Feel free to message me if you have more questions about Bates.
To those reading, be aware that students at Bates do not struggle to find research opportunities. My kid and most of her friends did research while at Bates. D was actually offered a summer research position by a Bates professor, but she ended up elsewhere for summer research. It’s not hard for Bates students to do research.
I messaged you, wasn’t sure if you have enough messages to pm.
I don’t yet, but would very much like to talk with you! I will work on more messages!!!
You can check your messages because I sent you one. You will be able to message back.
Anyway, back to the thread…
My daughter was WL. Wondering if she should try to send a letter of continued interest.
My son was WL at Bates also. He plans to send a letter of continued interest… But I’m wondering how likely they are to accept students from WL? They say by May 1st. He’ll have to commit elsewhere by then. Of course, it would be good to get a yes OR no in April! Anyone have previous experience with this?
@Gbmom and @SkippySet Yes, they can and should do that. If Bates is their top choice, they should say so. Students should write a brief LOCI, maybe send one in the next week or two, then another towards the end of April. Include updates, such as any new achievements, a job offer, an award, an interesting development, and most recent grades. If they don’t need financial aid, they can add that at the end.
Yes, students do get off the WL. My own daughter did and attended. There can be huge variation in WL activity from year to year. Overall, the yield rate is high, but usually, some kids get off WL each year. Unfortunately, getting off the WL is not super likely, but I doubt Bates would take a kid off WL if they have not sent a LOCI.
My kid got off the WL at Bates the first week of May (same year as @Lindagaf 's D). So yes, we had deposited elsewhere. He sent his LOCI the last week of April. (I’m not advising that as a strategy, btw, but he had a lot of WL offers and knew after revisits that there were only 2 he preferred to his top choice acceptance.)
It is rare for them to make WL offers before the end of April, but you can look at past threads for the schools you are intrrested in to get a sense of dates. Remember that from their side, they want a class of an exact size, so they won’t go to the WL until they are complete sure they can’t fill the class with the undecided admits, and that usually means after May 1. If you look at their recent CDS, you’ll see they have not made extensive use of their WL to hit that #.
Beware of rumors, vs confirmed communication from admissions, of early WL movement. EVery year, there is at least one school that gets everyone wound up about this all for naught.
My daughter is a Freshman this year. She has friends that are athletes and some that are not. One of the reasons she chose Bates was because of the inclusive community that it is known for, she looked for a campus with no Greek life. She is very happy at Bates. She has many acquaintances and a few good friends. Academically, she is thriving and has greatly enjoyed her professors. She landed exactly where she needed to be. Happy to answer any questions you might have.
My daughter is a recruited athlete, will be starting in the fall, so I can’t talk about how it actually is at Bates…but I know she is looking forward to having friends and engaging in activities beyond her sport – I think she’d be happy to have a roommate who wasn’t an athlete! I know for my son (recruited athlete at another Maine NESCAC) his closest friends were non-athletes. Best of luck with the decision!
Your daughter will put her interests and preferences on the housing application, so chances are she would not be paired with an athlete! It’s a great campus with so much to offer academically.
Thanks everyone!
She did a lot of thinking/research today and is leaning toward Bates! I think it just came as a surprise to her as she had moved on in her head after the ED deferral. She absolutely loved Bates when she toured and being from Maine, I can vouch for its reputation as an amazing academic institution!
Thank you all for your kind and thoughtful replies, it really does take a village! Congrats and best of luck to all of your students!
Our son has been admitted RD to Bates (deferred from ED2) and is strongly inclined to accept. He plans on majoring in math and wants the chance to explore various applications of math under the mentorship of faculty. While the math department at Bates is small, we heard from them when we visited over the summer that providing such mentoring is one of their core activities. However, we want to figure out whether that matches with reality (our daughter is experiencing a different reality at another NESCAC school). Anyone have any insights about how readily the students can get mentored by the math faculty in research and exploring different topics?
Parent of a Bates freshman here with a slightly different perspective. My son was actually paired with an athlete for his roommate this year (son is not an athlete.). His roommate plays a fall sport (soccer) and I will say that definitely affected things early on for my son. The roommate - who is a very nice kid - had already been at school for two weeks prior to when the rest of the class showed up, and had made really good friends on his soccer team. The roommate was totally immersed in his soccer obligations during orientation, so my son didn’t really see him at all, and possibly as a result, he and his roommate have never bonded. They get along well, but they never hang out. I think this is due to a combination of factors - my son is a huge introvert, and the fact that the roommate played a fall sport makes a big difference as he just wasn’t able to participate in any of first year orientation activities - he was on his own schedule with the soccer team. And, after orientation he was still totally immersed in his crazy soccer schedule, so they just didn’t see each other all that much.
That all being said, my son, who is always slow to make friends, has been gradually finding his group at his own pace, and is very happy. The Bates community is very friendly/welcoming and I think that most people who put some effort into it are able to make friends just fine. I do think it would have been nice if he and his roommate had been a closer, but there’s no guarantee of that even if you get a roommate who is outwardly very similar to your kid. Sometimes people click, and sometimes they don’t.
@jcp4 My daughter is also planning to major in math! We didn’t look into the math department too closely (she was more focused on the overall academic and social climate, as well as her sport) but I’m eager to read the replies to this question. We noticed the department was small, but our son (different NESCAC) had a fabulous experience in a small physics department – great friends and great mentorship and opportunities – so we are hoping the same will be true. I’m sorry to hear that’s not been the same for your daughter elsewhere.
@jcp4 , if you can go to the revisit day, ask!
My kid attended a different NESCAC and the mentorship varied by department. He ended up with close very close professor relationships outside his (popular, competitive) major but not souch in it. He didn’t really mind, but it wasn’t something any of us thought to ask upfront. Smart question!
Hi all - Daughter is a first year at Bates - they definitely did a good job with roommate matching in her dorm since she said a lot of the roommates are planning to stick together for sophomore year. So that’s good to hear! She loves Bates and finds the professors and students welcoming - wonderful place to live/learn/grow.
I Majored in Econ, so ended up only taking one “Math” class in college. I was close with the Professor who always seemed to have time to meet up for lunch and to talk about school and life topics.
I can’t vouch for math majors, but my daughter did a lot of stats at Bates. She got fantastic recommendations from her profs and learned so much.
The whole thing about the profs at Bates is that they want to connect with students. My D is at grad school right now and tells me frequently that the educational style at Bates is superior to what she does in grad school. To give context, she is at a famous institution right now.
I suggest reaching out to the Admissions office and asking to be put in touch with some current math majors.
What personality types do best at Bates. I am an outgoing person that needs a good social life to balance the academics. Will I fit into Bates and the locale there. Is there any intermingling with neighboring schools…