48th overall among 498 universities, liberal arts colleges, and service academies and 7th among private liberal arts colleges.
Bowdoin College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
Bowdoin was ranked first among 1,204 small colleges in the U.S. by Niche in 2017, but has since fallen to 6th.
Based on students' SAT scores, Bowdoin is tied with Williams for 5th in Business Insider's smartest liberal arts colleges, with an average score of 1435 for math and critical reading combined. Among all colleges, it is tied with Brown, Carnegie Mellon, and Williams for 22nd.
The college was ranked 5th in the country by Washington Monthly in 2019 based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
In 2006, Newsweek described Bowdoin as a "New Ivy", one of a number of liberal arts colleges and universities outside of the Ivy League, and it has also been dubbed a "Hidden Ivy".
== Student life ==
Bowdoin's dining services have been …
