<p>My daughter has narowed her choices down to these two. While they have a lot in common, they also seem to have some important differences.</p>
<p>I wonder if anyone has any insight as to the differences between the two?</p>
<p>My daughter narrowed her choices down to three schools–one of the three was Colgate, and the other was Colby. She did an overnight at Colgate and just did not click with the students at all, then went to Colby for a visit and fell in love with the place. I think it really is just a matter of what “feels right” to the student when it comes to these two schools. I think they are both great choices and both have beautiful campuses. You can’t go wrong, though they do have different feels, but I can’t really describe that in words. My daughter did not like Colgate, and she LOVES Colby. She is a sophomore.</p>
<p>We visited both. Son didn’t even apply to Colgate. It has a real greek, jock mentality that he didn’t care for. Both schools are strong academically, each has beautiful campus up on a hillside. Colby had a MUCH friendlier, personal way of dealing with visitors, and their orientation talk was one of the best we heard. It’s a matter of personal preference. You should visit them both if you haven’t already. My son (and I) much prefer Colby.</p>
<p>We have visited both, and will be doing so again before she makes a decision.</p>
<p>I thought at the time that Colby had made a much more positive impression on her, but now she can’t decide between the two.</p>
<p>I agree----it seems there is much more of a Jock/Frat atmosphere at Colgate than at Colby.</p>
<p>My D had the same issue four years ago, and her visit back to each school clinched it. Colby won hands down–the students and faculty at Colby were bright, engaged, friendly, and didn’t have anything to prove. The atmosphere at Colgate seemed just the opposite (to us as parents as well). She’s now a Senior, has loved Colby, and has had AMAZING opportunities there. One element to be very aware of as a significant difference between the two (at least 4 years ago) is their attitude toward study abroad. Colgate has a few specific programs that they want you to choose from, and they discourage going for anything outside that box. Colby, by contrast, has partnered with many many programs, and is wide open to new projects. And, important from a parent’s point of view, ALL of our D’s financial aid package traveled with her–this was NOT going to be the case at Colgate. So, in her four years, she has traveled the world and had some incredible experiences! Small wonder she’s a little ambivalent about graduating… ;)</p>
<p>I totally agree with cadence76. My daughter is doing her fall semester of 2013 in Thailand doing environmental studies and studying intensive Thai, and the program that she is doing this with is sponsored or organized by, I believe, Kalamazoo College in Michigan. LOTS of opportunities to study abroad. This will be my daughter’s second semester studying abroad as a Colby Student–the first was Fall of her Freshman year when she studied in Dijon where all of her classes were in French. She specifically picked Colby because of it’s emphasis on study abroad, and it was very clear to her that study abroad was not as emphasized/encouraged at Colgate.</p>