Bates College Top Questions

except for the students being very studious, i'd say yes. it's a well-balanced college.

I'd definitely say there are a fair amount of both hippies and athletes. There are lots of environmental people, but also lots of people who could care less about that stuff.

Yes to the 20 minutes outside of Boston. A lot of students are from there. But its really just enough to make a joke out of it. To give an example, in my close group of friends of about 9 only one is from outside Boston. as far as being hippies Bates has the spectrum but definitely leans heavily toward the freethinking and progressive side.

A less than half of students come from private schools and although there are a few "preppy" students here, they are a fairly small minority.

Well, there are a large number of activists on campus but there are a fair amount of very business minded people who do not want to get involved in solving social problems. The town is boring but the school knows this and so there are frequent trips to more exciting areas such as Freeport, Portland and Brunswick. There is always something to do, at least for me, and so I do not have time to be bored at all. Although the Maine schools are not too far from each other, we do not see much of them.

No! I came to Bates because it was exactly different than my hometown college that is compared to Bates. People do so much volunteering and are so friendly it is so great. Oh and about the rich kids...yes they are on campus.. but the fact is you don't really know who they are. No one really faunts their wealth and are pretty chill because people what to make a life for themselves and not live off of mommy and daddy for the rest of their life.

There are, of course, people who fall into these categories at the extremes, but the vast majority of students are normal, friendly, intelligent people who love life and are intent on making the most of it.

Some of them -- I think for a majority they are just habits and patterns and personalities that a person develops once they get here due to the culture thats given off -- not necessarily because they are or were that person before.

To an extent, I think the reputation is accurate. Bates is academically very tough, and many students do go on to good grad schools. However, a significant part of the student body does not, instead choosing to go into non-profit work. Batesies do a lot of interesting things, though most people don't ever find out because, insofar as PR, Bates is less than adequate. Socially, I think the school's reputation is flawed; there may be many wealthy New England prep school kids, but the campus is most significantly a hippie's paradise. Prep school and polos definitely take a back seat to radical activism, leaning to the far left.

This is absolutely accurate. Batesies work hard, but they definitely know how to have fun, too.

It's pretty accurate. Bates is really hard, you have to work for your grades, there is no grade inflation or coddling to students who are used to making straight A's. But for those who are driven, the opportunity to succeed and get a lot out of a class is always there; it is completely up to the student to take the initiative and invest the effort. It's a good place for students who genuinely enjoy learning and who are excited to take on new ideas and learn about things they've never been exposed to before.

I don't really think there is a single accurate stereotype about Bates. There are actually very few hippies, and they are very elitist about how much they care about the environment, they are patronizing and so insular that they don't realize that everyone really doesn't like their crap. Most people at Bates are Liberals, and almost everyone gets high on a regular basis. Bates students are generally nice, save the exiled big city people who are aghast at small-town America. Bates is, however, ideally situated, really close to skiing, the ocean, Portland, Boston, and Freeport. Lewiston needs some work though. Bates students don't really study all that much, tend to be activists in strange fields, and really like to party.

While a lot of people like the outdoors, and the outing club here at Bates is extremely popular, I wouldn't classify Bates as a crunchy granola type school. While a lot students' first choice was Harvard or another Ivy League, almost 50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} or more had Bates as a top choice and/or applied early decision