Broken leg test- you can’t plan (for a semester, a year, or the duration of your college career…)
Where do you want to be?
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There is non-stop service from Boston to Honolulu on a couple of airlines, and my guess is that this student would travel from Logan, regardless of the school chosen - and that avoids the connection issue.
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Sounds like Amherst is better at your sport. Does that mean less playing time, being on the travel team, etc?
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There was a nonstop on Hawaiian (RIP), but not going forward.
I don’t know of another airline that flies nonstop or direct from BOS to hawaii at this point. Delta did at one point, but stopped awhile ago.
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Ah, I see that! Delta had flights this last spring. In any case, super easy to connect through LAX or SFO if goal is to avoid a winter weather airport
But yes, still a connection. (And for the riskier folks, there’s Portland to Newark for a non-stop to Honolulu.)
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I would really really ask Amherst students how often they take classes at the other campuses. I have a student at one of the 5 colleges and while she appreciates the neighboring towns and occasional parties at other schools, it’s not actually that convenient to take classes at them. (She has a car which makes the commute easier, but she has everything she needs at her own camopus.) When I toured Amherst, it was clear that Amherst students are even less likely than students at other campuses to take advantage of that opportunity. Likely because the offerings at Amherst are pretty good. Regarding the weather, it’s almost the same at both places. The issue is the loss of light rather than the cold and wet which you can dress for. But you get used to anything and winter sports are so fun. One advantage of Maine is the easy access to affordable skiing for everyone and a general attitude about taking advantage of the outdoors. It’s just a stronger pull in Maine even though Massachusetts is also beautiful and woodsy. I’d focus on the mascots. Polar Bear beats Lord Jeff or even a mammoth. Bowdoin is more down to earth, more earnest. Amherst is more serious, more self important. Sorry ‘bout it.
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Re: transportation – you’re looking at long days to and from home regardless. We live in Colorado, and my D goes to Bates, and traveling to and from has always meant a long day of travel. Obviously much longer from HI (but we’re more likely to have weather at both ends of the trip). My D has had weather-related delays. She’s had a couple of missed days of class (professors have been very understanding). Only once has she spent the night on the floor at an airport (yes, we offered a hotel, and she said it wasn’t worth the bother). We usually fly her into Portland, but sometimes it’s made more sense to fly her into Boston and have her spend the night with a friend who lives near Boston and drive up to Maine the next day.
And you know what? It’s been fine. Mostly, flights have worked out. She’s become a more resourceful traveler as a result of dealing with unexpected circumstances. I promise you that if you end up at one of these schools, you’ll deal with travel issues, and you’ll have very long travel days. But you’ll be fine. And I don’t think it’ll make a huge difference which school you attend.
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SFO is a risky connection airport, since fog is a frequent occurrence that reduces the number of runways that airplanes can land on simultaneously, resulting in delays.
There do not appear any BOS-HNL nonstops now, and the minimum trip time appears to be close to 12 hours each way.
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The differences between Bowdoin and Amherst are on the edges. You’ll get a great education and experience New England at either.
I’ll admit I’m biased as a parent of a Bowdoin student. Both schools have strong organized orientation programs, Amherst explores the college and Bowdoin explores Maine in small groups focused either on outdoor exploration or the common good. Maybe one options speaks to you more - Amherst is more getting done to business and Bowdoin is focused on small groups bonding while exploring the wonders of Maine.
Plus Bowdoin starts every year with a lobster and steak feast. Good luck.
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I’m not sure the flight times/issues are relevant.
It sounds like OP has offers for Amherst and Bowdoin.
If it was the difference of flying to Kona from Honolulu or Seattle from Honolulu, I get the comparison.
But flying to Boston, Hartford or Portland - really no point in giving one advantage over the other.
Whether through Dallas or NY or Chicago, etc. I’m sure they’ll have one stop flights.
That said, there ais a non stop HNL to BOS (which works for both schools) - on Nov 19, there’s a 9 hr 42 mins on Hawaiian, operated by Alaska although it looks like it might be ending.
There are one stops through Vegas and SLC, Denver, JFK, and Atlanta and more.
Hartford - Denver, Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, O’Hare, Dulles, Minneapolis.
Portland had less - Detroit, Dulles, JFK, O’Hare
Bottom line - you’re going to college and home maybe 2x a year.
I don’t think travel should be a part of the decision at all.
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Amherst and Bowdoin are both great small liberal arts colleges. Two of the best. You can’t go wrong with either one. Both have great access to the outdoors. I’ll try to highlight some of the differences.
There are distinct differences, beginning with the curriculum. Both have a freshman seminar. Beyond that, Bowdoin has 5-6 more courses of distribution requirements. To fulfill these, you choose the courses to meet the requirements. So, it’s a pretty open curriculum. At Amherst the curriculum is totally open. No distribution requirements, meaning you choose everything. This is the core of your academic experience for your first 2 years, so ask yourself whether you prefer the totally open approach where all of your choice of courses is yours or if you prefer the guidance and structure of a menu of options. You still choose the courses but each in a pre-specified area so that you get exposure to a range of fields. Your choice.
Each campus has a variety of types of on-campus and off-campus housing. Bowdoin has “college houses”. Read about them. Amherst has “theme houses”. Both have repurposed their old frat houses for today’s living. Some offer single room options.
The communities in which the colleges are situated are very different from my point of view. Brunswick, Me is a charming small town. You can easily walk to the center of town from campus. It is on the ocean. Boating of various kinds is popular in Maine. Swimming is not because the ocean is too cold for swimming even in summer. The next town to Brunswick is Freeport, 10 miles away to the south. It is home to L.L. Bean and draws a lot of tourists to the “factory store.”
Amherst is also a delightful small town but about twice the population of Brunswick, largely due to the population of students at UMass. The result is more restaurants and entertainment in Amherst than Brunswick. About the same distance away from Amherst (9miles) as Freeport is from Brunswick is Northampton, the county seat of Hampshire County, complete with a court house and other government offices as well as an annual county fair every September. It is also home to Smith College. The Amherst-Northampton area is the 2nd largest booking venue in all of New England after Boston, meaning that there’s lots of live music if all kinds in the area if that’s your thing. There’s really good live music in Portland, Me, but it’s 3 times as far from Brunswick (27 miles) and takes 45-50 minutes by train to get there or a half hour by car. You can actually ride a bike to Northampton from Amherst on a protected bike trail slightly faster than you can travel by train between Brunswick and Portland. And the Arts District in Portland where a lot of the music clubs are is not downtown. In Northampton, all of the restaurants and music clubs are on or just off Main St. Access to Northampton is enhanced by the fact that a campus shuttle bus runs regularly to & from Northampton 7 days a week to facilitate the 5 colleges connection with Smith College.
If you want a quiet small town, go to Bowdoin. If you want a busier metro area, go to Amherst. Each has its own appeal.
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Have you visited Amherst College? It’s not within walking distance of the other colleges. Amherst College is really in a more rural area than Bowdoin. Their towns are very different as well.
Weather is just about the same in both places.
We know grads of both colleges and they loved their experiences.
You need to decide what will work best for you. Is there some reason you are applying ED to one…when you could apply RD to both?
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This. The town of Amherst is really ho hum despite having U Mass Amherst there. But the town doesn’t really matter if you love the school.
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I second this - lots of discussion about this - and very, very small difference in grand scheme of a 4 year college experience here.
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Just reading the way you described your feelings about the two, Bowdoin seems to have captured your heart a bit more. I’d pick Bowdoin.
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