Moving to Maine--Fleeing West Coast (Princeton: schools, universities, law)

[BacktoNE]

Bowdoin is an excellent private college and I think you will be much happier there as opposed to USM if for no other reason than your desire to continue on to a Masters degree. Bowdoin will get you in more doors than USM as another person has already mentioned. Good luck with your application process. It's probably too late for the Fall semester but you should be okay for the January semester.

[juststoppinby]

I would consider Bowdoin. You are moving to a gorgeous area! Good luck with the move. Make sure to keep us in the loop and let us know how you are doing. You will find all kinds of opinions on all kinds of subjects here. We Mainers do not hold back our opinions especially when we are asked for them!!

Hey Fly..long time since I have seen you post here..good to see you.

[woolwiTch]

Hi SF. I will jump on the bandwagon to say that Bowdoin and USM are on totally different planes. Bowdoin is consistently in the top 20 among private colleges in the US. Being a Bowdoin grad will definitely be a huge help in getting you into the grad school of your choice and getting you job interviews. Not to mention, since we've also been on a food discussion here, its campus food service has been ranked #1 in the country for the last couple of years!

If you have any interest in being a big firm lawyer or getting a federal judicial clerkship, Bowdoin will help you a lot as a credential. As a recovering big-firm lawyer , I can tell you that many, many of the prestigious firms won't even interview you if you're not a grad of the "right" schools. I think that's a lousy attitude and that it would be great if they had elston's attitude of actually judging the person and the intangibles as well, but the fact of the matter is that they mostly don't. Of course, I could also tell you that being a big-firm lawyer isn't all it's cracked up to be, but that's a whole 'nother discussion..... If you look at the bios of the partners at the big law firms in Portland, you'll notice that a good percentage of them went to Bowdoin undergrad and Harvard Law School. It's a well-recognized career path in Maine.

Amazing you lived in Mill Valley. That's where we lived when we were in Marin. We lived on top of a hill above Shoreline Highway. Loved the town, the commute to the SF financial district was easy, but I totally agree with you about the less-than-friendly people.

flycessna, thanks for the info about the Mexican place. I want to check it out next time I go for a Marden's run. I would also love to see a New York/Boston style pizza place. That would be great. I've been reading a book called American Pie by Peter Reinhart about his quest for the perfect pizza. It includes recipes for several different doughs and sauces. But the the thing is, it's hard to make a really good pizza without extremely high oven temperatures and a big heavy stone. The Cabin in Bath makes a pretty good pizza, but I'd love to have the real thing too. I'll tell you my pet peeve about italians: the salami. This is NOT salami!!! I so miss the great dry aged salamis we used to get when we lived in San Francisco. The Portland Spice store used to get some excellent salamis, but that's closed now, so I'm frustrated again.

Almost forgot SFFreebird had asked about summer temps in South Freeport. Even though you're on the water and that means some fog, it's NOTHING like San Francisco in the summer. Summer highs are generally in the 70s and 80s. We usually get a small handful of days where we crack 90, but last summer we never did. June is usually still quite cool. We don't start hitting 70s on a regular basis until July. Sometimes we stay warm right through September and into October, but sometimes it starts to feel like the beginning of autumn right after Labor Day.

[s.f.freebirdie]

Thanks for all the posts! I will apply to Bates, have applied to University of New England and I have missed the cut-off for Bowdoin, so I will try to apply for the spring semester there. Good to know the many great recommended places to eat, as I am a HUGE foodie...an avid runner to though, so I will have to check out the best places to run and hike in that area too.

[s.f.freebirdie]

I was able to apply to the University of New England. Any opinions on this school compared to Bowdoin for a political science major wanting to go to law school? Are they comparable schools?

[woolwiTch]

I don't know anything about UNE except that it is not even remotely at the same level as Bowdoin or Bates. If you do get into Bates, it would be far better from the credentialing point of view. It's a drive from South Freeport, but it's a very easy drive.

Since you are a runner, you may already know that Joan Benoit Samuelson, winner of the first Olympics women's marathon, lives in Freeport. Oh, and she's a Bowdoin grad.

[s.f.freebirdie]

Great! I think that I will hold out and wait to hear from the assistant Dean of admissions at Bowdoin as to whether they will make an exception (doubtfully, but maybe) and consider me as a late applicant. If not, perhaps I can apply for spring and take a semester off of school and explore Maine a bit. Anyone know of a good Bikhram's yoga studio in Portland or surrounding areas? I was pleased to find out thier is a Whole Foods in Portland, but I may want to frequent the farmers markets first:-)

[Newdaawn]

A couple of my favorite places to eat in that area - The Corsican Restaurant - in Freeport. It feels like eating in a friends dining room and has the best seafood chowder I have ever had - bar none.

Try Joshua's in Brunswick - seems like a favorite for dinner with some of the Bowdoin students - had dinner there once and was very pleased.

[tankratt]

Originally Posted by s.f.freebirdie

The commute to Bowdoin college does not seem that bad--20 mins....is this a better school? I am studying political science with the hopes of grad school or law school. Can anyone comment on this school?

Hey s.f. My daughter is now at Washington State and was accepted to USM last year, but opted for WSU to be closer to home. That being said she was very impressed with USM and is heading in thae same area of study as you, she wants to be a D.A. One other thing about USM is they were vey helpful and the only school that was "recruiting" her they called several times to talk to her and see how she was doing and if they could answer any questions. I had never heard of such a thing for a " regular student" My advice is give it a chance for the fall, if it doesn't work, no harm right?

[retiredtinbender]

Originally Posted by woolwiTch

I don't know anything about UNE except that it is not even remotely at the same level as Bowdoin or Bates. If you do get into Bates, it would be far better from the credentialing point of view. It's a drive from South Freeport, but it's a very easy drive.

Since you are a runner, you may already know that Joan Benoit Samuelson, winner of the first Olympics women's marathon, lives in Freeport. Oh, and she's a Bowdoin grad.

She also supports the Beach to Beacon run every year. Can't remember when it is though.