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 2024
Most Popular Majors
- Government and Legal Studies
- Economics
- Mathematics
- Biology
- Environmental Studies
- History
- Computer Science
- Neuroscience
- English
- Psychology
Graduate schools enrolling the largest number of Bowdoin alumni:
- Columbia University
- Harvard University
- Tufts University
- University of Pennsylvania
- Boston University
- New York University
- 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.
Quick Facts
- Founded: 1794
- Location: Brunswick, Maine
- Degree Awarded: Bachelor of Arts
- Student population: 1,805
- Faculty (full-time equivalent): 189
- 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:
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Deloitte Consulting
- Fulbright
- Teach for America
- Barclays
- US Government, including the State Department and the Department of Energy