This year, the Office of Admissions changed the way Bowdoin welcomes its admitted students by combining the Bowdoin Experience, a program for admitted students from diverse racial, socioeconmic or geographical backgrounds, with the open houses it has offered in past years.
Many of the prospective students who came agreed that it was a successful weekend.
Julie Randolph, a prospective student from New York, said that the weekend was very informative and helpful for her decision.
Randolph has unofficially made up her mind and has chosen Bowdoin over Tufts, Colby, Colgate and Hamilton, amongst other schools.
“I’m having a lot of fun. It’s not that scheduled—I can do whatever I feel like will be interesting,” said Christine Reed, another prospective student, during the weekend.
“I’m narrowing it down to here and Middlebury,” said Reed.
Prospective student Gillian Kramur came to Bowdoin fairly certain she would attend, but is going through all the motions of the admissions process before she makes her decision.
“I’m pretty set on Bowdoin but I’m going to check out Bates and Connecticut College one more time,” said Kramur.
Ingrid Wilk, a prospective student from Minneapolis, Minn., said that “the weekend is kind of crazy but I like it. It gets you excited for college.”
“I’m [also] looking at Colorado College and Duke,” Wilk noted.
Natalie Kiley-Brgen, a prospective student from New York, said she very much enjoyed her time here on campus and is excited to attend the College next year.
“Everybody is very happy and very friendly,” she said.
Dean of Admissions Scott Meiklejohn explained that this year’s Admitted Students Weekend gave a more accurate portrayal of the day-to-day life at the College than the former system did.
“One of the things we were trying to do this year was to sort of ‘de-panelize’ the visiting student experience,” said Meiklejohn, referring to the effort to hold fewer panels and forums that can present the College in an inaccurate way.
“Obviously you have to organize some things to be a little bit efficient about presenting information—giving people fora to answer questions,” said Meiklejohn. “I thought the program was a lot fuller of life at Bowdoin and a lot more students had a chance to just hang out.”
Regarding the number of admitted students who have yet to make a decision, Meiklejohn noted that only time will tell how the numbers shake out.
“Everyone waits till the last minute,” Meiklejohn said. “Over half of admitted students have told us nothing so far—they haven’t told us yes, they haven’t told us no.”
Despite the wait until the final decisions, Meiklejohn is not too anxious about gathering the final numbers to determine the class size.
“Within a range, I know it’s going to be fine, we’re going to have a great class. I probably worry more on the high side because we have a big junior class—I don’t want to have an enormous class,” said Meiklejohn. “You don’t worry too much on the other end because if the number comes in a little bit low you have the waitlist.”
“In the final four or five days, all will be revealed,” said Meiklejohn.