Bates College is a private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists. Bates College is one of the first colleges in the United States to be coeducational from establishment, and is also the oldest continuously operating coeducational institution in New England. Originally a Free Will Baptist institution, Bates is now a nonsectarian institution. Bates is a leader of the SAT optional movement for undergraduate admission. In 1984 it instituted one of the first SAT-optional admissions programs in the nation.