Bowdoin at a Glance
So, you're making a list. Let's cover the basics of what you need to know about Bowdoin College.
Bowdoin (rhymes with explodin') is a private, selective, liberal arts college, founded and endowed to benefit the common good. Our historic residential campus, located in Brunswick, Maine, is home to just over 1,800 students from all over the world.
Academic life at Bowdoin spans thirty-three departments, and is cooperative, not competitive: so we tend to attract students who like brainstorming with faculty, working in teams, and welcoming big, new, difficult questions.
We value kindness, diversity, creativity, and hard work. Your admission to Bowdoin places you in a global network of people who live their lives with intellectual fearlessness: people who seek out new perspectives, appreciate beauty, demand truth, and root for each other, forever.
Admission Statistics for the Class of 2026
Most Popular Majors
- Government and Legal Studies
- Economics
- Mathematics
- Biology
- Computer Science
- English
- Neuroscience
- History
- Environmental Studies
- Psychology
More facts and figures about majors and minors at Bowdoin.
Graduate schools enrolling the largest number of Bowdoin alumni:
- Boston University
- Columbia University
- Harvard University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- New York University
- Stanford University
- University of Chicago
- University of Pennsylvania
- Yale University
Take a look at Bowdoin (pdf). It's all here: most popular majors, most frequent employers and graduate schools, notable alumni, the first-year class at a glance, and more.
Watch an admissions information session with Claudia Marroquin, dean of admissions and student aid.
Quick Facts
- Founded: 1794
- Location: Brunswick, Maine
- Degree Awarded: Bachelor of Arts
- Student population: 1,950
- Faculty members: 234
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 9:1
- Number of majors: 40+
- SAT: Optional
- Student Aid: No loans (all grants)
- President: Clayton S. Rose
- Tax Status: Not-for-profit
- Mascot: Polar Bear
Frequent employers of Bowdoin graduates:
- United States Government
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Fulbright
- Boston Children's Hospital
- Bowdoin College
- Brigham & Women's Hospital
- Goldman Sachs
- Barclays