Your Academic Advisor: Until a student declares a major (no later than March 1 of their second year), their pre-major academic advisor is most often their First-Year Seminar instructor. Once a student declares a major, a faculty member within that academic unit becomes their academic advisor. The academic advisor helps students explore the curriculum to discover their interests and to fulfill general education requirements.

Your Student Support Advisor: The Student Support Advisor program supports student success by ensuring they know whom to go to when they need guidance, assistance, or just someone to talk to. Students are assigned a Student Support Advisor prior to their matriculation and remain with their advisor for the duration of their enrollment at Bates.

The General Education Program: This page provides a helpful summary of the Bates general education requirements, which includes the Major +1, 5 MOIs, and 3 Ws). For a rationale for the program please see either the college catalog or review this PDF about “Exploring the Bates Curriculum.” Students and faculty may find the advising pyramid graphic helpful as it visually depicts all of the requirements of the general education and illustrates how the 5MOIs can be understood as a foundation on which a Bates educational experience may be built.

Global Education. It is important to ensure that your credits from study away from Bates are transferred to Bates and applied to your general credit towards degree as well as to your majors, minors, and GECs, where applicable. Please go here for more information on how to apply credits to your Bates degree.

Student Research/Summer Research Fellowships: Bates offers a variety of research fellowships to students to conduct independent and faculty-advised research. Students often apply for these fellowships during their sophomore and junior years. They are often a good way to begin to explore questions and topics for the senior thesis and capstone project.

Thesis/Capstone Planning: Please be sure to connect with your academic advisor in your major(s) to discuss how best to prepare for your thesis/capstone project.

Graduate Fellowships: Prestigious fellowships for graduate study and funding for unique projects are available for ambitious Bates students and alums. Some, such as the Truman Fellowship, are applied for in the junior year. Others are applied for in the senior year or are even open to young alumnae. The rigorous academic program at Bates prepares qualified students for prominent competitive national awards such as the Fulbright, Rhodes, and Watson fellowships. These awards require nomination from the college; students are assisted toward nomination and a strong application by the Graduate Fellowships Committee. For more information, please be in touch with Dr. Robert Strong, Director of National Fellowships at rstrong@bates.edu.

Graduate and Professional School Applications: Pre-Health, Pre-Law, and other Graduate School Resources can be found at the Center for Purposeful Work.

Purposeful Work – Industries, Internships, and Interviews: As juniors continue to engage with Purposeful Work activities, dive into industry exploration, and expand their networks (particularly through LinkedIn), they should take advantage of support from the Center for Purposeful Work in terms of assessments, industry research, resume and cover letter writing, and interview preparation. Purposeful Work summer internships/funding and mini-grant funding, along with employer information sessions and graduate school advising, should also be on the radar of juniors. We invite students to make an appointment with one of our professional advisors here via Handshake to learn more about how Purposeful Work opportunities can advance their personal and professional goals, especially as they start to consider life beyond Bates.