Middlebury vs. Bowdoin

NeuroMidd7
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 06:10:18 +0000

Hey everindecisive! So I was just curiously scrolling through Midd-related posts and I serendipitously saw this–didn’t have an account but when I saw your questions I decided to make one so that I could respond because I was in a remarkably similar situation a few years ago.

I’m now in my second year as a Neuroscience major at Middlebury and I was very close to going to Bowdoin. The schools are extremely similar in most ways and the decision for most students comes down to the intangibles. However, you have some very specific interests at play and it seems to me that Middlebury might be the more favorable choice for you based on what you’re looking for objectively. Anyway, let me do my best to answer your questions.


After two years in the Neuroscience program I can honestly say that I have nothing but high praise for Middlebury’s Neuro department. One of the reasons I ended up choosing Midd over Bowdoin was the breadth of course offerings, and to some extent the faculty, in Midd’s department vs. Bowdoin’s. The major is highly interdisciplinary (integrates chem, bio, psychology, philosophy, independent study, and some pretty awesome electives that combine all of these quite nicely). Neuroscience was one of the most popular majors at Middlebury last year (5th most popular, I think?) and there are lectures pretty often on what’s happening in the neuroscience world. Bowdoin is clearly an excellent school for the sciences, but it seems that they perhaps don’t put as many resources into their Neuro program as does Middlebury. One of my hall-mates was a Neuro major who recently switched to SOAN and she loves it. I’ve taken one sociology course and I’m currently in an anthropology course and the material is certainly engaging. I will say that it would be quite difficult to double major with Neuroscience, simply because there are so many requirements for the Neuro major. It would be possible, but you’d be pretty crunched for room in your schedule. I don’t know much about the studio art program but I’ve heard good things–it’s supposed to be one of the more intimate departments because of the high number of professors there are relative to the number of students taking studio art classes.
I have to admit that prestige and rankings were also a pretty big concern for me throughout the search/decision process (probably more than they should have been). Yes, right now Bowdoin has the lower acceptance rate (15% vs 17% I think ), but Middlebury’s has been consistenly lower in the past. Similarly, Middlebury’s Forbes ranking has been higher than Bowdoin’s in the past (although the Forbes rankings are pretty ridiculous if you ask me). These things are constantly subject to change and a decision, in my opinion, shouldn’t be made based so heavily on a given year’s or a given publication’s rank. From what I understand, thirty or so years ago, Bowdoin was pretty agreeably seen as the slightly superior school, but after quite a lot changed for both schools in the late 80’s/90’s, Midd started to emerge as the more popular of the two, and today the good majority of cross-admits choose Middlebury. Today, I would say that if there is any difference at all in overall ‘prestige’, the slight edge might go to Middlebury, but it would depend on who you ask. As far as medical / grad school placement, I happen to know that two years ago the overall success rate for medical school applicants from Middlebury was 84% and 86% at Bowdoin. Both will be excellent in this regard.
If the two would end up costing about the same, maybe that shouldn’t be a major consideration. Middlebury is pretty great about providing funding for summer research/internships, so you could look into that once you have a particular opportunity in mind.
I’m an athlete so I will give you my personal perspective on this. Both schools are very athletics-oriented, with Bowdoin slightly more so (34% varsity athletes at Bowdoin vs. 27% varsity athletes at Middlebury, probably just due to size difference), but based on my own experience, the vast majority of athletes mesh seamlessly with the non-athletes. Actually, now that I think of it, almost all of my closest friends are people who aren’t on my team. Unlike most Division I schools, athletics don’t make up for a substandard application at Middlebury or Bowdoin, so the vast majority of athletes are every bit as academically engaged as the rest of the school. As far as the size difference, YES, surprisingly, I felt that there was a pretty noticeable difference in feel between 1800 at Bowdoin vs 2500 at Middlebury. This actually ended up being one of the reasons I decided on Middlebury–2500 seemed small enough to maintain the feeling of community and intimacy that I wanted, but not so small that I would feel suffocated after the first year.
Middlebury is quite isolated, which actually attracts a lot of students, but certainly not too isolated to get away to the city for a day or a weekend. Bowdoin is slightly closer to a city (30 minutes to Portland) and to Boston (2.5 hours) than Midd is (45 minutes to Burlington and 3.5 hours to Boston) but Brunswick isn’t exactly a happening place. Middlebury is also 2 hours from Montreal, which is really an awesome international city and a popular break/weekend destination. The campus and the town of 8,500 have just about everything you’d need, but like I said, a weekend escape to the city is always feasible.


I really hope this helps! I don’t know very much about UChicago, Williams, or Amherst, but hopefully this information will be helpful in sorting out your Middlebury vs. Bowdoin decision.
Best of luck and go with your gut!