Theresa
To a certain degree, these stereotypes are accurate, but not everyone fits into them, of course. Everyone can fit in somewhere and find friends and activities.
Blake
No, and yes. There are athletes, and if you find yourself at parties or in class with them, it can seem overwhelming. There are New England prep school kids, but really, they've grown up, and maybe just haven't changed their wardrobe quite yet. Most students here are bright, engaged, and very down to earth...but of course, there are all ends of the spectrum.
Rachel
Are there preppy and privileged students at Bowdoin? Of course, but this is the case at any school. While there are plenty of students from "just outside of Boston," there are also students from all over the world, and from every socioeconomic class. Just because it might be easy to point out "preppy" students, this doesn't mean that they are the majority. And as for the idea that we're all athletes, this is certainly not true. We have some great teams, but no one will think anything of it if your only form of exercise is walking around our small campus. I don't play any sports, and I have plenty of friends who don't either.
Billy
As a guy, I'd say so. The cute girls are taken by upperclassmen.
Leah
Absolutely not. I and all of my friends are quite beautiful.
Alex
Unfortunately, Bowdoin falls victim to the same stereotypes applied to all other NESCAC schools: mainly that they are too small and consist of over privileged students with suburban backgrounds. While this is true of all the schools to a limited extent, to think this about Bowdoin is to completely misunderstand it.
Bowdoin also sometimes falls victim to the stereotype of a safety school for Ivy Leaguers. I would disagree with this as well because I feel that the Ivy League Schools are not comparable to the New England Small Liberal Arts and Science Colleges on several fundamental levels including size and location. I'm often frustrated by this tendency of prospective students to compare these schools on the U.S. World and News Report kind of scale, when students should really be looking at the schools that are right for them as individuals (not according to some arbitrary list of determinants).
Betsy
I still feel like you can divide the campus into three groups: preps, jocks, and hippies, and any student here will probably fall under at least one of those categories. As for the part about the cold weather and the beer, I'd say that's true.
Morgan
somewhat. if you are looking for a good time, you can find one whenever you want but there is no pressure to do so and students do take their work serious, even if they party a good amount, and nobody will trash you for working hard, they respect it.
Maxime
There are your share of prepsters, but people got in here for a reason. I'm always surprised at how multi-dimensional people are, even if they might not seem so initially. Yes, it's cold but it's bareable