Colgate University Top Questions

I have only been lucky enough to experience two semesters at Colgate but my experiences have been outstanding. There is the believed misconception that college professors don't care and are out to get you but this is not the case. The professors I've had are more than friendly and willing to help.

Yes. Professors know my name. The classes are small enough so professors can learn your name and the campus itself is small enough that you'll run into old professors all the time. My favorite class was my archaeology class and art history class that I took while abroad in Venice through the Colgate program. I really disliked me Econ class. So boring! Yes, there is class participation. Yes, students have intellectual conversations outside of class. And yes, students are competitive. My sculpture class was pretty unique and I really enjoyed it. I really enjoy my major, the department and the professors. My only complaint is that Colgate seems more geared toward helping students in the direction of economics, finance, consulting, etc. Career Services doesn't have a lot to offer art history majors.

Colgate academics are hard but professors are generally very helpful. While many students spend a lot of time preparing for class and reading etc. you can get by without being a complete nerd. Classes in Political Science and Geography are fun and the professors are generally very accessible.

Colgate academics are the best. Students and faculty are often on a first name basis. Academics spread outside of the classroom into various different activities and interests around the university. The faculty challenges the students to be the best at their field of study, as many of them are renowned scholars in their fields. Class participation is key for students, as a large part of learning (not to mention grading) is based on the participation of the students.

It seems that about half of the students at Colgate are economics majors (including myself) and this is a great department. However, you can't really go wrong with any major within Colgate's liberal arts education. The requirements are all interesting, and they include a class entitled "The Challenge of Modernity" which was simply remarkable. Furthermore Colgate mandates that students take a wide array of courses across all departments and which creates well read, interesting students with a wide array of knowledge. The professors are awesome for the most part, and it never ceases to amaze me how a professor teaching a lecture of 75 students can manage to memorize each and every students' name. However, lectures of 75 are generally rare and most classes a comprised of about 15 students in which class participation is highly encouraged. This creates for lively, stimulating class discussions.

Colgate has great academics. Being a Liberal Arts school there are four classes that every Colgate student must take before completing their sophomore year which I feel not only unifies the student body (as everyone can relate when they walk through the library seeing someone reading The Odyssey or the Bible), but also builds a strong base for students to then decide what they really want to pursue. Additionally, many of those classes are based a lot on class participation which is great experience for students who are often too shy to speak up in class and also encourages that you actually go to class. I feel that Colgate has fantastic academics. What makes them so great is that I am being constantly challenged, but also always supported as I know all of my professors well (as they know me too) and the university always provides tons of tutoring and opportunities to work with others. After my first semester of freshman year, I felt that I had learned more in one semester than I did in the past two years of private schooling. Colgate focuses on learning for the sake of learning. The university prides itself on its liberal arts and believes that it is a good institution and it has done its job if by the end of your four years, there are numerous academic areas that interest you and numerous possibilities for you to continue to pursue.

It was the first semester of freshman year. Considering Colgate's science distribution requirement and my mediocre talents in that realm, I had selected a class that I thought would be interesting, but that wasn't Chem or Bio or anything like that. Technically, it was Neuroscience, but I didn't really pay much heed to that, focusing instead on the fact that it was an intriguingly titled intro class. Turns out, I found myself in what is considered one of the most challenging courses that Colgate offers. Needless to say, I had a rude introduction to college academia. I struggled through the class, which met 4 days a week and required piles of reading and hours of intense, structured studying. However, even though it was a lecture class with more than 50 students, my professor was personally in-touch with my floundering. He consoled me when I came out of the first test. And the second... and the third. He arranged for me to be personally tutored. He knew my name although I never raised my hand in class. When it came time for me to decide whether I would withdraw from the class or continue in a desperate attempt to pass despite my below-failing grade, he never discouraged me. And at the end of the semester, he actually congratulated me and told me that he was extremely proud and was glad to have me as a student -that he would even love to have me back! I got a C-. I didn't think I was worthy of such accolation, but it told me volumes about the professors here. No matter how hard their class might be, they never want to see you fail. They take personal delight in your achievements, even if it is just barely passing. They love to see students learning and developing, even if it's acquiring study skills, rather than a perfect understanding of their material. Although the class was a "rude awakening," I would much rather look at it as an enlightening experience that introduced me to my own potential and the quality of Colgate professors.

They're taken seriously, but I don't consider most student to be very competitive with eachother. We help each other for the most part. Even though the academics were challenging, I did not have to put in a ton of effort to get decent grades. However if you want to do really well you'd have to put in alot of time in yours studies. It's nice to be at a place surrounded by other smart people.

The professors at Colgate are great people and even better teachers. Most of them make themselves very approachable and want to be involved in the students lives. The classes here are all so interesting, I wish I had more time to take classes outside of my major. Cheating (on exams, projects, or papers) is not very common, but it does happen. Academics as Colgate is education for the sake of education, but professors realize that students want the security of a career after college, so if you talk to a professor about life after Colgate they'll suggest all sorts of internships or programs that will help you. As a freshman, I have not gone to the Career Services department yet, but I hear it is helpful -- resume writing, job interview practice, etc.

Colgate offers an enormous selection of classes with expert Professors in each field. With the smaller campus size and low student to teacher ratio, nearly all Professors remember your name (given you make the effort too). Class participation is commonly a large percentage of your grade but really helps in learning the material. With so many intelligent students at Colgate, discussions can get very heated and usually turn into a debate and sometimes carry-on into conversations outside of class. The most unique class that I took was Archaeoastronomy with Professor Anthony Aveni who is actually credited as being one of the subjects founders. In the class we learned about ancient civilizations who constructed their homes and cities to align with celestial bodies in the sky. I even had the opportunity to then travel to Yucatan, Mexico with my Professor and some other students to help him measure Maya ruins for astronomical alignments. The other great thing about Colgate is that because it is a liberal arts school, you are required to take classes in many different fields. In doing this students get the opportunity to experience many different classes and some even choose to follow those classes by making the subject their major. It also gives the students a much more well-rounded education.