Bowdoin is kind of the hipster of the Little Ivies. With their beaches, mountains, food trucks, and L.L. Bean boots (their words, not ours), it has a vibe that’s pretty similar to Dartmouth; but with about a third of the student population. Whether you dream of discussing Nietzsche with friends by the fireplace on a snowy day or hitting the streets to give back to your community, Bowdoin may be the perfect fit if you’re looking for a small, liberal arts college.
Over the past several years, Bowdoin’s acceptance rate has become more exclusive, dropping from 15% in 2013 to a wild 8% in their latest freshman class for 2023. Don’t panic though, their acceptance rate has gone down because their number of applicants has grown over the last 11 years. This year, they accepted 850 students for the 2023 freshman class, with an Early Decision acceptance rate of 26%. While we don’t know how many students they offered spots on the waitlist, nor how many accepted spots on the waitlist, we do know that in 2023 they only accepted 29 waitlisted students.
If you’ve been waitlisted, don’t give up hope -- give yourself the best chance of securing an acceptance with a letter of continued interest.
If you’ve been placed on a waitlist, reach out to us. It’s our job to give you the best chance of getting into your dream college.
If you’ve been waitlisted to Bowdoin, take a moment to feel any feelings you might have. You might be excited for another chance, disappointed, or a bit nervous, but it’s important to keep a cool head right now and make sure you follow these steps
First Things First
When you’re notified of being on the waitlist, Bowdoin will give you a set of instructions for accepting your place on it, probably through their applicant portal. This is really important because you won’t be put on the list if you don’t tell them you want to be on it. The first step truly is that easy!
Plan Ahead
Being put on the waitlist is neither a guarantee nor a rejection, but we know it’s competitive – especially since Bowdoin has only been known to accept up to 3% of candidates off the waitlist. While we will give you the best possible chance at being accepted, the odds are still stacked against you. Go ahead and accept an offer from a school that you’d be happy to attend so that you have a backup plan.
Follow Up
Your next step includes reaching out to Bowdoin to further express interest in the school. They may expect (or require) you to submit a “Letter of Continued Interest” when you confirm your waitlist invitation. If you don’t have the opportunity to submit one through their portal, you’ll send an email directly to admissions. Because this is your last chance to influence their decision, we recommend that you take your time to carefully write this and we have some thoughts on how to put it all together.
Header: Start things off as if you’re writing to a teacher, potential boss, or role model that you really want to impress. Professionalism and respect will be key throughout the letter. “Dear Admissions Committee:” or “Dear Admissions Counselor:” (or even better, their name if you have it) is a good start.
Introduction: You need to remind the admissions committee who you are. Take a moment to thank them for taking the time to read your letter and then introduce yourself. You don’t need to go super in-depth for this but do remind them who you are, reaffirm your interest in Bowdoin, and state that if accepted, you will 100% attend.
Body: Provide updates for things that you discussed in your application and anything new that you’ve done or accomplished since then that you can use to impress them. This is your last chance to really set yourself apart from the rest of the waitlist candidates, so if you’ve earned any awards or made any big accomplishments toward your academic career, absolutely mention them. If you’ve gotten involved in any extracurriculars that are relevant to your application or academics, this is a good time to mention them too. This is your time to show that you’re an outgoing and worthy student to invest in.
Closing: Same as the header, professionalism is key here. Keep things classy and make sure they know that you appreciate them for reading your letter. Restate your interest, thank them for their time, and again assure them that if accepted, you will attend.
Remember, if you don’t send in a letter of continued interest, your shot of getting off the waitlist is approximately 0%. They want to really feel that you want to go to their school. You have to write this letter, and it needs to be great. If that feels intimidating, we can help.
Plan for the Future
Once you’ve accepted your spot on the waitlist and sent in your letter of continued interest, you can’t become complacent and do nothing. Bowdoin doesn’t start their final review of waitlist candidates until May 1st; so until then, you need to make sure you have your back-up school ready to go just in case and send updated versions of your grades to the schools that you’ve applied for. The best thing you can do is to stay on top of your plan for college.
Need help getting accepted from a waitlist or planning for college? It’s what we do. Send us an email today.