Bates College - Student Life

Student Life

The approximately 1,750 students at Bates come from 46 states and districts, and 65 foreign countries. The state with the highest percentage of students enrolled in the college is Massachusetts with 26.7%. New York comes in second with 13.4% and Maine in third with 10.8%.

Most students live in one of the 13 dormitories or 25 Victorian houses on campus. As of 2011, Bates is the college with the highest tuition in the United States, but this federal ranking doesn't consider Bates' grants of financial aid and it compares Bates' comprehensive fee, which includes room and board as well as tuition, to other colleges' tuition only.

Bates does not and has never had fraternities or sororities. All campus organizations are open to any student who wishes to join.

There are nearly 90 student-run clubs and organizations at Bates, chief among them the Bates College Student Government (BCSG). Some of the most active clubs include:

• WRBC Radio Bates College, one of the highest-rated college stations in the country (The Princeton Review)
• The Chase Hall Committee (CHC), the campus programming board, sponsors a wide range of social activities, including concerts, comedy shows, and dances
• A cappella groups the Crosstones, the Deansmen (all male), the Manic Optimists (all male), the Merimanders (all female), and TakeNote
• The Bates Outing Club
• The internationally ranked Brooks Quimby Debate Council
• The Strange Bedfellows, an improv comedy group
• Robinson Players, a theatre group and Bates' oldest student group
• The Bates Christian Fellowship, Mushada Association (Muslim Students' Association), and Hillel
• The Bates College Democrats and the Bates College Republicans
• The Bates Sailing Team
• Africana Club (Abule Musha)
• The Bates Musician's Union, a student-run advocacy group that organizes student music events and provides free access to equipment and practice space.
• OUTfront, a group for LGBTQ students and their allies
• Bates College Rugby Clubs (Men's and Women's)
• Bates College Ice Hockey Clubs (Men's and Women's)
• Habitat for Humanity, the college's chapter of the national organization
• Women's Advocacy Group, an organization that advocates for women's issues
• Bates College Investing Club
• Many others...

The Bates Student has been the main student newspaper since 1873. The John Galt Press, a conservative/libertarian newspaper, was founded and published at Bates and distributed at a number of other colleges and universities, though it has not been printed at Bates since the Winter semester of 2005. The Bates College Mirror has been the student yearbook since 1909, although annual class photo books date to 1870. The Garnet, a literary magazine, has been published at Bates since 1879.

Bates has many official and unofficial annual traditions including WRBC's Annual Trivia Night (since 1979), Puddle Jump, Ronjstock, Senior Pub crawl Parade to the Goose, Lick-It, President's Gala, "Ivy Day" (also known as the Baccalaureate, where class Ivy Stones have been chosen since 1879), Eighties Dance, Halloween Dance, Class Dinner, Harvest Dinner, Triad Dance (since 1981), Stanton Ride, Mustachio Bashio, Clambake at Popham Beach and Winter Carnival by the Outing Club (since 1920), Alumni Reunion Parade (since 1914), and the annual Oxford-Bates debate (since 1921).