Bates SAT Scores, GPA, and ACT (2026)

Out of every 100 students who apply to Bates College, about 13 get an offer. The acceptance rate sits at 13.3%, so before you look up Bates SAT scores, understand that most applicants with strong numbers still hear no. The middle 50 percent of admitted students who submitted scores landed between 1420 and 1530 in the most recent federal data, with an average of 1468. Those numbers come from the 2024-2025 cycle. Bates is test optional, which means score submitters skew high: students tend to send a score only when it helps their case.

Bates is a private nonprofit school in Lewiston, Maine, and it is small on purpose. Enrollment is about 1,760 students total, which is smaller than plenty of public high schools. That scale shapes admissions. A class that small gives the office room to read every file closely, and it means a few hundred seats decide the whole year. The section splits tell you where the bar sits: Reading and Writing ran 710 to 750, while Math ran 710 to 780. On the ACT side, the middle 50 percent went from 31 to 34. If your composite is near 1468, you are right at the center of the admitted pool.

Below 1420 at Bates means the bottom quarter of admitted score senders. Since submitting is optional here, a score under that line usually does more harm than good, and going test optional is often the smarter play. Inside the 1420 to 1530 range, your score is doing its job: it confirms you belong in the pool, and the rest of your application decides the outcome. Above 1530 puts you past 3 out of 4 admitted students, which is a real edge at a school this selective, though with a 13.3% admit rate it guarantees nothing.

The section splits matter here. Math runs 710 to 780 while Reading and Writing runs 710 to 750, so Math sets the higher ceiling. A 760 in Math is solid but not rare at Bates; a 760 in Reading and Writing clears the entire admitted middle. If you are choosing where to spend prep hours, note that the Math range is 70 points wide against 40 for the verbal side, so Math gains have more room to separate you.

Admitted students at Bates typically show up with an unweighted GPA around 3.8 to 4.0. That is the practical band to aim for at a school admitting 13.3% of applicants. A transcript in that range signals you handled 4 years of high school without letting anything slide, and at this level of selectivity, that is the baseline rather than the finish line.

The number alone is not the whole story. An A in a standard class does not read the same as an A in the hardest course your school offers. Admissions readers weigh rigor as heavily as the GPA itself, so a 3.85 built on AP and honors work beats a 4.0 built on the easy path. If your GPA sits at the lower edge of that band, the fastest offset is a strong SAT. Grades take semesters to move. A score can move in months, and a 1500 next to a 3.8 tells Bates the transcript undersells you.

Set 2 targets. First, 1420: at or above the 25th percentile keeps you inside the admitted range and makes submitting your score an easy call. Second, 1530: at or above the 75th percentile puts you in the top quarter of the pool, which is where you want to be when only 13.3% get in. Per section, that means pushing Math toward 780 and Reading and Writing toward 750. The average admit sits at 1468, so treat that as your minimum comfortable submit point if you are between the 2 targets.

Work backward from a real starting point. Take a diagnostic to find your current composite and your section by section gaps, then map the distance to 1420 or 1530. From there, score plans break the gap into weekly targets so a 120 point climb becomes a schedule instead of a wish. Your next step: sit for a full length practice test this week and write down your Math and Reading and Writing scores separately. You cannot close a gap you have not measured.