Colgate University Top Questions

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.