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Does anyone have any inside information on these schools? I've read about them in different guides and they all appeal to me, but I was hoping someone could make some distinctions between them. Anyone have personal experience with them? BTW--my stats: 700M, 720V; 17th of 459 at private prep school (3.84 unweighted); drama club and varsity swimming; national honors society; good essay; recs should be good.

By jack12 on Wednesday, September 04, 2002 - 02:28 pm: Edit

here's a generalization:
amherst and middlebury - snobby. williams and bowdoin - liberal.

By dc on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 11:35 pm: Edit

Middlebury is great. Beautiful people, beautiful things, beautiful place.

By JSwanson on Sunday, December 29, 2002 - 10:35 pm: Edit

Bowdoin is the best of the four in my opinion (of course, I just got in ED there).

By AlistairM on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 04:43 pm: Edit

Amherst is the most selective of these (19%), followed by Middlebury (22%) and then bowdoin and williams (24%) My first choices among these would be Middlebury or Amherst. Both are great academically, and have good reputations (of course, so do williams and bowdoin.) Middlebury is goregeous, but it is pretty rural; amherst is surrounded by several other colleges, including the gigantic UMass. There is some truth to amherst and middlebury being snobby, but this is true of most highly selective colleges, simply because only 'the best' in various ways can go there. Be sure to apply to safties, because all four of these schools really are intensely competitve, and there's no guarantee for anyone to get in.

By griz on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 05:56 pm: Edit

I got into Amherst as a transfer for the Spring and don't even know why I got in. Applied to Midd, Amherst and Bates. Rejected by Midd and was late to apply for Bates so I had totally given up when the admission letter came from Amherst.
Colleges in the US really have strange standard for admissions. The numbers don't tell everything (Midd is supposedly less selective than Amherst, my advisor was rejected by a public university but was accepted to Yale and Harvard with full scholarships.)
Strange, really. I'm pretty excited to get to Amherst tho.

By weskid on Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 01:36 am: Edit

Why don't you try Wesleyan? It's a bit easier than Amherst and Williams, about the same as Middlebury, and harder than Bowdoin. Read "The Gatekeepers" for info on Wesleyan's selectivity, but it's tough. Average SAT scores last year were 700 V, 690 M. It's a great school, nice campus, great people. Very, VERY liberal.

By JSwanzzz on Thursday, January 16, 2003 - 04:59 pm: Edit

Weslyan is actually easier to get into than Bowdoin and is ranked lower by usnews and Princeton Review. In my opinion, it is way to liberal.