The application pool for the Class of 2030 is the largest in Bates’ history with a total of 12,009 applicants seeking admission for the 2026-2027 academic year. This marks only the second time the number of applications has surpassed 10,000 in the college’s 171-year history. 

The likely explanation for the increase — 24 percent more applicants than in the Class of 2029 pool — is multi-factored, according to Director of Admission Darryl Uy. Bates continues to expand its recruitment efforts through direct contact from admission counselors traveling in the United States and internationally, increased marketing efforts across multiple platforms, and partnerships with organizations committed to access. 

This includes Bates’ new partnership with QuestBridge, a national nonprofit that connects high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with leading institutions of higher education. Bates, Harvard College, and the University of Richmond all joined QuestBridge in early 2025, bringing the total number of undergraduate QuestBridge institutions to 55.

QuestBridge has a simple motto, “Dream big, a top college is possible,” and a promise to match low-income students with full scholarship support from its partner institutions. 

That partnership led to hundreds more applications to Bates and sparked another change that only bolstered that increase. 

“As a QuestBridge partner, we would be waiving the application fee for any QuestBridge applicant,” Uy said. “In order to stay true to Bates’ mission of access and equity, we decided to eliminate the application fee for all applicants.”

Uy said the Admission team received hundreds of applications for the Class of 2030 from students at high schools — and regions — that Bates had never received applications from in the past. “That was really exciting,” Uy said. “Both geographic and economic diversity are strengths that speak to the Bates mission.” 

But admission season is not over, with Uy and his team shifting their efforts into a different stage of recruitment — making sure admitted students have the clearest understanding of all that Bates has to offer as they make their decisions. 

Overall, the Class of 2030 is expected to be a robust one, with about 520 students.

On March 27, Bates held the first of two full-day events for admitted students, called Bates Beginnings. These are opportunities for admitted students and their families to visit in a more relaxed environment than what is often a whirlwind of college tours prior to and during their senior year in high school. The second Bates Beginnings is April 17.

Bates Beginnings kicked off with early bird tours, an a cappella show in Chase Hall, and then welcomes from both Uy and President Garry W. Jenkins, who joked that, as a lawyer by training and a law professor for 20 years prior to joining Bates in 2023, he can’t help thinking of his remarks as “our closing argument to you.” 

Jenkins highlighted the college’s exceptional faculty and the close-knit learning environment. “No graduate assistants here,” he told the group. “Just world-class, engaged faculty devoted to their enormously talented and driven students.” 

Bates’ combination of a liberal arts curriculum and professional skill development produces a special kind of graduate, he added, which he saw first hand from a post-Commencement perspective when he was the dean of the University of Minnesota Law School. 

The day’s programming included opportunities to meet with financial aid advisors, sessions on what the First-Year Experience at Bates looks like, an academic fair, a student panel, tours of first-year housing, an open house at the Student Center for Belonging and Community, a chance to learn about community-engaged coursework, and a student life spotlight session.

In all, 175 admitted students visited on March 27. The April 17 event, which will include the same events, is already at capacity, “Building a class is about more than sending an admission letter,” Uy said. “It’s about exploring and understanding the opportunity and making a commitment to a really exciting future.”