The Bates Purposeful Work program is really interesting. Bates is being very thoughtful about helping students to think about how they want to live beyond college.
I was talking to a Tufts economics professor recently about his students and how they approach the job market. He said one thing he warns his students about is barriers to entry. He explained it this way. A student applies for a bunch of internships as a freshman. The summer before sophomore year they get an internship in finance. The next year, because they have finance experience they are more attractive to companies hiring in that field. At graduation, never having done real thinking about whether finance is the field they want to pursue, they end up in finance because it’s the path of least resistance. Had they done some deep digging as freshmen they might have discovered they’re much better suited to consulting, or academia, or business and might have pursued those fields instead.
While the Purposeful Work program helps students to develop a resume, network, practice interview skills, and obtain internships and/or jobs, lots of colleges’ career services do that. Where the Bates program differs is in doing that deeper work I mentioned. The program includes everything from “How to Adult” seminars, free one-hour lunch workshops held on multiple topics, for instance how to negotiate your first salary, or how to shop for and cook healthy meals (taught by Bates’s Executive Chef) to internships, to a guest speaker series, to the Purposeful Work Infusion Project which “exposes Bates students to worlds of work, questions of identity and purpose, and reflection on decision-making about work through curricular and co-curricular infusions.” Bates even has a Short Term program where they have students help redesign courses taught during the regular academic year. The idea is to help students figure out what they want to do with their lives and develop real life and work skills that will lead them toward those goals instead of simply gathering lines for their resume.
It is very, very, very rural, but the campus is beautiful. In my opinion, nicer than Bates’. Most of the people I met were incredibly nice. It was preppier than Bates. I saw a lot of Vineyard Vines, although I also saw more crunchy looking kids than I expected to see. The address made by the Dean of Admissions had a focus on how accomplished the admitted students were and there was a section carved out to talk about test scores. This didn’t bother me and I completely understand why they highlighted their high stats, but it was definitely a different focus than Bates’ marketing pitch. The whole day was very well organized. They had kids all over to help you find where you needed to go. It was a very well run event. On the tour they mentioned their Greek life and they talked about how only 30% of people are involved and how its presence is very limited, which makes me feel like it’s not limited since the school is trying to emphasize that point. I also got to sit in on a Calc 1 class. I found that the professor brought a lot of energy to the class, but the kids weren’t all returning that energy and that gave me the impression that they felt like they were entitled to his effort. I did have the chance to speak with the professor later and he said that that class was an anomaly and he didn’t seem like he was trying to market the school because he’s only been teaching there for a short amount of time. I met a lot of great prospective families and current students, just like I did at Bates. Overall, I had a really nice visit and unfortunately it didn’t make my decision as clear as I was hoping.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned that an entire insider book has been written about Hamilton admissions, offering a good deal of insight into the school’s culture. The book is called Creating a Class: College Admissions and the Education of Elites, by Mitchell Stevens. Hamilton isn’t named in the book (a stipulation for the author’s access), but it came out later that “the College” was Hamilton.
Re: Lewiston, I would research the Somali refugee situation a bit.
Re: Bates, one of the things that popped out at me looking their CDS is that they take a huge number of transfer students. I suspect there could be a noticeable difference in average student caliber, with the nod going to Hamilton, and I would take the reported SAT figures for any test-optional school with a block of salt.
Have your parents visited the two schools? Perhaps they can ‘see’ you at one school vs the other. Or could your counselor or a fav teacher weigh in? Perhaps an objective opinion from someone who knows you well would be helpful.
I would imagine that having refugees in town would provide students with lots of opportunities for meaningful community service and for learning about a different culture.
I have not seen Bates yet, though I hope to visit by October. As for Hamilton-- their students and staff seemed warm, friendly, intellectually curious and engaged.
Ok, my bad on the transfer students (I must have just looked at the applicant numbers, not enrollees). I still consider their “20yr study” of test submitters vs non-submitters to have a lot of holes in it, especially relative to what they want to actually prove (the kooky multiple intelligence theory).
Yes, the Somalis have add a positive element and newfound growth to the local community. Great story from a year or so ago about the high school soccer team: https://vimeo.com/145582582
@hopeful1660, our DD’s also attend the Accepted Students Day today at Hamilton. Both have been on campus 4-5 times as over the last 2 years and both came away today impressed by the way the event was run and by the faculty they interacted with.
Probably most importantly for them, they have never met an unfriendly or unhelpful kid; it seems the school does a great job of assembling a very diverse group of kids with big hearts, which to me means community and purpose focused - the new president emphasized this in his presentation and as leadership needs to come from the top it was good to hear.
One DD left as a committed student athlete who felt like it is home, and the other, while still waiting on a couple of waitlist schools, felt like it could be the same for next four years and ultimately a lifetime.
@Chembiodad it was a really impressively organized event and the school did a fantastic job selling themselves. Bates didn’t market themselves as well; you kind of had to market Bates to yourself. I hope, if your daughters are still planning on visiting, that their day is better orchestrated than mine was.
@doschicos Thank you for the Yankee article! (Interesting comments on the article as well.) I’m a Bates alum and my son is headed there as a freshman in the fall. Lewiston is such an interesting city, full of surprises! When I was there, many people spoke French - a vestige of the days when French-Canadian immigrants came to work in the mills.
I can’t comment on Hamilton since I’ve never been there. I just know it’s got a great reputation. OP should go with his/her gut and not overanalyze! Good luck!
