Bates vs. Wesleyan

Colleges and Universities A-Z Bates College
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*ALSO POSTED ON WESLEYAN DISCUSSION GROUP

Hello! I am a high school senior who is currently being recruited in several NESCAC schools, but I have narrowed it down to either Wesleyan University or Bates College. I have visited both schools and I absolutely love them, but I need to turn in my ED app within a month.

I absolutely adore the campus at Bates and I like the sporty/outdoorsy vibe. I liked that the classes are very small and everyone seemed very laid back and friendly. I visited Lewiston and liked the blue-collar vibe. Also the food is amazing.

Wesleyan also had a really cool student body. I have never seen a school that had so much school spirit at a volleyball game. Everyone I talked to seemed very proactive and down-to-earth, but I am worried about the ratio of private school kids to public school kids. I talked to the some of the professors and sat in on a few classes and enjoyed them.

I need to turn in my application soon, so I have these final questions, but any extra comments would be extremely appreciated.

  • How are the Environmental Science programs compare? I understand that both are excellent, but which school is more renowned for Earth/Environmental Science?
  • How is the general social life on campus? Do athletes mix with non-athletes? How often are events on campus?
  • What are the major differences between these schools?
  • How do Lewiston and Middletown compare as college towns?
  • What are the best and worst qualities of each school?

Thanks!

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Both schools are great so you can’t go wrong with either one. I am not in a position to compare across all of the dimensions that you are interested in, but I’ll offer some information about Bates that I’ve learned as a parent.

My impression of the environmental studies program at Bates is that it is quite good and also interdisciplinary by design. the Geology Dept. is good too. Both departments offer some really interesting courses both semester long and during Short Term. Take a look at their course offerings and I think you’ll be impressed. They make good use of their location in Maine.

General social life is inclusive and active. There seemed to be things going on on campus most weekends and also Lewiston offers good places to go out to eat once in a while if you want. According to my non athlete daughter, athletes mix with everyone, no matter what the sport. She had friends, guys and girls, on almost every team. During her time at Bates, she attended not only football, basketball, and lacrosse games, but also squash, tennis, swimming, track and cross country, rowing, baseball, softball, and hockey. Maybe more. And she went because she had friends who were competing. Her friend group went to a bunch of away games, too, especially the Bowdoin and Colby ones.

If you like school spirit, you should be happy with Bates. For a D3 school, there is a lot of support for athletic teams. The CBB competition is a big deal there and students turn out for games and are vocal. Many students are athletes and the teams support each other. But because it is a small school, most non athlete students have friends who are on one team or another, and they turn out to support their friends. In the same way, students have friends who are in theater or art or music, and they turn out to support their friends in those venues as well.

If you are outdoorsy, Bates is definitely preferable because it is in Maine! Skiing is an hour away, the coast is even closer, and really great hiking sites are not too far away. The Outing Club is very active.

I can’t personally compare Lewiston and Middletown. I have a niece who went to Wes and she was very happy there. They seemed to have plenty to do and she got a great education, but she is not into sports at all so I never heard anything about games there. However it is likely that lots of Wes students are sports minded and that they have plenty of school spirit as well. I just cannot comment.

Good luck with your decision! You really can’t go wrong here.

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There’s no obvious difference between Wesleyan and Bates in this regard.

Wesleyan Class of 2021: 52% public high school
http://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/apply/classprofile.html

Bates Class of 2021: 52% public high school
https://www.bates.edu/admission/student-profile/

This doesn’t mean that 48% of the students, at either school, went to elite private prep schools. The 48% that didn’t attend public high schools will include students from parochial and other religious schools, and probably charter schools and home-schooled students as well.

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^and public school kids from tony suburbs may be more privileged than most. This is, at best, a very rough way to assess this.

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Bates may actually have a somewhat wealthier student body than Wesleyan:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/10/23/pell-grant-shares-at-top-ranked-colleges-a-sortable-chart/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.98a0541dadc3

According to the Washington Post, 22% of Wesleyan students are Pell Grant-eligible, while only 10% of Bates students are Pell Grant eligible… (implying Wesleyan has a greater share of lower- and middle-income students), and the NYTimes backs this up:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html

According to the NYTimes,
% of student body from top 1% of income (>630k): Wesleyan 16.6%, Bates 18.3%
% of student body from the bottom 60% of income (<65k): Wesleyan 17.5%, Bates 12.9%

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I really love both of these colleges. I should say now that my daughter attends Bates and is happy. My husband and I are both very happy with the school. Excellent kids.

If it were me applying today, Wes would be one of my top picks. BUT, I am not you, or my daughter. Wes is probably more hip, creative, and media-savvy. It’s liberal and socially aware. Very intelligent students and probably more intellectual than Bates. I might be totally wrong, but I suspect Wes does have a little more drug use. 4/20 is a celebrated day. Middletown is cute, and civilization is never far away. These are my own impressions, based on visiting, reading various college guide books, and spending time here on CC. I don’t know what is the worst quality of Wes, but I do think the campus is a bit of a hodge-podge. Has an excellent reputation.

Bates is more outdoorsy and sporty, but there is a thriving arts scene. We were floored by the various bands that played during the Back To Bates weekend. Students are very involved in clubs and the community. Kids are definitely down to earth. No snobbery at Bates. Also liberal and socially aware, but not activist. Kids do party. Lewiston has a multitude of good restaurants and the downtown area is walking distance. Great location for the coast or mountains. Portland is great and only 40 minutes away. Academics are challenging and students are expected to participate. A senior thesis is required. Bates could be more diverse and a little less sporty, but my daughter and her friends don’t participate in sports at all, and she knows a bunch of kids who aren’t into sports. Lewiston is run down in some areas. No Greek life at Bates (a plus for my daughter), and inclusivity is very important there.

P.S. I should add that I think Bates’ career center is fantastic. After all, you need a job someday, right?:wink:

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When we toured Wes there were a lot of protest leaflets posted on bulletin boards, and when we spoke with students there seems to be a fair amount of unrest with the administration. In general there was an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and anger that has positive release in activism but can be a downer. Bates in the other hand seems breezy and lite and happy. Wes felt more intellectual, but some of that was wrapped in adolescent angst.
Both are compact campus layouts with the football field oddly situated in the center, but overall she liked the feel of Bates campus much better.

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^There could be a correlation between the amount of political activism on a campus and the number of politically active groups who choose to go there. For example, only four percent of the current freshman class at Bates is Black/African American compared to 10% at Wesleyan.

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Wondering if OP made the decision.

Bates says 24% students of color. Wes seems to say 11%. Worth checking.

But there’s no saying x and y groups lead to activism.

Both are great, empowering schools. If anything, though, the Middletown location, near New Hsven, with NYC as the closer major city, may attract some types of kids more than Maine. My kids are both Bates grads, loved their time there, had a lot of fun, some awesome travel experiences, comm service, AND came away very well educated, very satisfied.

Both can be work hard/play hard. At B, D1 saw athletes and non mix well.

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You can look at the most recent CDS. Wes is 6.7% students who identified as African American, Bates is 5.7%.

POC is generally those who do not check Caucasian, so includes Hispanic, Asian, Native American, etc. At Wes, 55% checked Caucasian, at Bates, 70%. Foreign students are usually counted as a separate (non-white) group.

Not sure, though, if it is wise to extract much from that about campus activism. Assuming OP made a decision. Could not go wrong with either.

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@lookingforward wrote:

Thanks for the heads up. The Wesleyan website has been corrected:

Students of Color (including internationals) - 44%

Black/African American - 11%

@gardenstategal - Apparently, Wesleyan counts international students (e.g.,sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean) in its Admissions Profile when reporting the number of Black students, but, brackets them out, in accordance with instructions, when filling out its CDS forms. I couldn’t tell from the Bates site whether internationals provide a similar bump.

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^^ Thanks for that, @circuitrider. At some level, the idea of everyone fitting into a single box is ridiculous but I understand theneed to report something.

Internationals generally provide racial diversity as well as national diversity.