<p>For current Batesies, do you think the school is too isolated? What do you NOT like about Bates (honestly)? Thanks!!</p>
<p>I do not go to Bates (yet...) but I have lived in Maine my entire life, about an hour away from Bates, and I can honestly say that Lewiston is the armpit of Maine in terms of crime and filth, but it is one of the bigger cities in Maine. I was just at Bates the other night with a friend (who is a Batesie) and she said that the students rarely go into Lewiston, but don't worry, there is tons of stuff to do ON campus when you're not in class. But keep in mind that Portland and Freeport (GREAT small cities with awesome shops and restaurants) are quite close. You might feel isolated if you are from a big city, but then again, I met people from Seattle and NYC and they seemed perfectly at home.</p>
<p>I go to Bates.... and I am transferring out. It is great for some kids. My roomie and I both are transferring. It is a great school if you want a school that is all campus and no outside off campus activities... It all depends on what you want. I love all the professors and most of the kids.. but Lewiston is not the best.</p>
<p>020090, when did you get your acceptance letter last year? was it earlier than april 1? thanks</p>
<p>020090--I am awaiting my transfer decision from Bates. I'm at Smith College right now. I know your opinion of bates is probably biased to somewhere else since you are leaving Bates, but why are you leaving, what are your gripes, what were you happy with at Bates? Where are you transferring to?</p>
<p>It's going to be a hard decision for me at this point since I have liked Smith more and more this semester. But I still feel like Bates might be better for me, I really liked the fact that it seemed more community oriented and well, different than an all womens college. I feel like its a better fit in general, but I still like hearing other opinions about the school. If you and/or your roomie could answer some of the earlier questions I had that would be realllllllllllly appreciated. I want to make sure that I make the right decision, when I choose. If you want to send me a PM instead of posting on here thats fine. Good luck!! </p>
<p>email: <a href="mailto:skg309@yahoo.com">skg309@yahoo.com</a></p>
<p>As a current student at Bates, I personally don't think it is too isolated but I am pretty much satisfied with oncampus things. If you want to have lots of offcampus entertainment without a car then Bates probably isn't the best place for you. There are always a couple of bus trips to Freeport, Portland and Boston each semester so it is possible to get into a city if you don't have a car. There is also a shuttle if you want to go to the movies or shaws or walmart. So if all of these things can satisify you, Bates probably isn't too isolated. However, if they don't, Bates may not be the best place for you. </p>
<p>There are a lot of things I like about Bates, but there are still a few things that bother me. Academically, everything is great. I have great professors, mostly small classes and have learned so much in the past year. Socially, things have been pretty good too because I have found a good group of friends that I can hang out with. However, if I had to pinpoint something I did not like about the school, it would be some of the students. I don't know if it is just my class (2009), because I have heard the administration hates us, but I feel like there are a number of students who should not have gotten in. Most of these students are athletes whose academic abilities and desires seem to be significantly lower than the rest of the student population. From my observations, these students tend to be a bit ignorant (regardless of political view) and found belligerently drunk on a regular basis. Now I know that these qualities are not exclusive to athletes and I am probably overgeneralizing to a small extent, but that is just what I have observed from my time at Bates so far. However, it is fairly easy to avoid direct contact with the people that you don't like, unless they live on your floor. So although I don't really care to be around the people described above, I am able to avoid them most of the time and just hang around the people that I like. These people don't make up a huge percentage of the population, so it is not too hard to avoid them. I am also not a huge fan of the really rich kids, but they are found at every school, and can too be avoided.</p>
<p>I hope that made sense. I am generally satisfied with things at Bates, there are just a few people who can get on my nerves sometimes, but they are easily avoidable. If you have any questions about what I wrote feel free to ask me.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think you hit it right on the head with my concerns. I mean I drink, but not excessively and every time I have been on campus--esp during the evening--its all about getting drunk. And I did feel like there was a larger presence of wealthier students...but we have that at Smith too. So I'm not too concerned about that.</p>
<p>I'm going to dislike things about any campus that I'm at. Its just deciding what issues I'd rather deal with.</p>
<p>Smith has all-women, pretty much dead campus on the weekends, lesbian presence, too many womens issues (ie. gender, LBGTQ, abortion, femenist issues..etc), too liberal, not a "typical" college, frustration with the smith beauracracy....(just me thinking out loud)</p>
<p>Bates has the drinking aspect, more secluded than Smith (which has the 5 college consortium), "wealthier" and more apathetic about school, crappier dorms (thats one thing smith is amazing with-housing)</p>
<p>I dunno! This is a crazy decision.</p>
<p>Hmmmmm, I guess if I were you I would try and think about what's most important and what can be avoided. From what I hear of Smith, the all-women and liberal issues cannot be avoided. Now Bates is definetely a liberal campus, but if you are not a liberal, you can avoid the most liberal people on campus, though a couple may loudly disagree with your views. I've personally almost completely avoided the heavy drinking aspect this year because most of my friends here drink just a little or not at all, and I also am living in a chem free house this year. I'll drink a little bit with friends, but my social life does not completely revolve around getting wasted every weekend. I also pretty much have avoided the wealthy and apathetic students, or at least those who openly flaunt their wealth. Now the seclusion issue cannot be avoided so if getting off campus on a regular basis is a big thing for you, then I would stay at Smith. However, if you want tons of on campus stuff to do, comes to Bates because there is usually lots of stuff to do on the weekend.</p>
<p>I guess my advice in general would be to pick out the things that are most important to you and see if you would be able to avoid them at either campus. If you can't avoid them and they are really important, I would not attend that school next year.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>It's been interesting reading this thread..... as the mother of a junior Bates woman, I've been intereacting with and observing Bates for three years. It is my humble observation that most of the problems being discussed in this thread are first-year related issues that tend to dissipate after the freshman year. Many of my daughter's friends drank way too much freshman year. Most of them cut way back the next year, and even more this year. It's all that growing-up thing that kids hate to talk about. You find your priorities, realize you can't get much out of class when you're hungover, etc. You start making friend with professors, you find great local restaurants, you find a club to which you can really contribute.......
I think that as great a college as Smith is (it was MY first choice eons ago; I didn't get in), Bates is more like the real world. I am curious why the student who is leaving is going...... and where she/he is transferring to. My daughter loves Bates, has great relationships with her professors (She's research assistant this term for her advisor), and has found plenty to do, from sports to political groups to faculty-student committees and admissions tours. And most weekends she and her friends go to Freeport or Portland for dinner, shopping, etc.
Good luck in your transfer app!</p>
<p>Thank you! I find out by next Wednesday (hopefully sooner!!)</p>
<p>I do think that Bates would be a lot more realistic, and what you said is something to definitely take into account-as the years go on the party emphasis fades a bit. I think I will probably pick Bates, I just don't want to leave the wonderful friends I have made at Smith! </p>
<p>And O2009O-where are you transferring and why? we'd all love to know!</p>
<p>I am a current freshman and I can honestly say that I love everything about Bates. I have no complaints, except I feel that some of the facilities are not as nice as I would expect at a school where tuition is over $42,000.</p>
<p>hey all you people who complain about "facilities are not as nice as I would expect at a school where tuition is over $42,000."</p>
<p>i go to an international high school in England where we pay more than that per year. granted we have only 300 students (its only the last two grades of high school) but the only facilities we have here are basic and not very good food, 4 labs in total, that fit 5 people each. no sports grounds, no funding etc etc</p>
<p>STOP COMPLAINING.</p>
<p>i dont complain about my school because we have the most important facility of all: GREAT teachers. STOP IT SEAN!!!</p>
<p>woah. chill out brit. $42,000 is a lot for college in the US. also, I didn't say the facilities were bad, just not as nice as I would have expected. So...why don't you just calm down.</p>
<p>oy. different people have different perspectives. my schools also, were very small. Facilities at my high schools were always OK and food was always OK. However, when I visited Bowdoin and Colby, I felt like the facilities were Outstanding. Bates I still felt OK. but than again, I feel like this is not the criteria I should use to judge schools. anyways, Bates seems to be pretty high on the facilities lists anyways. maybe I was just around a older part of campus. As a matter of fact, Bates is very high on princeton review and others list. So I I will expect that the facilities are better than Ok. I wont doubt it.</p>