Bates College Top Questions

My school strives to have a great connection between teachers and students. That makes the classroom setting more intimate.

There was no Greek life and the classes were small. You were able to get to know your professors well.

Bates is an excellent choice for a small liberal arts college. Maine is a beautiful state that offers every activity I can think of from surfing to hiking to skiing. Every department from Chemistry to Women and Gender Studies is demanding and interesting and there are opportunities to study abroad in every subject.

I was good enough to play football my freshman year at Bates. NO OTHER COLLEGE EVER WOULD HAVE LET MY CLUMSY ASS PLAY.

You can make an education here academically intensive, while still having a lot of free time and fun.

Commons gets frozen in time!

If you're a minority and you're thinking about attending Bates, I know that ideal of Maine may be a bit disturbing but I guarantee you, you will learn and experience so many things you would never imagine experiencing. Also, you'll be going to a school that really does genuinely care about you and is willing to do whatever they can to make sure you succeed.

Not really. Bates is a great school.

Lewiston is THE WORST PLACE IN THE WORLD! Really, do yourself a favor don't go to Bates. Not only will you regret the decision, but there are so many more interesting places to be. Bates is awful.

I love Bates! While it's great that lots of people take advantage of the opportunity to go abroad, I've decided for academic reasons to stay on campus, and I couldn't be happier! Bates gives you the opportunity to go outside your comfort zone while, at the same time, providing you with a warm, loving place to come home to. For anyone looking at colleges, especially small, nurturing liberal-arts schools, I can't think of anything better. My least favorite thing about Bates is the great amount of dogs on campus (I hate dogs.) If that's the biggest thing I have to complain about, then I'd say it's a pretty great place! And if that doesn't do it, then hear this: our food is amazing. Seriously. It's summer break and I miss Commons food.

Bates is da bomb

I love Bates! I've been away for a year on medical leave and I miss it like my second home. I have met some of the most beautiful people I've ever met there, and they have changed me forever. I wouldn't change it for anything, not even because of its dull social life or lack of diversity in the student body. Bates is totally worth it, both academically and spiritually.

Bates is a chill place that really i've heard no one really complain. People seem to find their niches and people usually leave people alone that are different. Hey the parties are nice and the career services is pretty good at getting people a job when they're out of college.

Its a great school. Graduation was really hard cause I knew my whole class. Only a few strange faces were there. But it was like saying goodbye to a family. Its a great school that really gives you many priceless opportunities. I loved my time there and I wish I didnt have to graduate.

Overall, I am so happy with my decision to go to Bates. It is a wonderful environment with great people, well-attended school events, inspirational professors, and spirit. Everyone wants to be here! I never want to go home for vacation and at the end of my first two years year, my friends and I were all in tears. We were all dreading the months that we would have to spend away from Bates and each other. I love Bates and I consider it home. I'm in my hometown for the summer right now and all I want to do is get back to my friends at Bates.

Bates is great but be aware of what you getting yourself into, Liberal student body and faculty, Lewiston is a rough town, Maine is cold, there is a lot of drinking but the teachers are incredible, the students are warm, kind and welcoming and the sports teams are strong!

I graduated today, and I will be sorry to leave Bates, but I know that it has prepared me well for any endeavor I will take on.

I struggled at Bates finding a niche. There are very few opportunities for exploring alternative modes of engagement and it seems a place inhospitable, at times hostile even, towards higher thought/ critical engagement. The professors are wonderful and do their best to engage students in fascinating material. The student body lacks in all the important ways. The administration is filled with lovely people though actively struggling to restructure the community and the President consistently fails to lead or take a stand for its students in any meaningful way (though, to be fair, she will rack up the endowment). Alas- why can't every school have a Ruth Simmons?

Short term is the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread.

If you're not an asshole, you should come to Bates, because you'll love it.

Despite complaints from some students, Lewiston is a really cool place. It is certainly not your typical college town, and it may be very different from where most Bates students come from. That is why I love it. It is an old mill town turned city with a strong community, wonderful central park, down-to-earth residents, and lots of outlets for community engagement and volunteering. It also has a pretty cool local music scene with great folk performances in particular. One thing that is really unique about Bates is its large Somali refugee community. I really appreciate this chance to experience another culture and watch two very different communities merge into one.

"Just come with a positive mind, because no one minds being positive!"

I couldn't be happier than I am at Bates. It is truly a special place and in my freshman year I have met some truly amazing people. One of the best parts of Bates is that it doesn't matter what year you are - no one is very exclusive. I think it's a beautiful thing that I have just as many freshman friends as I do any other class year.

Bates was a great experience for me, safe enough to let me grow but it definitely pushed me to take some risks. I loved the people and the school. Definitely take advantage of the study abroad opportunities and get involved!

A lot of the people here LOVE Bates, but I feel like you definitely have to be a certain type of person to feel at home here. I came because my Dad went to Bates, but it ended up not being for me, and I'm actually transferring next year. But then again, I am that high-strung person who wants competition in my academics, intensity in my sport, and not so much alcohol on the weekends. Also, this school is SMALL-we don't even have two thousand kids-so the campus can feel kind of constricting at times. You should definitely take that into account before applying/deciding to come. Also, when you come to visit Bates, take time to look around Lewiston as well.

Believe me...Bates is a guaranteed success if you want to enjoy your college years and grow and mature as an academic and a real person. Just one thing, you need to be a social person to succeed at Bates.

On the whole, Bates, though my second-choice school, has turned out to be everything that I originally thought college could be. I have met most of my closest friends at Bates, learned more than I thought I was capable of, and have fallen deeply in love with some of the more unlikely parts of Maine. Though I will be the first to admit that it is imperfect, I feel great about having chosen Bates and would do so again.

None

Bates is Bates. There is no place like Bates.

I'm transferring.

"Trick or drink" is one of Bates' more ridiculous traditions. On Halloween, everyone gets dressed up in costumes and goes to an off campus house where they give $5 and receive a map of all the houses participating. You and your friends then stumble from house to house, with the help of the Lewiston-Auburn police, taking a different shot of alcohol at each house. When you are done at all 9 or so of the houses, the school has put pizzas in the basement of one of the dorms for us to eat. I'm not lying. The school recognizes this event. The cops help us cross the street. Apparently drinking laws do not apply on that night.

In terms of the comparison between bates bowdoin and colby, a batsie would probably say that people at bowdoin are far more intellectual and full of a lot of people who wish they were at harvard. And colby is a little less down to earth than Bates, but hey this could just be the narcissism of small differences.

Bowdoin and Colby suck!!! THey are pretencious people who separate themselves from their surrounding towns by gates, and placement on a huge hill.

It's a great day to be a Bobcat! Bowdoin sucks Colby!

While it is true that Bates is a short while from Boston and Montreal, the school itself is in the middle of nowhere, and it's more difficult than one might think to get off campus. Batesies tend to drink a lot, though not out of alcoholism or depression, but simply to let loose. The pervading New England-ness of the school requires a beverage over ice to break the ice. Finally, the cost of attending is outrageous. Nevertheless, the campus is beautiful, the professors are amazing, and the school does a lot to keep life interesting (since Lewiston most assuredly does not). In terms of dining, Bates dining is quite good; it's near-restaurant quality, and we're not talking Sizzler.

The friendliness on campus is infectious! From the first time someone holds a door for you or walks you to Commons instead of just pointing it out, you will want to join the ranks of the Friendly Batesies.

I have seen a shift in the social atmosphere and general make up of the student body in my four years here. The campus is growing increasingly white collar, upper-class, and privileged. Birkenstocks and dreadlocks are being replaced by Gucci bags and cell phones. This may just be part of a growing national trend, but its definitely a felt reality on campus. Bates is not as "crunchy" as it use to be, and I am concerned with a rising level of apathy that seems to be growing in the last few incoming classes