Hamilton College Top Questions

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Hamilton is fantastic; I love it here. I think the size is perfect, and we have a really great community feel. Although people often complain about the weather, it is by no means a deal breaker.

I absolutely love Hamilton College. Prior to actually coming to Hamilton, I'd speak with alumni or student and they'd all go on about how great the school was, and how it would be the best 4 years of my life. Initially I took it all as them trying to "Sell" the school, but after being here for a year I see exactly what they meant. It's provides a great sense of community; both an intellectual and social community.

I love Hamilton, and so do most of the students. It's so small that it really feels like a strong community. Hamilton professors really care about the students and will make themselves available to meet, and I have friends at Ivy League schools who can't say the same. Yes, living in the village of Clinton can make you a little stir-crazy, but you will make some amazing friends because everyone stays on campus. Hamilton is a school of incredible tradition. We just had our bicentennial, so yeah, we've been around for awhile. Class & Charter day is probably every student's favorite tradition, and it is the highlight of the year. On this day, the last day of class in the spring semester, afternoon classes are cancelled and the entire campus celebrates. Other fun student traditions include the Silent Disco every semester. I'll always remember this one time during freshman year, when I was walking to the dining hall behind some football players, and one started excitedly speaking about how excited he was about a paper. That's Hamilton for you...

I have one semester remaining at Hamilton and I have absolutely loved my time there. Even before I got there, I knew I was going to love it when I interviewed. My interviewer had been away from Hamilton for decades, yet she remembered so many details of her experience and spoke very highly of it. I think the best thing about the school is simply the people- students, faculty and staff. Every student gets along if you give them the chance, and professors are extremely helpful if you see them outside of class (something I definitely recommend doing). And believe it or not, the custodial staff are probably the kindest people you will meet on campus. I like the open curriculum with a stress on writing and oral communication, as it lets students truly explore the liberal arts (which I have done) while building a solid writing and speaking base. However, one thing I would change would be to strengthen the writing requirements because there are no actual course requirements. It seems like students can sneak through the writing requirement without actually improving (if they choose to) over their time at Hamilton. Coming from a graduating high school class of 70, Hamilton is the perfect size for me. It seemed huge when I got there, starts to seem smaller over time but I still meet new people every semester and even every week. Hamilton has an excellent reputation, so people usually seem to be very impressed when I say I go to Hamilton. Coming from Pittsburgh some people haven't heard of it, so I am also used to explaining "it's a small liberal arts school in upstate New York." I spend most of my time in KJ, which is the academic building housing economics, government, sociology and anthropology. It also doubles as a social student center with comfy chairs and tables and a friendly atmosphere, so it is a great place to spend time. Hamilton is located in Clinton, NY and I couldn't ask for a better college town. It is small, has just a few restaurants, grocery store, liquor store, etc... and the rest is residential. Some people have asked me about safety at Hamilton and in Clinton, and I paused because I have never even had to think about it, which is one great aspect of Hamilton. Having dealt with the administration personally, I think less highly of them than most. I feel like Hamilton preaches a tight-knit community all around, and I do not feel that the administration offers that in some circumstances. In terms of controversies, there was a student who used racial slurs at a recent sporting event against a visiting player. I think the school has taken appropriate action in notifying the campus multiple times the potential ramifications of such an action, and they certainly are doing everything they can to prevent anything like that from happening again. Regardless, tons of school pride from most, if not all, of the campus. Sporting events are usually littered with students and it's great to see professors at them too. I often see students painting faces and chests buff and blue (even in our cold winter), which speaks a lot about how much we support each other. I think the fact that there are no strict course requirements is pretty unique, but I have found it to be one of the best aspects of Hamilton. One experience I will always remember was painting chests with friends to attend a swim meet. The team loved it, and the coach even sent us personal thank yous and we have continued to support the swim team since. They might not get as big of a crowd as other sports, so we find it a really fun thing to do. I have heard students complaining about the workload, but it is certainly manageable, especially if your high school has prepared you well for it. It is incredible to look back and see how much progress I made year to year, and I really think the key is to develop relationships with professors. It benefits both student and professor, during class and down the road, and their main purpose is to help students.

Make the campus your oyster. There are countless opportunities made available to you but you need to take the initiative to do something, really, anything.

a little small (run-ins with last weekend's hookups WILL HAPPEN) but its great walking around campus and seeing a ton of people you know. there's a real close-knit community here and everyone's extremely friendly town-gown relationship is great, despite the smallness of Clinton, NY. the little shops in the town are all cute and great for a few hours of window shopping. a lot of people have never heard of hamilton, but those who have know it's a great school academically. we tend to live by the work hard-play hard mantra up on the hill, and the administration has little problem with this. virtually no one gets in trouble for partying unless there's property damage or something else pretty severe. food on campus is good with generally nice variety. there's a diner on campus that's amazing and open til 5am on weekends for those late night snacks hamilton tends to have a sarcastic sense of humor, even the admissions office. we have a weekly paper dedicated to sarcasm and satire (The Duel Observer), students with a dry sense of humor, and teachers who enjoy cracking jokes in class

There's a lot of things to love about Hamilton, from the beautiful campus to the open curriculum, and I'd be hard pressed to pick just one to talk about. I'll try and cover more of that later. I think Hamilton's a great size, for one, because you never feel like you've met everyone, but you also never feel like there's too much competition for the opportunities on campus - you don't have to be lost in the crowd unless you want to be. In terms of surrounding area, Clinton has a nice small college town sort of atmosphere. Most people who actually want to do something off campus head about 15 minutes away to suburban-shopping-center New Hartford, or to Utica or Syracuse, so there are still options if you want to get off-campus. Also, it's very common among Hamilton students is a strong sense of belonging on the Hill. Even after we graduate, we continue to feel a connection to and real fondness for Hamilton.

In the end, Hamilton was the best fit for me. When I think about things that I would change, they end up being quite minor. Sometimes I wish we were a little further south and out of the snow belt, and sometimes I wish we were D1 athletics. Still, looking back I would choose to attend this wonderful place over and over again.

The College is small, the academics tend to be challenging, and the community is extremely tightly-knit. Students are busy, often involved with seven days' worth of extracurricular activities and obligations, and relationships between faculty members and students are quite close.

People rave about the Hamilton Community. The praise is warranted. I love it there. I have one more year to go, and I'm going to miss the place afterwards. Hamilton is small and, with very little effort, you can get to know many people very well. Personally, I really love the food service at Hamilton. Whenever people visit me at school, and if we go to one of the dining halls, they usually remark at how much better our options are than at their school. I am kind of a health nut, and the food meets and surpasses my standards everyday. You probably shouldn't pick a school because it has great food, but you may want to avoid school's with shitty food. It makes a difference.

I know it sounds cliché, but Hamilton truly is a community of its own. The campus is small, the town of Clinton at the bottom of the Hill is adorable but there isn't much to do for college kids, and so most students stay on campus every weekend which helps create a really closeknit atmosphere. There are always familiar faces on your stroll to class or the dining halls. Professors know not just your name, but you personally. Sports teams cheer each other on at games, attend each other's parties. At Hamilton, everyone is on a first-name-basis. The Administration is insanely helpful. They will bend over backwards to make your life easier. I once received an internship opportunity past the internship scholarship deadline, and one of my professors worked with the administration to obtain a research grant for me to make it possible. Incredible! The Campus Police are also very accommodating, surprisingly. I'll always remember hanging outside late at night the first night of one of the school breaks after most of the campus had emptied out. My friends and I were approached by Campus Police and were expecting to be told to go back to our dorms. Instead, they asked us if we were cold, and then opened one of the closed campus buildings for us to hang out in instead. It was 4AM!

The best thing about Hamilton is the study body by far! From the minute you step on campus people smile and say hello and welcome newcomers. Maybe it is the small size but at Hamilton you really feel like you are part of something. The professors know everyone's name by the second week of classes, the women who work in the dining halls share personal stories and bring in pictures of their kids for students to look at and the staff are more than willing to help any student in need. Location wise, Hamilton is in the middle of nowhere and there is really nothing to do in town if you don't want to hit one of the two bars. On campus Hamilton shells out a shitload of cash to bring in big bands - Eve 6, Gym Class Heroes, and Ingrid Michaelson to name a few. We may not be good at sports but people come out to support our football team in the fall, hockey in the winer, and our NCAA Div III Champion women's lacrosse team.

It's a small place, which has it's ups and downs. The bummer is that you seem to know everyone on campus, the good part is that it isn't at all overwhelming. What you need to know is our campus is segregated: Light Side and Dark Side. The dark side is everyone who doesn't wear a polo shirt and madras shorts and listen to Bruce Springsteen or Journey or Dave Matthews on a regular basis. The light side is everyone who does that.

Hamilton College can really be whatever you make of it. If you choose to limit yourself, it can feel like the smallest campus on earth, but if you extend yourself it can feel like there is always a new person to meet and a new club to join. When I tell people that I go to Hamilton they either smile and say "wow that is so great, blah blah blah I know someone who went there, I went there ect." OR they look at you like you are dumb and go to some special school for idiots and go "ohhh...that's so great..." Overall, we like to refer to Hamilton as resort Hamilton. For the most part, students are on a 21 meal plan with several great dining halls serving whatever you ask for, and a completely vegan hippie station that is to die for, a diner open until 5am Thursday-Saturday that serves amazing breakfast sandwiches to drunks (they are included in the meal plan) and a pub on campus. There is definitely a lot of academic pride at Hamilton, doing poorly and not caring about your studies is really looked down upon. As far as sports teams go, if a team is good and made up of cool people they get a lot of support. If they are not good, and the people are jerks, no one could care less. For the most part people stay on campus to party, but older students take our free jitney down to the bars and back which are full of Hamilton students.

professors are great- approachable, reasonable, good to converse with, etc. small class size is amazing no core curriculum is excellent, can take what interests you no matter what great music department Clinton is very tiny college town, 2 bars on college street are very highly attended though great parties at Hamilton for entire campus.

Hamilton has nothing around it which means that the extracurricular activities of a Hamilton student involves alcohol, drugs and sports. I do not mean for this to be a negative portrayal of the school, but in reality the majority of the Hamilton population enjoys partaking in these activities. Nonetheless, there are still many other events available for those students whom to do want to drink or participate in IM or varsity sports.

I love the size of Hamilton. It's about 1,800 students. Some people would find this too small, but I wanted a community campus where I would see people I know or recognize every day. I wanted small classes where I could develop relationships with my professors and have in-depth discussions and debates during class periods. I have certainly found everything I was looking for and more. Hamilton was my first-choice school and I'm thrilled to be a student. They also have an interesting program for a select group of freshmen. I was one of them: a January Admit. My year, about 28 of the "Jans" went to Ireland and 5 did their own things (like take night classes at Harvard or journey through South America). It was such a fantastic experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. I formed such close bonds with my fellow Jans in Ireland and I'm still close friends with most of them today.

Bottom line, you have to love snow. There is nowhere to go, nothing to do in the area outside campus, so you go on hikes in the "Glen" or cross country ski or just drink hot chocolate and watch movies. There's always stuff going on, like concerts and speakers. The campus and administration are very interested in bringing entertainment to us, since there's nothing around.