I was recently admitted to Colby, Hamilton, Bucknell, and Richmond. I am very excited and grateful for the opportunity to attend any of these schools.
I would really appreciate any information that may help me decide which school is the best fit for me.
***things to note:
I haven’t visited any of these schools except Hamilton, but I plan on attending all of their open houses in April.
I am undecided, but leaning towards the humanities.
I don’t drink and am not planning on rushing (would appreciate any insight on the social scene at these schools)
Hamilton would probably be the most academically and socially balanced from your group, but visit all your choices this month, if you can, in order to get a further feel for their campus atmospheres.
At Bucknell, most students participate in sororities and fraternities. About a quarter of students participate at Hamilton and Richmond. Colby abolished sororities and fraternities in 1984.
I attended Hamilton (but a while back) so I’m biased but congrats on some very great choices! Are you interested in traveling abroad or studying languages? I would definitely encourage you to go on campus visits and maybe even stay overnight if possible. You honestly can’t go wrong with any of these schools.
I don’t know if I can help you decide, but I have some information to offer.
My nephew and my future son-in-law both went to Hamilton. They are utterly different people, but they both had a really good experience there. My nephew is sort of a super-serious hippie, who grew up in a rural area. He had a roll-your-own major in Philosophy of Agriculture. Not only did the college let him do that, it also (a) funded a significant summer research project, (b) provided seed capital and became the lead customer for a community-supported agriculture program he started, and (c) paid a professor at SUNY-ESF to supervise him, since no one on the Hamilton faculty had deep expertise. That's darn impressive. Meanwhile, my future son-in-law was a jock who went to an urban Catholic prep school, who had a serious interest in literature and poetry. He got a great education at Hamilton; he's really smart; and he has had meaningful, decently-paid jobs in New York City in publishing (a tough field) since he graduated. Neither was in a fraternity, and neither has ever even mentioned a fraternity when they talked about their college (and future son-in-law is the kind of person who would probably have joined a fraternity at a college where fraternities were strong).
A relative and his wife are both faculty members at Colby. They love the college, and their commitment to and relationships with their students is really impressive. Over the years, they have talked my ear off about why Colby is clearly superior to its Main(e) rivals Bowdoin and Bates. I won't go into all of that, since you are not considering those schools, but the core of their argument is that Colby has a strong culture of close involvement between faculty and students and it is secure financially. Their ex-students do meaningful work in places like Washington, D.C., Boston, New York, San Francisco.
3 .Bucknell and Richmond – while both “small” in the general scheme of American higher education – are both about twice as big as Hamilton or Colby.
Transportation is something you should think about. Bucknell, Colby, and Hamilton are all basically really isolated and hard to travel to and from without a car. All three are a meaningful distance from the nearest not-so-major airport. Hamilton is maybe a little less isolated than the others, since it's less than an hour from Syracuse. All three are also likely to be colder and snowier than Richmond during the winter. Bucknell and Hamilton get lake effect snow regularly.
All of them fit the profile for a fair amount of drinking -- rural or suburban residential LACs with a predominantly affluent student body. I think there's a lot of drinking that goes on at all of them. I'm sure all of them try to foster social opportunities for nondrinkers, but I don't know how successful they are at that. Fraternities are very strong at Bucknell and Richmond, much less so at Hamilton and nonexistent at Colby.
Richmond has a first-rate music program. The city of Richmond, while not exactly a world-class metropolis, is a state capital and has a lot more to offer than Clinton, Lewisburg, or Waterville (or for that matter Utica, Harrisburg, or Augusta), and is something of a regional magnet for college students from UVa, Liberty, William & Mary.
Colby is wonderful academically and uses talented test faculty. It is located in Maine and is close enough to mountains and the ocean to enjoy. The students are busiy pursuing study and outdoor activities on campus. It is reasonable to assume that there is an available means of getting to the airport. Also there is lots to enjoy along the coast and ferries to Nova Scotia where you can visit the English and French towns, Cape Breton, Louisville, Peggys Cove to eat scallops and gingerbread ans so much more. Truly a dream school and place to me.
Bucknell is the largest among them and the only one with three colleges within the University. The benefit of which is a diverse group of academically focused students. I think location issue for all them is over played across the board. You are only on campus 2/3rd of the year so do you want to build connections during your college time or want a drive by experience. Also consider focusing on outcomes. I am not sure what the others do but Bucknell is very transparent about outcomes breaking out annually the most recent graduating class by their major to which employers and income or grad schools (https://www.bucknell.edu/about-bucknell/career-development-center/students/get-started/postgraduate-report). I would encourage you to get for all them and consider the relative value of their alumni networks. Anyone that does not offer transparency in this regard you may want to take off your list.
As for locations, Bucknell is nestled in a more beautiful rural area. U of R is located on the city line in a beautifully wooded area of Richmond, close to the James River. The city of Richmond itself provides culture, warmth, great food and craft beers, and has an active festival/outdoor community. Lots of green spaces as well as museums, concert, art and theater venues. The city also has a vibrant business and medical community. If you want to get a way, it sits about 90 miles from DC, the mountains, and the beach (N,W and E).