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|name = BOWDOIN COLLEGE |image = |motto = ''Ut Aquila Versus Coelum'' ("As an eagle towards the sky") |established = June 24 , 1794 |type = Private |president= Barry Mills |city = Brunswick |state = Maine |country = USA |undergrad = 1,625 |postgrad = 0 |staff= 181 |campus = Suburban |free_label = Athletics |mascot = Polar Bear |free = 30 varsity teams, 6 club teams |website= www.bowdoin.edu }} Bowdoin College is a private . History Bowdoin College was chartered in 1794 by Governor Samuel Adams of Massachusetts , of which Maine was then a district, and was named for former Massachusetts governor James Bowdoin , whose son James Bowdoin III was an early benefactor. Although Bowdoin is now non-sectarian, it was initially affiliated with the Congregational Church . At the time of its founding, it was the easternmost college in the United States. Bowdoin came into its own in the 1820s, a decade in which Maine became an independent state as a result of the Missouri Compromise and the College graduated a number of its most famous alumni, including future United States President Franklin Pierce , class of 1824, and writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , both of whom graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1825. Bowdoin's connections to the Civil War have prompted some to quip that the war "began and ended" in Brunswick. Harriet Beecher Stowe , "the little lady who started this big war," started writing her influential anti-slavery novel '' Uncle Tom's Cabin '' in Bowdoin's Appleton Hall while her husband was teaching at the College, and General Joshua Chamberlain , a Bowdoin alumnus and professor, was responsible for receiving the surrender of the Army Of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House in 1865. Chamberlain, a Medal Of Honor winner who later served as governor of Maine and president of Bowdoin, distinguished himself at Gettysburg , where he led the 20th Maine in its valiant defense of Little Round Top . There are other Civil War connections as well: General Oliver Otis Howard , class of 1850, led the Freedmen's Bureau after the war and later founded Howard University ; Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew , class of 1837, was responsible for the formation of the famous 54th Massachusetts ; and William P. Fessenden 1823 and Hugh McCulloch 1827 both served as Secretary of the Treasury during the Lincoln Administration. After the war, Bowdoin contended that a higher percentage of its alumni fought in the war than that of any other college in the North -- and not only for the Union. In fact, Confederate President Jefferson Davis held an honorary degree from Bowdoin, which he received while United States Secretary of War in 1858. ] Although Bowdoin's Medical School of Maine closed its doors in 1920, the College is currently known for its particularly strong programs in the natural sciences. While Bowdoin's best-known alumnus in the sciences is the controversial entomologist-turned-sexologist , was chosen after MacMillan donated a particularly large specimen to his alma mater in 1917. Following in the footsteps of President Pierce and House Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed , class of 1860, several 20th century Bowdoin graduates have assumed prominent positions in national government while representing the Pine Tree State. Wallace H. White, Jr. , class of 1899, served as Senate Minority Leader from 1944-1947 and Senate Majority Leader from 1947-1949; George J. Mitchell , class of 1954, served as Senate Majority Leader from 1989-1995 before assuming a prominent role in the Northern Ireland peace process; and William Cohen , class of 1962, spent twenty-five years in the House and Senate before being appointed Secretary of Defense in the Clinton Administration. Maine's First Congressional District, today held by Tom Allen , class of 1967, has been christened the "Bowdoin seat" due to its long occupation by graduates of the College. A total of eleven Bowdoin graduates have ascended to the Maine governorship, and three graduates of the College currently sit on the state's highest court. Over the last several decades, Bowdoin College has modernized dramatically. In 1970, it became one of a very limited number of selective schools to make the SAT optional in the admissions process, and in 1971, after nearly 180 years as a small men's college, Bowdoin admitted its first class of women. Bowdoin also abolished Fraternities in the late 1990s, replacing them with a system of college-owned social houses. Recent developments include the 2001 appointment of Barry Mills , class of 1972, as the fifth alumnus president of the College, and a 2002 decision by the faculty to change the grading system so that it incorporated plus and minus grades. Academics Bowdoin has a strong academic reputation, and is consistently ranked among the top ten and Colby , located in the Maine cities of Lewiston and Waterville , it shares more applicants with Amherst , Brown , Dartmouth , Middlebury and Williams . Bowdoin offers majors in Africana Studies, Anthropology, Art History, Asian Studies, Biochemistry, Sociology, Chemistry, Classics, Computer science, Economics, English, Environmental Studies, French, Geology, German, Government, History, Latin American Studies, Mathematics, Music, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Physics and Astronomy, Psychology, Religion, Russian, Sociology, Spanish, Visual Arts and Women's Studies. In addition, the College offers minors in Theatre, Dance, Education, Film Studies, and Gay and Lesbian Studies.
A 2003 exposé {Link without Title} in The Bowdoin Orient revealed that the departments with the most rampant grade inflation included theatre and dance, women's studies, and sociology; those with the least grade inflation included physics, economics, philosophy, mathematics and government. Student Body Bowdoin's acceptance rate has hovered around 25% for the last five years, making it one of the most selective small colleges in the United States. Although Bowdoin does not require the SAT in admissions, all students must submit a score upon matriculation. The middle 50% SAT range for the verbal and math sections of the SAT is 640-730 and 650-710, respectively — numbers which include the scores of those students who did not submit during the admissions process. While a significant portion of the student body hails from New England — including nearly 25% from Massachusetts and 10% from Maine — recent classes have drawn from an increasingly national pool. Although Bowdoin once had a reputation for homogeneity, inspiring snide comments in college guides, an aggressive Diversity campaign has increased the percentage of non-white students in recent classes to 23%. Student life
Since abolishing Greek Fraternities in the late 1990s, Bowdoin has switched to a system in which entering students are assigned a "social house" affiliation correlating with their first-year dormitory. First-year students who live in Moore Hall are affiliated with Baxter House, those who live in Hyde Hall are associated with Howell House, and so on. The social houses are physical buildings around campus which host parties and other events throughout the year. Those students who choose not to live in their affiliated house retain their affiliation and are considered members throughout their Bowdoin career. Bowdoin's student newspaper, '' is the most popular spectator sport, with hundreds of students turning out for games against arch-rival Colby . For more information on participation in club and varsity sports, see the Athletics section below. Athletics The Bowdoin Polar Bears compete in the NCAA Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference , which also includes Amherst , Conn College , Hamilton , Middlebury , Trinity , Tufts , Wesleyan , Williams , and Maine rivals Bates and Colby . The College's official color is white, though black is traditionally employed as a complement. Bowdoin offers thirty varsity teams, including men's teams in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, ice hockey, lacrosse, Nordic skiing, soccer, squash, swimming, tennis, and track, and women's teams in field hockey, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, Nordic skiing, soccer, softball, squash, swimming, tennis, track, and volleyball. The sailing team is co-ed. There are also intercollegiate and club teams in men's and women's rowing, men's and women's rugby, water polo, men's volleyball and men's and women's ultimate frisbee. Recent NESCAC champions include men's cross country (2001, 2002), women's basketball (2001-2005), women's ice hockey (2002, 2004) and women's field hockey (2001,2005); recent NCAA tournament appearances include women's basketball (Elite Eight, 2002, 2003, 2005; Final Four, 2004), women's ice hockey (Final Four, 2002, 2003; Elite Eight, 2004, 2005), and women's field hockey (Final Four, 2005). In addition to the outdoor athletic fields, the College has indoor and outdoor tracks, a swimming pool, squash courts, an ice hockey rink, a rowing boathouse, several basketball courts, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, an independent weight room with 5 treadmills for the entire student and faculty population, elliptical machines, and a new astroturf field. Postgraduate Placement Between 1980 and 1999, the most popular business schools for Bowdoin graduates were those at (1) Harvard , (2) Northwestern , (3) Dartmouth , (4) Pennsylvania , (5) Boston University , (6) Chicago , (7) Babson , (8) Northeastern , (9) New York University and (10) Columbia ; the most popular law schools were those at (1) Maine , (2) Boston College , (3) Boston University , (4) Harvard , (5) New York University , (6) Suffolk , (7) Columbia , (8) Virginia , (9) Georgetown and (10) Northeastern ; and the most popular medical schools were those at (1) Tufts , (2) Vermont , (3) Dartmouth , (4) Boston University , (5) Rochester , (6) Harvard , (7) Massachusetts , (8) Cornell , (9) Yale and (10) Brown . Distinguished Graduates and Faculty Famous Bowdoin graduates include U.S. President Franklin Pierce (1824), the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1825), the novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne (1825), Civil War hero Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1852), U.S. House Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed (1860), Arctic explorer Admiral Robert Peary (1877), sex researcher Alfred Kinsey (1916), U.S. Senator George Mitchell (1954), U.S. Senator and Secretary of Defense William Cohen (1962), American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault (1973), Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson (1979), and Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings (1983). ''For a more complete list of famous alumni and faculty, see the List Of Bowdoin College People .'' Bowdoin in Literature and Film
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