Reading online reviews, Colgate seems to come off as a great school but with a rich, athletic, heavy drinking reputation.
My son is still waiting for a decision since he’s RD but any thoughts/experiences on fitting in for more bookish less wealthy non-drinking students? Is it possible to find that niche at Colgate?
There is definitely a small niche for students like your son. However the happiest student are the wealthy, males, who drink/party a lot and have an average gpa. The students who are unhappy here tend to be people like your son. however there definitely are kids like your son who love Colgate its just a smaller amount than at bigger or more libral schools…
Well he is currently at a very small school (65 students in his senior class) and he has a core of 5-6 kids he hangs around with. I am hoping with about 500 students in his Colgate class (assuming of course he gets in) he can find a similar group of friends, but I was looking for some reassurance I suppose!
Do you have a son or daughter at Colgate curtislumber or are you a student there?
Hey artie1, there is definitely a niche for your son at Colgate. However, the amount of students like your son at Colgate is really quite small and the pressure to be like the affluent, party-hungry majority is immense to be frank. If your son can easily make friends within that group of people before the cliques form he will be as happy as anywhere else. I can attest that I had a terrible time until basically forced into friendships on a study abroad trip with students similar to me.
If you tell me more about your son such as his academic interests and hobbies, it’d be easier to predict how well he’d fit. I have both seen and been seen as that kid eating alone in a busy dining hall and it is just a terrible thing to have happen.
It seems like there are a lot of schools that would be a better fit for a kid like that…
Well he has a 2 full tuition scholarships already-one to a SUNY college and one to a smaller not well known LAC with an Honors program. He is waiting for news from U of Rochester and Colgate which will come late March probably. He is into music mostly and the usual video-gaming with friends but he has a pretty wide-ranging interest in academic subjects. He will probably major in Poly Sci. Problem is the LAC is asking for an answer on the scholarship by the end of February.
As a current student at Colgate, I have always classified myself as a nerdy type who avoids drinking/partying. I’ve found that it’s easy to hate the drinking and partying culture here, as so many students frequently end up focusing more on socializing and a “need” to go out rather than spending a Friday in the library. However, I have my small group of friends and surround myself with people who focus on academics first and who dislike the party culture. There’s a multitude of opportunities to see free movie screenings, go into town anytime at a nice (or cheap) restaurant, or participate in any other cultural/volunteer event on campus. Colgate is a beautiful school and there hasn’t been a day where I don’t love it here because of my positive attitude and my own desire to focus on important things. If your son is anything like me, he will want to choose Colgate because of the personalized attention from professors and quality education, and he would find it easy to not be a part of a drinking/partying culture if he chooses to be independent enough to do so.
Also, eating alone at the dining hall isn’t terrible. It’s actually nice to be comfortable with being alone sometimes.
Thanks portraiture97, I was hoping to hear there is a place at Colgate for the non-partyers!