Transfer to Bowdoin from another LAC

pb2002
Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:05:26 +0000

It’s unclear to me why SAT submission policies matter at all to a student attempting to determine whether a certain school fits him or not. I am equally unconvinced that PhD productivity matters at all, unless the student in question (who is putatively not the OP) intends to pursue a PhD. Even then, I’m not sure how Bowdoin not appearing on Reed College’s PhD Productivity Rank is indicative of its ability or inability to educate appropriately for top PhD programs. I’m curious especially since so many of my friends from Bowdoin go to or have gone to top PhD programs in both the Humanities and Sciences despite Bowdoin not being a leader in PhD production. It should also be noted that Reed’s PhD Productivity system ranks 10 schools only, so the undergraduate schools of some of my own college professors and some of my current friends who are professors (Brown and Dartmouth, for instance) are also not ranked. I’m also curious why you think USNews can somehow be trusted as a legitimate source of academic assessment by ranking Carleton 6th, when Forbes ranks Bowdoin, a school deemed by USNews to be of “equal” quality to Carelton, 40th. This same list ranks UPenn 52nd, Reed 92nd, and Dartmouth 30th, just below Union. I think Carleton is fabulous, but it appears the student in question prefers Bowdoin, which is also considered to be one of the best undergraduate colleges in the country by USNews. This is clearly an issue of fit and not quality. Denigrating Bowdoin through the selective use of data makes Carleton no more attractive.