Bates College Top Questions

Old Commons. What a place. There was a sense of camaraderie as we all filed in, knowing that we would leave smelling like Pablo's Pizza meets white bean soup meets make your own cheesecake. Commons workers knew you by name and you knew them by name. They would rescue you when the toaster caught on fire; they would look for more green tea when the stand was out; they would never kick you out. In the morning people would scavenge for the paper: Sidekick from the globe; the Science Times from the NY Times on tuesday mornings. The comfort and acceptance of commons was epitomized by the Napkin Board. Between the insults of wilted spinach and the demand for craisins was an appreciation for what it stood: a place where all Batesies came together.

Bates is a small school that only gets smaller as you go. When you go out on the weekends, go to commons, go to the gym or basically anywhere you'll see anyone and everyone. There is no such thing as avoiding people.

Well the big picture is that Bates pretty much rocks as far as im concerned. If your looking for a place where you are intellectually challenged, and where that challenge is not a competition amongst your peers then Bates is a good place for you. If you are pretty laid back and really enjoy outdoor pursuits like skiing and hiking then Bates is a good place for you. The size i think is fantastic because its small enough to feel like home. And its facilitated by the single dining hall. One of the drawbacks a lot of people see is Lewiston. Its a very economically depressed town but slowly on the rise with a sizable Somali refugee population. But there are positives and negatives here. There isnt a lot to do off campus but the town provides a lot of community service work opportunities. Also its only 45 minutes away from sunday river. Bates people are fun, quirky and usually very interesting people to talk to, with interesting backgrounds.

The school is a nice size, you get to know most of your classmates and it is a great community. I think the largest drawback is the surrounding town, Lewiston, which is a fairly stagnant place that has been improving slowly. However, there are few places to go off-campus within walking distance (Rite-Aid, maybe?) The athletic facilities are not very nice. The food is AMAZING and we have a new dining hall that is spectacular. Bates is a very environmentally-conscious campus.

Lewiston Auburn is not a college town. Although most people can not believe it is offically concidered the second largest city in Maine it is pretty metropolitian. It is just the right size for the the area and there is not really a separation between town and college. Surrounding people will picnic in the quad for lunch and walk on campus for some exercise. When I tell people I go to Bates in New England, it is recognized but once out of that region, one will find often someone who is related or married or maybe someone who graduated from colby and Bowdoin and know Bates this way.

Bates is small, there's no question about it and we're surrounded by a struggling old New England mill town that doesn't have much to offer at first glance, so sometimes the size can be very constraining. However, most of the time, there is so much going on that you don't even have time to notice the size. It's a really supportive community of students and staff--the professors are really accessible, which is a plus. There's only one dining hall (Commons) on campus so you get a chance to see basically the entire student body at some point or another. There's a new dining hall and a new dorm, so a lot is changing and being updated around the school right now, which has pluses and minuses as any big change does. Basically, Bates students love Bates. Most people you talk to feel like they've found a great match and some amazing opportunities.

Bates is a bit small -- it's one of those schools where with one dining hall and one library, you know every single persons face, and at the same time, can have no idea who they are. When I first told people that I went to Bates (when I was a freshman), a good majority had no idea where or what it is. I think it's gradually becoming more well known. Most of the time spent on campus is either in friends room, in the library, in classrooms, or at meals. Not really much that happens in the town. The connections between the school and the town, I feel, are good and bad -- its very mixed. I think the administration has a list of about 5 different kinds of people that they accept. There isn't too much "out" people, which makes it kind of hard for someone who is looking for an extremely out and comforting environment (even though the people are extremely welcoming to everything and everyone). Ironically, contrary to the previous sentence, the biggest controversy on campus was a few years ago when there were a series of hate crime incidents ranging from homophobic, to anti-semitic, to racist--the general consensus of course was that no one from the Bates community did them and they mustve been kids in the town. I love bates, dont get me wrong. The hookup scene can be awkward, though, because its such a small school, and especially for a queer person the options are limited, which, again, makes it kind of hard.

Bates itself is a great place to live and learn. Though small, the campus is a great setting for what takes place there. Part of its appeal is that the student body is a mere 1800 students, which is great in terms of living arrangements and class sizes. Batesies tend to flourish in the environment, particularly because the campus's size means that one can really stand out in one's area of specialty. Batesies are radically loyal to their school, though that loyalty seems to be lost post-graduation in terms of alumni dollars. In terms of town-gown relations, try again some other day; there is a definitive divide between students and residents of Lewiston. Bates has a lot of interesting traditions, among them Lick-It and the Puddle Jump. The former is a dance the night before the All-College Gala, in which students wear as little clothing as possible and dance until 2 am. It's a great time. The latter activity, the Puddle Jump, happens in Winter Semester, where students cut a hole in Lake Andrews (the on-campus lake) and jump into the frgidly cold waters. I very much like Bates. As a first-year, it was important to me that I find a place where being a first-year was not a limiting factor in terms of access to activities. Bates, in its egalitarian tradition, holds that all activities whould be open to everyone-- and they stick to it. I didn't feel lost, something I feel most first-year students elsewhere do feel. When I came to Bates, I really did not know what to expect. The winters are horrible and depressing, but there are ways the college compensates for that. Bates was very welcoming and though I expected that college would bring more things to do, I soon found that Bates provides enough to do and the opportunity to create your own fun. If you're from a city, transitioning to Bates is very hard, but ultimately worth it. The people are the best thing about the school; its the people that make Bates such a great place to be.

Bates is not just a four-year college; it's a home. People don't come to Bates solely for the fantastic education. They come for the great sense of community that is found on campus. Through athletics, clubs and organizations, classes, and dorm life, a strong sense of community is formed. It seems everyone is happy to be at Bates. A fellow student of mine said that a true Batesie is never unhappy. And if they are, there will soon be a hundred friends around them helping them have fun again.

While Bates is a highly reputable school with an incredible faculty and very driven students, the atmosphere is definitely relaxed and friendly. In fact when I hear the word "college" it reminds me of some pillared ediface looming over everyone, and that isn't the feeling I get at Bates at all. I think one of the best aspects about Bates is that it knows not to take itself too seriously. There's no staunchness or stuffiness that usually is accompanied by "brick and ivy institutions". It's challenging and very engaging, but by no means intimidating. For the most part students and professors are really comfortable with each other and interact outside the classroom as well as during class time. I wouldn't hesitate to ask my favorite professors to join me for a beer, and I've enjoyed dinner at professors' houses.