Bowdoin College

Bowdoin logo

Hubbard Hall

Bowdoin College is an American university, a College of Liberal Arts and Science, in Brunswick ( Maine ), USA , with currently around 1,600 students. It was founded in 1794 . It is a private university and one of the oldest universities in the United States. It is considered one of the " Little Ivies ", which include small, traditional universities in the northeastern United States that are not members of the Ivy League . In 2012 Bowdoin was ranked 6th in the US News Report Ranking of American Liberal Arts Colleges and 4th in 2013. In the Forbes ranking of American universities, Bowdoin College was 14th out of 650 American universities in 2014.

Status and admission to study

Bowdoin is always ranked among the best colleges in the United States in American rankings; For example, it is consistently ranked among the top ten Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States in the US News and World Report . In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 Bowdoin was ranked sixth in the US News and World Report liberal arts colleges ranking . The US News and World Report classifies Bowdoin College in the “most selective” category, ie in the category of universities which select the most. For the final year 2015, for example, only 15% of applicants were accepted. 89 percent of Bowdoin's students were in the top 10 percent of their high school grade. According to the Princeton Review , the high school grade point average for Bowdoin students was an American grade of 3.8, which corresponds to a grade of 1.2 in the German grading system.

Newsweek described Bowdoin in 2006 as a "New Ivy", one of several elite colleges and universities that do not belong to the Ivy League. Bowdoin is one of the traditionally regarded colleges in New England ; at the same time it is known as a pioneer in reforming the American education system. In 1970, SAT test results were abolished as an admission criterion. Co-education was introduced a year later and later made mandatory for the college- subsidized connections . A few years ago the system of fraternities and sororities was fundamentally reformed, and new students are now automatically assigned to a connection.

Bowdoin College campus in winter

Study costs

The University Treasury of Bowdoin College lists the study costs incurred for a student in the academic year 2011/2012 as follows:

• Tuition fees $ 42,386
• Accommodation $ 5,454
• Food $ 6,200
• Student activity fee $ 430
• Grand total $ 54,470

With a grand total of $ 54,470, Bowdoin College is one of the most expensive universities in the US. In a comparison of the costs of all American universities for the academic year 2009/2010, Bowdoin College ranked 16th among the 100 most expensive American universities. It's even more expensive than, say, MIT (total cost $ 48,870) and Stanford University (total cost $ 48,843). At the same time it was decided on January 18, 2008 at Bowdoin College to abolish all student loans as part of financial aid and to replace them with scholarships. Thus, Bowdoin joins around 70 other American universities that have opted for a so-called "no-loans" policy. Bowdoin College has assets of $ 1.038 billion (as of 2013), which is mainly made up of the large annual donations from alumni composed. This large fortune and the annual donations of the alumni made it possible for Bowdoin College to introduce the "no-loans" policy in the first place.

Subjects

The following subjects can be studied at Bowdoin College: African Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, English, Finance, Film, French, Gender Studies, Geology, German Studies, History, Computer Science, Classics, Art, Art History, Latin American Studies, Mathematics , Music, Neuroscience, Pedagogy, Philosophy, Physics and Astronomy, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Russian, Sociology, Spanish, Dance and Theater Studies, Environmental Sciences, Economics. For example, the Faculty of Political Science was named the top small college political science program in the world by scientists at the London School of Economics in 2003. The Faculty of Art History was also named the best art history faculty in the United States in 2010 by the US News and World Report .

history

Bowdoin College campus

Bowdoin College was founded in 1794 by Samuel Adams , then governor of Massachusetts (Maine was then part of Massachusetts). Bowdoin College was named after former Massachusetts Governor James Bowdoin . At the time of its inception, Bowdoin was the easternmost college in the United States. In 1806, 13 Harvard graduates opted for a Bowdoin degree in addition to their Harvard degree.

Bowdoin became independent from Harvard in 1820. During this time, Maine became an independent state as a result of the Missouri Compromise . Some famous alumni of the period include future President Franklin Pierce (graduated in 1824) and writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - both graduated from Phi Beta Kappa in 1825.

Bowdoin College campus

Even though Bowdoin's medical school closed in 1920, Bowdoin continued to have very prestigious science departments. Bowdoin's most famous alumnus who excelled in the natural sciences is the sexologist Alfred Kinsey (born 1916).

In the past few decades, Bowdoin College has been modernized dramatically. In 1970, along with a few highly selective colleges, it made participation in the SAT optional as an application requirement. In 1971, almost 180 years after it was founded as a small elite male college, Bowdoin accepted the first female class. Bowdoin also abolished fraternities in the late 1990s and replaced them with a system of so-called social houses.

Bowdoin's branch of the oldest American academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1825, making it the sixth oldest Phi Beta Kappa branch in the United States. Famous Bowdoin graduates who were inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society for their outstanding academic achievements are: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1825), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1825), Robert E. Peary (1877), Owen Brewster (1909), Harold Hitz Burton (1909), Paul Howard Douglas (1913), Alfred Kinsey (1916), Thomas R. Pickering (1953) and Lawrence B. Lindsey (1976).

Sports

The university's sports teams call themselves the Polar Bears . The ice hockey team takes part in the US college championship .

Well-known alumni

Famous graduates of Bowdoin College are the writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain , who did a great job in the Civil War , the American President Franklin Pierce , the polar explorer Robert Edwin Peary , the sex researcher Alfred Kinsey , the co-founder of the Subway chain Peter Buck , the American UN Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering , the Senator and American Defense Secretary William Cohen , the American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault , the Deputy Secretary of State and American Ambassador to Iraq Christopher R. Hill , the author and activist Geoffrey Canada , writer Douglas Kennedy and ABC News anchorwoman Cynthia McFadden . Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin in Brunswick while her husband was teaching at college.

List of well-known alumni (selection)

Politician

• Franklin Pierce 1824, Congressman (1833-1837) and Senator (1837-1842) from New Hampshire; 14th President of the United States (1853-1857); after it was Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire named
• Robert P. Dunlap 1815, Governor of the State of Maine (1834–1838) and American Congressman from Maine (1843–1847)
• Richard H. Vose 1822, Governor of the State of Maine (1841) and President of the Senate of the State of Maine
• William G. Crosby 1823, Governor of the State of Maine (1853–1855)
• John Fairfield 1826, American Congressman (1835-1838) and American Senator (1843-1847) from Maine; Governor of the State of Maine (1839–1843)
• Alonzo Garcelon 1836, co-founder of the American University of Bates College (1855), general in the American Civil War, governor of the state of Maine (1879–1880)
• John A. Andrew 1837, Governor of the State of Massachusetts (1861–1866), who was responsible for establishing the 54th Massachusetts Regiment during the American Civil War
• Frederick Robie 1841, Governor of the State of Maine (1883–1887)
• La Fayette Grover 1846, Governor of the State of Oregon (1871–1877); American Congressman (1859) and Senator (1877–1883) from Oregon
• Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain 1852, Bowdoin College Professor (1855–1862), hero in the American Civil War , received the Medal of Honor , Governor of the State of Maine (1867–1871) and President of Bowdoin College (1871–1883)
• Wilmot Brookings in 1855, first provisional governor of the Dakota Territory; The city and county Brookings , both of which are in South Dakota, was named after him
• Henry B. Quinby 1869, New Hampshire Governor (1909–1911) and American doctor
• William T. Cobb 1877, Governor of the State of Maine (1905–1909)
• John Fremont Hill 1877, Governor of the State of Maine (1901–1905)
• Percival Proctor Baxter 1898, governor of the state of Maine (1921-1924) and the Baxter State Park was named after him
• James L. McConaughy 1911 (MA), Connecticut State Governor (1947–1948) and poet
• Horrace Hildreth 1925, Governor of the State of Maine (1944–1948), American Ambassador to Pakistan (1953–1957) and President of Bucknell University (1957–1967)
• James B. Longley 1947, Governor of the State of Maine (1975–1979)
• George Evans 1815, American Congressman (1829–1841) and Senator (1841–1847) from Maine
• James Bell 1822, New Hampshire Senator (1855-1857)
• James Ware Bradbury 1825, Maine Senator (1847-1853)
• Alpheus Felch 1827, Senator from Michigan (1847-1853), law professor at the University of Michigan , and namesake of Felch Township in Michigan
• John Hale 1827, American Congressman (1843–1845) and Senator (1847–1853) from New Hampshire
• William Frye 1850, American Congressman (1871–1881) and Senator (1881–1911) from Maine
• Paris Gibson 1851, Senator from Montana (1901–1905)
• Melville Weston Fuller 1853, Supreme Court Justice of the United States (1888–1910)
• William D. Washburn 1854, American Congressman (1879–1885) and Senator (1889–1895) from Minnesota
• Charles Fletcher Johnson 1879, Maine Senator (1911-1917)
• Wallace H. White 1899, American Congressman (1916–1931) and Senator (1931–1949) from Maine
• Ralph Owen Brewster 1909, Governor of Maine (1925-1929); American Congressman (1935–1941) and Senator (1941–1953) from Maine
• Harold Hitz Burton 1909, Senator from Ohio (1941-1945); Judge at the US Supreme Court (1945–1958)
• Paul Howard Douglas 1913, Economics Professor at the University of Chicago (1920–1942) and Senator from Illinois (1949–1967)
• Wilhelm Haas 1953, former German ambassador to Israel, Japan and the Netherlands
• Thomas R. Pickering 1953, American Ambassador to Jordan (1974–1978), Nigeria (1981–1983), El Salvador (1983–1985), Israel (1985–1988), the United Nations (1989–1992), India (1992 -1993) and Russia (1993-1996); received 13 honorary doctorates
• George Mitchell 1954, Maine Senator (1982–1995)
• Bill Cohen 1962, American Congressman (1972–1978) and Senator (1978–1997) from Maine; Secretary of Defense under President Clinton (1997-2001)

writer

• Jacob Abbott , 1820
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , 1825
• Nathaniel Hawthorne , 1825
• Robert PT Coffin , 1915
• Artine Artinian , 1931
• Walter H. Hunt , 1981
• Anthony Doerr , 1995

Silhouettes of the Bowdoin class in 1825, including Nathaniel Hawthorne , Jonathan Cilley and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Actors, artists, musicians and athletes

• Albert Dekker , 1927
• Gary Merrill , 1937
• Douglas Kennedy , 1976
• Paul Adelstein , 1991
• Paul "DJ Spooky" Miller , 1992
• Fred Tootell , 1923
• Joan Benoit Samuelson , 1979

scientist

• Francis Robbins Upton , 1875
• Edwin Hall , 1875
• Robert Peary , 1877
• Alfred Kinsey , 1916
• Ezra Abbot , 1840
• James E. Campbell , 1974
• Lyman Page , 1978

Others

• Peter Buck , 1952
• Kenneth Chenault , 1973

Web links

Commons : Bowdoin College  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Bowdoin College homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. An article about 25 New Ivies including a description of Bowdoin College 
2. ^ National Liberal Arts College Rankings . US News Ranking. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
3. ↑ [1]
4. ↑ [2]
5. ^ US News and World Report rankings for liberal arts colleges.
6. ^ Liberal Arts College Rankings. America's Best Colleges 2009 . US News & World Report. Retrieved February 24, 2010
7. ↑ Nora Biette-Timmons: Regular decision yields 15.6% acceptance rate ( memento of the original from September 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: The Bowdoin Orient , April 1, 2011.
8. ^ Bowdoin College Statistics . College Prowler. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 24, 2011. 
9. ↑ Newsweek Web Exclusive: 25 New Ivies - The nation's elite colleges these days include more than Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Why? It's the tough competition for all the top students. That means a range of schools are getting fresh bragging rights. , Newsweek. August 21, 2006. Retrieved February 1, 2010. 
10. ↑ University treasury of Bowdoin College List of study costs for the academic year 2011/2012 ( memento of the original dated December 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ Campus Grotto article on the most expensive universities in the USA
12. ↑ Campus Grotto List of the 100 most expensive universities in the USA
13. ↑ Overview of no-loans US colleges
14. ↑ Endowment surpasses $ 1 billion; returns 16% (PDF) In: 2012 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments . National Association of College and University Business Officers. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 29, 2014. 
15. ↑ psr_11 (PDF; 106 kB) Archived from the original on December 21, 2004. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 24, 2011. 
16. ^ Bowdoin Traditions and History ( Memento from June 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
17. ^ Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607–1896 . Marquis Who's Who, 1967.

Coordinates: 43 ° 54 ′ 31.5 "  N , 69 ° 57 ′ 44.3"  W.