<p>My D did not choose to attend but did visit, apply, and was accepted with the most surprising aid package she received (much better than other schools routinely considered “more generous” on cc) .</p>
<p>I echo the previous comments/compliments on the admissions staff, the campus beauty, the school spirit, the academics. All were outstanding. Since my kid is a pre-med the consideration of “pre-professional” was not a concern of her’s but strong, stimulating, eye-opening academic experiences were. She felt Colgate fit both of her requirements (preparation for med school and intellectual stimulation) as did Hamilton and Middlebury (although both of them had more students who appeared artsy/quirky). </p>
<p>I do want to add that her impression was that the student body at Colgate was the friendliest she encountered anywhere on her visits. I have very fond memories of my admittedly very limited time there. It was hard to see Colgate go by the way-side but they can only go to one at a time. ;)</p>
<p>Just a quick clarification: Colgate does not offer merit aid, but my experience has been that they practice “preferential packaging” financial aid - if they really want you, your “need” will somehow be greater than some other schools. Colgate’s aid always substantially exceeded what would have been expected by my D’s FAFSA and Profile EFC’s.</p>
<p>And Colgate’s Admissions Office really is wonderful - the students who work there love love love Gary Ross, about whom there are endless stories of his prodigious memory of students’ application materials.</p>
<p>Colgate does have merit aid, however it is not available per-se through the university, but through outside awards that are dedicated to Colgate students.</p>
<p>The search engine on their site appears to be down so I can’t find the link , sorry.
However, I will also emphasize that with schools that use their own financial aid forms, not only can they use digression in deciding who has need and what should be available for college, they also can find ways to give aid to students beyond what the FAFSA EFC would indicate.</p>
<p>That’s interesting; I’ve never heard that. It would be a good link if you can find it. I wonder how it works - is there an association (like an alumni association) independent of the school that awards such aid? And has anyone heard of other schools using this method of providing merit aid to non-merit-aid colleges’ students?</p>
<p>And Crewdad - Yes, I know Colgate has some athletic scholarships. Usually “merit” aid means aid awarded for academic achievement. I don’t mean to imply that athletes don’t “merit” their scholarships, it’s just a rhetoric distinction.</p>
<p>Crewdad,
My D was AMs. I can see that you might call the $5,000 “merit aid”, but it’s a one-time allocation available only if the student develops a proposal for study. </p>
<p>I’m not real keen on the “pre-professional” moniker - my guess is there’s just as many future doctors and lawyers at any other good LAC. I will say that the kids there generally are straight-forward about wanting to make a decent living.</p>
<p>I wasn’t suggesting athletic scholarships were synonymous with merit awards. I was poining out, as far as I’m aware, Colgate is the only top LAC that offers recruited athletes scholarships.</p>
<p>I met Gary a few times when my dtr applied and was amazed at his kindness. And a friend is a personal friend of Gary. You’re correct, he is loved.</p>
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<p>Hence my comment it’s an award with specified uses. Free money, even if only available for limited uses, is <em>merit</em> aid to me ;)</p>
<p>My general impression is that Colgate has a very affluent student body, yet offers some surprisingly generous need based student aid. This rests upon less information than most posters here are privy to. Largely based upon the kid downstairs, who was choosing between North Carolina and Colgate, and for whom money was an issue.</p>
<p>When we drove into town late one evening there was a dusting of snow on the ground and the lights of campus on the hill made for a stunning scene. I fell in love. Great sushi restaurant in town. My son was an athletic recruit. The coach drove us all over campus and town. The admissions office was awesome and I loved the ice cream. The students were friendly and the tour was one of the best we’ve had. I think they bring a lot of speakers, performers etc to campus. Strong Greek scene and lots of drinking, but I don’t see how they can possibly drink anymore than they do at Penn.
Academics are strong and the job placement was excellent- but that was before the current economic woes.<br>
It’s D1 athletics and I felt Colgate had a different vibe from Williams (which I also loved).</p>
<p>MomofWildChild, we are fellow travelers. I always imagined in my heart that my kids would end up at Williams. O for two so far. One more on the way.
As an aside, I can’t imagine the drinking is less at Princeton and Dartmouth than at Penn and Colgate. Bottoms up!</p>
<p>Visited Colgate & have many acquaintances w/ kids there. When we arrived there, at night, in the snow, after a stressful ride, I went through the stop light and made a U turn and basically rode through a stop sign (I was looking for a soritety house to see a young family member) the local policeman pulled me over. He was so sweet (thought I was DWI, on a Sunday night) and let me go and wished us a good visit. You gotto to love that!</p>
<p>Ditto on Colgate reminds me of Bucknell. Great post grad recruiting for jobs.</p>
<p>I’m a Williams alum and parent of a 2009 Colgate grad. I actually think there are a lot of similarities between these two schools - great liberal arts education, rural location (with the pros/cons of that, but one key pro is a tight campus community) and intensely loyal alumni. </p>
<p>I don’t see the “pre-professional” label applying to Colgate uniquely - in my personal experience, Williams could also be labeled “pre-professional” (economics is the most popular major at Williams) and I see many Williams students each year come through the interview process at my employer. I don’t think the “pre-professional” label is at all helpful or relevant to a student looking at either of these schools, however - you can major in just about anything you want at either of these schools and pursue a career on Wall Street or as an attorney or whatever else would make you “pre-professional”. </p>
<p>I do think one big difference between the schools is a commitment to the arts - Williams’ music, theatre and art are much stronger. Colgate does, however, have a very good art and art history major. There are several really excellent professors in this department.</p>
<p>The recent Princeton Review rankings put Colgate on 5 “top 20” lists - I’m paraphrasing but they were: happiest students, most beautiful campus, best classroom experience, close relationships with professors and lots of beer. I think those are pretty darn accurate! My son agrees.</p>
<p>My son absolutely loved Colgate. He’d go there all over again if he could. As parents we were really pleased with his experience. Graduation was a nice celebration of his 4 years - it was great spending time with his friends and their families, all of whom we came to know well over the last 4 years. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was attending a reception at which I met and chatted with several of his professors; what struck me was how well each of them knew my son. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have about the school. I definitely recommend visiting - as others above have noted, Colgate admissions does a great job and its director of admissions, Gary Ross, is the best.</p>
<p>hey, i grew up around there…not much happening. The campus itself though is quite beautiful. A friends son goes there and he’s happy…but was fine with small and fine with rural. And I mean rural. Folks say that a place like PSU is rural…yeah but there’s a very active college town around it with lots of stores, bars, restaurants. Cornell is similar. Colgate doesn’t offer much there…and Utica and Syracuse…well, I guess I’m biased…but these are not fun places for college students.
So you have to be fine with living in a small (and very cold!) cocoon.</p>
<p>I’m glad to see all the fond thoughts of parents re. Colgate. On our visits, my D really loved Colgate which surprised me as I didn’t think she would like the Greek scene. She even hung up their poster in her room. She is outdoorsy and does play a sport, but not super competitive and isn’t into rah-rah that much. We stayed at the Colgate Inn and ate in the dining hall and really enjoyed the campus. Our tour guide was disappointing.</p>
<p>Colgate, which does not offer ANY merit aid (outside of the AMS), offered by daughter the MOST financial aid, even beating out schools that did offer merit aid.</p>
<p>I’ve heard it said that Colgate will be very generous if they really want you to attend.</p>
<p>She did not enroll, as her top choice’s offer came close enough.</p>
but strong, stimulating, eye-opening academic experiences were. She felt Colgate fit both of her requirements (preparation for med school and intellectual stimulation) as did Hamilton and Middlebury (although both of them had more students who appeared artsy/quirky). </p>