<p>If any 09's or prospective students have any questions about Colby I'll be checking in periodically and I'll try and answer them.</p>
<p>Hey! I had a question about fridge rentals - how much is rental?
Is it better to buy or to rent?</p>
<p>How challenging are your classes?<br>
Were you able to get the ones you wanted as a freshman?<br>
What's the dating/hookup scene like?<br>
Do you ever wish you went to a bigger school because the student body is only 1800?<br>
Sorry these are scattered and ultimately random questions... but I have less than a week to pick :-x</p>
<p>I'm not really sure about the fridge rental, my roommate just showed up with one freshman year. Its definitely cheaper to buy one if your planning on using it all four years, in the summer Colby will give you the phone number of your roommmate call them and figure out what stuff each one of you will bring (or any stuff you guys want to buy for the room).</p>
<p>It varies from class to class and major to major. If you want you could go through Colby taking nothing but easy classes or you could be a double Econ/Biochem major and spend all four years in the library. Pretty much you can do whatever you want, its very easy to find intellecutal challenge if you want it and its relatively easy to coast by if you want to do that too. I've already had a few professors I absolutely love and I haven't yet had one I really hated. And the small classes are awesome.</p>
<p>Freshmen get preference for a lot of intro level classes so it was never a problem for me. You might have a problem trying to get into a popular upper level class because they give preference to majors and by seniority (but most freshmen take mostly intro classes). </p>
<p>At Colby you either have a girlfriend/boyfriend or you go out, get drunk, and hook up randomly, there's not really any middle ground with casual dating (but this is true at almost every school). If you want to go nuts and drunkenly hook up with lots of people the option is definitely there (you'll quickly learn what a Heights dance is).</p>
<p>There are definitely times I wish Colby was a little bigger, sometimes it gets a little claustraphobic and I feel like I'm partying with the same people every weekend. Waterville doesn't help much either, the town isn't as bad as some people say it is but there isn't much for college kids besides a movie theater and a few bars. Then again Colby the small size gives Colby an amazing sense of community. And the isolation in Maine makes you go out into the beautiful Maine outdoors and gives Colby kids an awesome ability to have fun in just about any situation. Its all about what you want in a school, the size is awesome for me but I know a couple kids who transferred out because they couldn't deal with it (and a few kids who transferred in because they couldn't deal with huge state schools). And going back to your last question, if you hook up with someone, people are going to know about it: word travels fast on a campus this small.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help already, but I have a few, even more random questions. Sorry about that...</p>
<p>*How difficult is it to get around without a car? I know you basically can't even get to Waterville without one...not that there's much there, but are there ways to get off campus if you want?
*Which are considered the more serious majors? Are there ones people end to go to to slack off?
*Do they send a suggested reading list in the summer?
*What's your opinion of the dorms as a whole? Are substance-free / quiet dorms any better/worse? Is there really much of a difference between the people in those dorms and the people in others?
*What are some complete dorm necessities? i.e. do you need extra mattress pads, xl sheets... that kind of thing. (I probably sound paranoid but I swear I'm just slightly neurotic...)</p>
<p>That ends that for now. Thanks!</p>
<p>Are there any specific classes or professors that you would recommend or not recommend?</p>
<p>There is a school run jitney service (theyll pick you up in a van and drive you wherever you want in Waterville) but it can take awhile to come pick you up. A ton of students have cars though so you can usually just find someone to give you a ride or borrow a friends car. </p>
<p>Remember that you can work hard in all majors (I know people in American Studies who get ****ed off because some people make fun of it) but generally hard majors are the sciences besides Geology, Government, Econ, and English. Easier majors are sociology and American Studies.</p>
<p>Dorms are okay, as a freshman your going to be in a one room double or triple in various sizes. There are suites that are awesome but you can generally only get them as a junior or senior (and there aren't enough for all juniors and seniors to get them). There's also a quota system that forces people from all four years to live in every dorm, this is nice as a freshman or sophmore because you get to know people from the upper classes but it sucks as a junior or senior because some people will inevitably get stuck in dorms with no suites. From what I've seen and heard from visiting other schools we have much better housing than most huge schools but it isnt as good as most similar liberal arts schools. </p>
<p>Quiet/ chem free dorms are great if you dont drink and dont want to deal with loud noise/puking in the bathroom/the constant smell of stale beer you'll find in other dorms. I personally couldn't handle living in chem free (and think the above stuff is part of going to college), I would say live in chem free only if your absolutely sure your not going to drink and can't really handle other people drinking. If you really need to work you can always go to the library. While there are exceptions kids in chem free dorms tend to be segregated (and segregate themselves) from the rest of campus. And you can always switch into or out of chem free if its really a problem.</p>
<p>Mackenzie (gov), Opal (history), and Basset (English) are all great professors that I've had, I'm mostly a humanities guy so I can't really talk about other majors. I'd also definitely reccomend taking an integrated studies cluster (groups of two or three classes in different disciplines that have some sort of common theme). They are limited to 20 or so kids and each student is required to enroll in all of the classes, meaning you get to know your professor and the other students in your class really well.</p>
<p>Dorm necessities: I don't remember about the sheets I think they send you something over the summer about what to bring. Anything you really need you can get at Walmart in Waterville.</p>
<p>Hey there,
I am kind-of-sort-of interested in International Studies, what do you have to say about Intl Studies from your personal experience or things you've heard from people? Is it good? Is it hard or easy?</p>
<p>thank you!! We actually just got a letter about integrated studies classes.. I'm thinking of an anthropology one that ends with going to Greece--sounds pretty good to me! Thanks again.</p>
<p>Colby07,
thanks for coming back to answering questions, very helpful. Could you talk about the foreign language and math requirements? Especially for those people who aren't big into math or languages?</p>
<p>International Studies is also awesome, the way it and the other interdisciplinary majors work is your required to take classes in a number of different majors (in IR its Gov, History, Econ, and Anthropology) and then you have to choose to focus on one area (int'l finance, peace studies, focusing in on a particular region, etc). I took intro to Int'l Studies because its required for all Gov majors, it was ok but I've heard better things about the upper level classes.</p>
<p>I haven't taken my math requirement yet but there are ways to get out of it without taking calculus, Intro to Statistics, intro to compsci, and two logic classes all fulfill your math requirement so its pretty easy to get rid of (also a 4 or 5 on AP Calculus will do it).</p>
<p>The language requirement has been my biggest problem with Colby's academics because I'm awful at languages, you do have to take a language up to the third semester level. You can test out of the requirement with SAT II's or test into a higher level so you won't actually have to take three semesters. And there's a lot to choose from, I think Colby offers Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, and Chinese.</p>
<p>Thanks Colby07,
I wanted to find out how exactly are Colby approved abroad programs get financed. I got fin aid and I want to do a three week program in Russia for Jan Plan - do I have to provide the money for the program or is it going to be taken from the aid package? Sorry if it is a stupid question.</p>
<p>I really have no idea, I know the school extends financial aid for some of the study abroad programs but I think it depends on the program and the student. Email the study abroad office.</p>
<p>thanks, I will do that.</p>
<p>P.S. this thread is great!</p>
<p>I didn't really get a chance to look around Miller Library much while I was visiting the campus. What is the atmosphere of the inside of the building like? Is it easy to find nice quiet little rooms to study in? Are there comfortable chairs? Is there room there whenever you want it, or does it sometimes get crowded?</p>
<p>And yes, this thread is great :)</p>
<p>There are tons of comfortable chairs and desks all around, the only time it really gets crowded is around finals week (but you can still usually find a space somewhere). A lot of people also study in the street, the hallway underneath the library that almost everyone walks through a couple times a day. There are couches and tables and chairs and a coffee stand down there.</p>
<p>Hey, I have a question about off-campus work. I got work study in my fin aid package but am considering having a second job, would you recommend having a second job in freshman year? How hard is it to find a job off or on campus that is not work study, in addition to work study?
sorry if my questions are unclear...</p>
<p>hi colby07, this thread is really helpful</p>
<p>1.) I know that I need a computer next year and I was thinking about a laptop, but my parents are concerned that it will be stolen. can you tell me if theft is a big problem on campus, is this a valid concern?
2.) Do the majority of the students have laptops or desktops?
3.) Does each student need to bring their own printer, or are there ports to print from (like in the library)?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Without a car it would be almost impossible to have a job off campus, I know of a few kids who do work at restuarants or stores but its pretty hard. Most people work on campus. </p>
<p>Most kids have laptops, I have never heard of anyone getting their laptop stolen. Even though many of my friends (and me and my roommates) leave our door open at almost all hours. People will leave laptops in the open in the library and it just wont be a problem. COming from an urban area where backpacks would regularly get stolen from the hallways of my schools this was somehwat of a revelation, it really shows how awesome and safe Colby's community is. And you get a Colby email account, its real easy to just email your paper to yourself and print it out in one of the computer labs. A printer is not neccesary.</p>