Student Profile
Lily
- Class: Junior
- Major: Psychology
- Gender: F
- High School:
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
The students are the best part about Bates. They are all really friendly and enthusiastic about being at Bates. Most students are genuine, engaging, and caring. Since the student body is small, you really get to know most people in the school at least by their face. You do not see many strangers on campus. You also become very close with the people in your grade. I think this is a great size for the campus because you still meet new people each year, but you are not overwhelmed by a huge student body. You never get lost in the crowd. The big spots to hang out on campus are commons, milts, and anywhere outside when the weather is nice: the quad, football field, etc. The town of Lewiston is not too exciting and I don't think that students go there often. However, there are some nice restaurants if you want to go out and people take many trips to Walmart and Shaws during the week. There is a lot of school pride. A lot of students go to the school events, like sports games, plays, dance performances, concerts, etc. People are very eager to get involved and support their friends in activities. One experience that I will always remember is the puddle jump, a winter event in which students jump into the frozen pond. It was an exhilarating experience in which many students attended and cheered each other on. It is definitely an experience that all students should try at least once before they graduate.
Academic Life
Since the campus is fairly small, the classes are also small enough that you really get to know the professors. In all of my classes except for maybe one or two, the professors all knew my name. Even in the two large science classes that I have taken with about 70 people in the class, the professors still knew my name and the other subjects and activities that I was interested in. The teachers really care about getting to know their students and they encourage us to meet them for office hours for extra help. I have always felt comfortable visiting teachers for help or to just talk about other issues/problems that I may have. Class participation is more common in the small classes and the teachers really encourage us. I am not big on participating in class so I often met with teachers outside of class to discuss topics. One thing that I really like about the academic environment is that students do not compete with each other, but rather help each other out. We form study groups before exams and students are always eager to help each other out. It is far from a competitive environment. My favorite class so far was CHILD PSYCHOPATHOLOGY with Professor Fraser-Thill. This class convinced me that I wanted to be a psych major and the professor was so wonderful that I immediately asked her to be my adviser. Another psych course that I think I learned the most from was MOTIVATION AND EMOTION, which was taught by Professor Kelsey. He is a very tough professor but I learned so much and he was very encouraging and helpful. I had to work the most for this class that semester, but I definitely got the most out of that class. The psych department is really wonderful and I spend a lot of time in the psych lounge doing work. The teachers often stop in to say hi to me and my many other friends who are also psych majors. The one problem that I have with the academic system is the major requirements. I think that there are too many requirements that prevent students from taking some classes that they want to take. There are many 200 level psych courses that I want to take but I dont' have room for them because of the other required courses. However, I have still gotten the chance to take many courses for general interest rather than for a requirement.
Student Body
I feel like all types of students could fit in at Bates. It is a very open and accepting environment. Students don't fall into one click, but rather there are many different types of students. The campus is not very racially diverse, but there are many international students. A lot of students are from the northeast but you will find that people really do come from all over. Some of my closest friends are from California, Paraguay, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Sri Lanka. Students are pretty politically aware and active. This year I attended a caucus for the democratic party and a huge number of bates students were there to support Hillary and Obama. Students are predominantly left.
The Best Things
the friends you make
The Worst Things
it can get pretty cold in the winter
