Bowdoin College vs Duke University

Bowdoin College and Duke University, two prestigious institutions of higher learning, offer distinct educational experiences. Bowdoin, a liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine, boasts a tight-knit community and a focus on undergraduate teaching, while Duke, a research university in Durham, North Carolina, provides a wide range of academic programs and opportunities for interdisciplinary study. With acceptance rates of 9% and 8%, respectively, both institutions are highly selective. Bowdoin's student body is predominantly White (68%) and female (53%), while Duke's is more diverse, with a larger international student population (15%) and a more even gender distribution (51% female, 49% male). Popular majors at Bowdoin include Economics, Government & Legal Studies, and English, while Duke students commonly pursue majors in Economics, Public Policy, and Biology. Both institutions boast impressive graduation rates, with Bowdoin at 96% and Duke at 94%. Explore the comparison

	Bowdoin College	Duke University
Overview
Location	Brunswick, Maine	Durham, North Carolina
Campus setting	Town: Fringe	City: Large
College type	4 year	4 year
Control/business model	Private (Non Profit)	Private (Non Profit)
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate	Undergraduate and Graduate
Students retention rate	97.0%	98.0%
Common app member	Yes	Yes
Religious affiliation		Methodism

Admission
Acceptance rate	8.8%	5.9%
Application fees	$65	Undergraduate: $85 Graduate: $95
SAT range	N/A	1468 - 1558
ACT range	N/A	33 - 35
Students submitting SAT score		47.0%
Students submitting ACT score		46.0%
Total number of applicants	9,325	49,703
Total number of admissions given out	822	2,927
Admitted students who chose to enroll	517	1,744
Yield rate	62.9%	59.6%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Not required	Not required
Recommendation letters	Required	Required
High school transcript	Not required	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	Required	Not required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	$76,310	$79,860
Average net price	$26,727	$27,297
Tuition	$57,776	$58,085
Room & board	Room/dormitory: $7,630 Meal plan: $8,268	Room/dormitory: $9,164 Meal plan: $6,862
Available payment plans	Tuition payment plan	Prepaid tuition plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	54.0% Average amount $45,153	46.0% Average amount $50,731
Students receiving federal student loan	11.0% Average amount $4,767	20.0% Average amount $4,537
Students taking out private loans	1.0% Average amount $20,700	3.0% Average amount $22,957

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	1,951 Men 49.4% Women 50.6%	6,883 Men 48.4% Women 51.6%
Graduate students	N/A	10,737 Men 45.5% Women 54.5%
Racial/ethnic diversity	Low	Moderate
Out-of-state students	91.5%	N/A
International students	7.1%	21.4%
Campus local/setting	Town: Fringe	City: Large
Dormitory capacity	1,913	5,718
First year students are required to live on campus?	Yes	Yes
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	New York California Maine Connecticut New Jersey	N/A

Academics
Popular study areas	Social Sciences Ethnic Studies Biological and Biomedical Sciences Natural Resources and Conservation Mathematics and Statistics	Business Health Professions Engineering Legal Profession Social Sciences
Students to faculty ratio	9:1	6:1
Institutional accreditation	New England Commission on Higher Education	Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges

Outcome
Graduation rate	93.8%	95.9%
Dropout rate	2.2%	4.0%
Transferred out	4.0%	N/A
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Computer Science (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $104,192 Year 3: $122,292 Mathematics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $67,101 Year 3: $83,803 Economics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $61,127 Year 2: $71,015 Year 3: $77,719 Political Science and Government (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $51,934 Year 2: $50,231 Year 3: $60,473 Natural Resources Conservation and Research (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $25,194 Year 3: N/A Area Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $46,244 Year 2: $42,123 Year 3: N/A Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $32,925 Year 3: N/A English Language and Literature, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $22,771 Year 3: N/A Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $44,658 Year 2: $39,009 Year 3: N/A Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $39,454 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A	International Business (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $151,472 Year 2: $213,978 Year 3: $201,782 Law (Doctoral Degrees) Year 1: $155,031 Year 2: $168,098 Year 3: $200,300 Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $143,622 Year 2: $148,189 Year 3: $163,560 Health and Medical Administrative Services (Graduate/Professional Certificates) Year 1: $163,977 Year 2: $138,342 Year 3: $159,598 Computer Science (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $115,135 Year 2: $106,898 Year 3: $134,542 Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Doctoral Degrees) Year 1: $123,138 Year 2: $116,541 Year 3: $124,406 Computer Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $108,817 Year 2: $97,071 Year 3: $117,262 Economics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $94,699 Year 2: $90,856 Year 3: $112,646 Engineering-Related Fields (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $97,661 Year 2: $91,078 Year 3: $108,736 Economics (Master's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $76,460 Year 3: $104,348

Compare Similar Colleges

The list of suggested college comparisons provided below is generated automatically by our system, utilizing statistics gathered from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and various online sources. If you don't find the colleges you wish to compare, please visit our comparison page. There, you can search for the specific colleges and initiate your comparison.

Bowdoin College

Claremont McKenna College