The hallmark of Bates Admission experience is the personal connection we make with every prospective student. Each year, in an effort to learn more about the college and demonstrate their interest in Bates, hundreds of students will request an alumni conversation.

Through these conversations with all of you, our office seeks to learn about each student’s passions, interests, personality, and assess how each student will contribute to the Bates Community. Please note that for prospective students, these conversations are strictly informative, rather than evaluative. 

The Alumni Portal will serve as the hub for these conversations, including selecting requests and submitting verification that they occurred. A complete overview of this process can be found in your Alumni Portal.

If you have any difficulty logging into your Alumni Portal, please see our login instructions or let us know.

For the 2022-2023 admission cycle, all alumni conversations will continue to be conducted virtually. We ask that you conduct your conversation on a web medium that utilizes a camera (e.g. Zoom or Google Hangouts). Please do not conduct conversations via FaceTime unless it is the only option. See our web conferencing platform resources page for helpful articles and videos on using Zoom.

Bates is invited to several hundred college nights and fairs each year. The admission staff will represent Bates at the majority of these, but other travel commitments make it impossible for our staff to be at all of them. The Office of Admission evaluates the invitations, and selects those programs where we would like to have an alumni representative. Our office will supply you with all the necessary materials when you represent Bates at a college fair/night.

The purpose of a college fair is to give a large number of students, family members, and school counselors the chance to talk with college representatives and to be placed on college mailing lists. In many cases, this college fair is the first contact that a prospective student has with a college.

You are a resource person. You do not need exhaustive knowledge of Bates today, but a solid general knowledge of Bates will be helpful. It is, in large part, the impression that you project that will remain with the prospective student. Talk about your own Bates experience.  Encourage these students to visit the Bates campus if possible, and learn more about Bates through our vast array of virtual, online offerings.

For further  information about college fair logistics and talking points, see the College Fair Overview. For regulations set by NACAC, the governing body for the admission field, see the NACAC Guidelines. For our College Fair Evaluation Form, click here.

There are many possible sources of qualified students for Bates. The children of your business associates, friends and neighbors, and young people working part-time or summers in your offices might become interested in Bates due to your involvement with the College. Many of you also have hobbies or special interests which bring you in contact with interesting, young people. Encourage them to connect with Bates, whether in-person or virtually!

During April, the Office of Admission hosts several receptions for admitted students and their families. Alumni participation is extremely valuable as many of these students are choosing among several excellent institutions, and your personal anecdotes and experiences are very powerful.

Each year, the Office of Admission presents the David G. Russell ’66 Award to exemplary AIA volunteers. Usually presented during Homecoming weekend, the David G. Russell Award is named in honor of our late Hartford, CT chairperson. David was devoted to the AIA program, and this award is intended to celebrate those in AIA who embody David’s same loyalty to Bates.