Liberal Arts Schools and Close-knit Communities

emilybee
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 16:26:44 +0000

" I absolutely love Maine (I’m in fact in it right now). I have considered Bates for a while until I heard some very negative things about it. People told me that the students/faculty at Bates are pretentious and unaccepting. As someone who has never visited, I don’t know if that is true but if you can confirm/deny it, that would be great. Thanks!"

My son just graduated from Bates in May. He had a wonderful 4 years there. I don’t know the people who told you they are pretentious and unaccepting, but that was definitely not my son’s experience at all. I have also met most of his friends and none of them fit that profile, either. Some do come from extreme wealth, yet you wouldn’t know it by being around them.

The student who was asked to speak for the class at Commencements (voted by his classmates) was a URM/lower SES who ended up at Bates because he had no choice - it was the only college which gave him the financial aid he needed. He went not happy with having to go to Bates and not wanting to be there. Four years later he said it was the best thing that has ever happened to him and he couldn’t have imagined being anywhere else. His speech was quite moving as he spoke about his initial struggles and then how its was the collective Bates community throughout his 4 years that got him where he is today.

I think if you go to the Bates website and click on Commencement 2015 you watch his address.