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A Bates education

Learning to navigate — and expand — a universe of ideas

Bates Summer Scholars Program A Bates education fosters intellectual inquiry and reflection, personal growth, and a commitment to the world beyond self. Bates offers students a challenging academic experience in a collaborative and supportive environment.

At Bates, students and faculty form a community of scholars who share a thirst for learning, drawing on the methods of the sciences, the patterns of logic and language, the study of societies and expression in the arts.

General Education

The Bates faculty believes that an educated person cultivates areas of knowledge and understanding, modes of appreciation, and ways of learning that will last throughout life. The goal of General Education is to ensure that every Bates graduate has explored a variety of subjects from many perspectives and can communicate effectively, and analyze and solve problems in many contexts.

First-year seminars

Every first-year student is encouraged to launch his or her Bates career in a first-year seminar, an interdisciplinary course focused on developing critical thinking and effective writing. The seminar instructor serves as the student’s academic advisor until he or she declares a major.

Majors and minors

The Bates curriculum is structured around more than thirty majors and related minors, areas of specialization through which a student gains expertise in a particular academic discipline.

Senior thesis

At Bates we are concerned with the development of each student as a scholar. Every Bates student completes a senior project — usually a senior thesis — an extensive, independent research project or  artistic work that is the culmination of study in the major.

Next: Majors, minors, courses

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Impressions

In focus

  • The Bates calendar and Short Term
    • What makes Bates' 4-4-1 academic calendar – two semesters followed by a five-week springtime Short Term – distinctive? Short Term offers opportunities for intensive study in a single topic, experimental courses and programs off campus. More
  • Mount David Summit
    • This annual exposition celebrates student achievement in research, creative work in art and performance, academic projects and community-based research. More
  • General Education
    • Bates helps students gain deeper mastery of writing, reasoning, inquiry and evaluation through innovative General Education requirements and academic support programs such as the Writing Workshop, the Peer Writing Project and the Mathematics and Statistics Workshop. More

Academic highlights

  • First-year academics
    • First-year seminars help entering students make the transition to college-level academic work. More
  • Undergraduate research
    • Throughout a Bates career, often working collaboratively with faculty, students develop the skills and experience needed for cutting-edge research. More
  • Community-based learning
    • Educational initiatives taking place in a community setting enhance student education while meeting the needs, mutual yet independent, of the College and its community partners.
  • Off-campus study
  • Graduate Fellowships
    • Given the rigorous academic program as well as the myriad of research, service-learning and study-abroad opportunities available at Bates, graduates are well prepared for the most competitive scholarship and fellowship programs. More

Academic resources

  • Writing at Bates
    • Bates believes that writing and critical thinking are inseparable. That's why we emphasize the importance of writing as a means of learning across the four years. More
  • Math and Statistics Workshop
    • The Math Workshop offers assistance to students in mathematics and the sciences individually, and in group sessions. More
  • Peer-Assisted Learning
    • Session leaders guide students through recent course material in regularly scheduled, out-of-class, peer-facilitated study sessions. More
  • Language Resource Center
    • Provides guidance for students and faculty on language learning, technology and multilingual computing. More
  • Imaging and Computing Center
    • This center is the one-stop shop for the high-tech handling of visual information. More

Learn more

Voices

  • "We want students to leave Bates prepared to learn and lead throughout their lives, and to that end we consistently expect them to do a lot for themselves, to stretch, to take responsibility. Part of their growth and self-discovery involves learning to cope with circumstances." —President Elaine Tuttle Hansen