Bowdoin College acceptance rate, SAT range and net price

Need-blind abroad, and 6,041 international applications

Bowdoin counts itself among only eleven U.S. schools that are need-blind and meet full calculated need for all applicants, domestic and international. The effect on the pool is visible in the Common Data Set: international students filed 6,041 of the 14,045 applications for fall 2025, about 43%, but received 76 of the 957 offers. Maine residents filed 540 applications and received 74 admissions. For a U.S. applicant from outside Maine, the effective odds are higher than the overall rate suggests.

Early Decision weighs heavily too. Bowdoin runs ED I on November 15 and ED II on January 5, the same day as Regular Decision, plus the QuestBridge Match on November 1. For fall 2025, 1,985 students applied early and 296 were admitted, close to a third of all offers. Only 5 students came off the waiting list.

Bowdoin: where your SAT score lands

Your SAT total

Enrolled students scoring below you (approx.)

54%

Middle 50%	1,470 to 1,540
Your score is	inside the middle 50%

Fall 2025 entering class (Class of 2029), CDS 2025-2026, C9 (179 SAT submitters, 89 ACT submitters). Normal curve fitted to the two published percentiles.

Odds and net price at other universities →

The oldest test-optional policy in the country

Bowdoin was the first school to stop requiring standardized tests, in 1969. Applicants answer yes or no for each SAT and ACT and can change their answer until the deadline; the college superscores the ACT from the English, reading and math sections and leaves science out of the composite. Homeschooled applicants are the exception and must send either a graded paper or test scores. Because only 35% of the class submitted an SAT and 17% an ACT, the range of 1,470 to 1,540 tells you about the senders, not about the class.

What the bill covers, and what aid replaces

For 2026-27 Bowdoin charges tuition of $74,268, a $700 activities fee and $20,432 for housing with the 21-meal plan, then budgets $840 for books and $1,660 for personal costs, for $97,900 before travel. Aid replaces loans entirely: packages combine grants with a campus job, and need-based Bowdoin scholarships in the most recent admitted class ranged from $3,820 to $98,800. The $70 application fee is waived for aid applicants and first-generation students. Families between $30,001 and $48,000 paid an average of $2,800 in 2023-24, and families above $110,000 paid $35,196.

Bowdoin: net price for your family income

Family income per year

$

Average net price, 2023-24

$9,007

Income band	$48,001-$75,000
Share of the 2023-24 cost	11%

Federal figure for first-year students on federal aid.

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Bowdoin among the New England colleges

Bowdoin is the most selective of the colleges in this group by the latest rate, slightly ahead of Amherst and Williams, and the most generous to international students alongside Amherst. Wellesley completes the set in the comparison tool.