What makes Bates College special?

<p>Sure, people go to both. Boston is not very common, though there are at least a couple bus trips down there a year organized by the school. Portland is pretty close if you have a friend with a car. It’s nice taking day trips there or Brunswick just to get off campus for a bit.</p>

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<p>Pluses and minuses of a smaller school is a big question. I’ll give a quick response cause I have an exam tomorrow. </p>

<p>I personally think that anyone who goes to a big school is missing out on the best college experience. I feel strongly about that, having many friends who went to big schools, as well as my twin brother. </p>

<p>Big school pros: Potentially a cool sports environment, more attractive people (numbers game), more course offerings, possibly more activities on campus, larger network, frats, probably better athletic facilities </p>

<p>Smaller school pros: More friends (because you’re around the same people more often), more interaction with people of all kinds and social circles, smaller classes, much more personal relationship with professors, no TA’s teaching classes, not getting lost in the crowd, easier getting around campus, better food, get to know everyone from the janitors to the school president by name, potentially become the leader of a club on campus some day, more personalized help from career services, much stronger sense of community, more responsive administration</p>

<p>I’m very close to deciding on Bates, but I still have a few questions about it that I’d love if you could answer! I’m from California and am curious if there mostly east coast students or if there’s more geographic diversity. As someone who is very much not preppy and not athletic and is more interested in reading, writing for the newspaper, and debate, would I find similar people at Bates? And what is the morale like in the winter? Thank you so much, bro2baseball, for being so helpful and answering so many questions!</p>

<p>I committed today! Thanks bro2baseball for all your help.</p>

<p>Congratulations! No problem.</p>

<p>I am curious as to why Bates is not rated higher in the rankings (which sometimes seem like a popularity contest)–is it just that the school’s “personality” naturally gives it a lower profile? Does it have a smaller endowment? Or is it the location? Is it less selective because the students self-select before applying and not so many want to go that far north in Maine? Any thoughts?</p>

<p>@CMCollege13 </p>

<p>I mean, the majority are definitely from the Northeast (New England + NJ, NY, PA), but there’s a fair number from all over, including a pretty sizable California contingent. I don’t know the actual numbers, but just from my friend group there were a few, so I’m going off that. </p>

<p>It sounds like you’d fit right in. Yes, there are preppy kids and jocks, but that’s not at all Bates’ identity, and they are vastly outnumbered by the kind of people you describe. There are a lot of musicians, artists, writers, and other creative types. </p>

<p>As far as Winter goes, it’s not too bad. It definitely gets old after a while, but it can also be beautiful. I wouldn’t say morale really suffers much. As long as you’re prepared for it to be cold and snowy, it’s fine. March is a long month because you don’t have any days off. But having the paradise that is Short Term to look forward to makes everything OK, believe me.</p>

<p>Good question miles. </p>

<p>I think you’ve identified several of the issues. First of all, I don’t put too much stock in the rankings. They can generally indicate which schools are good or bad, but as far as differentiating between #15 and #30… I don’t think it has much value. </p>

<p>I don’t think it really has anything to do with the personality. Part of it is definitely the endowment, which is in fact lower than many of its peers. I never experienced the lower endowment as an issue at all (either with financial aid or amenities on campus), but then again I never went to another undergraduate school to compare it to. </p>

<p>Part of it is, like you said, location and maybe some non-New England people not wanting to go to school in Maine. On the flip side, New England has so many elite liberal arts colleges to choose from that Bates faces VERY tough competition, even compared to California or Pennsylvania or New York, in getting elite students. So I think all of those things contribute to a less-than-stellar ranking (Though at #22 I wouldn’t say it’s bad…)</p>

<p>One thing I will say. Bates just welcomed a new President this past year who I predict will help Bates’ profile a lot. She was a Vice President at Harvard and former staffer for Ted Kennedy, has a lot of connections and will help attract money and opportunities for Bates. So don’t be surprised if Bates starts rising sooner than later.</p>

<p>Miles and bro-
I think you hit it on the head with the endowment question. Bates has a considerably smaller endowment than some of its peer schools, including Colby and Bowdoin. This is the downside to a history of inclusiveness. If you look at last year’s USNWR rankings Bates was ranked lower than Colby, its closest peer, despite the fact that Bates’ acceptance rate was lower and yield higher. The biggest difference as far as I can tell is the size of the schools’ endowments, which URNWR weights heavily. Colby’s endowment is about 3 times that of Bates. Both are great schools, by the way, and to anyone considering both and/or similar NESCAC schools-I wouldn’t make your selection based on acceptance rate, yield or USNWR rankings.</p>

<p>Hey bro2, thanks for all the help. It’s looking like Bates will probably end up being where I commit… two more days! </p>

<p>Final questions from me, I think – 1) Is it worth it to have a car on campus? and 2) How hard/easy is it to get a job/make money while studying at Bates?</p>

<p>Thanks again for all the help. kissme, maybe i’ll see you in the fall</p>

<p>@Sue 22
Just to clarify, acceptance rates are usually self-fulfilling prophecies. Therefore, I wouldn’t judge a school’s merit based on its acceptance rate (look no further than Carleton College #8 USNWR or Case Western Reserve). That being said, Bates is a great school. I have three friends who currently attend: 2 absolutely LOVE it, 1 is possibly transferring due to the small size. Best of luck to the OP.</p>

<p>Hi, I too play trombone and am considering Bates for this fall. Earlier someone wrote that there isn’t too much interest among brass players for doing orchestra. With that said, I’d I wanted to join, would I be able to?</p>

<p>Also, do you find that there is an overwhelming amount of people who play sports?</p>

<p>Berty, having a car on campus is nice but not at all necessary. It’s nice to go on day trips sometimes or just get off campus, but since there is so much going on on-campus you don’t really need it.
Freshman year you can’t get a parking permit via the school. You can park on the street until winter when there is a parking ban. Then you’d have to pay for a private lot… So I would say Freshman year it’s not worth the trouble. It is useful to have at least one friend with a car though. </p>

<p>There are a lot of jobs on campus. It’s quite easy to get one if you’re not all that picky, at least in my experience. Keep an eye out in the beginning of the year for open on campus positions.</p>

<p>Crazy,
So you could definitely ask Hiroya (the director) about playing with the orchestra and he’d probably be happy about it, you just might get bored. Because it’s a string based ensemble he probably won’t pick repertoire that would be too exciting for brass. What usually happened was near the end of the semester he would reach out to me and others, to sit in with the orchestra and rehearse for the concert. So the performances would have a full brass section (mix of students and faculty), but the parts were minimal and so there was no point going to all but a couple rehearsals. </p>

<p>That being said, maybe you could change things if others were interested. Also, the jazz band is always in need of trombones and is a lot more fun IMHO. You don’t need to be able to improvise. I played lead for two years and didn’t solo. I came to Bates loving concert band and wind ensemble but jazz band (and a student band I played bone in) ended up more than filling that void.</p>

<p>Oh and as to your other question, I wouldn’t say that at all. A fairly decent chunk do play sports it’s true. Not many of them would be classified as jock types though. I personally never felt as a non-athlete that there was an overwhelming number.
The athletes love their sports and are usually a pretty tight knit group but the reality is that the average Bates kid simply doesn’t care much about athletics. Partly because not many of our teams have success.</p>

<p>Can you take more than 4 classes at once?</p>

<p>Yes, according to the class of 2017 live chat you can take 5 classes in a semester.</p>

<p>[Congratulations</a> Class of 2017 | Bates College](<a href=“http://www.bates.edu/2017/live-chat/]Congratulations”>http://www.bates.edu/2017/live-chat/)</p>

<p>Yeah you can take 5.5 credits in a semester. (Almost every class at Bates is 1 credit, except for music ensembles and some dance classes, which are 1/2 credit)</p>

<p>I wouldn’t recommend it really though. If you take 4 credits a semester for four years, you will have everything you need to graduate (even assuming you have 0 AP credits)</p>