my list anyway.”</p>

<p>Then it’s a win win situation isn’t it? Some other highly qualified candidate was selected for admission to this relatively non-competitive school.</p>

<p>I just love happy endings!</p>

127

<p>bowdoin yield is actually higher than williams, amherst, chicago, and (significantly higher than) WashU. its about comparable to dartmouth and cornell, which i think speaks great lengths to those who Bowdoin accepts. i think most of what the school is trying to do is put together a class of people who fit together well intellectually and as a community.
for those who were waitlisted/ rejected, dont worry. im sure you will find your place to fit.</p>

128

<p>For my son Bowdoin was anything but a “safety school”. It was at the top of his list from the very beginning of his search, his dream school, his “super reach”. His stats were competitive, but certainly not to the level of some of the surprised-Bowdoin-waitlisters here with 2400 SAT’s/4.0 GPA’s. He applied to Bowdoin ED I and was so disappointed when he was deferred to the regular decision round. He re-dedicated himself to the application process. He informed Bowdoin of his continued interest in the school. He obtained another recommendation that he sent just to Bowdoin. He studied hard for his first semester grades and did well. He put his heart and soul into this application.</p>

<p>He found out this past weekend that he was accepted and we are all “over the moon” about it. (I have been waiting for months to use that phrase!)</p>

<p>My point is that there are people fighting and clawing to get an opportunity to attend a school as special as Bowdoin. Given the passion and energy that so many applicants show for this school, I would use Bowdoin as a “safety school” at your own risk.</p>

<p>To those redirected or waitlisted I wish you success and happiness wherever you land. And to all those new members of the Bowdoin Class of 2017, Go U Bears!</p>

129

<p>@itsallgood: Very hearty congratulations to your son!! He really earned it! How gratifying for you all. My son is on the wait list and he, too, will do everything he can to demonstrate his genuine and enthusiastic interest in Bowdoin. Hope he fares as well as your son!! Again, congratulations to him on a job well done. And to you for raising such a motivated and determined young man!</p>

130

<p>@itsallgood1- What a great ending. I am so glad for your son! Congratulations!</p>

131

<p>Accepted! I am incredibly excited. Bowdoin was my top choice for college and I am actually quite surprised that I was accepted compared to those who got denied or waitlisted on this thread.
For comparison:
Rank: 1 of 54
GPA: 4.35 weighted
SAT: 1870 (worst part of my whole app)
location: Maine
2 years of varsity soccer
3 years varsity track
NHS President
Hundreds of hours of community service
Essays: fairly strong
Recs: not sure
Awards: Harvard Book Award, Maine Principal’s Award, Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award, one in every class I’ve taken in high school.
I’ve also taken all of the hardest classes possible throughout high school.</p>

132

<p>I don’t mean to be disrespectful either, and that is certainly your prerogative to think what you want. My daughter is anything but arrogant. She happened to be accepted into a very prestigious private, college prep school in the 6th grade, and we receive 98% financial aid for her to attend. She is just sixteen years old, (the youngest student in her senior class), has the highest GPA, one of three in our state to have a 2400 SAT score, numerous awards including a gold and 2 silvers in the nationals for the Scholastic Arts and Writing competition, NMSF, AP Scholar, NHS, Presidential Scholar applicant, (1 of 2 in her school), is very involved in community service, etc., and she has earned everything that she has accomplished by her own merits, (no special test prepping, tutoring, international trips, etc.). Yes, based on her college counselor’s compilation of schools that she discussed with her and chose to apply to, and the very high acceptance rate of other students at her school to Bowdoin, (with less than stellar stats), her counselor listed Bowdoin College in the category of safety school. She put lots of time and passion into her Bowdoin application as well. I can certainly understand her frustration–she was deferred to Stanford REA, wait listed from the University of Chicago, wait listed to Bowdoin, and even wait listed to Scripps. If she had been accepted to at least one school by now, maybe she would feel more positive. I would be genuinely interested to know how many students who applied to Bowdoin with similar stats were accepted, (and not wait listed), with a family income, (we are a family of 6), of $46,000 or less a year. Just curious. No disrespect to anyone intended. Congratulations to all that were accepted!</p>

133

<p>The above post was directed to cglanqiu757–sorry. I forgot to mention that we never presumed that our daughter would be “guaranteed entry into a school with less than a 17% acceptance rate”. We do understand that NOTHING is guaranteed.</p>

134

<p>Bowdoin really is need-blind. Their student aid office and the admissions office are completely separate.</p>

135

<p>Cookieis77, that is fantastic. There are ways to gauge a student’s financial situation whether the admission office and financial aid office are separate or not. For example, the admissions office can distinguish by a student’s request for an application fee waiver, whether a student lives in an affluent area by their residential address, the parents’ educational level, whether a student’s application lists EC or service learning trips to foreign countries as opposed to summers spent locally, etc. I don’t believe that too many colleges are truly need blind, but that is just my perspective.</p>

136

<p>@HelenStreet you have to understand that scores and grades aren’t everything. Sometimes, rather than building a class of the highest SAT scorers, schools like Bowdoin (and Chicago) try to build a class like a puzzle. You’re daughter seems very hard working, and she will do great wherever she goes.
Also, you’re counselor shouldn’t have put Bowdoin as a safety school just because students with similar stats from your school usually get in. My school has had a great reputation with Cornell in past years but a lot of kids got snuffed this year for whatever reason.</p>

137

<p>Also, to respond to the whole need blind thing, Bowdoin is actually a very need-blind school. Because it has been doing well financially recently, it can afford to be. Schools that haven’t been doing well, like Wesleyan, can’t as much. Bowdoin can afford to take the kids with lower incomes who it expects will do well, while Wesleyan needs to be more careful about who it lets in. Bowdoin is almost (I don’t like to deal with definitives) entirely need blind.</p>

138

<p>Helenstreet-sorry to hear about your daughter as she sounds like a strong and accomplished candidate. Bowdoin prides itself in taking a “holistic” approach to applicants so it is not all about the grades and the test scores. And of course once you get into the “holistic” approach, it means that intangibles (things like creativity and leadership characteristics) get in the mix. Those don’t measure as easily and would come across through things like ECs, recommendations, interviews, and artistic or musical talent. Your D’s counselor never should have recommended Bowdoin as a “safety” as once you get above a certain level of selectivity, there really are no safeties. Good luck to your daughter as I’m sure that she will land on her feet wherever she may end up.</p>

139

<p>I do understand that it isn’t all about grades and test scores. Why would it be assumed that is the case with my daughter? She is very well-rounded, and very creative. Furthermore, she would not have been accepted into her independent private school with so much financial aid if she did not possess unique talent(s). For example, her biggest passion and talent is writing–which has been illustrated through numerous awards including the prestigious Scholastic Arts and Writing awards. Her gold was in the category of “dramatic script”, a one-act play that was also chosen at her school to be performed. She conducted auditions and directed the entire play–one of four selected in her school to be performed. She is in leadership positions, including that of NSHSS ambassador. She is fluent in Mandarin, (seven years of study), and added a second foreign language, Japanese, in her second semester of her sophomore year. She became proficient enough in one semester to place into third year Japanese in her junior year. Anyway, I would like to think that her accomplishments in spite of her socioeconomic status would weigh in her favor rather than against her. However, in my opinion that has not been the case. Oh well. I will remain hopeful that she will be accepted somewhere. Good luck to all.</p>

140

<p>Helenstreet, hugs to you and your daughter. Thinking back to 4 yrs ago with my oldest, this was a very stressful time. Your D sounds outstanding, and I hope you have an acceptance she will be thrilled about soon.</p>

<p>My S at Bowdoin received generous need-based aid. He also has a work-study job. A senior student from his HS who is first-generation and low income has been admitted to Bowdoin for next year. Our HS is an urban public and is 70% free and reduced lunch.</p>