What did you turn down for Bowdoin?

barvoets
Wed, 26 Jun 2013 14:28:54 +0000

A couple things:

1) I’m skeptical as to why you would place safeties (or at least what were safeties to me) over a reach school like Bowdoin. And even so, why specifically Colgate and Wake Forest? The schools that I was debating between in the end came down to Cornell, WashU, Middlebury and Bowdoin. All 4 of those schools have EQUAL prestige, ranking, endowment per student, etc. but I chose Bowdoin based on how I felt. That’s why you pick a school, anyway, isn’t it?

2) If I were you, I would hesitate to say that you could get into Bowdoin, and to a lesser extent Colgate, with “no problem.” I would remind you that Bowdoin had a 12.30% RD acceptance rate this year, and with an entering class of less than 500 students, getting in hardly easy, and should most definitely be considered a reach school. Without a doubt, getting into Bowdoin this year was no easier than getting into a Mid-level Ivy.

3) My thinking on choosing Bowdoin was a thought of belonging and feeling. I visited all four of my final schools and found that not only did Bowdoin have a phenomenal program I was interested in, not only was I named a Faculty Scholar, and not only did I love the location, but the students seemed genuine and interesting. Thus, my decision to attend Bowdoin.