I’m extremely fortunate to have been accepted to my top choices: Bates and Colby. I was given presidential scholar designation at Colby as well. Now I am faced with a difficult decision because they are both great schools. I’m looking for input about rigor, likes, dislikes, school culture, administration, class selection, location, food, professors, reputation, job/internship placement, etc… If you went to either of these schools or know somebody who did why did they choose it? What makes these two schools different?? Just for reference I’m interested in creative writing and science and want to go to grad school. Thanks so much!
Nice job. But just go and visit. The differences between Colby, Bates and Bowdoin are more about the feeling on campus than what others can tell you on paper.
"Colby is a lot further up in Maine. "
It’s all relative. Colby and Bates are less than an hour’s drive apart, about 49 miles almost all on interstate highway.
It’s not like, say, the University of Maine at Fort Kent!
It is a bit further up in Maine, but totally worth the extra drive! 
Our sophomore son is loving Colby. He has had many opportunities so far including a great internship last summer.
Huh, the post I was responding to seems to be missing…
Go to accepted students days if possible. My son wasn’t sure about Colby went to accepted students days last year and found it helpful to spend a few nights and get a feel for the college.
totally agree with @massmom2018. Our son had the same experience.
Bates has a more organic artsy feeling campus, Colby is a bit preppier. That being said they have a great career center and the dare northward campaign is one of the largest college campaigns going on at this time. I would say it’s a bit more rigorous than Bates
They are both highly competitive great schools, and will both give you a great leg up job wise. I think it depends on what you are looking for in school
As a Colby Alum it is difficult to be objective in answering your question so to add support I would look at the Princeton Review rankings where Colby has the unique position of having Top 10 rankings in not just the campus environment (Students Love The School and Happiest Students) but also key academic rankings in Accessible Professors and an Impact School. The Colby faculty are fantastic – they engage you, challenge and support you. They are well connected in their fields and leverage those connections to help their students. I still get a Christmas card from my advisor 25 years later. They help set the stage for attracting Colby students that want to be engaged both inside and outside of the classroom. My classmates had lots of interest and it made (and still makes) for a place people really love. That’s why I loved Colby and why the campus visit so informative in the choice – you have to feel it for yourself. Once you start conversations with fellow Colby students, you quickly find that where they went to high school and what they wear (the preppie elements) quickly becomes irrelevant, they have so much more depth to them.