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Colgate University
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Information Summary
Ranks 1587th for total enrollment
| Total Cost
On-Campus Attendance |
$48,710 |
|---|---|
| Admission
Success rate |
9% |
| ACT / SAT
75 %ile scores |
32 / 1430 |
| Student Ratio
Ratio of students to faculty |
10 : 1 |
| Retention
(Full-Time / Part-Time) |
94% / N/A |
| Enrollment
Total (all students) |
2,788 |
Demographics – Main Campus and Surrounding Areas
Reported area around or near Hamilton, NY
| Total Population | 5,735 (3,722 urban / 2,013 rural) |
|---|---|
| Households | 1,601 (2.33 people per house) |
| Families | 956 (2.91 people per family) |
| Surrounding community | Distant town (between 10 to 35 mi. away from an urban cluster) |
| Pop. — African American | 135 |
| Pop. — Asian | 189 |
| Pop. — Pacific Islander | 4 |
| Pop. — American Indian / Alaskan Native | 28 |
| Pop. — White (incl. Hispanic) | 5,429 |
| Pop. — Other | 38 |
Carnegie Foundation Classification
Baccalaureate Colleges — Arts & Sciences
| Undergraduate | Arts & sciences focus, some graduate coexistence |
|---|---|
| Graduate | Single postbaccalaureate (education) |
| Undergraduate Population | Full-time four-year, more selective, lower transfer-in |
| Enrollment | Very high undergraduate |
| Size & Setting | Small four-year, highly residential |
General Characteristics
| Highest offering | Master's degree |
|---|---|
| Calendar System | Semester |
| Years of college work required | N/A |
| Variable Tuition |
Student Tuition Costs and Fees
What are the typical tuition costs and fees for attending Colgate University?
Ranks 34th for total cost of attendance
| In District | In State | Out of State | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FT Undergraduate Tuition | $37,405 | $37,405 | $37,405 |
| FT Undergraduate Required Fees | $255 | $255 | $255 |
| PT Undergraduate per Credit Hour | $1,169 | $1,169 | $1,169 |
| FT Graduate Tuition | $37,405 | $37,405 | $37,405 |
| FT Graduate Required Fees | $255 | $255 | $255 |
| PT Graduate per Credit Hour | $1,039 | $1,039 | $1,039 |
| Total Cost of attendance — On-Campus | $48,710 | $48,710 | $48,710 |
| Total Cost of attendance — Off-Campus w/out Family | $38,665 | $38,665 | $38,665 |
| Total Cost of attendance — Off-Campus with Family | $38,665 | $38,665 | $38,665 |
Student Tuition Cost History and Trends
Three year history and trends on the cost of attending
| In District | In State | Out of State | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Published Tuition & Fees | $32,885 |
$32,885 |
$32,885 |
| Cost (regardless of residency) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Books & Supplies | $870 |
||
| On-Campus – Room & Board | $8,065 |
||
| On-Campus – Other Expenses | $960 |
||
| Off-Campus w/out Family – Room & Board | N/A |
||
| Off-Campus w/out Family – Other Expenses | N/A |
||
| Off-Campus with Family – Room & Board | N/A |
||
Admission Details
| Application Fee Required | N/A |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate Application Fee | $55 |
| Graduate Application Fee | $55 |
| First Professional Application Fee | N/A |
| Applicants | 8,759 (4,006 male / 4,753 female) |
| Admitted | 746 (364 male / 382 female) |
| Admission rate | 9% |
| First-time Enrollment | 745 (363 male / 382 female) |
| FT Enrollment | 745 (363 male / 382 female) |
| PT Enrollment | N/A (N/A male / N/A female) |
| Total Enrollment | 2,788 |
Admission Criteria
What criteria does Colgate University use for admissions?
| Open Admissions | |
|---|---|
| Secondary School GPA / Rank / Record | |
| College Prep. Completion | |
| Recommendations | |
| Formal competency demo | N/A |
| Admission test scores | |
| TOEFL | |
| Other tests | N/A |
Special Learning Opportunities
| Distance Learning | |
|---|---|
| ROTC — Army / Navy / Airforce | |
| Study Abroad | |
| Weekend College | |
| Teacher Certification |
Athletics - Association Memberships
| Sports / Athletic Conference Memberships | NCAA |
|---|---|
| NCAA Football Conference | Patriot League |
| NCAA Basketball Conference | Patriot League |
| NCAA Track & Field Conference | Patriot League |
Admission Credits Accepted
What types of credits does Colgate University accept?
| Dual Credit | |
|---|---|
| Life Experience | |
| Advanced Placement (AP) |
ACT Test Admission
Rank 39th for 75pctl scores
| Applicants submitting ACT results | 21% |
|---|---|
| Verbal scores (25/75 %ile) | 28 / 33 |
| Math scores (25/75 %ile) | 27 / 32 |
| Cumulative scores (25/75 %ile) | 29 / 32 |
SAT Test Admission
Rank 54th for 75pctl scores
| Applicants submitting SAT results | 79% |
|---|---|
| Verbal scores (25/75 %ile) | 620 / 720 |
| Math scores (25/75 %ile) | 630 / 710 |
| Cumulative scores (25/75 %ile) | 1250 / 1430 |
Student Services
| Remedial Services | |
|---|---|
| Academic / Career Counseling | |
| PT Cost-defraying Employment | |
| Career Placement | |
| On-Campus Day Care | |
| Library Facility |
Student Living
| First-time Room / Board Required | |
|---|---|
| Dorm Capacity | 2,530 |
| Meals per Week | 19 |
| Room Fee | $4,430 |
| Board Fee | $4,740 |
Student Financial Aid Details
How many students use Financial Aid, and how much do they use?
Colgate University ranks 4156th for the average student loan amount.
| Average | Users | % of Attendees | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Grant Aid | $2,857 | 58 | |
| State & Local Grant Aid | $3,859 | 172 | |
| Institutional Grant Aid | $26,878 | 255 | |
| Student Loan Aid | $2,706 | 166 | |
| Any financial aid type | 255 |
Student Enrollment Demographics
How many students are enrolled at Colgate University?
| Men | Women | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
Non Resident Alien | 68 | 64 | 132 |
Black Non-Hispanic | 68 | 67 | 135 |
Hispanic | 47 | 74 | 121 |
Asian / Pacific Islander | 72 | 111 | 183 |
American Indian / Alaskan Native | 3 | 13 | 16 |
White Non-Hispanic | 1,026 | 1,064 | 2,090 |
Race Unknown | 64 | 47 | 111 |
| Total | 1,348 | 1,440 | 2,788 |
Student Graduation Demographics
How many students graduated at Colgate University?
| Men | Women | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
Non Resident Alien | 16 | 14 | 30 |
Black Non-Hispanic | 12 | 8 | 20 |
Hispanic | 14 | 13 | 27 |
Asian / Pacific Islander | 11 | 17 | 28 |
American Indian / Alaskan Native | 1 | 3 | 4 |
White Non-Hispanic | 318 | 283 | 601 |
Race Unknown | N/A | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 372 | 339 | 711 |
Most Popular Fields of Study
The top 5 fields of study completed at Colgate University.
| Men | Women | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 54 | 25 | 79 | |
| 20 | 47 | 67 | |
| 51 | 11 | 62 | |
| 20 | 37 | 57 | |
| 27 | 16 | 43 |
Student Completion / Graduation Demographics
How many students are successful graduates?
Faculty Compensation / Salaries
Colgate University ranks 156th for the average full-time faculty salary.
| Tenure system | |
|---|---|
| Average FT Salary | $86,218 ($89,770 male / $81,166 female) |
| Number of FT Faculty | 264 (155 male / 109 female) |
| Number of PT Faculty | N/A |
| FT Faculty Ratio | N/A |
| Total Benefits | $6,323,328 |
Colgate University Introduction
Just a short drive off of historic Route 20 in upstate New York, travelers are bound to pass by rustic farms, cozy villages, and robust antique fairs. As the Chenango valley opens, visitors find themselves at the doorstep of Colgate University: a beautiful hill crested by the golden dome of the Memorial Chapel, gracefully surrounded by 550 acres of lake, oak lined drives, willow lined footpaths, and sprawling landscapes. Walking onto campus is really like walking onto the quintessential northeastern university. Taking in the limestone academic buildings, the classical English garden, and the grand staircase ascending the Colgate hill and watching the annual torchlight processionals, one truly feels a connection to the first students at Colgate back in 1819. However, after spending a little time with the people of this liberal arts university, Colgate reveals itself as an institution where tradition and innovation coincide.
Colgate’s academic philosophy is driven by the tradition of a liberal arts core curriculum. This core includes two literary courses about the foundations of Western culture and the post-Enlightenment challenges to Western thought, as well as an in-depth look at a non-Western culture and an exposure to the forefronts of science. While a student is having these academic experiences in a wide range of topics, Colgate as a research university further challenges students to delve deeply into their major course of study. So, what is a typical Colgate day? Students might discuss Gilgamesh over breakfast, undertake multivariable calculus before lunch, practice yoga (reading Nietzsche in the downward-facing dog pose), and finish up with a scientific discussion about Atlantis before heading over to the Picker Art Gallery to work on a thesis paper. Mental yoga may become necessary to develop this academic flexibility.
The Colgate community reflects this sort of academic challenge: meet the Renaissance student. The 2,800 undergraduate students that bustle across Colgate’s beautiful campus are hard-working, outgoing, and community-minded. Colgate students love to be challenged, whether as star of the hockey team, double majoring in math and physics with a senior thesis in computational mechanics, or as a creative writing and theatre double major dividing time between a fraternity, Ultimate Frisbee practice, and a volunteer organization working with local children. Colgate students love to be busy, as evidenced by more than 120 student-run organizations coordinated through the Center for Leadership and Student involvement. While students keep the campus calendar alive with performances, lectures, athletic contests, festivals, and parties, Colgate provides opportunities for reaching out to the surrounding community through the Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education (COVE). The COVE advises groups that tutor, build houses, and build ties with the Hamilton community and beyond, sending spring break groups to New Orleans to assist with Hurricane Katrina relief. The students at Colgate continue traditions in the Greek houses on Broad Street and the Colgate Memorial Chapel but also create on the cutting edge in state-of-the-art biology labs and digital recording studios.
A world-class faculty motivates Colgate’s well-rounded education. The distinguished scholars that teach in Colgate’s halls are working at the forefront of their fields, publishing and conducting research on campus. However, all of Colgate’s classes are taught by the faculty, never by teaching assistants. These are individuals who truly love to work with undergraduate students. This creates a stimulating academic environment for the Colgate stu- dent: a professor that challenges with high expectations yet is available to help and listen during at least four posted office hours every week. There are also opportunities to conduct research alongside Colgate faculty year-round, on campus or abroad from France to Australia, Great Britain, and Mexico.
The community the university calls home further shapes the Colgate experience. The village of Hamilton is a cozy rural community a la Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life. From the newly renovated movie house and Colgate Bookstore to New York Pizzeria (affectionately termed “Slices” by Colgate students), and the Barge Canal coffee shop, students become part of a tightly knit community (of which they are half the population). Colgate contributes an active arts and athletic calendar to the Hamilton community. Colgate is the venue for more than one hundred student artistic events each year, including nearly ten full-scale theatrical productions, musical performances, art exhibits, and an annual weeklong arts festival, complete with ice sculptures, guerrilla performances, and lectures by visiting artists. Meanwhile the mighty Colgate Raiders (charter members of the Division I Patriot league) compete year round, with more than eighty percent of Colgate’s students participating in some form of athletics, from the club and intramural to the varsity teams.
Colgate University continues its connection to a proud history with an active network of successful alumni, who simply love their school, and each year a new class of students with groundbreaking, altruistic, and gregarious ideas continue to further the character of this institution with a strong tradition and an exciting future.
Colgate University is the perfect setting for an undergraduate experience. Students are challenged both in the classroom and in extracurricular activities and community involvement. Colgate provides an ideal environment for students to find their intellectual voice, as they dabble in many different subjects, experience many cultures, and explore the world not only through discourse and study but also firsthand. Colgate students learn the value of integrity and competition, both academic and athletic.
As students work toward their liberal arts degrees, professors approach their classroom in an interdisciplinary and personal way. Professors consistently publish and discover at the forefront of academia, while drawing out the maximum performance from each of Colgate’s 2,800 students. The liberal arts education prepares each Colgate student for a multifaceted future, whether he or she becomes an improv comedian working as an environmental lawyer or an athlete engaged in public service.
Support and resources are available to all students as they continue the entrepreneurial spirit of Colgate in the classroom and in the residence hall. Students at Colgate are hard-working and ambitious, developing new organizations and communities to add to the one hundred currently operating groups on campus. While students continue to build campus culture, Colgate continues to build facilities, introducing an updated library and a state-of-the-art interdisciplinary science building. Colgate is always growing, but the traditions on campus keep the university grounded to a very proud history.
Colgate graduates are outgoing, confident, flexible, and incredibly engaging individuals who build companies and families and constantly change the world for the better. The experience of four years on the hill of Colgate is transformative, creating leaders out of students with incredible potential, intellect, and motivation. Colgate is an invaluable experience, a launching point for a truly successful and wonderful adult life.
Colgate University Academics
Every Colgate student will complete thirty-two courses in order to graduate, and anywhere from eight to sixteen of those courses will complete a major course of study. Colgate offers fifty-one concentrations known commonly as majors, and twelve additional minor programs to its undergraduates.
Colgate classes are not an opportunity to turn on one’s linear tape recorder and later transcribe fifty to seventy-five minutes worth of lecture. Faculty at Colgate typically employ a Socratic style in the classroom. Colgate students enter the door prepared to engage in a many-voiced discussion, encouraging the student to develop answers and find an individual intellectual voice. True to liberal arts form, graduation requirements include four general education courses, a first-year intensive seminar, and six distribution requirements drawing from natural sciences and mathematics, the humanities, and the social sciences. Colgate students can explore a wide variety of intellectual pursuits before deciding their educational path.
First-Year Seminars
Each incoming first-year student selects three courses for his or her first Colgate semester, plus a first-year seminar. First-year seminars are offered in topics as widely spread as “British Comedy” and “The Atlantis Debate.” Taught by professors from every academic division, first-year seminars are the Colgate student’s first opportunity to delve into their primary academic love or explore a new and intriguing field.
Every first-year seminar class bonds together through orientation activities and events alongside an upper-class link leader, creating a social relationship to complement the educational demands during the transition to collegiate work. Regardless of the central topic of each first-year seminar, every course provides intensive training in writing at the university level. The ins and outs of the university library system and strategies for studying are approached in a group setting. The professor becomes the student’s academic advisor until the student declares a major during sophomore year.
Professors
The warmth that one feels from the faculty at Colgate is created by a genuine interest in the well-being of the students. The faculty will arrange to meet students out at the Barge coffee shop for exam review or invite a whole class into their homes to encounter food and music from a different culture. Colgate professors also routinely invite undergraduate students to participate in their own academic research and projects, conducting studies during the school year and also during the winter and summer breaks. Colgate professors will not, however, accept less than what they believe is a student’s best work. Through a series of challenges, from intense classroom discussions to probing essay topics to demanding projects, Colgate professors lead each student to realize his or her own capabilities within a subject.
While Colgate professors maintain high expectations for their students, the students are not left to sink or swim. Professors at Colgate are known for their accessibility. Not only does each professor post between two and four office hours every week, often professors make themselves available by appointment as well. One of the hallmarks of the Colgate education is the degree of investment that every professor, staff member, and administrator has in every student’s success. Colgate professors are available to help at any stage of the work process, giving assistance in whatever may be causing difficulties for the student.
I have worked with legendary professors studying Mayan ruins in Copan and learning the local folk traditions of rural Indian villages. Only at Colgate could I bring experiences like that to both my economics course and to theatrical endeavors to come to a deeper level of understanding of both subjects. The professors that I have studied with are the kind who are at once quoted in the footnotes of Shakespeare texts and still enthused enough about teaching that they will gladly meet me for coffee to chat about a scene we did not even cover in class. — Dani Nolan, ’07, theater and Asian studies
Workload
The Colgate education is highly valued as a foundation for one’s adult life because academic success at Colgate is achieved through hard work. The Colgate student experiences a highly interactive classroom environment. Since Colgate is one of the nation’s leading liberal arts universities, there is a continual challenge set by both the volume and the complexity of coursework and studies. Students on campus tend to be incredibly self-motivated to continuously improve and achieve personal goals. Therefore a prospective student should expect to feel driven to succeed by his professors and by his personal ambitions.
Support is available at every stage of the academic process. Students have access to free tutoring in any subject, a student-operated writing center open six days a week, and a student staffed twenty-four-hour tech support service, to name only a few resources. Of course, each student needs to seek a balance in managing free time to complete assignments and coursework. The O’Connor Campus Center (the Coop) is an excellent location on campus to observe the status of work and rest. The student typing feverishly at a term paper in front of the large central hearth is coexisting with the student enjoying a smoothie with her friends in the dining lounge. The study spaces on campus, from the scenic window bridge of Persson Hall to the Keck Humanities Center, host both study groups and the ubiquitous napping student.
Students tend to balance their workload requirements with classes in contrasting fields. One’s four classes a semester may include everything from “Modern Theatre” to “Mega Geology” to “Chaucer.” Students will also typically enroll in a physical education class to help fulfill their requirements, adding golf or spinning class to complete a wellrounded day.
Core Curriculum
Colgate’s commitment to tradition is quintessentially expressed in the liberal arts curriculum. Colgate has one of the oldest liberal arts core curriculums in the country, including four general education courses. Two courses consist of the origins of Western thought and the philosophical revolution of the nineteenth century: Western Traditions and Challenge of Modernity. The scientific perspectives course and non-Western culture course allow Colgate students to experience a topic on the cutting edge of interdisciplinary science and explore the history and traditions of a culture in Africa, Asia, or the Americas. The six-course distribution reinforces the Colgate goal of providing a broad base of intellectual experience. Students will take two courses in three disciplines: humanities, social science, and the natural sciences and mathematics.
Study Abroad
In keeping with the university’s goal of developing world citizens with a global perspective, Colgate offers a robust study abroad program. Students are encouraged to study off campus for a semester with one of twenty-three programs. Approximately sixty-eight percent of Colgate students will study off campus during their four years. A professor will lead each program, teaching a course and aiding the study group to fully assimilate the study abroad courses into their Colgate transcript. Study abroad programs are offered in fourteen different countries, including Australia, Switzerland, Japan, and Spain, and also four domestic locations, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.
Colgate University Admissions
With each entering class of Colgate students, the application to be one of 720 first years becomes more and more competitive. Over 7,800 applications were submitted from all fifty states, Washington, DC, and 112 countries to become a part of the Colgate class of 2010. Roughly one third of those who applied were admitted to Colgate, and eight percent of the applicants were Early Decision. The standardized test scores were impressive, with the average SAT I Verbal and Math components at 690, and the composite ACT score reaching 31. In the classroom, a staggering ninety-five percent of the class of 2010 finished in the top twenty percent of their high school class. Every accepted applicant was lauded by outstanding teacher recommendations as well.
While scholastic and testing achievements are an important factor in the admission to Colgate, there is no formula for the way an application is analyzed. Accompanying the numerical expression of a student’s academics, Colgate is looking for applicants with a strong record of participation and community involvement. The school wants to know that you have challenged yourself with a rigorous course load including honors or Advanced Placement courses, and that you have explored your interests by engaging in outside activities and your community. Colgate seeks to accept a well-rounded class of creative, inquisitive, and motivated individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and passions. The admission staff is developing the future of the Colgate student culture with each admission decision, so they are seeking students who will develop, expand, and energize the activities and initiatives that exist on campus. Each application is reviewed several times, as the admission staff considers the applicant as a whole person, not merely a sum of statistics.
Early Decision is a fantastic decision for the prospective students who have fallen in love with Colgate and are positive that Colgate is their first choice (the decision is binding). Applications for Early Decision I must be filed by November 15, and a decision will be mailed out approximately one month later. Candidates can also be considered for Early Decision II until January 15 on a rolling basis, or may change their application to Early Decision after submission up until March 1. An admission decision is made approximately four weeks after the submission of all application materials. Over half of all Early Admission applicants were accepted into the Class of 2010, comprising forty-six percent of the entire class.
The Admission Office offers a number of on-campus programs to provide a taste of the Colgate experience. Prospective students and families are invited to take the scenic tour of campus with a knowledgeable Colgate student or to take part in personal informational interviews and group information sessions. All interviews are non-evaluative in the admission process, and allow a prospective student to ask questions of an admission officer or senior intern in a one-on-one setting. The forty-five-minute to one-hour group information session led by an admission officer provides a nice overview of Colgate life and an opportunity for students and family members to have questions answered. Perhaps the most enlightening experience for the prospective student is the overnight visit program coordinated by the Admission Office. Current undergraduates host prospective students in their dorm rooms and give the prospective students the opportunity to attend a class, eat in the dining halls, and participate in student life.
Colgate University Financial Aid
As everyone knows, college is an investment. Colgate’s education is a sound investment that should benefit the graduate throughout his or her entire life. Of course, the worrisome part is always trying to figure out how to pay for a private, highly selective, liberal arts university like Colgate. This is where Colgate financial aid comes in.
Colgate does not offer any merit-based aid, but for those who demonstrate need, Colgate does offer assistance. In a recent first-year class, forty percent of students receive an average of $28,000 in scholarship or grant—which does not need to be paid back—and the average total package comes in at $33,500 with student loans and other campus jobs. All applicants who applied for financial aid and demonstrated need for the class of 2010 had their need met in full. For those students who do rely on student loans, the total debt incurred after graduation averages just over $12,000—much lower than most of Colgate’s peer institutions.
Colgate also offers a variety of awards, such as the Stafford Loan, Perkins Loan, Pell Grant, Federal Work Study, and institutional grants. To apply for financial aid, prospective students must file the PROFILE application for financial aid with the College Scholarship Service (CSS). Also to be completed is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to be filed with the federal processor upon matriculation. Both applications can be completed and filed on-line.
Colgate University Students
At Colgate, one of the great advantages of living in a community with so many diverse, ambitious, and interested students is participating in the student culture on campus. Colgate students complement their rigorous academic life with a stimulating involvement in student-organized groups and the community.
When I first arrived at Colgate, I knew I wanted to major in astronomy, but I had no idea that by the time I would graduate I would study economics, philosophy, and British Comedy. I really threw myself into trying new things: I learned how to fence, I joined the Ballet Club and Swing Dancing Club, having never taken lessons, and I volunteered at the Hamilton Food Cupboard and worked with local kids through the organization Sidekicks. I had a valuable opportunity to learn about my hidden capabilities on campus.
The Center for Leadership and Student Involvement (CLSI) helps to coordinate more than one hundred student-organized groups on campus. At the beginning of each semester, underclassmen are invited to the Student Involvement Fair, where they can collect information and join the mailing list for incredibly diverse groups, from the artistic and performance initiatives to club sporting teams to cultural and political groups to fund-raising and volunteer organizations.
Greek System
Colgate’s Greek system is a strong part of campus tradition. Though not the predominant social force on campus, the fraternities and sororities that line Broad Street play an important role in philanthropy in the Hamilton area, hosting pumpkin-carving events and rubber ducky races for charity. Regardless of one’s Greek affiliation or independent status (as two-thirds of the campus identify), all Colgate students have equal access to the social events at all of the Greek and non-Greek upperclassmen housing.
Colgate operates a delayed recruitment system, so Colgate students must wait until their sophomore year before deciding to join a Greek organization. This leaves the entire first year free to explore all aspects of social life that Colgate offers. While fraternity and sorority life has been lampooned and lauded in entertainment media, Colgate works to maintain a healthful and functioning Greek system. Colgate owns all Greek and non-Greek housing on campus and works with its students to register and coordinate all social functions. Though the majority of Colgate students are not Greek, Colgate continues to foster the Greek system and to provide the most diverse social and residential options to its students.
As a freshman, I became deeply involved with theater through my first year seminar at Colgate. Although that has yielded some of my closest friends, joining a sorority has allowed me to broaden my horizons past anything I could have done on my own. I’ve made friends not only with girls in my own sorority, but girls from all four of them. It is so great to know that there is always someone there for me, whether she’s in my sorority or in another. That’s something that the Greek system guarantees for me. — Ally Dall, ’09, classics
Student Diversity
One quarter of the class of 2010 is comprised of students from multicultural backgrounds. With a fifth of the entire campus identifying as multicultural students, the range of culturally based events and groups abound in student life. The ALANA (African, Latino, Asian, and Native American) Cultural Center is a flagship for many of these organizations, sponsoring food tastings by groups like the China Club in its full kitchen and hosting workshops such as Skin Deep to promote awareness of racism, discrimination, and ethnocentrism in its large meeting room and lounge area. Student groups provide banquets and invite speakers to increase campus cultural visibility, such as the Banghra nights hosted by the South Asian Culture Club and speakers brought by The Brothers (a group based on relaying Black heritage) such as the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Spike Lee.
Additionally, the Office of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning) Initiatives provides support to the LGBTQ community and programs for the whole campus to enjoy. The initiative coordinates groups such as WorkOut for faculty, staff, and community members who are not out and Rainbow Alliance to support the students who are. The community and advocates throw events such as Big Gay Weekend, participate in Sex Week, run Safe Zone training events for student leaders and administrators, and sponsor lectures such as “Some Version of the Gay Cowboy” to inform and enliven the campus culture.
Artistic Life
Students profoundly express their ideas and create a campus dialogue through art. In support of the excellent art, theatre, and music departments on campus, the students coordinate an active calendar of events through the student groups in the arts initiative. The Colgate 13 are a sixty-five-year-old all-male a capella tradition, who annually perform around the country and record new albums. In addition, the all-female Swinging Gates and the coed Resolutions and the Dischords make beautiful music on campus. Musical performance opportunities abound from the Colgate Orchestra to the University Chorus to the Jazz Band.
Alumni members of the Colgate 13, or “Crusts” as they are known within the 13, are actively involved in maintaining the success of the group. Crusts help in setting up concerts, providing food and shelter on the road, and have established an endowment to provide transportation for the 13 in the form of “The Grunt,” a stretch limo that seats 13 and has become a symbol of the group’s touring achievements. Crusts constantly go out of their way to tell stories and folklore of the group, and to provide opportunities for current and future generations to create memories of their own. — Dennis Wong,’06, political science
The Theatrical Season is coordinated every year through the cooperative efforts of the University Theatre program and the Masque & Triangle, Colgate’s historic student dramatic society on campus. Between large main-stage productions, full-scale ballets, smaller poetry release nights, and One Night Stands (staged readings), there is a theatrical offering for every taste on any given weekend. The student artists on campus routinely display innovative work in the gallery-style Little Hall and present unexpected installations all over campus. The student media at Colgate also represent a fine tradition, with the oldest college weekly in the country, The Colgate Maroon News, and creative programming on the campus radio station WRCU, and CUTV, appropriately broadcast on channel 13.
The culmination of all campus artistic efforts is the annual student-coordinated “arts! Festival.” This weeklong celebration every spring offers performances, visiting artists, presentations of the improv comedy troupe Charred Goosebeak, and workshops for Colgate artists. The entire campus is awash with color and excitement, with beautiful lighting installations and ice sculpture on the quad, an arts bazaar in the COOP, and mono- chrome one-inch buttons adorning every lapel.
Volunteerism and Civics
Now celebrating its fifth year in operation, the COVE serves as a home for Colgate’s community service-based organizations. More than seventy percent of the student body is involved in the numerous service projects throughout the community, devoting their time to groups such as Sidekicks (a big brother/big sister mentoring program), Habitat for Humanity, SOMAC (the volunteer ambulance corps), Students for Environmental Action, and the Food Salvage Program.
To amplify the lively political debate and intellectual discourse on campus, CLSI has recently founded the Colgate Speaking Union (CSU). The CSU is composed of the Debate Team, Model United Nations, Mock Trial, and the Student Lecture Forum. The groups themselves are totally autonomous and run by students. In addition to competing domestically and abroad, the Debate Team helps to run a public discourse workshop during orientation, while regularly hosting showcase debates with various departments, including International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, and Women’s Studies. Since the inception of Colgate’s chapter of Model UN, the delegates have attended conferences at Georgetown, Yale, Penn, Oxford, Edinburgh, McGill, Harvard, Beijing, and Geneva. Colgate delegates have received awards ranging from Verbal Accommodation to Best Delegate. The Student Lecture Forum also provides students the opportunity to develop academic papers and lectures in an extracurricular setting, and also to compete in an annual contest with a monetary prize. Colgate’s education really works to develop the student’s role as a citizen, inside and outside the classroom.
Colgate University Athletics
Sports are near and dear to the spirit of every Colgate Raider, but not necessarily all at the Division I level. Colgate’s student athletes have one of the highest graduation rates in the country. Colgate’s varsity teams are Division I, with men’s hockey and basketball and women’s soccer and volleyball among the standouts. Hamilton residents, students, and alumni are often found crowding Starr Rink during hockey season to cheer on the team.
In keeping with the Colgate spirit, students are more apt to be found participating in sports than just watching from the sideline. Whether one chooses to participate through the club and intramural sports programs or join various sports interest groups, there is an athletic outlet for everyone.
Colgate also hosts a very active Outdoor Education program that sponsors activities such as spelunking, wilderness survival, and moonlight canoe trips during the fall and spring and snowshoeing and telemark skiing in the winter months. With the Adirondack Mountains a short drive from campus, the setting for outdoor sporting is absolutely perfect.
During the spring of my senior year, I was in the middle of the Varsity basketball season as the team co-captain and I was cast in a lead role for the Spring theatrical festival. Being able to balance academics and having an artistic extracurricular and athletics as well, really pushed my threshold. I never in a million years thought I would do all three of those things at once. Doing all three sums up what Colgate is all about. Colgate challenges you, but you learn you can go further than what you previously thought your limits were. — Alvin Reed, ’06, political science
Colgate University Local Community
Downtown Hamilton
Recently, Colgate’s hometown of Hamilton has witnessed a number of revitalizations and renovations. The cuisine of the town includes Greek and Italian at Numero Uno, sushi at Sushi Blues, traditional American fare in Nichols & Beale and The Colgate Inn, and Chinese at Main Moon. This list is hardly exhaustive, as it omits the two staples of a collegiate diet: pizza and coffee. Colgate students can be seen any day sipping a bubble tea and highlighting textbooks at the Barge Canal Coffee Shop or taking in the Midnight Movie (complete with a slice of pizza) at the beautifully renovated Hamilton Movie House.
Downtown also presents a center for cultural happenings, from the Hamilton Music Mix every summer to art gallery showings to book signings at the Colgate Bookstore. Hamilton also hosts many options for nightlife, including dancing at The Old Stone Jug, and more convivial options for students and community members of age.
Top 13 Places to Visit on a Colgate Weekend
- The Colgate Memorial Chapel
- The Old Limestone Quarry
- Creative Arts House (for their One Night Stands staged readings)
- Starr Rink
- The Barge Canal Coffee Shop
- The Glendening Boathouse
- The Angert Family Rock Climbing Wall
- The Edge Café
- Foggy Bottom Observatory
- The Picker Art Gallery
- Hamilton Movie House
- Seven Oaks Golf Course
- Amy’s Hideaway Café
Colgate University Alumni
Colgate alumni are supportive, enthusiastic, and interesting people. They define school spirit, showing up on campus to cheer on the athletic teams, but they are also personally interested in the daily life on campus. The time spent at Colgate is so special and impactful, that simply seeing someone walk down the street with a Colgate sweatshirt will instantly evoke a deep bond within the alumni/student community.
Alumni are continuously advocating for the current Colgate students, exemplified chiefly in the “Colgate Connection,” a volunteer network of over 3,000 alumni and parents coordinated by the Center for Career Services. These individuals provide career counseling and networking opportunities for current undergraduates, coming to campus to provide mock interviews and to participate in career exploration panels and simply being available by phone to inquisitive students.
Careers
Colgate is very serious about making each student’s liberal arts degree an essential springboard to a successful adult life. Typically, seventy-five percent of recent graduates are employed full-time after one year, and nearly twenty-one percent are attending graduate schools. Colgate’s Career Services Center brings more than 200 employers to campus every year to recruit current undergrads. Additionally, Career Services works to make sure Colgate students are prepared for employment opportunities as they arise, by leading cover letter writing workshops, offering workshops about careers in the modern market, and providing one-on-one appointments for resume writing, internship searches, and fellowship applicants. Careers in finance and consulting have tended to be popular among Colgate graduates; however, there are also a growing number of alumni working in education, public service, and the nonprofit sector. The Colgate student who wishes to experiment intellectually and attempt new sports, hobbies, and art forms will invariably become the Colgate alumna or alumnus who seeks a challenging and fulfilling career after graduation. Luckily, there are more than 28,000 alumni and a committed staff on campus that are able to help realize a successful future.
Prominent Grads
- Charles Evans Hughes, 1884, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
- Broken Lizard, ’90, ’91, ’92, Comedy
- Group of Super Troopers and Club Dread Fame
- Gloria Borger, ’74, Journalist and CBS Television Commentator
- William Rogers, ’34, Former Secretary of State
- Andy Rooney, ’42, Television Commentator
- Francesca Zambello, ’78, Opera and Theater Director
- Adona Foyle, ’98, Center for the Golden State Warriors and Founder of “Democracy Matters”
- Ed Werner, ’71 and John Honey, ’70, Creators of Trivial Pursuit













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