Bowdoin College Top Questions

Sports are a huge part of campus life - whether it is varsity, club, or intramural, almost everyone I know participates in at least one sport. The Outing Club is huge on campus, its members range from people who go on day hikes once in awhile to kids who climb mountains and make their own granola and eat so much organic food they have sprouts coming out of their ears.

hockey? frisbee, really fun yes sports events are pretty popular, theater and guest speakers have a smaller more specific crowd no pressure to date, mostly personal preference roomates, random parties, classes, through other friends either working or hanging out with my close friends ivies, havent experienced it but heard its amazing it ranges, some drink every night and others never do, no judgement one way or another no frats, social houses are sweet though, but not important partied, watched hockey game --- restaurants

sports teams, singing groups. Amnesty international. yes. depends on the sport. guest speakers can be good. i dont know about the theater. The dating scene isn't very big but sometimes people will go on dates. They're on my floor. Working or hanging out. Work or hanging out. Ivies. Every weekend. nonexistent. work and partied. super snacks. cafes and shopping.

The social scene at Bowdoin revolves around the social houses. Each house is affiliated with a freshmen dorm, and that is the house that you are automatically placed into. They basically operate like coed fraternaties, except you don't choose which one you're in. A freshmen student can expect a social house party pretty much every Friday and Saturday night. They're a great way to meet people at the beginning of the year. In terms of meeting close friends, almost all of them I met through my dorm. We're a really close-knit dorm. Ivies is probably the biggest tradition at Bowdoin. It's during the last weekend in April, and it celebrates Bowdoin declining the Ivy League's offer to join them, and is now a week-long party. There's also a lobster bake right before the beginning of classes in the fall for the whole school. Not many other schools can say that!

There are tons of things going on at Bowdoin on the weekends and during the week in terms of parties, academic events, speakers, theater, etc. If you look for something to do and can't find anything, then chances are you're not looking in the right place. Bowdoin has so much to offer, but sometimes you have to search to find it.

Freshman dorms here are amazing. All have been renovated or built in the past 3 years, which means they're very modern and still have that sqeaky clean feeling, no matter how many drunken incidents occur. This contributes to a great open-door policy and floors bond very easily. There's a great amount of trust that things won't get stolen- students leave their shoes in the halls outside of their rooms in the built in cubbies and their toiletries in open cubbies in the bathroom. Bowdoin also has some really great guest speakers and drama/a capella/improv/concerts going on every week. Thursday night is Pub Night to get the weekend started at the pub in the Union and there's always a DJ or band playing. The social houses (Bowdoin's form of non-exclusive, coed, Greek system) always have themed parties on Friday and Saturday nights.

Parties are not hard to find at Bowdoin. If a social house (our version of a frat or a sorority, except College-run and coed) isn't throwing a party, one can usually be found in the Tower or in another dorm on campus. However, these parties can often be fun without imbibing. I have friends who don't drink and still go to these parties, and they almost always have a good time. Beer is not hard to find on campus, but I wouldn't say it runs our social life. If students don't want to drink, the dining hall is open from 10-1 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, and they serve as much snack food as students could ever possibly want. Additionally, we have one chem-free social house that throws all different types of parties, just without the alcohol. One down side to such a small campus is that hooking up can often be awkward. It's impossible to hook up with someone and never see them again - you will run into them at the dining hall, in the union, in the halls of academic buildings, on the quad...you get the picture.

Lets face it- there isn't a lot to do in Maine. Most students go skiing and snowboarding, and most students drink. We have a great alternative to Greek Life through a social house system that includes everyone who wants to come.

the athletic teams are pretty popular. open door policy in dorms - pretty friendly. athletic events are popular. a couple of guest speakers, nothing too interesting. we don't have any money apparently to bring in good speakers. (where is our $45,000 per year going?!?!) there is no dating scene. it's called causal sex. or you are one of the few people who are essentially married to their bf/gf. closet friends = who you were assigned to live with freshman year or who is on your sports team if im awake on 2am tuesday i am either wasting my time listening to music or on facebook, not getting any work done. traditions: ivies = booze fest people party on thursdays and saturdays. that's it. fridays suck here. when you are a senior you have tuesdays as well, which is when everyone goes to the only bar in walking distance there are no frats i wouldn't know what you can do besides drinking - it's pretty much the only source of entertainment out here in maine. bowdoin turns people into alcoholics. mostly because of the boredom. a little because of the work. a lot because it is a good social lubricant and people here are socially awkward or want to be drunk enough to have casual sex. there is nothing to do off campus!! WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF MAINE! you can go to tj-maxx if you want. freeport offers some good outlets which is a big draw.

People in freshmen dorms definitely leave their doors open all the time! Dating scene: casual hook-ups (usually drunk) or virtually married...very little in between I met my closest friends through my freshman dorm, those friends' sports teams, and through my classes freshmen year. If I'm awake at 2 am on a Tuesday I'm watching a movie or laughing with my friends for no apparent reason and am kicking myself for not being in bed already People party on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, but they are also conscious of their work so it's usually some combination of these nights, not all three. We're near Freeport and Portland and the town of Brunswick has anything you can need and is within walking distance, there's also a bus to Boston directly from campus every day!

Besides being on a team, one of tehbest social experiences at Bowdoin is being involved with a college house. Each college house has a different personality and students have the opportunity to get to know other students that live in the house and attend events that the house hosts. One particular house called out to me. One of my favorite nights on campus was attending a party at this college house. When my friends and I arrived, there was newspaper taped to all the walls and people were drawing and writing on it in pastel crayons. The people who weren't participating in this activity were gathered around the snack table-which consisted of an array of melons and coconuts, or dancing barefoot to an amazing live band that the house had booked. It was an amazingly fun and relaxing Saturday night.

Sports teams are the most popular groups on campus. I play on the softball team and absolutely love it. The team is awesome and we all love to play. Who cares if we don't get to play outside until March? Students in dorms leave their doors open ALL THE TIME. I met my closest friends my freshman year. We were all floormates. If I am awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I am either reading, studying, or watching T.V.

girls field hockey, men's ice hockey, both soccer teams, men lax and both basketball are popular. i live in a social house which is awesome. a lot of fun and a good way to interact with freshman. people leave there doors open mostly- it also depends on the attitude of the floor. a lot of people attend athletic events, you probably know someone on the team. there is a dating scene- which most people say doesnt exist because drunk hookups are way more popular. but dating happens. my closest friends i met in my freshman door and then some of their friends. now, i have new friends because of my new dorm. on tuesday- people go to the local bar. either the bar, studying for a test or watching a movie/hanging out in a friends room. the big lobster bake at the beginning is awesome, interhouse olympics, relay for life, ivies, certain themed parties at certain social houses. ivies is the best- a drunken week a spring where there are bands and events etc. someone is partying each night. mainly it is tuesday, thursday, friday and saturday. most people stick with thursday and saturday. we dont have frats anymore- they were replaced with social houses which are co-ed and more inclusive. last weekend- thurs- went out for someone's birthday. fri- class then eve ensler came to speak. went to a movie with friends, night hockey game, went out. saturday- brunch, day hockey game, went out. sunday was for working. there are events by howell house that is chem free.......i would either hang out with friends, watch a movie, go skiing for the weekend, go out and not drink, maybe the library? off campus is shopping, going out for lunch and dinner, go skiing, go to visit other colleges, go to boston, portland, the cape, montreal.

Everyone leaves their doors open; it's a very safe place. I met my closest friends through the rugby team, and I've loved them all ever since.

Everyone is more than willing to help you...with anything. And of course, having less than 2000 students, you get to know who "everyone" is fairly quickly. Which is great whenever you need help with academics or starting a club or anything really...but it kind of sucks for those one night stands and everyone knows what happened. Of course there always is the option of going off campus on the weekend...if you have a car or are over 21. 'Downtown' is good for Saturday morning brunch and a day dabbling in small stores, but after five, if you can't legally drink, then you're on campus. Unless you have a car or know someone who does, then there are always the options of going to commercialized industries and civilization up the road at Cook's Corner or hiking it down to Portland. Both are great places to escape campus, but it sucks that they are not in walking distance. The big group trips to Portland though create stories that last for a long time. Hanging out on campus really isn't that bad though. Pub nights can be amazingly close to being in a real club, and Supersnacks is always a must. Drunk or sober, something exciting is ALWAYS going on EVERY weekend at campus. It takes some adjusting, but after you settle in there are plenty of ways to spice up a dull weekend.

Drinking dominates social life. Partying is the dominant weekend activity. I do not drink. I do not party. This makes life at Bowdoin very dull for myself and other non-drinkers. I am actively involved in Bowdoin's outdoor club, the Bowdoin Outing Club. The Outing Club is a joke, but it is the only way to get away from campus on the weekends. The "hiking" trips are barely picnics, the students are uniformly lazy, and the pace is geriatric. The only reason I still go is that the alternative (another boring day on campus) is even worse. But, everybody seems very happy to be here. I can't figure that one out.

Campus life at Bowdoin is seriously what you make of it -- I know so many people, including myself, who have complained that there's nothing to do on a given weekend and then another weekend I've actually gone to see the entertainment Bowdoin provides or the student theater productions and it's been great. We usually have a few really good speakers (last year, RFK Jr., this year, Eve Ensler from the Vagina Monologues) and a few good bands (Ben Kweller this year). There are also things like Thursday pub nights, where they'll get a live band or a DJ and you can go dance. Student groups on campus are somewhat popular. There's a group for pretty much anything you could want, and it's easy to start a club if what you want isn't offered (which I did myself), but in general Bowdoin fits the norm of extracurriculars decreasing significantly once everyone stops trying to pad their college resumes. The most popular campus groups are community service oriented -- there's a lot of tutoring and mentoring that goes on, both on and off campus. The dating scene at Bowdoin is pretty standard -- either you're hooking up or you're married. Bowdoin does its best to encourage dating, though -- they'll offer coupons to Brunswick restaurants during "Date Week" and they had speed dating this year. There is a lot of drinking, but given what I've heard from friends of mine at other schools, it's nothing overwhelming and I have NEVER heard of anyone getting slipped something in their drink. If you're looking for weed, you will be able to find it, but otherwise it's not that prevalent, and I've only heard of about four people on campus who do cocaine. Like I said, Bowdoin doesn't permit hard alcohol on campus, so if people do that it will usually be in rooms behind closed doors (unless they're stupid, and then they usually will get caught). For underclassmen, the night life pretty much revolves around the non-exclusive coed social house system (Bowdoin got rid of frats eight years ago). Almost every weekend, one of the eight social houses will throw a campuswide with a theme and people will usually go to that. The social house parties are almost entirely freshmen and sophomore, though -- upperclassmen will go to the tower or to the off campus apartments on Pine Street or Harpswell Street. There is very little pressure to drink, other than the pressure of being bored while you're sober in a room full of drunk people. If drinking isn't your thing, there's a very active chem-free scene full of people who are very gung-ho about being straight edge. A few of them are judgmental, but most of them are cooler than half the people who do drink. They have a social house of their own and throw chem-free parties there all the time. As for traditions, there aren't a ton because the social house system is so new, and there is no hazing or initiation for the houses because the turnover is extremely high (almost no juniors live in social houses). However, one house always has the toga party, another always has the '80s party, another has the haunted house, and another has the blacklight party. Ivies Weekend might be Bowdoin's longest running tradition. Though it supposedly celebrates the weekend that Bowdoin turned down the invitation to join the Ivy League, the real reason is that the ivy on the dorms was planted the last weekend in April. There is always live entertainment (OK Go two years ago, Kevin Little last year) and a big "Pinestock" party with campus bands and lots of kegs. It is completely possible to go that entire weekend being drunk or high the entire time you are awake.

We "Brick" our doors to keep them open and they stay open 24/7. It does make it easy to pull shenanigans on people, but all of that is completely friendly. We're in and out of each others rooms all the time. Every weekend we have...Super Snacks; junk food dining 10-1am, a band in the pub, a coffee house at one of the College Houses...and Oh My Gosh! The BEST thing about Bowdoin is that it is frat-free. Instead we have 8 College Houses and the freshman are automatically affilliated to them which means that they get to take advantage of the House in tons of different wonderful ways. We can have birthday parties there, go over to watch tv, go for dinner, go to chat with upperclassmen, party, just hang out, seek advice, participate in House community service...The list is endless. The Houses are there for the students to make their own. During freshman orientation we had a House Olympics, which will always be one of my best memories from freshman year. It was a great way to kick off the year and to really bond with the people in my dorm and my House. Partying is great on campus. All kegs are registered and there is "no" hard alchohol, so if you're looking for a place to be safe and party, Bowdoin is wonderful. Security is constantly going through the dorms at night and through the buildings where the parties are. Parties are registered as well, but that doesn't make partying a drag. Security knows that we drink and won't say anything as long as we're being safe. Security is here to (A) keep us safe, (B) give us rides to the far-away freshman parking lot, and (C) keep us from getting in trouble with real police...or at least thats the way most people see them. We have a lot of fun with the security on campus and know them well. ...On the flip side of that though. If you dont party, then you dont have to at Bowdoin. Lots of people go to parties who don't drink or just dont go to parties and thats OK. Yes, some people drink every week Wednesday thru Saturday, but thats up to them. No one will force you to drink.

In freshmen doors you will always see doors kept open. Its a very welcoming a safe environment. There are many fun traditions, including Ivies Weekend (when a big band, such as OK Go! or Third Eye Blind may come to campus), and the Colby vs Bowdoin Hockey game, where tradition songs and insults are yelled along with the cheering. Student involvement off campus is always community centered. Many students volunteer in soup kitchens and I myself have volunteered in the Emergency Room at Mid Coast Hospital.

Most people play some kind of sport and everyone's on the College Dems' mailing list. Social Houses make up the social scene for freshmen and desperate sophomores. The dating scene does not exist. The hook-up scene is prevalent. A lot of people get really close with their freshman floor. Super snacks is the alcohol free weekend alternate. There are occasionally some mediocre plays and performances and the various a cappella groups are quite good.