<p>There is – the Mermaid Shuttle has somewhat of a monopoly there. They must make a killing ferrying vans of 10 students from Bates to Portland (~40 minutes) for $50 one way!</p>
<p>You’re right, it’s no worse than elsewhere. Still, that would probably be the biggest “challenge” a Midwesterner faces due to their home state.</p>
<p>does bates or colby have zip cars? they really make it easy and cheap for students to, well, zip into portland on occasion.</p>
<p>Bates has for the past 2 years. 2 Toyota Priuses at discounted rates ($7/hr, $55/year, $35 membership fee for students, staff and faculty). </p>
<p>Don’t know about Colby, when Bates began with ZipCar, it was the only ZipCar location in Maine. That may have changed by now.</p>
<p>All 3 have zipcars.</p>
<p>We liked all three of these schools a LOT when we visited and my daughter was accepted at all three. </p>
<p>In general, I would also describe the kids as wholesome. The schools are in Maine so there are a lot of kids interested in environmental matters which I think contributes to the slightly “crunchy” reputation these schools have. Obviously, being near the Maine woods is going to attract a different type of student, in general, as NYU or Fordham. </p>
<p>Bowdoin is the most selective. (The average weighted gpa from our school to Bowdoin is almost .5 higher than it is to Bates or Colby.) Between Bates and Colby, Bates has a reputation for being idiosyncratic in admissions decisions. It is hard to predict who Bates will “like.” So our school’s stats are more predictable from Colby and even Bowdoin although the % of admits is so low at Bowdoin now that it is a reach for anyone from our public school. </p>
<p>As far as the differences… Colby is the most remote but Lewiston is a poor city so even though Bates is probably in the largest city, it is not a huge asset. Bowdoin has a cute little street near it but it’s one street! I do know that Freeport is near Bowdoin and Bates. Bowdoin runs shuttles there; not sure about Bates but it is definitely driving distance (maybe half an hour). </p>
<p>The Bowdoin students seemed most academic with Colby running second. The Bates kids seemed to be involved in many activities so it may be a good option for a very social kid. (We heard a lot more talk about parties, tv, and students seemed to be involved in lots of things.) Bates kids have a thesis for most majors. Colby kids have a Jan intersession. Bates kids had, I think, a May mini-semester. A lot of Bowdoin kids travel abroad. All three schools have traditionally been known as drinking schools. None of them has frats. And all three student bodies seemed very tight, with excellent graduation rates. </p>
<p>For the record, Colby offered us the best need-based aid among the three. We never received a final financial aid package from Bates. The school requested more info from us and, by then, my daughter had decided against it. </p>
<p>To be very, very honest, we were delighted with all three of the schools. They are not the same but are very nice liberal arts schools with what are perhaps more well-rounded student bodies than some other schools in their category. I preferred any of them to Amherst (which dd liked but I found way to “country clubbish”) and dd preferred any of them to Swarthmore. We did not look at Williams or Middlebury (both of which I think would have been good options) because dd thought they would be too remote. Wesleyan was very nice but it had a bit of a hipster vibe.</p>