<p>Okay so I'm not preppy really at all. I'm not athletic. I am very studious and don't love parties and have a small circle of close friends. Will i feel like an outlier at Colgate? I just feel like it has this reputation for being white, spirited, preppy and athletic...</p>
<p>It is big enough to have students with the same qualities as you. Don’t worry.</p>
<p>Further to the last point my advice is to be who you are, get involved and lead/follow/enjoy and distinguish yourself! The community is vibrant and well supported by Colgate’s caring administration. I would be shocked if you did not agree following a visit to campus meeting with students, faculty and staff.</p>
<p>If you think of yourself as a little mouse who wants to hide out and study all the time with only a couple of close friends, I might choose another school but I have no idea what school that would be! EVERY college I know of rewards energy and involvement, so hopefully you will make that effort to grow and change and find academic and other areas to get excited about. That could be publications, clubs, athletics, drama, or just deep involvement in arts and academics. Colgate is not a small little college with one typical type of student. It’s big enough (2800) to be have the opportunities and the variety of a larger university in some ways, but it’s still small enough to be friendly like a small liberal arts college. </p>
<p>As to the whole preppy thing, most top liberal arts and many Ivies have this reputation going back many decades because they traditionally admitted a lot of WASPy kids. That’s changed a great deal, but there are still preppy kids, most students are white and so on. Sorry to tell you this, but few elite colleges look like Los Angeles or San Francisco. </p>
<p>Colgate has about 25% of its student body made up of ethnic minorities and foreign students. More might be better, but the expense probably keeps some away.<br>
Most of business, law, and so on are also not filled with ethnic minorities, either, I’m afraid, so I don’t see this as a college issue but more of a social issue that affects most of American society. </p>
<p>Again, you’d have to visit and spend some time there to see if you like it. If it’s preppy kids drinking beer and watching sports on TV, I’d go elsewhere, myself. I would want thoughtful, creative, interesting people – plus a little beer and some sports, too, maybe. </p>
<p>Colgate students are generally bright, energetic, outgoing, involved, interesting. If you are convinced you are not most of those things, maybe it’s not the school for you. But, are you sure who you are today is who you will be in four years? No high school student who enrolls in a good college stays the same. They grow, evolve, and change a lot. And there aren’t too many more supportive, beautiful, and top-rated places to do that than schools like Colgate. If it stretches you beyond what you’re comfortable with now, that’s a good thing. Think of who you were four years ago. I imagine you were very different then. Would you still want to be like that today? I wouldn’t.</p>
<p>I was not very “involved” in high school beyond my one major extracurricular (horseback riding) and Colgate changed that, though I did study a lot too. There is substance-free housing where you can meet many like-minded students and the student body is surprisingly diverse in terms of interests and personalities.</p>
<p>You sound like my older D, who graduated from Colgate in 2008.</p>
<p>You will do just fine if you decide to attend Colgate. I agree with Colgate Dad - be sure and visit before you make the final decision.</p>
<p>After D was accepted, she was invited to attend accepted student’s weekend. A co-worker whose daughter was a Colgate grad suggested I not send in the deposit until after the weekend, as she knew a student who went and decided against Colgate afterwards her weekend.</p>
<p>It is all about fit. And the only way you really can determine it is by spending time on campus.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I will be visiting soon and am definitely considering it- if for no other reason, bc it has a good reputation! But yeah, I agree that I have to be open and think about who I’m becoming as well…</p>