<p>I'm starting to narrow down my list of colleges that I'm applying to, and I was wondering what your opinions are on Vassar, Colgate, and Hamilton. I know that all three are liberal arts colleges in New York, but what differentiates them from each other? I'm planning on visiting all three soon to get the "campus vibe", but are there any distinct characteristics to each college that immediately set them apart? Any responses are helpful, since I really don't want to apply to too many colleges.</p>
<p>My $0.02: Vassar is the most artsy, the least athletic and has a higher percentage of LGBT students. It’s closer to New York City and that has its advantages.</p>
<p>Vassar is probably the most prestigious, and has an open curriculum. Males are favored in admissions. Poughkeepsie is not well liked.
Hamilton is very isolated, and according to college******* a couple of years ago,
had (has?) a problem with hard drugs. Liked the tour we had there, though.</p>
<p>Colgate seems to be the most sports-oriented out of the three. I personally love the campus the most, as well. Vassar is more prestigious, but slightly relative to Colgate. Hamilton, to a further extent.</p>
<p>^ My impression matches the last 3 posters … however in the scheme of the 3000 colleges in the US the 3 schools you mentioned are much more similar than different (especially Colgate and Hamilton). They are all also very tough to get into … if you apply to all 3 the admission folks will probably help you decide among the 3.</p>
<p>Vassar’s still about 60% female. The other two are more evenly balanced by gender.</p>
<p>It is false that Vassar favors males. Every LAC gets more applicants from women than men (heck, almost every college does). If vassar gave men a strong advantage, they could make a 50/50 gender balanced class. They don’t do that because they want to keep admissions standards equal. Other LAC that are closer to 50/50 are far more likely to have lower admissions standards for men. People have to stop spreading this kind of misinformation.</p>
<p>If you are not going to join a frat or play a sport, then Colgate is probably not for you.</p>
<p>Comment above by justadream92 is not accurate if you give any credence to USNWR rankings. Hamilton is ranked higher than Colgate, #18 compared to #21. The difference in Colgate sports is that they’re Division I in intercollegiate sports. I don’t know if that has anything to do with participation in intramural athletics. My impression is that Hamilton has a high participation rate and lots of sport-minded students. Choosing between these 3 would be a tough choice to make. By reputation, Vassar is the outlier – less preppy, more hipster, all those cliches, plus it does have a lower percentage of males. One more important point — both Vassar and Hamilton have the rare “open curriculum.” Only Brown and maybe one or two other schools in the country seem to offer this. Colgate is proud of their core curriculum, central to their program since 1935. If I were applying, I would be seeking out open curricula whereever I could find them.</p>
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<p>Then how do you explain the male acceptance rate of 35% vs. the female acceptance rate of 20%? (Source: Vassar Common Data Set)</p>
<p>While all three are LACs, Colgate is the largest of three, and on a % basis…</p>
<p>joel:</p>
<p>Amherst and Smith also have open curriculums. I’m sure that others exist.</p>
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<p>The number of Open Curriculum colleges is more like a dozen or so, at least. As I recall, they include Amherst, Grinnell, Hampshire, New College (FL), Sara Lawrence, Smith, and Wesleyan.</p>
<p>@Vassargrad – according to the common data set, Vassar accepts 35% of the males, and 20% of the females who apply.</p>
<p>Which is the best school for job recruitment? ( for international students). (want to major in econs)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies so far! They have been very helpful.</p>
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<p>I think you mean that Colgate (which is in the village of Hamilton) is very isolated. Hamilton (which is in Clinton) is not terribly isolated.</p>
<p>Fewer males than females apply to Vassar so that will naturally result in a higher acceptance rate for males. In the 2009-2010 common data set, 30% of the applicants were men vs. 70% of the applicants were women. So that logically results in a higher acceptance rate for men. It is simple math.</p>
<p>Also, the difference in the acceptance rates does not automatically correlate to a difference in admission standards between men and women at Vassar. </p>
<p>It is important to really think about what the acceptance data represents (not just for Vassar acceptance rates but for other schools as well). You wouldn’t want to eliminate a school because you were looking at the data incorrectly.</p>
<p>Back to the OP’s question. Sports are bigger at Colgate and Hamilton moved to the NESCAC just a few years ago so they are more serious than Vassar for sports. There is a small yet strong contingent of students and parent who support the teams at Vassar. There was a cheering section at every Vassar swim meet. Music, theater and art are very strong at Vassar and again there is strong support from the community, parents and students at the concerts. I can’t comment on other aspects of Colgate or Hamilton but am interested in hearing more because we have a rising junior and we will be starting the college process again with him.</p>
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<p>There are only a few scenarios in which boys would not receive a huge admissions boost at V, neither of which pass the smell test. For example, 99% of all of the female apps are from the NE but the vast majority of male apps are from the rest of the world. In it’s effort to improve geographic diversity, V selects more of those from the rest of the world. Or, the guys are just a stronger applicant pool.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, a 75% differential increase in admission rate for males is HUGE (for whatever reason).</p>
<p>I think Vassar has the worse off college town.</p>
<p>Colgate is nice campus but rural. Also Colgate is much more of a sports school-hockey, football.</p>