Is William & Mary or Bowdoin better for undergraduate teaching?

For undergraduate teaching specifically, Bowdoin usually has the edge if what you want most is a college built almost entirely around undergraduates, small classes, and close professor interaction. Bowdoin is a liberal arts college with no graduate-school pull on faculty attention, and that often shows up in seminar-style teaching, advising, and access to office hours. William & Mary is also very strong with undergrads, but the experience can feel a bit more varied because it is a larger public university with some graduate and professional programs in the mix.

Bowdoin tends to fit students who want teaching to feel personal and discussion-driven across almost everything they take. Professors are central to the student experience, and the academic culture is known for close reading, writing, feedback, and active class participation rather than bigger lecture-based structures. If your ideal class is one where the professor knows your name quickly and undergrads are clearly the whole point of the institution, Bowdoin matches that especially well.

William & Mary fits students who still want serious undergraduate teaching but are comfortable with a somewhat broader university environment. It has a strong reputation for engaged professors, especially in the humanities and social sciences, and many students do get meaningful faculty mentorship. At the same time, because it is larger and public, you are a little more likely to encounter variation by department, some larger intro courses, and a more self-directed approach to building those professor relationships.

A practical way to think about it is that Bowdoin is more consistently designed around intimate undergraduate teaching, while William & Mary offers excellent teaching within a more complex academic setting. If teaching experience itself is the main deciding factor, and not cost, size, or location, Bowdoin is the one I would lean toward.