<p>Could you tell me some advantages and disadvantages of these three schools and which one you prefer to attend?</p>
<p>I know that they are all academically similar but I have a feeling that Colgate has the best internship opportunities.
Also, which school gives more FA to internationals?
How are study abroad programs for both?
How are people like in general? </p>
<p>P.S. I'm not a drinker but likes to go to some parties. Will this impact me when attending Colgate? </p>
<p>These are three fine schools in rural, cold locations. Colby might be the best academically, followed by Hamilton and then Colgate. Colgate is probably the bigger party school of the three, although I hesitate to call schools of this caliber party schools. The internship and study abroad programs are pretty equal, maybe with a nod going to Colgate. Colgate’s alumni network may be the most famous of the three. Sports are big at Colgate, but I’m not very familiar with sports at Colby. Hamilton has a reputation of graduating well-prepared writers because lots of writing is required in almost every course. Hamilton is probably the least known in the states, but that is changing. I don’t think any of the schools are noted for their FA, but Colgate probably least of all. I haven’t seen Colby’s campus, but the campuses at the others are really quite nice. I liked Hamilton’s dorms better than Colgate’s, but I liked the architecture at Colgate.</p>
<p>I have heard it said that the students at Hamilton can be quite liberal, Colgate less so. I don’t know Colby’s politics. I’ve heard it said that many Colby students are waiting to transfer out to an ivy but the school’s 93% retention figure seems to belie this.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 I actually prefer rural settings as a nature lover. So that wouldn’t be a problem. Since I would like to major in Economics, I think Hamilton’s not my fit…? maybe… And I’m not very good at writing, but that’s something that I can learn there. I heard Colby provides generous FA to internationals, I need to find out about that more. I don’t mind the politics that much so it should be okay. </p>
<p>Um do you think I wouldn’t fit in at colgate as a non-drinker? </p>
<p>I just looked up Colby aid to internationals and yes it looks quite generous. I posted it in the aid form for someone recently. like 150 students, 100 on aid, avg aid 50k. It is a very good school, Maine is beautiful.</p>
<p>OH! I see it was you I looked those stats up for. Why don’t you extract those stats for the other schools and see if it is a much different picture, I bet it is. I would likely pick Colby, I loved visiting Portland ME, but I really don’t know enough about these schools and it is a personal preference…</p>
<p>There are plenty of pics and online descriptions. If you are being realistic about expectations then just make the best choice you have. They are all good and fairly comparable in general. My daughter didn’t get to see her college in advance either but felt comfortable.</p>
<p>OP: A lot of the on-aid internationals at Colby are UWC students, who are treated differently in the admissions process. You would probably get the same aid were you to get into all of these schools and the competition for it is probably the same.</p>
<p>I honestly do not like these schools, except for Hamilton, because of their homophobic (in the case of Colgate) and jock-filled campuses.</p>
<p>OP, as for drinking, I think there’s a lot of it at Colgate. But it didn’t put off my abstemious child. She thought she could find things to do socially. She’s at a large public right now and there’s a lot of drinking there and it doesn’t seem to faze her–just to give you a measure of her level of drinking tolerance. </p>
<p>Rural in the northeast colleges in particular can mean a lot of kids with drinking problems. You want to assure yourself that there are things to do on campus on weekends that the school has organized. When you’re as remote as these three schools, you can’t just take yourself into town to see a first-run movie or an opera. The school really has to have an active dean of students who is organizing these alternative events. Ask the AO office for a list of school-sponsored social events from the Fall semester.</p>
<p>@luckyguy7 , your acceptance at CC . . . that wasn’t ED was it (just asking because it was in the ED/EA thread for Colorado Coll.)? Because this would change the conversation.</p>
@luckyguy7: Hamilton and Colby are similar in size and athletic conference (NESCAC). So I’d compare these two first and then compare your favorite to the larger Colgate. I like Colby, but I think Hamilton’s history and architecture make it the more interesting of the two schools. And all things being equal, I prefer interesting – especially in a small school that could otherwise be excessively homogeneous. Colgate is more sports and fraternity oriented than the other two. (Colby does not have fraternities, Hamilton does not have residential fraternities. Neither have Division 1 sports.) You can find a couple of brief perspectives on the architecture of Hamilton and Colgate on a Hamilton/Colgate/Lehigh thread.
If the idea of a classic small college appeals to you, look to Hamilton and Colby first. If not, then Colgate is also great, with a size, as well, that appeals to many. Good luck.
I agree with @merc81. I think most people would consider Hamilton to be stronger academically than Colby. Especially in the field of economics, I think the faculty is stronger at Hamilton. Part of this is Hamilton has a stronger pipeline to Wall Street than Colby. Hamilton has a solid history of producing and preparing students for banking and finance careers, and hence economics is a stronger department. As between Colgate and Hamilton, I think it comes down to whether you like the size differences and the social scenes.
“How does one measure the strength of the economics faculty at either school?”
It’s not easy. But you can find a few resources here and there. For example (putting Colgate aside), Choosing the Right College (2012-13) highlights the professors they regard as exceptional. Hamilton has two economics professors listed, Colby one. And as stated, economics is the most popular concentration at Hamilton.
In this thread, the OP seemed to be thinking about eliminating Hamilton because of a presumed weakness in economics. So the case does not not have to be conclusively made that one school is stronger than the other, but only that eliminating Hamilton for this reason would be a hasty decision.
I think I’m going with Colby. </p>