This is the official discussion thread for Bates Class of 2030 RD applicants. Ask your questions and connect with fellow applicants.
Bates decisions to be released on March 14.
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Decisions are up. D26 accepted!
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Congratulations to all the new Bobcats!
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S26 accepted… Prologue to Bates program had a huge impact on him and will weigh heavily on his enrollment decision.
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Congrats Bobcats! D23 is a junior there and loves it – would be happy to answer any questions.
Is your junior an athlete?
D26 accepted. Still waiting on 10 schools … I liked Bates a lot when we visited, but I’m not sure she felt the same love. We’ll see what happens!
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No, she’s not.
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Thanks. I’ll PM with any questions.
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My daughter is a junior at Bates and an athlete there. She has loved the school
Hi. Reading that over 40% of the Bates class is varsity athletes and know that in many of those cases, at smaller schools, the sports teams ARE the social life. Can my athletic, very well rounded student who trends towards conservative, find a place in the Bates community if they are not on a sports team (might join intramural if an option)? TYIA!!! I cross posted this question fyi…. 
Hi – well, my D is not on a team, and she’s really happy with her social life. Lots of options for non-varsity athletes, including club and intramural sports, but she’s done very little of that (I think she was on an intramural volleyball team her freshman year?). She’s in a leadership position on the newspaper, co-founded the Bates Birding Club, and has floated in and out of other clubs. She’s double-majoring and has a few campus jobs, and that keep her plenty busy. I would say that sports are a center of social life, but definitely not the only one. In her closest friend group, a couple of people are in club sports, some aren’t, and it’s no big deal.
Bates does lean liberal. The vibe is not radical – the politics are present but not in-your-face, so that would be something for your son to consider. He might get in touch with some conservative-leaning clubs on campus to ask how they feel about the climate.
Btw – it’s very common that the student bodies at LACs are 30-50% athletes. That’s because the size of the student body is small, but they still need to field teams with standard-sized rosters. Ironically, super-sports-centric big flagships have much smaller percentages of athletes. If your son is considering a lot of LACs, they’ll all likely have similar athlete/non-athlete ratios.
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My child is not an athlete and has been disappointed with the social scene at Bates. The teams are really the only ones with off campus houses (which get passed down every year, with sophmores on the teams signing leases for their senior years). The lack of theme houses, which many other similar schools have, means that there isn’t a place for those who are not on teams to have a common place for their ‘people’. Yes, there is Le Ronj and the radio station and BMU are located in a house, but there is no option for people to have a ‘arts house’ or ‘music house’ or ‘green house’… and before someone comes in and says “well my daughter isn’t an athlete and she goes to parties at the team houses all the time” I would posit that it is different for guys.
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I mean, my daughter isn’t an athlete and doesn’t party with teams – but for her, there are more than enough parties to go to when she wants to (which isn’t often). She also knew someone a couple of years ago who was a senior and lived off campus in a house with friends – none of them were athletes. Then again, so few seniors live off campus that if there are a few team houses, they probably stand out. I feel like there were theme houses in the past? But they rotated, and there doesn’t seem to be any now, other than quiet houses and healthy living houses. It so happens that my daughter has sought out and lived in both, which might be why the housing situation has worked out better for her than it has for your son.
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Thank you! Yes heard other LACs are the same way. We are going to visit to check it out……seems like a great school for the right student!
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So helpful, you are def touching on some of my concerns coming in as a non athlete…..My other kiddos are at a big state school and Fairfield so both have large, varied social scenes (ones roomie is an athlete and def does his thing but there are so many other students to hang out with so it really did not matter). Visiting soon so will def check out the vibe as best we can!
Just seen some of the responses about the social life at Bates. My kid was not an athlete and her group of friends were not athletes. There were plenty of males in her friend group who weren’t athletes. My D had a great time. Her social life was fun and busy. It’s a small school and it would be very unusual to never cross paths with all kinds of groups, athletes or not. Most students are not athletes. Bates is similar to peer schools in its percentage of athletes.
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Yes, we are all providing anecdotes related to the experience of our children. Mine, who is there right now, has a different experience than yours did. We are just providing data points to the OP and she/he can interpret them however they want.
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