Bowdoin College - Off the Record

The prospective college student’s antidote to the Princeton Review doldrums.

186 pages of real insider information to help you decide if this is the right college for you.

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Bowdoin College Students Tell It Like It Is

Many students choose Bowdoin as their first choice school because of the intimacy between the administrators, faculty, coaches, alumni, and students; the size, the resources available, the convenient suburban location with accessibility to bigger metropolitan areas, and overall reputation. The rigorous demands, the Maine weather, the busy schedules, and the challenge to do well all become part of an education at Bowdoin. Check out the things they love and the things they hate about the Bowdoin experience and see if it's a place where you could thrive.

The BEST Things

The warm atmosphere
The dining hall food and service people
Cook's Corner, Freeport, Portland, and Boston
The huge Outing Club program
The awesome housing available to students

The WORST Things

The long winter
The extremely preppy campus
Being towed without warning
Brunswick goes to bed at 8:00 p.m.
No public transportation

'Going to school here is a mixed bag. I've met very nice kids, but the typical day and lifestyle is so repetitive. I have my days when I question my stay at Bowdoin, but on others, I couldn't be more psyched.'

'I'd have to say, overall, I have had a wonderful experience. I've met lots of interesting and awesome people here. Advising from the faculty could be better, but then again, I should be more willing to take the initiative, too. I don't want to be anywhere else besides inside this 'Bowdoin bubble'?where the food is always good, Colby is forever despised, and everything is generally in good condition.'

Find out if Bowdoin truly has something for you, straight from the students' mouths.

Visiting campus isn't enough.

Read our Bowdoin College insider's guide and discover what it feels like to be on campus for 4 years.

Discover if Bowdoin is Right For You.

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While writing our series of college guides, we felt it was critical that our content was unbiased and unaffiliated with any college or university. By hiring current students as authors, we strive to create college guides that truly represent each campus. Our guides cover both the good and the bad, and whether survey responses point to recurring trends or varying opinions, these sentiments are directly and proportionally expressed through our guides.

From the very beginning, student writers gather the most up-to-date stats, facts, and inside information on their colleges. They fill each section with student quotes and summarize the findings in editorial reviews. In addition, each school receives a collection of letter grades (A through F) that reflect student opinion. Once a guide is written, additional college students serve as editors and check for accuracy even more extensively. This same process is applied to all of the 258 colleges and universities College Prowler currently covers. Each guide is the result of endless student contributions, hundreds of pages of research and writing, and countless hours of hard work. All of this has led to the creation of a student information network that stretches across the nation. It’s no easy accomplishment, but it’s the reason that our guides are such a great resource.