Engineering at Bates College

Engineering majors nationwide typically earn around $68,000 in their first year—a solid return that puts technical graduates ahead of most fields. For Bates, similar programs at selective liberal arts colleges suggest debt around $26,500, creating a manageable debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.39. That's well within the conventional wisdom of keeping student debt below your first-year salary, but there's an important consideration here: Bates isn't primarily known as an engineering school, and the suppressed data suggests very few students complete this major.

This matters because engineering careers often depend heavily on industry connections, internship pipelines, and the technical depth of coursework—areas where dedicated engineering programs typically excel. The 13% admission rate and 1446 average SAT indicate you're looking at highly capable students who could access engineering programs at universities with more established technical infrastructure. Whether Bates provides equivalent preparation is something you'd need to investigate directly, particularly regarding access to advanced labs, faculty research opportunities, and corporate recruiting relationships.

The financial picture based on peer programs appears reasonable, but you're essentially betting on an uncommon path. Ask pointed questions about how many students actually complete this major annually, where they've been hired, and how the program compares to Maine's traditional engineering schools in terms of resources and outcomes. The limited graduate numbers that triggered data suppression aren't necessarily a red flag, but they warrant scrutiny.