Colgate University Top Questions

The students at Colgate are intellectually curious, hardworking, and overall quite happy. There are people of all backgrounds on campus and students have incredibly diverse interests. There definitely are separate groups of friends, however different types of students interact often. It is easy to make friends based on where you are living, classes, clubs ad activities, and general interests. The students are open and very amicable, for the most part. It is very easy to have an intelligent conversation with someone whether it be about history, molecular biology, or current events and politics. Students are very aware; they are willing to learn and are open to new and different ideas.

The majority of Colgate students are from rich families in the Northeast who like their designer clothes but are willing to accept other kinds of people.

Preppy and rich white kids

Colgate students are overwhelmingly wealthy (the school costs $50,000+ per year) and white (most hail from the East Coast). I wouldn't say students 'dress up' for class, but they tend to be put together. The school says something like 22{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of students identify as minorities, but I have no idea where they get that figure from. The campus tends to be pretty segregated along lines of racial and financial lines. The kind of student who would feel out of place is someone who is not very social and does not drink. Basically, a dork.

The student body very homogeneous and tends to dress in little more than polos, khakis, button downs, and sweaters. J. Crew, Polo, and Brooks Brothers dominate students wardrobes. Our student bodies are nice- we were ranked as one of Men's Fitness’s' "Most Fit Campuses" and most Colgate kids exercise frequently and are rarely overweight. Colgate does not have much of an arts community nor are the students particularly politically active. We have a reputation of being a politically conservative campus, but I think a better way to put it is Colgate is more conservative than you may expect given that this is a college campus in a blue state. What little diversity exists, is pretty segregated. Those who fit the Colgate mold and stereotype really seem to love Colgate, but those who don't fit the Colgate type, do not seem comfortable here.

Colgate students have found some pretty creative ways to manage money during the recession, including "bartering" for drinks, mooching off of visiting speaker lunches, and paying a visit to grandma's condo in Florida for spring break.

Fun and friendly to be around.

Friends I made are friends for life.

My class mates are driven and highly intellectual beings whom are strongly involved in the community politically.

Everyone at Colgate knows how to have fun, it's a big work hard play hard kind of school.

Colgate tends to be a homogenous group of people, but even in the few years I was there that has begun to change. Students come all around the country and from foreign countries as well. Studying abroad is a popular thing to do at Colgate which opens students to different cultures, governments, ways of life, etc. There are tons of different groups of campus that get the student body involved, ranging from LGBT groups to intramural sports and the poker club.

Small. Friendly. Drunk

As I mentioned before, Colgate is pretty preppy. Northface fleece and madras shorts are standard attire, and I guess I fit the the mold as well as anyone. Some kids take it over the top with the preppy look and it becomes obnoxious. I'll wear a t-shirt to class some days and some days I'll wear a polo shirt or a sweater. Many kids come from boarding schools, and many more from private schools in general, including me. More kids come from the tri-state NY, NJ, CT, area than any other part of the country. There are not many black kids at Colgate, and those that you do find at Colgate are often on the football team. It's a very white campus. Also, you wouldn't find many guidos (thank God!) at Colgate. If you don't know what a guido is, youtube My New Haircut. 25{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of Colgate students are varsity athletes, and another 50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} were varsity athletes in high school, so its quite an athletics student body. The gym is usually pretty full. Athletics kids tend to be more confident, so you do find a high concentration of douchebags at Colgate. For the record, I am athletic but I am not a douchebag. Alot of kids will go into finance or other cookie-cutter excel-spreadsheet cubical desk jobs. They will make good money and have terribly boring lives. Some of them don't even seem to realize that this is a horrible existence. Some do realize, but don't see any other way out. I don't condemn these kids, I just feel bad for them. Many of my friends look forward to this fate. Forunately I am a poet, so I look forward to a future of both wealth and freedom. Or at least delusion. In general Colgate is more liberal, but the student body has a good number of conservatives. The administration is almost entirely liberal. They love NPR and farmer's markets.

Everyone at Colgate wants to be here. The sense of community and pride in the school is infectious as soon as you step foot onto the campus. Additionally, students take pride in their appearance and tend to put themselves together for class. Jeans, an oxford button down or sweater usually does the trick. Rainbows are worn from from the time the temperatures climbs to 30 degrees! At the same time, people always sport their Colgate gear whether it is just walking around campus to going to the gym or a sporting event.

An extremely involved group of people. Because students needed to be really involved in high school in order to be accepted into Colgate, they continue to volunteer, play sports, take leadership positions and get involved on campus.

For me, high school was everything that I could've asked for. I had best friends who were there for me, I played sports and got good grades. Coming to Colgate where I knew no one and knew nothing was a daunting feeling but the people there are the reason that Colgate is so special. I know that it sounds cliche but now I can't imagine my life without these people in it. It's true that when you live with these people, they become your family, your support system and they are the reason why Colgate has been such a positive experience for me.

Many Colgate students are from the east coast, predominantly New Jersey or New York. A lot of the students come from money. It doesn't really seem like that many Colgate students are politically aware and there really isn't any sort of political activism. It's also harder to show that though I think because we're in such a small town. At Wisconsin it was more prevalent and apparent, but perhaps that was because it was in an urban setting and the student body is much larger so there is a greater chance of some sort of political activism. I think it's easy to turn a blind eye and say that I haven't experienced or really witnessed any racial, religious, LGBT, or socio-economic prejudices or discrimination, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There have definitely been instances where I've heard negative remarks regarding these issues but I guess they dont really stick out in my mind. Maybe because I choose to ignore them too...

Colgate's student body is surprisingly diverse although you will not necessarily interact with everyone. Students interact and are all friendly but there is not pressure or tension between any groups.

Students body is a mixed bag. I believe you will meet every type of person in the world at Colgate and it prepares you for the real world. You learn how to navigate different groups of people and different opinions. Its a particularly affluent community of students, but its a very open community.

As I wrote before, the Colgate student body is generally rich, white, and from the East Coast. The few minority students on campus are generally isolated in the Harlem Renaissance Center by choice. In my opinion both sides need to make more of an effort in order to come together both in and out of the classroom. Most students are preppy, and politically students range all over the spectrum yet no one is really politically active. A typical dining hall scenario would see lacrosse players at one table with their "laxtitutes", a table of African-American students, several tables each hosting distinct fraternities/sororites, and a table of "geeks". While they may all seem different, all groups interact to some extent given Colgate's small size and the tendency of just about everyone to party on the weekends.