Historic liberal arts college in Maine, ranked among America's most selective and rigorous institutions.
Bowdoin offers a rigorous liberal arts curriculum spanning sciences, humanities, social sciences, and the arts. The college abolished course distribution requirements in the 1970s but reinstated them in 1981 to ensure well-rounded education. Current requirements include courses in natural sciences, quantitative reasoning, visual and performing arts, international perspectives, and difference, power, and inequity, plus a first-year writing seminar. The most popular majors include Political Science and Government, Econometrics and Quantitative Economics, Biology, Biochemistry, and Neuroscience. Faculty-student engagement is central to the educational model, with 71% of classes having fewer than 20 students.
Bowdoin's 207-acre suburban campus in Brunswick features eight residential college houses that replaced fraternities in the late 1990s. The college operates a 118-acre coastal studies center on Orr's Island and a 200-acre scientific field station on Kent Island in the Bay of Fundy. Dining services have been ranked No. 1 nationally by Princeton Review multiple times, utilizing food from the college's organic garden. The Outing Club is the largest student organization, offering outdoor recreation throughout Maine. Student media includes The Bowdoin Orient, the oldest continuously published college weekly in the U.S., and the college operates a radio station (WBOR) and cable network.
Bowdoin is classified as 'most selective' by U.S. News & World Report. For the class of 2030, the acceptance rate was 6.5% with 14,727 applications—the highest in college history. The college does not require the SAT but accepts scores; the middle 50% SAT range for submitting students is 660–750 verbal and 660–750 math. Bowdoin is need-blind and maintains a no-loans financial aid policy. Of enrolling students, 89% are in the top 10% of their high school class. The median family income of Bowdoin students is $195,900, though the college has increased diversity efforts, with over 31% of recent classes identifying as students of color.
Bowdoin graduates pursue careers across diverse fields including law, medicine, business, government, academia, and the arts. Top employers include Google, Deloitte Consulting, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and the U.S. State Department. Many alumni attend prestigious graduate schools including Harvard, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth. The college has produced Fulbright fellows and supports health professions advising for students pursuing medicine and healthcare careers. In 2006, Bowdoin was named a 'Top Producer of Fulbright Awards for American Students' by the Institute of International Education.