Colgate University Top Questions

Most students are from the white, upper class society. Not much diversity, many ethnicities would feel out of place. Different types of students hardly interact. Sports players very cocky at the school.

One would definetly find a group that he or she would gravitate well to.

Colgate's student body is very homogenous, mostly white and upper middle class to upper class students from urban or suburban areas in the Northeast. I have friends of different races but even though most people are friendly, the students of color tend to stick together. There are groups for LGBT students, students interested in religious life, and other things of that nature but most of the people I have met here are non-practicing Jews or Christians and straight or not openly gay. I have friends who are not upper class or upper middle class and I don't think it matters to them except that they can't spend money the way some people here do. The students at Colgate are very concerned with their appearance, a lot of people here go to the gym and most everyone dresses nicely. A typical Colgate girl will wear some kind of Ugg boots, a Northface fleece or jacket and designer jeans to class. I honestly think that anyone who is friendly and nice can fit in here, even if most of the other people around them are different.

I try to be as open as I can. I am not a member of any of the social awareness groups on campus. People will wear anything to class. A majority try to dress stylishly, or clean cut, but that shouldn't and doesn't really stop people from wearing what they want to. No one really cares or is overly judgmental of others' attire. Mixing in the dining hall isn't as common as it could be, however I would explain that as social groups formed by activities or sports teams, and not as much socio-economic or racial issues. Many students are from the tristate area, but my favorite people are actually from the midwest and the west. I've found plenty of people from these areas even though Colgate is heavily dominated by east coast students. A majority of students probably are prevalent, however you would be surprised how many students do receive financial aid. Some students are politically aware and active just the same as other students are into theatre--everyone finds something they like or something they want to do and politics is no different. Generally, Colgate is a relatively liberal school (I think? Most of my friends are...it is partly the nature of being an east coast school). It's not overly liberal though--more moderate than anything else, but with a liberal edge. Most people don't talk about how much they'll earn one day--that can be sickening to listen to, although I think that most people would like to earn a lot.

a lot of students get dressed up for class. Sometimes it's a pain when you feel like a bum and don't want to get dressed. Students here are definitely liberal to moderate.

There's diversity here? They claim it, but I don't see it, and don't really care. Most students are from Long Island, Westchester County, or New Jersey. There's also a bunch of people from Massachussetts. People are as politically active as they want, from apathy to passionate, but apathy is more common. Most people here are from affluent backgrounds (one of my professors said that 80{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of students here pay full fare...myself included). It's just generally accepted that people here either already have a pile of money or one day will.

The student body at Colgate is not as diverse as I had expected. The overwhelming majority of students are upper-middle class from the Northeast and are white and straight. The presence of the various racial and religious groups is certainly felt on campus and within the classroom, and all groups interact, but outside of academia, these groups tend to stick to themselves. Most people dress up for class and save sweats for the weekends or the gym, but there's no pressure felt to constantly look nice. In terms of politics, I would say there are more liberal students than conservative. They're not found solely within the hippie population, but in every group.

There are a lot of club offerings for all sorts of things. Clubs are usually small but they are there. Everyone is pretty friendly with each other and there are no defined cliques. There is a good mix of students democratically. I would say that Colgate students aim to get higher on the income bracket than most colleges, but they don't usually brag about it.

Persons of color may feel out of place if they are bothered by going to a predominantly white school. Although persons of color are not necessarily discriminated against overtly, there is a sense of segregation. The source of that segregation and what can be done to change it has been a pretty consistently prevalent issue for the duration of my time here. Colgate students are mostly from the east although there seems to be a disproportionate number of students from Colorado. The majority do not qualify for financial aide, which is saying something since tuition is in the area of fifty thousand dollars per year. However, it has not been my experience that differences in socioeconomic background interfere with a student's ability to make friends or break into the social scene. I am from a very middle class background and am from Idaho (I'm one of like two Idahoans here at Colgate) but I have a lot of friends who are from Long Island or Westchester or Jersey and whose dads work on Wall Street or are corporate lawyers who pull in six figures.

I talked about this a bit in stereotypes, but I'll elaborate. Everyone is pretty accepting, though it depends what definition of diverse you use to determine how "diverse" Colgate is. Unfortunately a stereotype that it's not scares off people that would potentially make it MORE diverse. A lot of cultural groups have presences greater than their constituent parts, which is good. I think most people could feel comfortable. Maybe except racists and homophobes, but I don't think anyone else would want them here either... Most students are... normal. Jeans, t-shirts, coats. It's not something I pay attention to. Of course there's a few people that are concerned with being fashionable, but most people aren't. Having lots of different extracurriculars helps people from different groups interact. You'll see a lot of people participating in things because they're genuinely interested, regardless of any connotations of the activity. Most students seem to be from the northeast, though they're trying to expand a lot and have students from almost every state. Even from the northeast, though, backgrounds differ a lot. I've had friends from estates in Westchester and Harlem, whose parents could pay for college 10 times over and whose parents can't pay a dime. I don't know if that's typical, but I hope it is. Students seem aware but not too active, though there's several groups on campus that are very enthusiastic. Too many protests/political issues could be annoying - this way groups pick and choose the important problems that students care about. In general people seem to be moderate to left-leaning. There's some outspoken conservatives, but they seem to be in the minority. For some reason we have a reputation as being conservative, but I think that's just compared to colleges and universities known for being incredibly liberal (like Berkley). I've never heard people talk about future earnings. People talk about what they dream of doing for the rest of their lives, what will make them happy. Bringing up salaries for seniors seems almost... not taboo, but you certainly don't brag about it. People seem to all be really passionate about whatever they are interested in, regardless of the financial payoff. I'm sure there's students here who are only in college to get a prestigious degree to get a good job, but I don't think I actually know many. If anything, people joke about "living in a box" because they're pursuing what they love to do and it's not lucrative (like teaching for example).