Bates is rightly celebrated as one of the first U.S. colleges to offer a true equal-opportunity education, one for all students regardless of gender, race, religion or socio-economic status.

The college is also known as one of the Hidden Ivies, which includes much larger research universities such as Johns Hopkins and Stanford University. The 2024 annual ranking by U.S. News & World Report ranked Bates 24th overall best liberal arts college in the nation.

Titled Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, it tells the story of Alan Bates, a subpostmaster from Wales who ended up becoming an activist after he was accused of fraud by the Post Office. His battle for justice took him tens of years and millions of pounds, and is in fact still ongoing.

Herbert Ernest Bates (CBE) was an English writer most famous for The Darling Buds of May. He spent most of his life in Northamptonshire and a great number of his stories draw on his experiences in the countryside of the Midlands. He died in 1974 at the age of 68.