@snow30 Thanks. I’ll email them.
@ZainSD i’m guessing your an international wondering about call rates. I’m an international to and Bates has a toll free number, which i use Skype to call. Practically i use Skype to call a number of schools for free, international call rates can be hellish. I sent them an email at first, and i haven’t gotten a response till now. But if you still intend on waiting…(Sorry for the babble)
No worries. I can wait. If they do not respond in a week I’ll call them.
@snow30 I am sure you will find out more and delve into it when you come to the U.S. What is the whole ID process about anyway? Does it come in the mail?
@lynkel Yeah, Bates doesn’t send it through email only through mail, but they can give it to you over the phone.I got mine over the phone.
@snow30 okay. Any tips for my interview tomorrow?
@lynkel Well i have only done a Skype interview and i have another on Wednesday. All i can tell u(i don’t have much experience with interviews), is that be your self and don’t be nervous, and research on the school(sounds cliche’d right?) 
There are sample questions on Bates Website.
I had a interview with on campus with a guy named josh. It was very lay back. Just prepare to talk about you and your interests . it lasts like 30 mins.
@snow30 Interview went wonderful! Just wanted to update.
@snow30 Happy for you!
@lynkel Happy for you!
@lynkel Were you asked the “traditional” why Bates? And what was your response?
@snow30 Thank you!!And no, not really, he first asked me to tell him about myself and I did. He asked questions about my interests and things, we talked about my favorite book, ultimate goals, and other things like that. The interview lasted for about an hour and 10 minutes. We really enjoyed a lot of the same topics and I asked him a lot of quality questions. We kept up a good pace of conversation and he was particularly interested in my online classes and EC activities.
@lynkel ooh okay. An hour! Wow.
@snow30 we got along really well. Hopefully that helps.
Anything else new regarding Bates for anyone? Any tips or hooks on your application worth sharing?
A few thoughts/insights.
Our daughter was admitted in December 2015 to Bates ED1, Class of 2020. She was a sport recruit with strong academics: top 5% at a large, diverse public high school in a mid-Atlanic city, 11 APs, National Honor Society, etc, etc. Chose Bates because she wanted a strong liberal arts education, the ability to play D3 level sport, liked the students, the spirit of inclusion and the general campus vibe. Looked at other NESCAC schools and schools in the MIAC . Likely could have gotten into a “higher ranked” college but felt Bates was the best fit.
Her brother also went to a liberal arts college (St Lawrence University). He got a great, great education. SLU is an amazing school. A true gem. Students very similar in personality to Bates students: smart, kind, open and hard working. Main difference is Bates students typically have better high school transcripts. That said, SLU gives merit scholarships, Bates does not.
I went to a big private university in a big city. My wife got a degree from a big state school. She and I received good educations but agree that our son’s education was superior. Maybe it was the closeness of the SLU community, the cold weather, the remote environment, but he studied more deeply than we did and got much, much more out of it.
A few points:
- In our opinion, LACs provide undergraduate educations that are generally superior. You are educated by professors, not TAs. The professors are there to teach, not publish. They know your name. They care. Save the universities for graduate/ \professional school, or if you are focused on gaining an applied skill during your undergraduate years, such as business, nursing or something akin.
- Bates is a great, great school. Warm and wonderful, open, challenging and inclusive. High quality but not snobby.
- There are a lot of great schools. The key is to find a few that fit you well and that you can afford. The last point is especially important. Debt can be crushing. It limits your options and can crush your soul. Choose wisely. And if you don't, you can always transfer.
@Kiltdad2 thank you for the insight! That is great to hear, although I’m curious about how different the process is for recruited athletes and non recruited athletes.
It depends on the sport, the athletic level of the school (D1, 2 and 3), the conference and school’s own policies. There are several posts on CC that do a good job of explaining the process and differences. I recall the Bates student newspaper article from a year or so ago did that did a nice job explaining the Bate’s recruiting process. It should be available on line if you search.
What we experienced regarding Bates and the rest of the NESCAC (and MIAC, which is also D3), is that a coach is often given a certain number of slots for recommendations. I stress the word “recommendation” because no coach in the NESCAC/MIAC can promise admission (in contrast to what I understand at some D1 and 2 schools, where coach’s have much more influence (in contrast to D1 and D2 schools, D3 schools do not provide athletic scholarships). That said, a recruited athlete with otherwise strong credentials generally has a good shot.
Process wise, a recruited athlete usually receives a “first read” from admissions over the summer between her junior and senior year. Admissions indicates to the coach the strength of the candidate and any deficiencies that should be cured which are passed along orally to the student. Generally, recruited athletes are strongly encouraged to apply early decision to allow the coach to know their next year roster. Statistically, about 40% of the students at Bates play a varsity sport. This says as much about the type of student Bates attracts as it does about the school’s size, which is less than 1800 students. If you think about it, Bates seeks to field competitive teams in all sports in which it competes, which are many (although no varsity mens hockey, sadly). Thus, it needs a large portion of it admitted students to be student-athletes. The larger the school, the less athletes are needed on a percentage wise basis. Hence, a recruited athlete at Bates has a statistically greater chance for admission than one who is not, all else being equal. That said, it is often harder for an athlete to get admission to a NESCAC school (including Bates) than larger schools, and even sometimes the Ivies. In fact, although the Ivies cannot award athletic scholarships, they have more funds to meet need/merit, and are known for accepting exceptional athletes whose test scores and grades might not get them into the NESCACs (including Bates). We know this from personal experience.