FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bates College to sponsor Maine Day Nov. 11

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates College Admissions Office will sponsor its annual Maine Day program for Maine high school students, parents and guidance counselors Thursday, Nov. 11, at the liberal-arts college's campus in Lewiston. Last year, more than 130 students participated in the day-long program, intended to expose students to varied fields of study and special programs offered at Bates, as well as answer questions about the selective college admissions process. To register for Maine Day, call the Bates College Admissions Office at 207-786-6000.

Participants will meet with the Bates admissions staff from 8:30 to 9 a.m. in Chase Hall, Campus Avenue, Lewiston. Karen M. Kothe, assistant dean of admissions at Bates, will discuss the application essay from 9 to 9:45 a.m. in Chase Hall Lounge. Students not scheduled for admissions interviews will meet with Wylie Mitchell, dean of admissions at Bates, from 10 to 10:45 a.m. in Chase Hall Lounge. Tours of the campus, admissions interviews, classroom visits and departmental office visits will be available from 9 a.m. to noon.

Adam J. Garcia, assistant director of financial aid at Bates, will conduct an informational session on financing a college education from 1 to 1:45 p.m. in Chase Hall Lounge. A coaches' reception for high school athletes interested in competing at the college level will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. on the second floor of Merrill Gymnasium.

Participants are also invited to tour the Edmund S. Muskie Archives from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Bates College Museum of Art from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the George and Helen Ladd Library, which opens at 7:30 a.m.

Bates has a long tradition of educating Maine students, including Rumford native and former U.S. Secretary of State Edmund S. Muskie. The 144 year-old undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences is ranked among the top 25 national liberal-arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report. Membership in the Bates class of 2003 Ñ the current class of first-year students Ñ was among the most coveted collegiate distinctions in the nation, as a record 3,955 high school students applied for 495 positions in the class. Bates is committed to helping qualified students whose financial resources are limited. Seventy-four percent of all Maine students at Bates received financial aid in the form of grants from the college in 1999-2000.