My Bates kid was interested in Bates, but not Bowdoin or Colby, and honestly, I was the same way in 1990!
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Of course there are many people who are interested in one but not another (my kid included), but do you think that there is another school that Bates applicants apply to more than Colby? Wesleyan maybe? For Colby, I would guess Bates, or possibly Bowdoin.
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Deleted (someone upthread made the exact same point).
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I would really like to know at Colby how many of the students they accept who throw in an app near or on the deadline. Colleges can see when a student adds the school to their list of colleges on the common app, so I would be surprised if Colby accepts many who add the school at/near the deadline (because they looked at all the schools that donât require an essay and/or an app fee), especially if they havenât engaged with the school before that at all.
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My hunch, and itâs nothing more than that, is that this strategy is effective in finding âless typicalâ applicants. Perhaps FGLI, maybe less represented geographies, etc. For the kid from a suburb of Boston who figures âwhat the hey, why not?â, the odds wonât be great. But perhaps a kid from Las Cruces, who can just push the button and is later accepted and finds that the school is affordable, it could be a big win for the school.
So many of these policies â at every school â were designed with the hope that theyâd bring applicants the school was traditionally missing. They may also bring in a lot of applicants that are no different from what they already have, but thatâs not the point.
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Many schools use plenty of avenues to get their institutional priority studentsâŠQuestbridge, Posse, partnerships with other CBOs, AOs focused on rural and/or urban high school recruitment, etc.
While I wouldnât be surprised if they get some of their target students at the deadline because of ease of applying, a big reason some schools have decreased barriers to apply is to A) get a larger number of apps and B) drive down the admit rate. Both things are goals of many enrollment management peeps (as directed from admin and board of trustees.) Yes, Iâm cynical.
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I too am a cynic. And yes, Colby does partner with organizations like Questbridge and Posse. But at some level, the trouble of looking at all those apps canât just be to impress trustees. Thereâs some both/and here.
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I agree. I think itâs important to note that the dynamics of the small, private college and its place in the marketplace hasnât changed that much despite the advent of the USNews rankings. In fact, itâs probably been exacerbated. In other words, how do you level the playing field against a competition that apparently has infinite name recognition? Answer: By any means necessary.
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But how do you distinguish the applicants who throw in a last minute lotto ticket vs those who just wait until the deadline as they polish their apps?
I heard somewhere (I think a Your College Bound Kid podcast?) that
they can also see when you added a college to your common app. So, if you added it early and then didnât submit until the last minute that would look different than someone that added it right before the deadline and hit submit.
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You canât alwaysâŠbut the kid who is âpolishingâ the app likely added Colby to their common app college list well before the deadline (again, colleges see the date a student adds the college in the common app.) Maybe they also signed up for the mailing list or visited or did a virtual admissions session, etcâŠso there were signs of engagement.
While I agree Colby might be picking up some institutional priority students who add the school on the deadline day and never engaged with the school before then (I would also say those students are less likely to yield than some others), I still maintain the vast majority of the students who did that have very little chance of gaining acceptance.
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I wonder if the âColby Commitmentâ financial aid program is another factor that draws more applicants than Bates. I havenât done a deep comparison, but AFAIK, Colby has deeper pockets than Bates. https://afa.colby.edu/cost-and-aid/colby-commitment/
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Maybe, but if you talk to any Bates or Colby student they would be quick to tell you the schools and the students are very, very different.
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@Franklynn - what do you think are the differences between Bates and Colby students?
Thatâs interesting. Weâve had kids from our local high school in California go to all three - Bates, Bowdoin and Colby. Mostly mainstream kids from the high school at Bates. A mix of artsy/outdoorsy and athletic kids at Colby. Mostly recruited athletes at Bowdoin. Weâve also been at the welcome events for Bates from the broader area in Northern CA and itâs really all types of kids - many serious athletes (soccer, volleyball, swimming, field hockey, skiing, football, etc), some dancers, several pre-med students, psych/neuro majors (big department), outdoorsy types â I donât think there really is any one type for any of these schools except they are all good students with A averages. Oh - and the common thread is typically some sort of connection to New England (parents from there, relatives nearby, etc.).
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Re: Bates, Bowdoin, Colby â starting to see a lot more of these cross-campus events. Musicians recently got together from all three schools for a music fest at Bowdoin. Bowdoin hosts first CBB spring music fest â The Bowdoin Orient
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Traditionally (as in decades ago!), these 3 had different identities. Bates was the artsiest and crunchiest, Colby was the outdoorsiest, Bowdoin was perhaps the most buttoned up. Over time, as they have all become less regional and more competitive, theyâve become more alike. Around the edges, the old reputations may still apply, and for some minority of students, one will be a much better fit than others. For most, though, they could quite happily be transplanted to one of the other 2 campuses and be quite happy.
Students at each tend to be very loyal to their school, and yet as alums, the BBC folks find each other and recognize a kindred spirit. Maybe itâs the connection to Maine?? (These schools are well-represented in my family, ond oh my, how they all love Maine now!) Also, at certain BBC events (athletic and otherwise), students see each other, socialize, bond over shared interests and common friends, and genuine friendships are formed. DS has good friends from all 3 schools whom he met post high school. Focus group of one, but I suspect thatâs normal.
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Thatâs what weâve noticed also. Maybe 40 percent are athletes in CBB, so here in California we have seen a large volleyball club, for example, send girls the same year to Bates, Bowdoin and Colby. Then these kids all see each other at competitions and recruit more students from their CA club to come out the following year. So itâs less about fit and more about which school needs a 6 foot middle or libero, etc. I suspect the same is true for other sports. And they all find their people eventually, whether artsy, outdoorsy, bookish, etc, etc.
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Really interesting article about Amherst in the NYT this morning:
Since its freshman class demographics were disclosed, Amherst has been working to reverse the decline in Black and Hispanic students while still complying with the law. (When international students are included, this yearâs freshman class was 9 percent Black, but that number declined from 19 percent last year.)
Amherst said it did not have a racial breakdown for the newly admitted students, but Matthew L. McGann, Amherstâs dean of admission and financial aid, said that a quarter of the students would be the first in their family to attend college, a school record.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/us/black-enrollment-amherst-college-affirmative-action.html
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Today is Hamiltonâs annual triathlon- HamTrek! Itâs a super fun event that the campus community, from students to professors and other staff, really embraces and competes in, either individually, or on a team! The students have fun but also take it seriously and want to win, lol! I think Bowdoin also has a triathlon, but not sure about any other NESCACs. Such a fun tradition they all look forward to!
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