Colgate University Top Questions

All of my professors know my name. Professors are also always available and willing to meet with students, which is very important to me. They also often want to plan events outside of the classroom. My freshman seminar Professor took us out to dinner multiple times. Students are not very competitive and usually work together.

Professors are so accessible all the time. I study all the time. Basically, I have time to eat, sleep, study, and go out and party two or three times a week. People study a lot and efficiently, I think, so that they can go out on the weekends. Students aren't competitive, people work together a lot. The great thing about a lot of the departments here is that the professors want to get to know their students. There are get-togethers thrown together by departments so that everyone can hang out and eat some snacks and talk. Once you're 21, departments often take their majors to the bars for a more casual setting.

All my professors know my name. I've really loved taking Latin and I'm loving taking my senior seminar with a visiting professor from Princeton (Prof. Fleming is a GIANT in his field). I like that Colgate can on occasion attract big names like that. Intellectual discussions happen everywhere, in class, out of class, randomly at 4am... We're not really competitive, really just cooperative. We all want each other to succeed here (wow that sounds cliche, but it's true). We're all about learning for the sake of learning, but really learning how to learn.

Colgate has an incredible academic setting. The student-faculty ratio is about 20-1, so you get to know your professors intimately. They are extremely available and willing to help, and most students take the initiative to see their profs outside the classroom. Profesors often hold dinners for their classes once a semester, sometimes at their houses in town. The dedication to studies is revealed by the business of the library and several study spaces. Students work hard for themselves and value their education, but there's no feeling of pressure or competition among students here. Students casually discuss academics. I'm a double major in English and Peace and Conflict Studies, and each department is unique in its requirements. In general, though, Colgate requires that students take courses in different departments to ensure a liberal education, something I love about the school. It's not geared towards a specific career; most students are unsure of what they want to do after college, and take the time while here to figure that out.

Professors definitely know your name. Even in my biggest class of 60 students for into to Physics, my professor still new the names of students. I have had lots of favorite classes. In the spring of my junior year, I took a research seminar in Philosophy with 5 other students. The class met 1-2 times a week. Every other week, we read a philosopher’s paper pertaining to Friedrich Nietzsche and some other area of philosophy, then the philosopher would come to campus the following week and present their paper to the department. After the lecture, the six of us were able to discuss research, ask questions, and even argue with the philosopher. The course quickly became one of my favorites because it was such a small class so we were all able to interact with each other, the professor, and the guest-philosopher. Reading so many papers really helped me get a sense of how to organize an academic paper which has helped me as I write my honors thesis in Philosophy. Our professor even provided sushi for every meeting we had with the guest-philosopher. We all have intellectual conversations outside of class because we like learning, but we are not dorks. We don't sit around and talk about what we are learning all day, but it's common for friends to talk about what they are learning in class or get into heated political conversations over dinner. I think the type of student who is drawn to Colgate is the type that likes to be engaged and is interested in learning, and so having intellectual conversations just kind of happens on its own from time to time. Students study quite a bit. There are definitely students who do not study as much but they will suffer for it. Most students do work every day, and the libraries are pretty full when midterms come along. Since students are typically in class 3 hours a day (not including labs which might meet once a week for 3-4 hours), students have the rest of the day to study and can take breaks and relax and study again after dinner. Science majors have lab which can add a lot to the work load depending on the class. Thankfully, students are not cut-throat competitive. The best illustration of this is that when I took Organic Chemistry, we would order pizza and do reaction diagrams with other friends in the class. Most students want to do well for themselves and they do not feel like another student's success affects their success. This is also true in lab-- lab partners will help other lab groups that are stuck on something they don't understand. My philosophy classes have all involved individual learning and so there has not been much group interaction or competition. I will say that if someone finds a helpful book that clarifies an issue discussed in class or could be useful for a paper, it's common to get an email from a student saying, "Hey class, I found this book and thought it would be helpful..." The philosophy department is close-knit and fun. It's common to see great student-student and student-professor interactions in all departments, and this is especially visible in the smaller departments like Philosophy. I know just about all the professors--even ones I have never had in class--from attending sponsored lectures and Philosophy barbecues. I have spent time with professors out of class by participating in extracurricular activities with them, baby-sitting their children, and by working on independent projects. Some family friends have thought my being a philosophy major is not conducive to getting a job, but I definitely think they are wrong. Colgate's education is not geared toward getting you a specific job (that's what our career services can do for you), it's about getting a learning critical reasoning and writing skills, and getting a liberal arts education that you can apply to any career path. Of course there are students who get to Colgate and study a specific field because they know that they want to go to get an advanced degree in that field. But most students are somewhat undecided, and it's common to see people from all different majors going into different career paths. Career services has an amazing network of alumni and employers and can help you get jobs, summer internships, and interviews. They can also set you up to shadow an alumnus in any given field, and it's quite common for internships to come out of those interactions. Colgate is all about the alumni network.

Professor make it a goal to know your name. In the beginning of each semester they are given pictures of all the students in their classes and most of them memorize it. I know all of my teachers pretty well and they know me. I have had amazing conversations with a majority of them. In fact, in the beginning of the year I had such a great conversation with one of my professors that I ended up researching for him over water rates, something that I am quite passionate about. Not many colleges can offer freshman research jobs. Academics are rigourous and sometimes you lose the big picture in all the details you need to know. I have fallen in love with the geography department, which is a social science at Colgate. I am know taking a global warming class "climate and society", which is brand new and quite pertinent to the climate today. I have heard that some students have stolen notebooks for their peers so that exams are not as competitive, but otherall most students are quite fair and competitive only in a good way. For example, in group projects my group members have always desired to get a good grade.

I am obsessed with my professors. For example, I had to go home for health reasons mid-semester, and my professors emailed me constantly to tell me to get well. You feel like your professors really care about you, and want you to succeed. Many give out their home phone numbers as ask students to babysit their kids. Everyone in my classes is so smart, and classes are usually discussion based. I love how we sit in a circle and all contribute something. Everyone has something different to say because people are from all over the country and the world.

Classes are usually pretty small. In my experience, most professors are pretty good. Colgate students definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class. Politics and philosophy and that kind of stuff comes up pretty frequently in everyday conversation with friends. I get the vibe that most people here enjoy being stimulated intellectually. Something I really like about Colgate is that, although academics is taken seriously, it is a very low-key school. There's not a lot of tension or competition between students over grades. Another great thing about Colgate is that about two thirds of the students study abroad at some time. I am going to Madrid next fall with a Colgate group. It's really cool that here it is not unusual at all to go abroad. In fact, it's almost a little unusual if you don't.

Professors definitely know you. I had a professor for an intro sociology class my sophomore year and he still knew my name and how well I'd done my senior year. Favorite class: this is REALLY hard. Ironically some of the classes I thought would be awful ended up fantastic. Of course I'm biased towards my department though, so Japanese. Least favorite: also hard, because nearly all of the classes I was dreading taking ended up being fantastic. Others were a lot of hard work but afterward I'm SO glad I took them. Like Calculus - thanks to the awesome professor, ended up really enjoying it. Studying: I study a lot. But I have really, really high standards for grades. If you're content with B's, you can get away with studying less. It also depends so much on your habits and organization how effective your studying is, so it's impossible to generalize. Class participation: it's usually required, though in most classes it happens anyway. I've only had two "lecture" classes in 4 years. Outside of class: at least in my group of friends we do, which is fantastic. I don't know how typical it is though. Competitive: on the field, yes. Off, not at all. Most people don't really talk about their grades, and everyone studies together. Unique: probably Cryptography (creating and breaking codes). There aren't really BS classes either. Japanese department: small, but intimate. But not in THAT way. You get to know people really well. We'll be graduating 5 Japanese majors this year, and a bunch of minors. The professors are great. Out of class: professors love to get to know students. I spent 15 minutes just chatting with my sociology professor yesterday because he remembered I talked about a TV show I'd seen at the beginning of the year and he wanted to tell me about a similar one that would premiere soon. I've been to professors houses for dinner probably 5 or so times, and had class dinners another 6 or so. Academic requirements: I think they're perfect. They encourage you to branch out (which is the whole point of liberal arts) without taking up too much time. End goals: it's split. It also depends on the student. Someone who wants to be a doctor or investment banker can come in and focus on taking the right courses for the job, but others have no idea what they want to do when they come in or even when they're about to leave.