Colgate University Top Questions

There are a lot of popular student groups and activities. Many students are involved in some kind of athletics, whether it be varsity, club, or intramural. Likewise, Greek-life has a fairly large presence on campus. These groups participate in leadership and service activities. It also is a really good chance to familiarize with and expand the amount of your social cohorts. Additionally, there are a lot of students that are active at the COVE (the community service center). The COVE has a lot of different service opportunities. There are chances to tutor, clean-up the earth, work with under-privileged children and adults, to build sites, and to travel the country for service. It is a great resource that I have loved being involved with.

There are a lot of popular student groups and activities. Many students are involved in some kind of athletics, whether it be varsity, club, or intramural. Likewise, Greek-life has a fairly large presence on campus. These groups participate in leadership and service activities. It also is a really good chance to familiarize with and expand the amount of your social cohorts. Additionally, there are a lot of students that are active at the COVE (the community service center). The COVE has a lot of different service opportunities. There are chances to tutor, clean-up the earth, work with under-privileged children and adults, to build sites, and to travel the country for service. It is a great resource that I have loved being involved with.

The greek system tends to dominate the social scene. There is always at least one house having a party every Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday. When the weather is nice on Saturdays, day drinking, aka Fraterdays are popular. Once you turn 19, you can get into the Jug, which is about as embedded in the culture of the school as Adam and Eve (our swans). Its a bar/dancefloor, using the term loosely, where the mixture of too many drinks and horny co-eds turns into magic. Remember: jug make outs don't count. Although usually you can't remember these in the first place....

We are in upstate New York so most students spend little time outside of the 'Colgate Bubble'- on campus or downtown. The social scene mainly consists of beer soaked frat parties and the six bars downtown, but we make the most of it and have a great time doing so. Kids at Colgate rarely date, and if they do, its only after hooking up for awhile before hand. Social events revolve around drinking and its pretty safe to say this contributes to the hook up culture. You quickly learn how to deal with seeing the person you hooked up with the night before in the sober light of day. Those who do not drink or are unwilling to go out frequently may want to consider looking elsewhere.

A senior tries his hand at the chubby bunny challenge, with raucous background support from some crazy Colgate kids.

There is a large social life on campus, if that is what you are looking for but there are a million ways to get around the drinking scene and still have fun. There are greek organizations at Colgate yet they do not dominate everyones life, I personally was not part of them yet still was able to attend events and have a great time. There is a super small dating scene at colgate, most people are just there to study, have fun, and make great friends.

Many activities are available around campus, and are encouraged to join them. Social life is drinking, with more drinking sometimes available. SPRING PARTY WEEKEND.

Freshman year involves a lot of drinking in dorm rooms. Greek life is pretty big on campus. Off campus houses are also good for parties, but more for upperclassmen. There is more random hooking up than dating at Colgate, although old fashioned dating does happen. Intramurals are extremely competitive. I made some of my best friends through my intramural football team. There is nothing on a Saturday that doesn't involve drinking. Yea, I smoke cigarettes that I roll myself, if you catch my drift. Supposedly there is cocaine use in the frat houses, but I have no experience with it myself. Alot of kids have tried shrooms. I mean, its college.

The ice hockey team and lacrosse team are very good and draw a big fan base. We aren't known for football but considering our size, tailgates draw in a massive crowd. People tend to go out 3 times a week on average (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday). Fraternity life is really big as is the COVE, the outreach volunteer center. The COVE is the place to go when it comes time to narrow down which volunteer organizations you want to join. Students do leave their dorm rooms open. Acapella groups and Dancefest, the dance event held each semester draw massive, massive groups to see both the talented singer and dancers that live among us but also to cheer on friends, roommates and classmates. Colgate is the perfect size when it comes to meeting people. It may take a while to find your niche but Colgate is self-contained making it very easy to meet people, and see known and unknown faces throughout your 4 years.

There are fraternities and sororities at Colgate, but students are not allowed to pledge until their sophomore year. This allows students to make friends their freshman year before joining a greek organization. There have been great guest speakers this year including Ben Stein and the Dalai Lama. It is typical for a Colgate student to go out three nights a week and still maintain a great GPA. The campus feels extremely safe, and it's normal for students to wave, smile and say hello across the quad between classes.