Bates College supplemental essays
No. Bates College asks for no supplemental essays in 2026-27. Common App. Personal statement required (250-650 words).
That is one piece of writing in all: the Common App personal statement. Early Decision closes November 15, 2026, Early Decision II closes January 10, 2027 and Regular Decision closes January 10, 2027. This page lists Bates College's application deadlines and what the application does ask you to write.
Deadlines
| Round | Date |
|---|---|
| Early Decision | November 15, 2026 |
| Early Decision II | January 10, 2027 |
| Regular Decision | January 10, 2027 |
Checked against www.bates.edu/admission/apply. Confirm on the college’s own page before you submit.
The personal statement carries the whole writing signal here.
Bates College reads exactly one piece of writing: the Common App personal statement (250-650 words). There is no "why Bates College" essay and no short answers, so adding it to a list costs zero extra essays; the statement you already have is the entire file here.
That cuts both ways. With no supplement, there is no second chance to show fit or interest in writing, so the one essay has to do all the character work on its own.
Early Decision (November 15, 2026) is binding: an admit commits you to enroll. A second binding round, Early Decision II, closes January 10, 2027. Regular Decision closes January 10, 2027. Applying early means your essay is final about 8 weeks sooner; that is the revision time you trade for an earlier answer.
Paste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.
Your Bates College checklist
One piece of writing, and it is required. The first deadline, Early Decision, is November 15, 2026.
- Common App personal statementRequired250-650 words
It saves these rows to your essay manager, where each one carries a status you set yourself and the prompt stays attached to it. Add your other schools and they land on the same page, in deadline order. Nothing written yet? The topic quiz is free as well.
Free: this page, the checklist, the essay manager and the topic quiz. Paid: a written review of a finished draft, $49 an essay.
Paste your essay for a free read
Have it in a document? or drop one here (Word, PDF, or Text).
Not sure what a review is? What an AI college essay review can and cannot do, and what a college essay grader leaves out. What the read checks against Bates College’s own prompts is on the Bates College essay review page.
Getting into Bates College
Bates College admits 13.3% of applicants. The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 1420-1530 on the SAT and 31-34 on the ACT.
About 1 in 8 applicants are admitted, at a college of 1,760 undergraduates.
| Enrolled students | 25th | Median | 75th |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAT total | 1420 | 1465 | 1530 |
| SAT reading and writing | 710 | 730 | 750 |
| SAT math | 710 | 735 | 780 |
| ACT composite | 31 | 33 | 34 |
What SAT score do you need for Bates College?
A 1530 puts you in the top quarter of the students who enrolled, a 1465 at their midpoint, and a 1420 at the bottom quarter, meaning one in four enrolled students scored below it. The same three points on the ACT are 31, 33 and 34. A quarter of an enrolled class scoring under the 25th percentile is not a rounding error, so a score below the range is a reason to strengthen the rest of the application rather than a reason not to apply.
US Department of Education, College Scorecard (2026-09-17). Percentiles describe students who enrolled, not everyone admitted. SAT totals are the reading and math bands added together, which is how every source in this market reports them and is an approximation of about 10 to 20 points, because the two sections are correlated.
- What SAT score do you need for Bates College?
- Bates College sets no minimum. Among students who enrolled, the middle 50% scored 1420-1530 on the SAT: a 1420 sits at the 25th percentile, 1465 at the median and 1530 at the 75th. A score at or above 1530 is a clear strength in the application; below 1420 it is the part of the file the rest has to make up for. These are the figures Bates College reports to the US Department of Education, released in the College Scorecard of 2026-09-17.
- What ACT score do you need for Bates College?
- The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 31-34 on the ACT, with a composite of 33 at the median. There is no cutoff: a quarter of the enrolled class scored below 31. Reported by Bates College to the US Department of Education, College Scorecard release of 2026-09-17.
- What GPA do you need for Bates College?
- The honest answer is that the federal data behind this page does not contain one. Colleges report their admit rate and their enrolled students' test scores to the Department of Education; they do not report a GPA distribution, so any site quoting an exact average GPA for Bates College is either reading that college's own Common Data Set or estimating. What the reported data does say is that Bates College admits 13.3% of applicants, and the more selective a college is, the closer to the top of the class its admitted students sit and the more the strength of your course load counts alongside the number itself.
- How hard is it to get into Bates College?
- Bates College admits 13.3% of the people who apply, which is about 1 in 8 applicants. At that rate no set of numbers makes admission likely, a perfect one included, because the college turns away far more qualified applicants than it takes. Strong grades and scores get the application read; the essays, the recommendations and what you have actually done decide it from there.
What Bates College costs after grant aid, by family income, from the same federal data.
Sort your whole college list into reaches, targets and likelies, or find colleges that fit your GPA and test scores. Both are free and neither needs an account.
Bates College essay questions, answered
- Does Bates College have supplemental essays?
- No. Bates College asks for no supplemental essays in 2026-27. The Common App personal statement is the only writing in the application. It runs 250 to 650 words.
- How many essays do you write for Bates College in 2026-27?
- One: the Common App personal statement. There are no Bates College supplements in 2026-27, so adding this school to a list costs no extra essays.
Schools with similar admit rates
Bates College admits 13.3% of applicants. The colleges either side of it in our set by admit rate, most selective first, each with its own prompts and deadlines: Washington University in St. Louis (12.1%), Haverford College (12.4%), Harvey Mudd College (12.7%), Davidson College (13.4%), Hamilton College (13.6%), Colgate University (13.9%).