<p>A note about writing-intensive programming: Bowdoin requires every first year take a freshman seminar that focuses on honing writing skills. These seminars are offered in multiple fields, so if you aren’t an English person, you won’t be stuck writing literature analyses. Anyways, these seminars are very helpful for an introduction to college writing. There is also an on-campus writing workshop where you can bring your paper and writing assistants (other students - you get matched up with them by field of concentration) will help you direct your ideas, proofread, etc. I would say in general because Bowdoin is a liberal arts school it’s very writing intensive - I had essay response questions on one of my physics exams. </p>
<p>Re: the Bowdoin and Cornell debate. I think these schools attract very different types of students. There was actually a kid on my freshman floor who transferred to Cornell from Bowdoin. He was very competitive academically, which didn’t mesh with a lot of people’s academic styles here at Bowdoin - people work hard and are competitive with themselves, but are still pretty chill about things and it’s definitely not cutthroat. I don’t know how he ended up liking Cornell after he transferred, but I do know that it was fairly easy for him to transfer from Bowdoin to Cornell.</p>
<p>The math department at Bowdoin I would characterize as being small but mighty. All the math majors I know are very pleased with the curriculum. As for music - we just finished building a new recital hall and a bunch of practice rooms, so the facilities are top notch. Music as an extracurricular is very popular here (we’ve got a cappella groups coming out of our ears and all sorts of chamber ensembles, etc.), but I think the major is a relatively small program. The small size probably is beneficial in this case since you get more attention and it’s more individualized.</p>