<p>Bates has excellent research opportunities and all students, if I'm not mistaken, write a thesis senior year. It also has a "short term" in the spring which is a great opportunity to try new things, enjoy Maine at its best, or travel.
Bates was the second coed college in America and traditionally trained a lot of teachers and ministers-that's why the endowment isn't as great as Bowdoin's.</p>
<p>The people I know who go to Bates are wholesome, well-rounded, service oriented, and friendly.</p>
<p>"on the rise"? almost every school is on the rise, meaning they are improving. comparitively to other top lacs, bates and colby are pretty much where they were 30 years ago. "on the rise" should be used for schools such as claremont mckenna, harvey mudd or schools where no body has heard of 30 years ago but now make the top 10 list of almost every college ranking.</p>
<p>Bates was not the "second coed college in America;" it was not even one of the ten earliest. It's been a long time since it "traditionally trained a lot of teachers and ministers." That is not the reason for its lower endowment.</p>
<p>It may not have been the second in America, but it was New England's first coed college, and has always admitted people of all different races which DOES set it apart from the majority of other top colleges. In terms of the endowment, Bates has recently completed a $121 million dollar fundraising effort, and despite its lower (but not low) endowment compared to Colby and Bowdoin, it does meet 100% of demonstrated need of applicants, and Bates is certainly not a "poor school".</p>
<p>To the OP: I wouldn't worry so much. If you go into school expecting it to be terrible, it will be. Just keep an open mind - I'm sorry about not getting into Bowdoin, but I'm sure you'll have just as fantastic an experience at Bates. Good luck.</p>
<p>Oh and to whoever said Bowdoin was a "drinking school" - it's my impression that pretty much ALL three colleges (Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby) are drinking schools. We're all (relatively) rural, and there's not too much going on in Maine, and there's a large amount of drinking and partying and all of the schools.</p>
<p>Look, I like Bates, and am very familiar with all three Maine schools. My father broke a three generation family Harvard tradition to attend Colby. Bates's admission, however, of people of all races is hardly historically sui generis. That is true of all the Ivies, all of whom had many black students in the nineteenth century. Of course, Dartmouth was originally restricted to Native Americans. Cornell, also coed from its inception, was expressly founded as a school that would not restrict admission based on race or gender. Stanford, modeled on Cornell, was also coed and open to all since its founding.</p>