Bates College
Bates publishes 15% (Fall 2025). Out-of-state applicants got in at 28%; international at 3.2%.
Acceptance rate
What Bates's 15% is made of
The published rate averages groups with very different odds. These are the splits Bates reports itself.
Part of Real Acceptance Rates, our series decomposing published rates from each school's own Common Data Set.
Testing
Test-Optional for 2026-27
- Policy
Test-optional since 1984, one of the longest-running test-optional policies in the country ('national leader in the test-optional movement for over four decades'). English-proficiency test scores are required for applicants whose native/secondary-instruction language is not English. Self-reported scores allowed; official scores required upon enrollment.
- SAT middle 50%
- 1420–1530sum of section 25th–75th percentiles
- ACT middle 50%
- 31–34
- Average HS GPA
- Not published by the school
Applying
Deadlines, essays and AI policy
- Early deadlines
- Nov 15, 2026 (ED); Jan 10, 2027 (ED2)
- Regular decision
- Jan 10, 2027Source
Full cycle calendar: Application Deadlines.
At a glance
Size and cost
- Undergraduate enrollment
- 1,760
- Tuition (out-of-state)
- $66,590
- Category
- Liberal Arts
- Admissions site
- www.bates.edu
What should this school mean for your list?
A published rate is one input. Working out what it means alongside the rest of your list is the part that actually changes an application. Free 25-minute call, no commitment.
Sources
- Bates test policy (2026-27)
- Bates deadlines
- Acceptance rate, test-score percentiles, enrollment and tuition: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, pulled 2026-08-19.
Test policy and deadlines last verified 2026-08-17.
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