Bates Summer Scholars Program: Overview

Jump-start your Bates Career:  23 June – 3 August, 2013

Changing the Face of Science

At Bates, we know that we must cultivate future scientists from a wide range of backgrounds in order to flourish in a diverse and complex world in which science and technology play a pivotal role.

The Bates Summer Scholars Program is an accelerated introduction to the sciences and math at Bates College that aims to recruit and retain students from many backgrounds in these fields.

Who Are the Bates Summer Scholars?

The Summer Scholars Program seeks to build a community of science scholars from among a diverse group of incoming first-years, especially first-generation college students, students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, and students from rural Maine high schools.

The admission officers and faculty review admission applications to identify students who would make great Summer Scholars. Incoming first-years who have accepted admission to Bates are invited to participate in the Summer Scholars Program based on their academic performance in math and science in high school, their intent to study math and science at Bates, their extracurricular experience in math and science, and their academic promise. Ten students are selected as Summer Scholars each year.

What Is the Bates Summer Scholars Program?

Bates Summer Scholars spend six weeks on campus in the summer preceding their first year at Bates and take two college courses for academic credit. One course focuses on mathematics or quantitative reasoning; the other is a lab science course. Taking two courses before the fall semester begins gives Summer Scholars an accelerated introduction to math and science at Bates: the courses move at twice the speed of the fall or winter semester, but are taught in a low-enrollment, seminar setting, with lots of contact with faculty and teaching assistants. The program is rigorous and challenging, but students find that it is an amazing opportunity..

“This is an experience that only comes once in a lifetime, and if you don’t take it, you’ll regret it!”
– 2007 Summer Scholar

See an slideshow from the 2012 Summer Scholars Program, here: