<p>@bs_hopeful, for admitted students at Bowdoin the last two years, OP’s CR score is below the 25th percentile, his M is above 50th and WR just below 75th. WR is often not taken as seriously. Bowdoin didn’t publish GPA figures in the Common Date Set.
As a male he has a better chance of admission; there are 800-1000 more female applicants each year for approx the same number of places in a class. Although his numbers are not discouraging by any stretch, they do not give him a 75% chance for admission when only 1 in 6 male applicants will be accepted.</p>
<p>Bowdoin practices need-blind admission and his ability to pay will not improve his chances of admission.</p>
<p>What you may perceive as pretentiousness is the many years of experience of adults on this forum watching qualified kids, esp those without an obvious “hook” get shut out during an admissions cycle, or not having applied to schools to which they had a REAL 75% chance of acceptance, and then being stuck with much less appealing alternatives.
No one has told this OP not to submit an application to his preferred schools; the cautionary advice is to also look at some great schools with less selective admissions.</p>