Bowdoin College
Private College in Brunswick, ME. Six-year graduation rate 95%. Median 10-year earnings $82,735.
Students who entered Bowdoin College reach a median of $82,735 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. Completion is a strength: 95% of students finish within six years. Graduates carry a median of $18,500 in debt — in line with the national norm.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.22 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 95% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Admit rate 7% — heavily selective, limited transfer slots
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 7% means admission is the exception — plan accordingly. With 13,265 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. 54% of admitted students actually enroll, which is a high yield by national standards. 31% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 730–770 | 158 (31%) |
| SAT Math | 740–780 | |
| ACT Composite | 33–35 | 85 (17%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Bowdoin College →Academics
95% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. 97% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. The 9:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically. The undergraduate body is just 1,850, which shapes everything from class size to how often a required course is offered.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,846 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $22,228 annually once grants are applied. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $3,145 while those at $110k+ pay $35,196. 56% of students receive grant aid, averaging $59,125 — common but not automatic. 8% borrow federally — a low rate, though it covers federal loans only.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 504 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $3,145 |
| $30–48k | $2,800 |
| $48–75k | $9,007 |
| $75–110k | $13,801 |
| $110k+ | $35,196 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 155 of these 1,846 students, totalling $969,229 — an average of $6,253 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cumberland County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)