Bowdoin College is a small liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. Bowdoin is popular for its STEM programs and historic campus. Bowdoin is part of the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium, an athletic conference and interlibrary exchange with Bates College and Colby College (you probably called that one,) sometimes also called the “Maine Big Three.” Bowdoin’s location is quintessentially Maine as it’s located near both the Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. Outside of their main campus (pun!), they also own a coastal studies center on Orr’s Island and a scientific field station on Kent Island.
For the Class of 2027, the acceptance rate was only 8%... They received over 10k applications for under 1k spots. This makes Bowdoin highly competitive. So competitive, that you might be asking yourself, “How do you get into Bowdoin?” Let’s talk about it.
What is Bowdoin looking for?
Bowdoin looks at multiple factors when looking at your application. They break down these categories in their Common Data set. Pay close attention to the “Very Important” and “Important” selections.
Academics
If you noticed, almost everything in “Academic” is “Very Important” (except for standardized testing: more on that later.) This is because, without solid academics, you will not get into Bowdoin. Even if you write the best essay in the world and have cool extracurriculars, if your academics aren’t there, Bowdoin will not be impressed.
So, what are they looking for when it comes to Academics? Well, first, you need to make sure you are pursuing academic “rigor.” Rigor looks different at every high school, but it basically means taking a difficult class load. Think Honors, IB, or AP level. See what your high school offers and push yourself. Bowdoin has no required credits but recommends taking 20 units. We recommend not only completing those 20 credits but also taking as many as you can at an accelerated level.
They also look at Class Rank. If your high school doesn’t report class rank, don’t freak out. Not all high schools do. For example, only about 34% of applicants submitted high school class ranks. However, we still want to use this data.
For those who did submit class rank, almost all accepted students were in the top quarter of their graduating class. Whether your school calculates class rank or not, you should push yourself to be at the top of your class. These are the students Bowdoin is looking for.
A note on GPA. While your personal GPA needs to be excellent, Bowdoin doesn’t track admitted student GPAs on their Common Data set. Sometimes, this can confuse students. They don’t track figures like “average GPA” because each high school grades differently. It doesn’t make sense to lump all that data together. However, your personal GPA should be strong, given your transcript and how your school grades.
Do I need to submit test scores?
For Bowdoin, they are not that important. If you have excellent scores, that’s great. Submit them. But if your scores are not iconically good, don’t worry too much. Even if you do submit, they are only “considered” and not “important.” 44% of the Class of 2027 didn't submit test scores, and the college was the first test-optional college in the country… they have been test-optional since Nixon was in the white house.
Recommendations
Bowdoin looks for great recommendations. This isn’t something that you can really control. But you should ask the right people. Hopefully, your teachers know and love you. If they ask for a brag sheet or to answer questions, give them the best information you can. Also, ask them early. We promise they will thank you for it.
Having great recommendations is doubly important because it is one of the places that show off your talent/abilities and character/personal qualities. While you can’t control Recommendations, you can also show off these very important characteristics in your essays and extracurriculars (which you do control!)
Essays
Now, this is writing you can control. You need to write a great Common App essay. If you are worried about how to do this, we have a ton of blogs about how to write the best essay possible. But if you need a TL;DR, your essay should tell a good story that showcases some of your positive attributes; on top of that, it should be well-written and creative. It’s a tall order. If you are unsure where to start, we suggest reading this blog.
But it’s not just the Common App essay. All the writing you send to Bowdoin should be as best as it can be. Bowdoin also offers two optional essays as part of their supplement. We highly recommend answering these two optional prompts. We don’t really consider them optional. If you want a more in-depth breakdown, we highly recommend this blog. However, quickly, the first essay asks you to choose a line from a poem and relate it to a story from your own life. You want to connect that story to why the value of the line in the poem is important to you. The second essay asks the following:
If you wish, you may share anything about the unique experiences and perspectives that you would bring with you to the Bowdoin campus and community or an experience you have had that required you to navigate across or through difference. (250 words)
This question asks you to speak to your background or an experience and how it has shaped a perspective of yours and how this perspective has helped you navigate a difference. This might sound like it has to be about something big, but it doesn’t have to be. You can choose a smaller story as long as it has a good takeaway. For example, maybe you thought you hated running, but you said that you would run a 5k with a friend who loves running because it was for a good cause. However, when you ran it, you realized that you didn’t hate it as much as you thought you would. The takeaway here is about trying new things and being open to other’s perspectives. It isn’t a huge story, but it has a good lesson for the reader. That’s all you really need.
Extracurriculars
You want your resume and activities section to shine when it comes to extracurriculars. Ideally, you should show commitment, passion, and leadership in your extracurriculars, no matter what they are. “No matter what they are” is the part that sometimes surprises students. Most colleges aren’t looking for specific extracurriculars, but instead, they are looking for students who follow their passions as far as possible.
In practice, this is the difference between being a part of your school’s history club for an hour a week and interning at a history museum and doing your own research. One shows far more commitment and drive. That is what we want. You want to push yourself to run with your interests. Think about pushing yourself to apply to leadership positions or commit more time and effort to projects. The activity itself is less important than what you do with it.
Consider Applying Early
If Bowdoin is your first choice, it's an excellent call to apply early. Bowdoin doesn’t release its early decision acceptance rate, but we can confidently “guess” that it is higher than their RD rate. Also, applying ED at Bowdoin is on the rise, so it’s not a bad idea to apply early!
Getting into Bowdoin isn’t easy, but it is certainly worth it. We hope this breakdown helped, but if you are still unsure of where to start, we can help!
Reach out here!