Should I go to Bates?

Lindagaf
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 22:02:50 +0000

Hi @Sophski , Bates is a great school for active people who love being outdoors. Sports are quite prominent at Bates, but not in excess. Plenty of attention is given to the arts. The Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary is 372 acres and is literally across the street from Bates. Students run there all the time (it’s free.) In fact, the day we went for a walk there at Parents’ Weekend we saw several students running who had been my kid’s advisors for her AESOP trip. It’s very pretty and it seems that students have bonfires in the woods too. The river is close by, the surrounding countryside is gorgeous. There is a tiny local ski hill, and Bates students ski free. Otherwise, you can ski cheaply for I think a $200 season ski pass to Sugar Loaf and other Maine mountains. A lot of kids do this.

Do you want to get to know professors? Do you want to be sure you are being taught by a prof rather than a TA? Do you want opportunities to do research as an undergrad? Do you want small classes? My D is a freshman. Her smallest class so far has been 15. Her largest was 60. Do you want personal attention? If these things are important to you, then you should choose Bates, because you simply will not get much, if any, of that at a school of 30,000.

Below is the response I posted on another thread as to why my D chose Bates:

"Basic factors: She wanted to be around smart, motivated students who were friendly and not overly competitive. She loved the idea of Short Term. She liked the reasonable proximity to Portland, which is a city she had visited before and likes. (Fun fact: Bates provides regular free shuttles to Portland and Freeport, which is a neat little town with excellent shops and restaurants. There are also regular shuttles to Boston for day-long trips, $20.)

She wanted a good blend of students. Bates students are a mix of outdoorsy/urban/arty/athletes/preppies/geeks and others. She was worried there would be too much emphasis on athletics, but this hasn’t proven to be the case. She is not interested in sports at all. The ratio of guys to girls was good too.

She REALLY liked the fact that there was no Greek life. She knew that Bates has a history of being inclusive, so that appealed. She knew that Bates is a top Fulbright producer. She was pretty sure the academics would be strong enough to be challenging but not overly intense. So far, she has definitely found that to be the case.

For parents: As far as we were concerned, we liked the active alumni network and the career center, which seems to be pretty good at helping kids with stuff like creating resumes, and providing internship and job opportunities. I am not sure we would have been happy for her to go there if we hadn’t been satisfied with that. We are impressed with the Purposeful Work initiative. We think Clayton Spencer is doing a very good job. She has raised $120 million for the endowment over the last three or four years. That is important. She is incredibly well-qualified and has an amazing pedigree. Google her.

D is really enjoying herself now. She got involved in a particular club right from the start. She has done some volunteering. She goes out in Lewiston, which has some decent restaurants. She and her friends have been to Freeport and Portland several times. She made Dean’s list. There are fun events on campus. The other day she played with baby goats and alpacas as one of the stress-relieving activities on offer (it’s Finals Week.) I haven’t asked her, but I think she would say she made the right choice."

You have to decide if you want big or small. You are going to get a very different experience at a large college of 30,000. I am sure that is a great school too, so at the end of the day, what kind of environment do you feel will be right for you? You might want to look at the freshman retention rate of your big school. Bates has a 95% retention rate. Kids are clearly happy there. One thing is certain, you won’t go wrong if you choose Bates. Best of luck to you.

@PetitManan , @lookingforward or @Sue22 , any insight in running in and around Lewiston?

ETA: Re Lewiston, I think most kids are not bothered about Lewiston not being posh. It’s a working class town, but it isn’t dangerous or anything. Bates kids are quite involved in the community.