After receiving the largest number of applications in the history of the College?5,026?and making some tough decisions, Bowdoin has sent out acceptance letters to prospective members of the class of 2009. They are expected to arrive on Monday.
The students chosen by the admissions committee are a diverse group of young men and women. They hail from all states except North Dakota. A particularly large number of Mainers and a record number of Californians were accepted this year along with fewer Massachusetts residents than usual.
In terms of first-year class size, "there is a little creep [upwards]" this year, with an expected class size of 480, Dean of Admissions Jim Miller said. He expects classes in the following years to be slightly smaller.
Thirty percent of the admits for the Class of 2009 are students of color. Many different socio-economic backgrounds are represented as well.
According Miller, all admits share strong academic qualities despite their disparate and varied backgrounds. Students' academic qualities "are judged holistically," Miller said. Continuing Bowdoin's 35-year-old policy, applicants for the Class of '09 were not required to submit SAT scores.
One quarter of applicants declined to share the results of their standardized testing.
The admissions committee looks at more than just academic achievement when deciding whom to admit. It examines the rigor of a student's courses, taking into account the limited academic possibilities at some high schools.
"We do [also] look at extracurricular participation [as well as] leadership ability," Miller said. "We look for people who made a significant difference outside the classroom."
Bowdoin "also worries a lot about personal qualities" when looking at applicants "because this is a small community," Miller said.
"We do something very few places in America do...we take a bunch of people from different backgrounds and experiences and put them together in dorms and dining halls and classrooms and say 'get along,'" he said.
Especially well represented in this year's pool of admitted students are those with extraordinary talents in the arts, Miller said.
The College really wants to find a group of people who "will respect each other and learn from each other and challenge each other," Miller said.
"Admissions deans get paid to say it?and we do every year?but this is a great class," Miller said and then thought for a moment. "It has the potential. Nobody is really going to know if this class is any good for 30 years because we are in the futures business.
"Given what we see in front of us, this could be a truly extraordinary group of people," he said.