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Report Card
Facilities: B (explain this grade)

Quick Stats

Popular Places to Chill

  • The Pub
  • The Quad
  • Smith Union

Student Centers

  • Smith Union (The Union, SU)

Campus Size

  • 205 acres

Libraries

  • African American Center Library
  • Beckwith Music Library
  • Career Planning Center Library
  • Government Documents
  • Hatch Science Library
  • Hawthorne-Longfellow Library
  • Language Media Center
  • Pierce Art Library
  • Special Collections & Archives
  • Susan Dwight Bliss Room
  • Women’s Resource Center Library

Athletic Centers

  • Dayton Ice Arena
  • Farley Field House
  • Greason Swimming Pool
  • Lubin Family Squash Center
  • Sargent and Morrell Gymnasiums
  • Watson Fitness Center

College Prowler Take

On its 200-acre campus, Bowdoin pampers its student body with six athletic centers, two dining halls, a convenience store, a pub and grill, 25 computer labs, and music, science, and general-purpose libraries with a special collections department, a government document collection, and much more. Students agree that the facilities available to them are more than adequate for a school of Bowdoin’s size. The Olympic-size pool, collegiate-size hockey rink, climbing wall, indoor track, dance studio, aerobics room, and separate Outing Club building, as well as the squash, basketball, and tennis courts, are all available for use by the Bowdoin community year round.

With more than 116 buildings on campus offering more than 1.8 million square feet of floor space, Bowdoin students won’t grow claustrophobic by any means. It’s amazing how consistently Bowdoin renovates the campus in order to provide state-of-the-art facilities for its students. Aesthetically, Bowdoin is a beautiful campus, and one quick glance at the academic quad alone proves that, regardless of taste, you’ll find at least one building to be visually pleasing. Between the Gothic Hubbard Hall, the grand-pillared Walker Art Museum, the red-and-white Gibson Hall, the brown-brick Visual Art Center, the red-brick Searles Science/Math Building, the cobblestone Pickard Hall, and the vine-covered red-brick first-year dorms, you’ll see a little of everything at Bowdoin, not unlike the diverse student body!

Students Speak Out

Anonymous says:
The facilities are amazing. No one would expect this from a school with only 1,700 students.
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Anonymous says:
The computer centers, library, and student centers are all state-of-the-art, well-kept, and clean. Most athletic facilities can’t rival other league schools in terms of size and beauty, but Bowdoin has many over-crowded locker rooms. This is because there’s only one indoor facility for spring teams to train in the pre-season while the winter teams are going through their regular seasons.
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Anonymous says:
The architecture here is beautiful. From Hubbard Hall and the Art Museum to the Field House—each building carries a distinct ambience. They are welcoming, soothing, and pleasant inside and out. There are many updated computer labs and a number of places for students to mingle or study quietly.
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Anonymous says:
I am quite happy with the facilities here. I have everything I need.
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Anonymous says:
I love our facilities! The athletic facilities are great. The dining halls are clean and pretty. The big dining hall is beautiful and spacious, and the small dining hall is a cozy place that begins to feel like your very own dining room after awhile. The student center is very cool with multiple levels, a café, a pub, space for dancing or concerts, and on the balcony, there are little tables for studying.
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Facts

What To Do on Campus

For a college of its size, there is an incredible amount of things to do on campus. Many artistic events, including dance shows at Pickard Theatre, plays and improv shows, art openings at Fort Andross or the Visual Arts Center, and the numerous a cappella concerts at the chapel, are all productions put on by students for students. In addition to these activities, the school puts a lot of effort into bringing to Bowdoin speakers, performers, and musicians who will be of interest to the students. Bowdoin also provides a number of diverse fitness facilities, which makes exercise and recreational activity extremely easy to participate in.

Students should also check out the Bowdoin Outing Club (BOC), a leadership program that involves hiking, backpacking, canoeing, fly-fishing, whitewater rafting, kayaking, bird-watching, winter mountaineering, snow shoeing, and cross-country skiing. The BOC maintains a cabin in Monson, Maine, the start of the Appalachian Trail, and owns MerritIsland in the NewMeadowsRiver.

Favorite Things To Do

The typical Bowdoin student usually becomes involved in a myriad of activities and will eventually get caught up in a chaotic but rewarding routine. Each member of the student body also finds a way to unwind after a long day. Some opt to take walks, chill out and read on the Quad, visit the WalkerArt Museum, toss a Frisbee around between the dorms, tune into the campus radio station WBOR (91.1), or flip on the Bowdoin Cable Network. Others go to the Smith Union to enjoy the company of friends, a cup of java, sushi from the café of the C-Store, and maybe even a game of pool. Another favorite thing Bowdoin students enjoy doing is attending guest lectures. The college has been known to bring in experts from time to time to speak about their professional and life experiences. Notable speakers in the past range from Kareem Abdul Jabbar to Barbara Walters. Many also like to hang out at the ITS Center while doing “work,” but around finals time, you’ll find more of a social setting than people actually studying.

Bowling on Campus

  • None, but there are lanes within walking distance from campus.

Movie Theater on Campus

  • Sills Auditorium shows films a few times a year.

Bar on Campus

  • Jack Magee’s Pub in the Smith Union

Coffeehouse on Campus

  • The café in the Student Union

Did You Know?

Since 2006, Bowdoin has opened Studzinski Hall and Kanbar Auditorium, a 270-seat state-of-the-art music recital hall with expanded rehearsal space; has gutted and fully renovated all six first-year dormitories; and has reopened the Bowdoin College Museum of Art following a three-year and $20.5 million expansion and renovation. A new ice arena—Watson Arena—will open in December 2008.