Located in Lewiston, Maine, Bates College is a nationally renowned college of the liberal arts and sciences. Among the first U.S. colleges to admit women and people of color, Bates was founded to challenge social hierarchies. The college today remains committed to inclusion, equity, and the belief that education can shape lives and build a more just world. This commitment to access has successfully removed barriers to education. Bates provides 100% of students’ demonstrated financial need.

Educating approximately 1,800 students annually, Bates students thrive in a close-knit, residential community where the 9-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio ensures personal mentorship from professors who are accomplished scholars in their disciplines. Offering 37 majors, the curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary learning, independent scholarship, and global perspectives, culminating in a senior thesis or capstone project. The academic calendar features two traditional semesters, as well as a spring Short Term that allows students to focus intensively on a single topic, often involving fieldwork opportunities locally, nationally, or abroad. Nearly 60 percent of students pursue study-abroad opportunities while at Bates, and financial aid recipients are able to use their aid to support their off-campus study program.

Through the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, Bates has become a national leader in community-engaged learning, integrating academic inquiry, research, fieldwork, and volunteerism to achieve real-world impact. Bates students actively engage with the local communities of Lewiston and Auburn, collectively Maine’s second-largest urban area, forming dynamic partnerships that enrich both campus and community life.

Preparing students for meaningful and purposeful careers is at the heart of the liberal arts mission. The innovative Bates Center for Purposeful Work offers a four-year, developmental to career exploration, helping students identify their strengths and interests as they also gain the knowledge, skills, experiences, and networks necessary to pursue their post-Bates aspirations with imagination and integrity. The college is also supported by alumni worldwide who remain active with and connected to the Bates community through lifelong commitments of their time, talent, and financial generosity, including career networking opportunities.

Bates offers 31 varsity sports, 13 competitive club sports, and nearly a dozen intramural athletic leagues. The college competes in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), considered the most competitive NCAA Division III conference in the nation. With more than 100 clubs on campus, including popular activities like the Outing Club, dance, acappella, debate, theater, the arts, and more, students find no shortage of opportunities to be involved. Bates offers access to natural beauty and outdoor activities, and many students take part in hiking, skiing, and exploring the Maine wilderness. Bates is also a leader in sustainability, as one of only a handful of schools in the nation to hit the goal of becoming carbon neutral. 

Preparing leaders sustained by a love of learning and a commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world, Bates is a college for coming times.