<p>All the New England elite LACs have large numbers of students from wealthy and preppy backgrounds. If anything, i’s probably more extreme at some of the other NESCACs that cater more to NYC wealth than does Bowdoin - like Williams, Amherst, Middlebury and Trinity. It goes with the territory when more than 50% of the student population is paying the full freight at $45K or more a year. Your parents have got to be fairly wealthy to be able to foot that kind of a bill . .</p>
<p>And, BTW, the disparity among the students is likely to become a huge problem in the future as these elite schools continue to push tuition and fees up by 4-6% every year so that only the fabulously wealthy can fill out the 50% plus of the spots in the student body that are allocated to nonscholarship students. .</p>