Colgate vs. Carleton

<p>I think footballyus is now a freshman at Amherst!</p>

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You suggest Carleton’s “very high ranking” and reputation are of “recent vintage.” The school is 141 years old and has held that reputation of academic excellence for all those years.

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<p>Good point.</p>

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I know that you are from Long Island but not everyone is. While Colgate offers strong connections in the important NY market the world doesn’t end at the Hudson’s western border (despite what the New Yorker drawing may suggest).

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<p>The interesting thing is Colgate ISN'T even one of the top-50 in the WSJ feeder school ranking despite the fact that most of these prof schools in the survey are in the Northeast. <a href="http://www.classroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.classroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf&lt;/a> </p>

<p>I had to throw out zillions of data/links like the one above just to argue with a Colgate alum the other day because he said Northwestern was overrated. Other examples I found were company websites showing campus schedule for Mercer, LEK, McKinsey, ZS Associates, JP Morgan... and none of them has Colgate (they all have Northwestern). The repeated response I got from him was "from my experience" (i.e. his NY experience). Interestingly, he's the only one I saw on this board that put Colgate ahead of Northwestern when it comes to Ibanking/MC; anyone can do a search for ibanking/consulting recruiting threads and see that others rarely mentioned Colgate.</p>

<p>colgate is a party school, it isn't equal in its academic offerings to carleton, nor is it as much of a 'powerhouse' in business as some people here would like to suggest, however i would concede that in new york it is probably better to have colgate attached to your resume than carleton, but not in chicago.</p>

<p>mhc48, I am a Carleton grad who, admittedly, knows pretty much NOTHING about Colgate, but your unbelievably uninformed diatribes on this thread are quite unflattering to the school (and while that doesn't matter a bit since I won't ever be applying to undergraduate schools again, you may be having a similar effect on prospective students researching these schools). You accused 1190 of bias, but she admitted such bias and also used actual data to make her argument. You have not confessed your (obvious) connection to Colgate, and have made two posts arguing its superiority based entirely on "experience" that you do not define and a personal opinion that it appears is pretty atypical on this matter. Just because you haven't heard of Carleton doesn't mean that the top employers in the country haven't. If there is a job placement disadvantage to Carleton, the members of the most recent graduating class (of just over 500 students) currently working at Google, Goldman-Sachs, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley obviously managed to overcome it.</p>

<p>There is a lot of misinformation on this thread. To "confess" my connection - I have a kid at Colgate (and for the Northwestern team above, another kid who will attend Northwestern next year). My younger kid also looked at Carleton and liked it.</p>

<p>Colgate and Carleton are both excellent schools - you will get a top notch academic experience at either one of these schools. I think both represent the very best of the LAC undergrad experience. Elsijfdl, you don't seem to be very familiar with Colgate. Yes, it is a fun-loving place. But the academics are superb. Colgate kids work really hard. </p>

<p>Like mhc, I have seen the Colgate placement office process work. The Colgate alumni connection is the real deal - both in and outside of the IB world. Colgate does particularly well in placing students in IB jobs. Sam Lee, one of the entities you have listed does in fact recruit on the Colgate campus - it's my employer. We hire regularly from Colgate - and Northwestern as well. Carleton is not on the list of core recruit schools for my employer, but a motivated Carleton student is going to get in the door here too.</p>

<p>The fact is that if you are lucky enough to attend any of these institutions, and do well in school, you will have plenty of post-graduate opportunities.</p>

<p>Guys, I hadn't wanted to post further on this and rattle your cage any further since it clearly gets you upset and provokes a lot of hooping and hollering, but your messages keep popping up in my inbox. So...</p>

<p>My L.I. eyes must be even more afflicted with tunnel vision than you all imply: I don't see Carleton on Sam's top 50 feeder list either. Yet 1190 says, "Carleton sends a much larger percentage of graduates on to post-baccalaureate degrees, especially PhDs, generally ranking along with Swarthmore and Reed highest in the country of any non-tech school..." Hard to square that statement and the list. Or explain how it demonstrates Carleton's superiority over Colgate (which was never the issue until you made it so).</p>

<p>And since you say that Carleton has had a that reputation for academic excellence for all of its 141 years, but USNWR (the only source you sited) has only been doing college rankings since 1983, I wonder what basis you have for the claim over Carleton's other 117 years? </p>

<p>Actually the answer to those questions doesn't really matter. Carleton today, as I've said twice before, is a wonderful school. One which will appeal to many more than the quirky tofu, flower giving, broomball players called to the banner by 1190. Plus, even in the party arena, it's probably more fun than dry St. Olafs cross town. Finally, despite Sam's list, I think Carleton students will do well getting into post grad schools.</p>

<p>But exaggerating the length of its pedigree or claiming success in post grad employment (which you neither have experienced yourselves or supported with other evidence) only makes you seem insecure about the school's presently well deserved reputation. I haven't here cast aspersions on your school or its students; only questioned the historical length and geographical extent of your school's renown. </p>

<p>Your uninformed response, denigrating Colgate's students as unintellectual party goers doesn't really demonstrate what I've heard, or the traits you claim, for Carleton students.</p>

<p>Colgate is known for it's strong alumni network, so that could help lots in getting a job after graduation.</p>

<p>Didn't we get to the bottom line that Carleton is generally better for getting into grad school and Colgate is generally better for getting a job? Can we leave it at that?</p>

<p>Yeah, that's probably the gist of it. Although I actually think its better just to say, as a general rule: go to whichever place you would be happier/more comfortable. Carleton better for grad school? Probably, but you can get in from Colgate. Colgate better for jobs? Probably, but you can get one after Carleton. College is not just about the end destination people, the journey should count too. The real world's not fun enough that you should sacrifice four years of happiness in your youth just to improve your chances of doing whatever it is you THINK you are going to want to do later.</p>

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Elsijfdl, you don't seem to be very familiar with Colgate.

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<p>i have friends who attend, they all tell me it's a party school and that most kids could hardly care less about their academics, including kids who transferred out for that reason.</p>