Bowdoin College Top Questions

best thing: the food one thing i'd change: the weather school size: way too small -> way too much gossip -> way too much drama telling people at bowdoin: in the northeast - wow, what a great school. anywhere else - is that a community college? spend most of my time - union or dorm college town = "what college town"??? THERE IS ONLY 1 MAIN BAR! WTF?!?! and no stores. good luck shopping girls. there is freeport but that gets old. administration - it sucks. they don't really care about the students and they are completely biased and favor ethnic students. also, completely unhelpful in terms of classes. biggest recent controversy - ??? nothing happens at this school. school pride - i guess. at hockey games against colby. other than that, i'd say 90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of students hate it here. unusual - one of the buildings on campus has floorboards made of cofin lids. also, bowdoin is pretty much the only school that does not offer credit for taking a lab. probably a good reason why so many students drop the pre-med. experience always remembered - supersnack with friends frequent student complaints - weather, nothing to do, no fun parties, pre-med students always complain about labs and not getting credit for them

I spend most of my time in the student union. It's where I do most of my homework, meet friends for coffee, dance at the pub on Thursday nights, and I work at the information desk there. Basically, Smith Union is my home! I love the size of the school because I feel as though, even as a freshman, I could recognize many of my classmates at meals, in class, and at parties. I love the social house system, it's a great way to have a more inclusive party scene while still preserving the great old fraternity buildings! The mascot is so unique and the colors of black and white make it really easy to show your school pride. The food is good! One of the drawbacks of going to such a good school is that all of the other students were just as smart and involved in high school as you were which can make it hard to participate in certain activities here.

The best thing about Bowdoin is the food. If I could change one thing I'd change the long winter, focus on drinking, and lack of attractive. The school could be larger because everyone you don't know knows something embarrassing about you. Nobody has heard of Bowdoin and they shouldn't. We haven't had any famous alumni for 50 years. Most of the time I spend on campus is in the library because I actually do my work. Its a college town in that the Brunswick economy is reliant on us. The only nice looking part of Brunswick is Bowdoin. Bowdoin's administration is great except for how their policies encourage binge drinking. The biggest recent controversy on campus is how security breaks up small gatherings of seniors yet allows hordes of freshmen to get trashed weekly at social houses. There is a lot of school pride due more to the reputation then any actual aspect of Bowdoin. The most unusual thing about Bowdoin is that people actually think its a good school. One experience I'll always remember is the week of orientation when I realized unless I wanted to stay in my room by myself I had drink when I went out. The most frequent student complaint at Bowdoin is that there's too much snow and cold. I agree.

The best thing about Bowdoin is the food. I love the dining hall! I would change the way classes are chosen in phase 1 and phase 2. I believe that we should be sending in our choices through the internet. Bowdoin is too small. I already feel like I know too many people. People in New Jersey have never heard of Bowdoin. I spend most of my time on campus in my room with my friends. We hang out. Brunswick is the best college town. The shops are so cute and so easy to walk to. The only problem is that they close so early! The most recent controversy on campus was the decision to terminate Pass/Fail classes.

i like how bowdoin is small, but it is getting slightly bigger and it is not too small- its enough to know some people but there are always more people and groups to meet. i would change the amount of printers at the school because we all want more. some people think bowdoin is so great and so hard to get into, others, who compare it to ivies, think it is okay. i love our campus, it is small enough to get around but with enough places to change up the scenery. the town is cute, good restaurants but people dont even go out that much. the bar is fun on tuesdays. there is a lot of school pride- we love our hockey team and our polar bears.

The best thing about Bowdoin is the people. There are so many different kinds of people, all who are so excited and passionate about what they are doing. I'm a freshman, so that school hasn't gotten too small for me yet, but I hear from a lot of older students that the older you get, the smaller and smaller Bowdoin feels. That's what study abroad is for! If they've heard of it (which many haven't), people seem to be very impressed that I go to Bowdoin. There is lot of school pride, especially at the sporting events against Colby. You should hear the cheers... The most frequent complaint that I hear is the the dining hall and the library aren't open long enough. I completely agree. I'll always remember my first SuperSnacks experience. SuperSnacks is a night, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night where the Thorne Dining Hall is open from 11pm-1am. They serve nachos, hot dogs, grilled cheese, carrots and dip...snack type foods. There's music and cool lighting...people love it, either to do homework or to socialize. It's a fun environment.

Bowdoin is extremely friendly. With such a small campus, the communal feeling grows on you, fast. People are always smiling and willing to help. Signing up for classes a random upperclassmen will tell you who to take and who to avoid, regardless of the fact that you may have no idea who they are. Even studying in the library or Cafe, if another person from your class happens to be there, study groups form instantly. If coming from a big city, the small town life takes a little bit of adjusting, but in the end, it's worth it.

I'm from the Pacific Northwest. People don't know about Bowdoin way out there. The usual response is "Bow-what?" or "Boating College, that must be fun." If Bowdoin is so great, why isn't it well known outside of New England? Here's why: Bowdoin, and all the other small liberal arts colleges, are mostly talk. I've been disappointed from day one with the caliber of students at Bowdoin, which makes Bowdoin's strong school pride hard to understand. The athletic teams are dismal, the academics would be challenging were it not for the weak work ethic, and student discipline is nonexistent. Maybe Bowdoin is far above other colleges, but that's not saying a lot, because college culture is universal and disgusting.

The best thing about Bowdoin is definitely the fact that you know everyone. Obviously, there are situations where that might be a pain, but in general, I love being able to walk around campus and know the names of half the people I pass. The size also helps the school really take care of its students -- the food and the housing wouldn't be so good if the facilities had to manage a population twice this size. The only reason that I would want Bowdoin to be bigger is so that we could get more prestigious speakers and music artists. Other than that, the size is perfect -- I really like that I wtill get to know most of my class by graduation. I spend most of my time on campus in my social house or in the Union. The rooms are so big that I really never want to leave, but I try to make use of a few really good study spots. Bowdoin has lots of random study rooms with amazing old furniture and huge windows that I never spend enough time in. Brunswick is by no means a college town, but it is really nice -- the town of Amherst might be the only NESCAC town that's bigger (but still worth visiting). There's a Hannaford's and a 7/11, a movie theater, a bunch of thrift stores, a ton of restaurants (the highlights are Shere Punjab, an Indian restaurant, and Frontier Cafe, which is overpriced but gives you an awesome view of the river). If you can get a car, there's also a bunch of bigger stores in another part of Brunswick called Cooks Corner, where there's a much bigger movie theater and a Starbucks, as well as even more shopping in Freeport ten minutes away, and more stuff in Portland twenty-five minutes away. There are a few bars in Brunswick that seniors do actually go to, but I've never been there because they're pretty strict about fakes. Town-gown relations are good, for the most part -- we've had some problems with high schoolers trying to get into our house parties, but I've never heard of any of them actually getting inside. The Bowdoin administration is pretty accessible; I've babysat for the Dean and they all meet with the student government every month to talk about whatever issues come up. I think one problem Bowdoin has is the tendency to let some problems remain unsolved in favor of one big sweeping solution -- for example, the Health Center and the gym both really should be renovated, but instead of doing it now, they're going to build a fancy schmancy "Wellness Center" for both in 2010. That's kind of a small complaint, though. There was a controversy on campus recently over some hazing, but it was unbelievably tame as far as hazing horror stories go. Some people on the sailing team posted their "initiation" photos on Webshots (not even Facebook) and there was an inquiry, but believe me, I am not shilling for Bowdoin when I say there are seriously no hazing problems here. It was one woman claiming to be a "hazing expert" trying to raise some publicity for herself and one team that gave their photo album the wrong name. There's definitely a lot of school pride at Bowdoin -- it can almost make you feel weird if you aren't 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} happy all the time because everyone else seems to be. There's also a big rivalry with the other two Maine colleges -- you can always hear us shouting "mules are sterile!" at the hockey game with Colby. One thing that's unusual at Bowdoin that I really would have liked to know is that there is technically a ban against hard liquor and drinking games on campus, even if you're 21. In practice, this doesn't really have any effect, and it basically sanctions beer drinking -- but if you have a party in your room with either of those things and Security happens to come, it can be a real pain to deal with. As long as you're responsible, though, you probably won't even attract their attention.

The best thing about Bowdoin is that its small. Not too small that I am pulling my hair out with boredom over seeing the same people every day, but small enough that I'm not LOST. Before I got here I thought that I could go to a school with thousands of people but I was sorely wrong. 1600 people is actually a lot I've found. It's great to see people often, to honestly get to know them, and to have small classes. My biggest class so far has been 50 people but it barely even feels like its that many. Most people that hear I'm at Bowdoin just ask "How is college?" and never say "Bowdoin" outloud. If you're wondering, the pronunciation is on our website. But we don't mind if you say it wrong because it adds to our long list of hilarious mispronunciations...my favorite of which is..."Bow Down?"