Bates College Top Questions

The students at Bates are some of the best, real people I have ever had the pleasure of associating with. The only negative aspect of Bates is its lack of diversity but I feel that has only a minor effect on the student body.

My experience with most campus groups is that they love to get new members and take on new projects (definitely true for those I am part of), but that most groups prefer to be autonomous rather than working with other student organizations. I can also attest to the fact that it is relatively easy to form a new student organization and receive funding from the student government, having headed up an effort to start a woodsmen team. We are currently in our first year of existence and have just purchased equipment, but we have ambitious plans to be competing in the fall. Different types of students absolutely interact--when classes are small, it's all but impossible not to meet all kinds of people that Bates has to offer. And there are all kinds of people--though plenty hail from New England, that in itself means a pretty wide range of experiences, and on the whole, people are from all over, and from a broad scope of backgrounds. Many of us are on financial aid, but--by and large--finances are not a divisive topic, with most students electing to keep those matters private. Students are largely liberal, though some vocal right-wingers make their presence known, and on the whole we are largely aware and active when it comes to politics.

Some students are amazing, some are not people I want to associate with. There is not a very diverse population of students. They are mostly white, middle-upper class students. There can often be an unspoken tension between different racial groups, especially since they often group together. Basically, if you are a kind accepting person, it doesn't matter who you are friends with.

Students at Bates feels confortable with everyone. Disregard of our backgrounds, students at Bates belongs to one name and family: Bates College. Therefore, everyone feels the same.

Bates is made up of three types of people: People who got rejected from ivy leagues and think they are way too smart to go here, people who were ecstatic to get in and love their life, and athletes who got in on some miracle and do no work.

think i may have covered this a lot in other sections. Batesies are very liberal generally (thank god) and not very religious at all. Most come from middle class and higher backgrounds. Often times the athletes, especially baseball, basketball and football sort of remain in a seperate category that is often disdained by other members of the Bates community. Bates is very very white and could use a lot more diversity. Bates is so liberal being lesbian or gay is a complete non-issue.

There is a large variety in the types of people you meet here, but the majority of campus is white. Bates is trying to change this but Maine itself is not diverse and despite magnificent attempts, there are not very many minorities here, although the few that come are well integrated into the community here. People are mostly from New England, but there are people that are peppered around other parts of the country, too. Most students are liberal although the republican group on campus is very active and outspoken. Most people have money but don't talk about it and finances are never really an issue or barrier among students. Everyone seems to be very independently minded when thinking about the future and it is hard to generalize people here because there are not many stereotypes.

Mostly white. I am a Black female, and the percentage of africans, afro americans, latinos, mexicans, alaskia natives, native americans,indians, and other, is much higher than the percent reflected state wide. When I say more minorities I mean that they are mostly from US. So we do have a percentage of international student but majority of the minorities are from the US.

It's not a very diverse student body, but Bates is working on improving that and finding some success. Most are from New-England--the typical home locale being "20 minutes outside of Boston", and over a third went to private school. However, there's a surprising number of international students from a really wide range of countries. We've got a really active LGBT population--my gay friends feel very safe and accepted here.

Like i've mentioned, Bates students are all very similar. The kind of person that I dont think would "fit in" the most on campus would be a disabled person. Aside from being completely different from everyone, the campus isnt very equipped and accommodating if there was someone in a wheelchair, for example. Most of the time, its hard for a person on crutches to get around as easily as everyone else. Also, the student body can, very quickly, become extremely clique-y. Sometimes I feel its more clique-y than my high school was, and in the most ridiculously stereotypical ways (aka the dining hall can be divided into the jocks, the preppy's, the hippies, etc). Bates students, I feel, are predominantly left, and the rest in the center. Although I'm sure in discussion a lot are extremely politically aware, rarely any are politically active here. Students rarely talk about how much they want or will earn one day, but its very clear that we will all probably do very well and be very well off.