National college guides and magazines continue to rank Bates College among the best liberal arts colleges in the nation.

The 2002 "Princeton Review: The Best 331 Colleges" offers a variety of "top 20" lists. Its ratings for Bates include Toughest to Get Into (18th) and Great Food (12th). Under Academics it says: ‘"If you were to give us a nickel for every time a Bates College student tells us ‘this school is great; I just love it,’ or ‘I have had such a positive experience here’ or something along those lines, we could probably stop updating this book every year and retire to a nice island in the South Pacific.’"

In the U.S. News & World Report 2002 edition of "America’s Best Colleges," Bates is ranked 22nd among 218 national liberal arts colleges. The factors the magazine considers include academic reputation, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate and alumni giving rate. The national liberal arts college category was expanded from 162 to 218 for the 2002 edition. Last year, Bates was in the top 12 percent of the category. This year, Bates is ranked in the top 10 percent in the nation.

In the Kaplan/Newsweek College Catalog 2002, Bates is recognized as a top school in the category: "Schools that offer a high level of individual attention from faculty." 

The 27th edition of "The Insiders’ Guide to the Colleges" leads with this undergraduate’s remark about Bates: "The professors are more available than most students’ parents."

In the most recent edition of "The Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence," Bates is lauded for its service-learning opportunities and its consistent top-10 ranking for student participation in international study among all colleges. It notes that about two-thirds of Bates graduates earn graduate degrees, and includes this summary comment from an administrator on alumni survey findings: "For a college with a long-standing reputation in the sciences, we were surprised to discover we had more graduates whose title was ‘entrepreneur,’ having founded their own businesses, than graduates who were M.D.’s."

The "Fiske Guide to Colleges 2002" notes that the Lewiston-Auburn area "provides plenty of internships and part-time jobs, a distinct vocational advantage not always found at such small colleges." Its listing concludes with these quotes from Bates students: " ‘Bates has a strong sense of community, and students here look out for one another socially and academically,’ says a political science major. One freshman is sold. ‘It’s a fun place,’ the student says. ‘People just seem happy here.’ "