Bates has posted that decisions will be released on Saturday, March 16.
Excellent!
@Lindagaf Maybe you could give me some more personalized information on the “liberal arts experience” that seems to be worshiped as a result of their advertising. I love the idea of the campus life of Bates and the well rounded education seems interesting. However, I just don’t understand how the employment numbers are so healthy. What do you do with a sociology, Italian studies, English, philosophy, etc major? I understand that their advertising point is that it’s about transferable skills as opposed to transferable knowledge. You gain critical thinking skills, learn to convey your argument, etc from these majors. This is a concept that I definitely believe in but I guess what I’m wondering is if employers buy into this concept. Could a Bates English major become like a finance person on wall street or something? I’d just like to know from an insider perspective what the humanity majors at Bates pursue for employment.
@St678557 I’m gonna chime in on your question. Not necessarily Bates specific, but was at an info session for anothe NESCAC and the admissions guy told a story about one of the big banks recruiting on campus. And the recruiter told them, they were looking for first and foremost, strong writers and communicators and they knew they could find it at this LAC. Bates would be similar.
@st6788557 I’m not quite sure what answer you are looking for. If you want to study accounting at Bates, that’s not going to work out too well. If you want to study mathematics, Bates is a great place to do it. There’s a difference between pre-professional courses and majoring in a science, or history, or whatever it might be. I think @wisteria100 hits the nail. Businesses are looking for people who can put it all together in their mind and communicate it effectively with others. Bates’ grads, and grads from many other schools can do that. Bates is rigorous. Businesses know that students from Bates are hard-working and intelligent, and that Bates’ profs have certain expectations. Students are
“well-trained” after four years at Bates.
I think most people would agree the big advantage of an LAC, be it Bates or elsewhere, is that you will have small classes right away (no, not every class will be small. D had a class with 60 people in it), but more importantly, you will be able to interact with professors and other students right away. That is really important. I can tell you hand on heart that my own child would simply not have had the opportunities she has had so far if she hadn’t been at a school like Bates. She’s gotten research positions, grants, selective study abroad opportunities, two campus tutoring jobs, internships, and so on, mostly because she has great recommendations from professors who know her. She knows them. They see her on campus and stop and chat on a first name basis. They tell her about various scholarships and research positions that are available. For a lot of students, that is just not going to happen at a big school.
I’ve been criticized by some elsewhere on CC for being a “cheerleader” for LACs, but I don’t care. The things my daughter has been able to do as a direct result of being at Bates simply would not have happened if she had been at a big school. Ok, maybe those things could happen if you are the kind of person who can go out and get those opportunities, but I am 100% convinced that it’s Bates, and the character of the professors and students that has enabled her to find her path. The ethos of Bates and the President, Clayton Spencer, is felt all over campus. This is a college that cares about its students, wants them to succeed, and gives them the tools to do so.
The employment numbers are healthy at Bates and other good LACs because the kids are well-educated, happy, encouraged, and have profs, admin and resources that are designed to help them succeed. Who doesn’t want to hire someone like that?
You didn’t ask me @St678557, but it seems unlikely an English major would want to be a “finance person on Wall Street.” If they did, and they had a good contact at some Wall Street firm, I’m sure their well-rounded, liberal arts education would serve them well for rhat position. By your post, your view of acceptable, well-paying jobs seems quite narrow - this English major is a successful lawyer. Other humanities majors I know play various roles in advertising, marketing, publishing, and journalism. A couple more teach, a few are foreign service officers, some went on to business school and are now C-suite corporate execs. As an aside, this English major attended the University of Michigan for undergrad. But, I fervently prefer a small LAC for my daughter. Bates is a super-reach school for her, but I am still hoping … we will know tomorrow.
Someone who did a lot of hiring in a technical industry once told my husband he loves to hire Bates grads, even though they weren’t specifically trained in his company’s field. What he said was that LAC hires often started behind the other new hires with more technical experience and training but they picked up the processes and information quicker than their non LAC peers, had better communication skills, and ended up being more effective employees six months down the road.
(I can’t vouch for whether this is true or not, just that this is what he claimed.)
As a side note, when I was a student a generation ago I took a chemistry course at Bates which was designed for non-majors. It was as rigorous as the standard course, just with a different bent. I remember the professor saying, "I don’t care if in 20 years you remember the formula for dioxin [which we had just been working with]]. What I care about is that if someone 20 years from now wants to put a toxic waste dump in your community you’ll have the skills to research the chemistry, write to your representatives, and speak before your city council.
My husband has a business contact who attended Bates. He’s in finance or something. He majored in History. My neighbor went to an Ivy League school and majored in English. He is high up in an insurance company. It’s about thinking. People don’t go to college to become insurance agents, etc… They come out of college with good thinking, communicating, and writing skills. They find a job, they keep learning, get other jobs, keep refining their skills, get good at whatever it is they are interested in. It’s a process, but a college like Bates helps you discover what kind of person you can be and how to become that person.
They can use that in their next brochure if they like, haha 
Not bashing other colleges. There are so many great schools out there, and many of them are less expensive and easier to get into. Our kid chose Bates because she felt that it was going to be the best place for her, simple as that. It had what she was looking for.
@Sue22 , that’s awesome.
@wisteria100 @Lindagaf @Turquoise52 @Sue22 Thank you all. This feedback is above and beyond. These specific examples makes the “liberal arts experience” make more sense to me. As I said, the campus life and academic life seem perfect for me. However, I just want to make sure that the good won’t end after four years.
Perhaps the good begins when you’re a freshman on campus and keeps on going, @St678557
Good luck tomorrow!
Good luck to your D too, @Turquoise52 !
Any idea what time tomorrow? We are in CA - hoping decisions are out before my D leaves for the barn at 7 am our time. Otherwise, her mom will have to sweat it out until she gets home early evening.
The email just says “before noon EDT on Saturday”.
It will be around 8 am eastern time.
Hope it will!
Guys pls post ur sat score with the decisions. It is really helpful
Did you guys all receive the e-mails in previous months introducing Bates students?
@Dhk138 I received around 4
@Dhk138
Yeah!
2 h left
atb guys. hope we all get in!!although it’s extremely unlikely that will happen for me