College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
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Bates College Data & Information Overview

5 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
13% Acceptance Rate

This overview covers the essential stats on Bates College, including its rankings, majors, diversity, and more.

Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taken to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.

* Rankings

How Does Bates College Stack Up?

#128 Best Colleges in Nation
#3 Best Colleges in ME
Bates College ranking badge

2026 Best Colleges Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Bates College was awarded 5 badges in the 2026 rankings.

National Standing

According to College Factual’s 2026 analysis, Bates is ranked #128 out of 3,449 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.

Bates is also ranked #3 on the Best Colleges in Maine list.

See all of the rankings for Bates College.

How Difficult Is Admission to Bates College?

13% Acceptance Rate
14% Of Accepted Are Women
12% Submit SAT Scores

Getting Accepted

With an acceptance rate of 13%, Bates is one of the most selective schools in the country. Good grades and high test scores alone may not be enough to get you into the school, so do your best to submit a stellar application.

Standardized Test Scores

About 12% of students accepted to Bates submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 710 and 750. Math scores were between 710 and 780.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Bates College  ( 710 to 750 )
200
800
SAT Math Scores for Bates College  ( 710 to 780 )
200
800

Bates received ACT scores from 4% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 31 and 34.

ACT Composite Scores for Bates College  ( 31 to 34 )
1
36

Learn more about Bates College admissions.

Teaching Staff at Bates College

9 to 1 Student to Faculty
95% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

At Bates, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 9 to 1. That’s much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Full-Time Faculty Share

In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Bates College is 95%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  95 out of 100
0
100

Academic Performance at Bates College

94% Freshmen Retention
91% On-Time Graduation Rate

First-Year Student Retention

Bates College has a freshmen retention rate of 94%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  94 out of 100
0
100

Time to Degree

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Bates for first-time, full-time students is 91%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  91 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Bates College.

Undergraduate Diversity at Bates College

1,753 Undergraduate Students
29.5% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
51.4% Percent Women

During the most recent academic year, there were 1,753 undergraduates at Bates.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Bates College.

Cost of Attending Bates College

$16,772 Net Price
14% Take Out Loans
$21,036 Total Student Loans

The typical net cost at Bates is $16,772. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.### Net Price by Income Group for Bates

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$4,263 $6,296 $8,602 $22,744 $49,109

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Bates, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Bates, approximately 14% of students took out student loans averaging $5,259 a year. That adds up to $21,036 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 1.4%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for Bates College.

What Do Bates College Alumni Earn?

$69,498 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost

The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Bates College make about $69,498 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future Bates College graduates since it is 41% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.

See which majors at Bates College make the most money.

Location of Bates College

Maine State
1,753 Undergraduate Students
Small City Campus Setting

Bates College is an private not-for-profit institution found in Lewiston, Maine. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life. Get more details about the location of Bates College.

Location of Bates College

Get in touch with Bates College can be found below.

Contact Details
Address: 2 Andrews Road, Lewiston, ME 04240
Phone: 2077866000
Website: www.bates.edu/

Bates College Areas of Study

15 Majors With Completions
1,032 Undergraduate Degrees

In the latest year of available data, students from 15 majors graduated from Bates College. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Completions Average Salary of Graduates
Multi-Disciplinary Studies 516 NA
Economics 71 $55,768
Political Science & Government 54 $50,568
Child Development & Psychology 50 NA
Natural Resources Conservation 40 $22,883
General Biology 39 $33,170
Biochemistry & Biophysics 32 NA
Mathematics 31 $39,731
Neurobiology & Neurosciences 30 $36,112
History 22 NA

Learn more about the majors offered at Bates College along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Similar InstitutionsInterested in comparing Bates? Compare them side by side using College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges on the features that matter most to you.

Data Sources and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

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