Bates College

Bates College Introduction

Choosing the right college or university is often thought of as a difficult task. One obvious reason for this perception is that many college applicants are preoccupied with the academic, social, and athletic rigors of their senior year in high school. Deeper examination may reveal that the student is struggling with the important task of discovering exactly who they are. The successful choosing of the right college, in fact, involves a recognition and understanding of the true identity of an individual. It is also a reflection of what he or she wishes to become.

My college selection process was probably very similar to many other prospective students of the small liberal arts colleges in New England. I had interviews at many top schools and had a chance to walk around several campuses with students. My visit to Bates was definitely different than the others. From the beginning, the people at Bates made me feel very welcome and important. After my interview and tour I wandered into the science building to see the biology facilities (I was pretty sure I wanted to be a bio major). Walking down a hall with my family, we happened by an open door where a student was doing research. This student welcomed us into his lab and proceeded to tell us what he was doing and asked if we had any questions about Bates. I remember vividly this student’s willingness to help me find the biology labs, but more importantly, what I took away from this conversation was the student’s genuine interest and warmth. I also met with the lacrosse coach, and even though I was not a recruit and had just met him, he talked with me and my parents for over an hour, took us to lunch in the dining hall, and even walked us to our car. Of all the top schools I had visited, Bates was the one that felt right. With so many fine academic colleges to choose from, I went with a gut feeling that Bates was the best for me. I applied early and never looked back.

Bates College is a highly selective liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine. The school is known for its excellent academics, internationally distinguished debate team, competitive athletics, and its history. The college was founded in 1855, as the college course catalog states, “by people who felt strongly about human freedom and civil rights. Bates is among the oldest coeducational colleges in the nation, and from its beginning the college admitted students without regard to race, religion, national origin or sex.”

From its creation, the college has never had fraternities and sororities. College activities are open to all its students. These long-held values of Bates pervade every aspect of the college, and are what makes it unique. Walk on the campus and talk to the students, the faculty, and the staff . . . talk to the people who make up what Bates is today. In these conversations, the values and ideals upon which the school was founded become obvious. There is a warmth in the interaction, a “friendliness” that over the years remains a characteristic of the typical Batesie.

I asked a friend about his college selection process, and his response often echoes what other students say of Bates:

I loved Bates from the first time I set foot on the campus. There is something about the college, the feel of the quad, the people who inhabit this place, that makes Bates so inviting—that makes Bates “friendly.” In the summer before my senior year of high school, I visited about fifteen schools in several different regions of the country. In pursuit of a good education, and following my heart, I decided to apply Early Decision. I liked the obvious reasons for wanting to attend Bates, which were advertised in the viewbook, but I also liked the excellent facilities, the small size that allows one to get to know a lot of different people well, and also gives everyone the opportunity to make a difference. I also liked the cohesiveness of Bates, which can be seen in the absence of fraternities and sororities—thus helping to remove social barriers— and in the committed and accessible faculty.

Bates has much to offer its students. In addition to its human resources of faculty and staff, Bates continues to be committed to providing the latest equipment and finest facilities for its students. The new $35 million Dining Commons is under construction. Pettengill Hall opened in the fall of 1999. This five-story building is the home of the social science departments with classrooms, offices, and an atrium overlooking Lake Andrews or, as the students call it, “the puddle.” There are lots of opportunities for research with faculty. In a 2003 senior survey, more than twenty-five percent of respondents reported that they participated in a faculty member’s research project.

The Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area is 574 acres of salt marsh and rocky forested terrain adjacent to one of the last undisturbed barrier beaches where Bates students and faculty can study geology, botany, and zoology. In addition, the college owns eighty acres of freshwater habitat just north of the conservation area.

From electron microscopes to the Olin Arts Center, from the Davis Fitness Center to having the entire campus hooked up to a computer network and being Internet ready, Bates provides an environment in which students enjoy the benefits of attending a large university, while getting the personal educational experience of a small college.

The college selection process can be difficult, there are many fine institutions. A person trying to make a decision based on academic reputation and “numbers” would be hard-pressed to differentiate between many of the schools in the “Most Competitive” category. Bates distin- guishes itself with the characteristics many visitors cite: openness, warmth, inclusiveness, and respect for the members of its community. Throughout its history, Bates has been a role model for its peers in its policies and programs for students. From its beginning, Bates admitted stu- dents without regard to race, gender, religion, or nationality. Today, its admissions policies (SATscores optional), study abroad programs, and service-learning program are all examples of Bates’ values and leadership.

Bates is an environment in which students can excel. The small size, great facilities, and committed faculty provide students with resources on a par with large universities, yet support that can only be found in a small college. Fellow students at Bates are equally supportive.

While some might say that Bates’s location is a drawback, there are many positives in being in Lewiston, Maine. In fact, many Bates students cite Bates’s location as a major reason for choosing the school. Although not located in a major metropolitan area, Bates is urban enough so that students can easily get to many activities, stores, and businesses. For many, the absence of a large city is a positive. Maine has much to offer in the areas of outdoor activity and beautiful landscapes. Bates is within an easy drive of Portland, the coastline, and the ski slopes.

Another possible complaint about Bates is its small size. There are positives and drawbacks to both large and small schools that must be considered in the selection process. Even though Bates is considered small, it is very unlikely that a student could get to know everyone at the school and feel limited socially. On the contrary, the familiarity of a small school in many ways allows students to make more friendships than at a larger school. Even so, most Bates students study abroad or at some other college or university in the United States for at least a semester and get to experience the big school scene. The small size at Bates is hardly viewed as a drawback academically. No classes are taught by graduate students, and students find it very easy to build a relationship with their professor in even the largest classes.

So come on up to Bates, and see for yourself. Talk to the students on the Quad and observe a class. After a little while, you might get that gut feeling too, and realize that the academic excellence, warmth, and egalitarian values that can be seen in the Bates community are qualities reflected by you.

Bates College Academics

If you get the chance to drive up the Maine Turnpike and stop into Bates for a visit, you would notice that the academic buildings in which students attend classes are very close to each other around the tree-filled quad. A short walk through some of these buildings, such as Carnegie Science, or Pettengill Hall, would give a visitor a realistic impression of Bates.

Although Bates is one of the most competitive colleges in admissions, students have a collaborative work ethic and competition within themselves. They are self-motivated and, at times, the library becomes more familiar than one’s room. Bates graduates leave confident they can handle any grad school. In the class of 2003, ninety-two percent of students completed a senior thesis or senior project. They also can handle the world. In the class of 2003, seventy percent of the graduates applied credit for study outside the United States.

Courses

The Bates academic year follows a 4-4-1 calendar. Students take four courses (the normal course load) during the fall and winter semesters, and for at least two of the four years take a five-week-long intensive course during the spring. This session, called Short Term, allows professors to have more freedom and creativity in designing each course and in many cases allows the class to leave the campus to study a subject by touching it and seeing it rather than just reading about it. Short Term courses allow geologists to study geologic history from inside a kayak in the intercoastal waterways of Maine; biologists study evolution by learning about the finches of the Galapagos Islands, as Darwin did from the Beagle.

In one of the first days of my Russian literature class, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, I realized that I was the only science major in the class. I found myself frustrated in the first few weeks because the professor turned the class over to the students for discussion of the stories instead of lecturing and telling us what the author meant. As the semester progressed, however, I came to value each student’s opinion and realized that the process of thinking about what the passages meant to me, and to others who had read it, was as educational as the memorizing of facts that I was used to.

The Harvard Center for Community Partnership

The Harvard Center for Community Partnership leads Bates’ efforts in community involvement, including strong programs in service learning, community volunteerism, and environmental stewardship. The center aims to work with community partners to meet community needs and, in the process, to integrate civic engagement with the Bates educational experience. The Center offers short- and long-term grants to faculty, staff, and students, and provides summer support to pursue community-based research and work-study. The Harvard Center works with more than 125 partners, from schools and cultural institutions to grassroots community groups.

Academically-Based-Service-Learning

The Harvard Center supports courses and projects that activate liberal learning to make a difference in the world. From oral history projects to pollution monitoring of the Androscoggin River to literacy research with local immigrants, some fifty percent of Bates students incorporate community work into their studies.

Community Volunteerism

The center coordinates Bates’ community volunteer programs. Led by a team of undergraduate Volunteer Fellows, the program enables Bates students to serve as school mentors or tutors, to work in senior centers or environmental conservation areas, even to plant community gardens and build ski trails. Each year, two thirds of the students on campus take part in volunteer services.

Environmental Stewardship

Committed to environmental stewardship, the Harvard Center for Community Partnership oversees the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation area, a six-hundred acre coastal preserve that protects rare salt marsh and dune beach ecologies for research and public use.

Degrees

Bachelor’s degrees are fulfilled after completion of thirty-two courses and two Short Term units. A degree can be conferred after three years. This accelerated program requires completion of thirty courses and three Short Term units.

General Education Requirements

Bates College emphasizes a broad-based liberal arts education, encompassing the social sciences, humanities, mathematics, sciences, and the arts. There are no core courses required of all students; however, there is a structured menu of options allowing students to extend, focus, and connect areas of interest.

Students enroll in two General Education Concentrations (GECs) outside their major, exposing students to a variety of disciplines. A GEC is a group of four linked courses. A GEC may focus on one topic or area of inquiry, with courses coming from different disciplines, or a GEC may focus on a topic within a single department, program, or major. The faculty is developing an array of GECs. Some interdisciplinary examples being considered are: Sound, Hearing and Music; Legal Studies; Coastal & Watershed Systems; Architectural Studies: Urbanism and Constructed Spaces; Diasporas; Evidence: Documentation & Reality; Indigenous Responses to Globalization; and Sports, Competition and Culture.

Three goals serve the larger liberal arts objectives:

1. Teach every student how academic disciplines complement one another, providing a sophisticated perspective on how to pursue knowledge.
2. Teach every student to write correctly and persuasively.
3. Give students college-level instruction in the methods and findings of the sciences and in quantitative analysis.

Bates provides an environment that allows a student to achieve. I remember coming into my first year having little confidence about my writing ability. After one of the first writing assignments, my professor suggested that I make an appointment at the writing workshop. That experience was invaluable. We talked about my ideas and how I could change my paper to more clearly convey them. The instructor offered to read a second draft that afternoon. I returned a number of times during all of my four years. The assistance I received not only helped me get better grades in that class, but also gave me the organization and confidence to succeed in writing throughout my college career.

Bates College Admissions

Bates continues to be highly selective in its admissions process. Currently listed as one of the nation’s Most Competitive colleges by Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges, and similarly ranked by other major college review publications, the school’s reputation for aca- demic excellence draws highly motivated and talented students from all over the country and around the world. One big difference between Bates and most top schools is that, in its admissions process, standardized test scores are not required. Although most students do submit these scores and do very well, Bates recognizes that these tests are not always a true indicator of aptitude and future achievement. Admissions readers are more interested in the entire high school record. In addition to grades, evidence of a student taking challenging courses, the essays that are required with the application, extracurricular activities and interests, and recommendations by teachers and other school officials, are all carefully inspected by admissions personnel.

Bates, throughout its history, has recognized that diversity in its student body is a crucial requirement for an educational environment. Bates was coeducational before being coed was popular. Bates also makes great efforts to attract students from diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Interviews

An on-campus visit and interview are strongly encouraged. If this is not possible, in most cases an alumni interview can be scheduled. An interview is the opportunity for an applicant to link a personality with an application in the mind of an admissions reader. Often, this impression on an interviewer makes a difference in deciding on many applicants who have similar credentials.

Early Decision and Other Admission Plans

Although not for everyone, the Early Decision admission plan is one way to separate yourself from other applicants. By applying Early Decision, prospective students declare that Bates is their first choice and, if accepted, they will withdraw all other college applications. When looking at it from an admissions point of view, they want students who know that they love Bates and have decided that this is the school that they want to attend. It is this type of applicant who will most likely get involved and improve the educational experience for others.

Many applicants are not willing or able to decide early, of course. In addition to the regular admissions process, other possibilities include: Deferred Admission, January Admission, Transfer Admission, and the option to attend Bates as a visiting student.

Bates College Financial Aid

In recent years, about forty percent of all first-year and continuing students received some form of financial aid. Although the Financial Aid Office has federal rules and guidelines to follow, it deals with families individually when putting together an aid package. In addition to aid through scholarships, which are need-based, students can take out loans and have the opportunity to hold part-time jobs on campus. Recently, average first-year packages, which include scholarships, loans, and work-study, totaled more than $27,545. Even if a student does not qualify for need-based aid, student loans and part-time work are available. Half of the student body works. On-campus jobs range from lifeguarding at the pool to driving the shuttle vans to the nearby mall. In my experience, even more students could work if they wanted to; there are always jobs at the student employment office.

Each semester I worked between five to eight hours per week as part of the work-study portion of my financial aid. During my first semester, I took a job cleaning glassware for the biology department and another job monitoring the entrance to one of the athletic facilities. I soon learned that there were some jobs that required less attention than others. While the glassware job was easy and offered a sometimes needed break from the books, the monitoring job demanded much less attention and during those three hours a week I could read or study while getting paid.

Other jobs have slow periods during which students can study. Thus, part-time work covers the weekly expenses during a semester, and rarely encroaches on the time needed for coursework.

Bates College Students

Bates also supports more than seventy activity groups on campus, including art, chess, choir, dance, drama, gay-lesbian-bisexual alliance, international, jazz band, newspaper, orchestra, political, radio and TV, religious, social, and student government. Students can also start a group. One example is the Bates Aviators Club, which was started by a student who came to Bates already experienced in piloting. Closely entwined with Bates’ history is its debate society. Bates was the first American college to engage in international debate. It has produced such eminent Americans as statesman Edmund Muskie and civil rights pioneer Benjamin Mays.

One popular group is the Bates Outing Club. Founded in 1920, the second oldest only to that of Dartmouth, the Bates Outing Club sponsors outdoor activities almost every weekend and provides outdoor recreational equipment for students to use. The club sponsors studentrun trips throughout the year including backpacking, skiing, snowshoeing, climbing, hiking, mountain biking, and kayaking.

Social Life

The social life at Bates is definitely “alive.” Social activities are primarily on campus due to the fact that ninety percent of all students live on campus. Students can take study breaks at the Den or meet with classmates at the Ronj, an entirely student-run coffeehouse where students perform music and read poetry. Some like to play pool or Ping-Pong in Chase Hall. During the weekend, campus-wide parties, film club movies, and dance and theater productions give the students almost too many choices.

Bates activities and social events are open to all students. This is not only an administrative policy, but something that Bates students support and enforce. There are no fraternities or sororities at Bates, and all college-sponsored parties are open to anyone. Student groups sponsor parties every weekend and an occasional Wednesday night, and the college itself sponsors a number of social events. One of the biggest events is the annual President’s Gala, to which the entire college community is invited, where big band orchestras and jazz bands perform. The Chase Hall Committee, a student-run activities group, does a great job of getting big-name bands to come and play on campus; past groups include Counting Crows, Trey Anastasio of Phish, eminent singer-songwriters Ellis Paul and Edie Carey, Guster, and perennial alt-favorites, Yo La Tengo.

Bates College Athletics

While students are conscientious about their work, there are very few who don’t have several extracurricular activities keeping them busy. Bates supports thirty varsity teams and twelve club sports teams. For many students, athletics are a very important part of the Bates experience. Two-thirds of the current student population participated in varsity and club sports. Bates’ athletic teams compete in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). Without a doubt, the most intense rivalries are between Bates and Bowdoin and Colby, referred to as the BBC. One of the goals of every team is to become champs of this “mini-conference” for bragging rights of Maine.

In addition to these intercollegiate programs, Bates students can be found playing intramural sports all year long. Intramural sports are coed and include soccer, ice hockey, basketball, and softball. Intramurals are open to students of all abilities and are a great way to get away from the books for an hour. Although Bates athletics are competitive and successful, student athletes are constantly reminded that they are students first. Participation in athletics provides the student with a classroom in which the subject is character, leadership, tenacity, and teamwork. At Bates, academics and athletics are not separate entities, but are considered to be complementary to one another in a student’s education and intellectual growth.

Bates College Local Community

Being in the metropolitan area of Lewiston-Auburn also provides students with a number of options. Several multi-screen cinemas, shopping malls, and restaurants, accessible by student-run shuttle vans throughout the weekend, give students an off-campus release when needed. Add in the fact that the Maine coastline, Portland’s Old Port, and hiking and skiing are all less than an hour away, and one recognizes the opportunities students have to enrich their Bates experience.

Alcohol

The social scene at Bates in many ways revolves around alcohol, as at any other college. Bates students are expected to observe state liquor laws at college-sponsored parties. On-campus parties that serve alcohol employ outside caterers to effectively reduce underage drinking at Bates. On weekends the Den turns into a pub that serves great food and, for students who are twenty-one, fine beer. Off-campus bars are also a part of upperclass social life, the most popular being The Blue Goose, the Cage, The Midnight Blues Club and Muddy Waters Cafe. The Goose is well loved by Batesies for the low prices and great atmosphere, as well as for the foosball table.

Short Term

While this five-week session is a unique period of learning, it is also an opportunity for students to enjoy the spring and socialize. For seniors, Short Term offers a last chance to live it up before they are forced into the real world. Weekly barbecues on the quad, outdoor parties, intramural softball, picnics at nearby Range Pond or Popham Beach state parks, and the annual Outing Club-sponsored clambakes, give students plenty of opportunities to procrastinate.

Bates College Alumni

Mention Bates to older alumni, and there is a certain sparkle in their eyes when they talk to you. Bates is a special place with so much proud history and such bright promise. It has a special place in the hearts of its alumni, and being a fellow Batesie connotes a special bond, a bond of values and morals, a bond of shared memories of place and common interests that upon realization is price- less to its graduates.

Talking to Bates alumni about their college experiences reveals that over the years Bates has stayed the same in many ways. Even with the addition of modern dormitories and academic buildings, and of new majors and faculty, the impressions and impacts made on students over the years—more importantly, the values and the character of the students that the institution attracts—are remarkably similar. When fellow Bates alumni meet, there is an obvious passion and loyalty they feel toward the school. Perhaps the best physical example of this feeling is the commitment alumni show in the number of them who come back every fall for the Homecoming weekend, the number of admissions interviews that alumni conduct, or the number of graduates who stay and make Bates a part of their life as well as a career.

Bates alumni share a strong bond with one another, and the alumni network is similarly strong. From the regional clubs that keep Bates grads in touch, to the alumni who volunteer their time to help a student or recent grad explore their career, being a Batesie lasts well beyond commencement.

Prominent Grads

• Benjamin Mays ’20
• Edmund Muskie ’36
• Bryant Gumbel, ’70, Television News Personality
• Stacey Kabat, ’85, Documentary Filmmaker
• David Chokachi, ’90, Television Actor

In my fourth year, the lacrosse team went on a winter break trip to North Carolina. After one of the two games that we played, we had a tailgate party with Bates alumni who were living in the area. I remember standing with the recent grads whom I knew and the alumni who brought their children to the game and realizing that, as happy as we were to have the support, they were equally happy to reconnect with Bates and talk to the students whether they were old friends or not.

Perhaps the beauty of the liberal arts degree is the vast possibility that lies ahead of its recipient. Graduates leave Bates on paths that lead all over the world, and use their education in all sorts of careers. Bates students are not “trained” for jobs, but are rather educated in how to think and how to educate themselves. From breakthrough research scientists to professional athletes, government officials to television personalities, musicians to founders of the civil rights movement, Bates grads share a belief in hard work to achieve their goals, and a sense of moral responsibility with which they enter the world.

For many, a Bates education is a motivating step to pursue further education. Bates students learn the liberal arts and gain a moral responsibility, but they also gain a passion for the process of learning. More than two-thirds of Bates graduates continue on to graduate school within five years of commencement. This high number reveals the quality of the students that Bates admits, as well as the education and inspiration that the college provides.

Carnegie Foundation Classification

Baccalaureate Colleges — Arts & Sciences

General Characteristics

Highest offering	Bachelor's degree
Calendar System	Four-one-four plan
Years of college work required	N/A
Variable Tuition

Special Learning Opportunities

Distance Learning
ROTC — Army / Navy / Air Force	— / /
Study Abroad
Weekend College
Teacher Certification