My DD is currently at Colgate and continues to be very happy with her choice. She is very happy with the 3,000 size.
There are a lot of schools. You can’t apply to all of them. There is nothing wrong with using size as a way if eliminating a large swath or schools.
After visiting Lafayette, Wesleyan, and Middlebury, our daughter visited Michigan and B.U. She instantly loved the bustling vibe at those bigger schools and has removed all LACs and anything under 5000 students from her list, in favor of places like Wisconsin and Maryland.
Obviously, many kids would do the exact opposite. Either way makes a lot more sense to me than those kids who apply to Williams and UCLA for example.
(By the way, I personally absolutely loved Lafayette, Wesleyan, and middlebury.)
@Publisher I understand what you are saying about size, and it’s definitely a personal preference. But I disagree with your characterization that lacs would be less diverse than universities. There are many lacs out there that are quite diverse. And some of the schools you list as those you wished you had attended, like Michigan, Charleston and Vermont are not especially diverse, with many lacs doing a much better job with diversity than those examples.
@wisteria100: You make an important point that reflects positive change that has occurred at many LACs throughout the country.
I am not anti-LAC. I believe that the choice of attending a university or a small college should be an individual decision based on many factors.
I appreciate the argument that many universities may be less diverse than some LACs. I do not agree in total because large and medium sized public universities tend to offer significant socio-economic diversity, in addition to other types of diversity, that becomes ingrained into the community in a way that is simply not reflected in LAC communities which tend to have distinct dominant personalities (although there can be noticable divides among Greek and non-Greek students as well as between athletes and non-athletes at some LACs).
Schools such as the University of Michigan, the University of Vermont & the College of Charleston all have much larger student populations than any LAC and all enjoy an urban or city like environment that is much different than the typical isolated, small rural or semi-rural LAC. Of course, there are exceptions such as the Claremont Colleges cosortium and the consortiums located in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the Pioneer Valley area of Massachusetts.
Personally, I would be much more comfortable at any Ivy League school or equivalent or at any elite LAC. But, if I could redo my college years, I would not seek comfort.
The proliferation of honors colleges and honors communities makes universities an attractive option for almost all applicants whether seeking a large, diverse community or a smaller, more inclusive, more selective experience. Honors College students at universities can enjoy the best of both worlds.
Just as many LACs have embraced diversity as a worthwhile goal, many universities have created options for those seeking small class sizes and more personalized guidance and counseling.
With respect to the issue of anonymity versus privacy, both can be found at universities while only one is available at LACs.
Since the thread title is “Colgate’s Size”, I think that it is important to note that Colgate University and Bucknell University and the University of Richmond, although categorized as LACs in the US News rankings, have larger student bodies–2,900, 3,600 and 3,100 respectively–than most LACs. Middlebury College in Vermont has about 2,600 students, significant diversity and a spectacular setting that makes it intriguing, inviting & interesting.
College of the Holy Cross is a great, non-rural LAC with an enrollment exceeding 3,000 students. Wesleyan University in Connecticut is another outstanding LAC with about 3,000 students.
As an aside, Dartmouth College with 4,400 students also fits in the category of a very large LAC or small university.
LACs that are easy to love:
Colgate University
Dartmouth College (not categorized as an LAC, however)
Bowdoin College
Middlebury College
Davidson College
Claremont McKenna College (very specific fit)
Pomona College
Harvey Mudd College (hardworking math geniuses only)
Amherst College
Williams College
Grinnell College
Barnard College
Rhodes College
Lewis & Clark College
Skidmore College
College of the Holy Cross
Mount Holyoke
Smith College
Bryn Mawr
Haverford
Wellesley College
Vassar College
Colby College is interesting due to its new athletic facility & strong academics
Wesleyan University
Washington & Lee (if the fit feels right, it’s the best)
University of Richmond
Carleton College
Macalester College (leave your MAGA hat at home)
and about a few dozen others depending upon one’s preferences.
And for those seeking LAC qualities in a school with a larger student population, then consider the College of William & Mary in Virginia which has an academically oriented student population of about 6,200 students.
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Is greek life a big social factor? is it like big university typical greek life?
Publisher, it was interesting to see how your thinking evolved over the space of 7 posts. The “correct” answer to the OP’s question is, “It depends on the LAC”. I attended one nearly 50 years ago when it was 1500 students. It was one of the quirkier, least preppy of the traditional little ivies at the time. And looking back on it, I would have to admit that though I didn’t know everyone in my class by name, I probably knew most of them by face. I was first-gen college, so the middle-class, chipper mien that even the most radical students maintained (this was at the height of the Vietnam War), was something new, and appealing to me.
Almost everyone attended the same events and just about anything involving music, an open bar, or the moving image was sure to draw a crowd. But, when nothing particularly exciting was going on, you could literally hear a pin drop on the main quad.
Fast forward a half-century later and the size of the college has doubled. It is my belief, based on reguar visits to campus during many, many Homecomings and Reunion weekends, that 3,000 students represent a different experience than 1,500, just as many older alumni in my day would say how different a campus 1500 students was from the school of 800 they attended in the 1930s through the early 1950s.
The first thing one begins to notice is that there is virtually never a time of day or early evening when people are not on the move. Most of the NESCAC colleges (who compete in round-robin athletic events with each other) like Colgate, consist of several hundred acres of land spread over rural hills and suburban greenswards and 1500 students simply sink into the woodwork (some literally.) But, at 3,000, you can really observe the ordinary rotation of work, play and relaxation as people dot in and out of storied campus buildings.
With a larger student body there was an obvious exponential growth in extracurricular activities. The film series that was once the only thing to do on a Friday or Saturday night, has grown to four nights a week, and must now compete with dance and theater department events that barely existed when I was an undergrad; a burgeoning house party scene as upperclassmen eschew traditional dorm life; and, cool places to hang-out such as cafes and coffee houses made possible only because there are student personnel to run them.
Of course, all of this assumes a certain level of diversity in academic offerings and interests as well as income and cultural differences to really make things buzz. YMMV.
@publisher. Big kudos for the Pioneer Valley reference. I spent many accumulated hours on the PVTA buses going between schools. Lol.
I agree a school of 3,000 is an excellent size to allow choice both academically and socially and still feel like a community.
Publisher - in your post #24 above, can you please explain your groupings of four? Is there a hierarchy of desirability implicit in it? If so, why? Thanks.
@GreenIndian: Grouped for readability.