<p>I was thinking about going to Colgate but I'm reading all these reviews about how everyone's rich/preppy/white and its very clique-y and that people drink a lot.</p>
<p>I would ideally want to go to a college where people study more than they party..</p>
<p>I was also raised in San Francisco, so I quite like the city, but I'm OK with suburban areas too although I've heard complaints about how Colgate is VERY isolated and you have to drive 1/2 hour to reach a supermarket?</p>
<p>I'm wondering if this would be the right college for me.</p>
<p>Who told you it was 1/2 hour!? It's not nearly that isolated. It's a 1 minute drive to one supermarket, one minute longer to the other one in town. There's a local drug store, chain drug store, the largest independent bookstore in upstate NY, half a dozen pizza places, sushi, greek, italian, a deli, "diner," health food store, move theater, dry cleaners, cute little shops, etc. Also a bunch of bars, heh. The closest HUGE mall (one of the biggest in the country, I believe) is 45 minutes away in Syracuse. Yes it's a small town, but it's cute, charming, SAFE, and has pretty much anything you need.</p>
<p>I studied probably 50x more than I partied. Probably not typical, but people do work very hard academically. If you'd rather study than party, the town will be more than enough to keep you occupied. There's also SO much to do on campus that you really don't need to leave.</p>
<p>More on cliques, etc. below. Though it has that reputation, Colgate is much LESS clique-y and preppy than many claim. I am far from preppy and far from clique-y and I found a great group of friends. Also most of the "preps" can be really nice, once you get to know them. Most aren't afraid to be friends with someone who doesn't dress identically to them.</p>
<p>Long story short, you'd be fine! The nice thing about Colgate is that there is no one type of student, so pretty much anyone can find their niche and love it.</p>
<p>light up the sky --- i don't drink or do any of that, and yet i absolutely love colgate! i'll be going in the fall. i have a few friends that go there and they said that drinking (like their greek life) is as big a part of your life as you want it to be-- its like a lot of other college campuses, if you want to drink, you'll find places to drink and people to drink with. </p>
<p>also, like lydia said, colgate isnt nearly as isolated as it sounds... some people have these immediate thoughts that since its in a more rural environment, its like that tagline from alien-- " in space (or hamilton, as the case may be) no one can hear you scream." its not really the case. it kind of reminded me of the town Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls, if you ever watched that -- its incredibly darling. They've got an old movie theatre, an apothecary, very nice little restaurants, etc etc.</p>
<p>hrm, does colgate also have a lot of extracurics?
I heard the political scene isn’t that big at Colgate but I’d like to continue parliamentary debate in college and engage in student body and lots of clubs.</p>
<p>The speech teams are really good and well supported (Model UN, Mock Trial, Debate). There’s both College Dems and Republicans. It’s not nearly as politically active as, say… UC Berkeley, but it’s not nonexistent. Student govt. is pretty popular and present on campus as well.</p>
<p>Aside from those, there are a ton of extracurriculars. 130+ student run clubs and groups, plus club and intramural sports. The second week of each semester they have an “activity fair” where all the clubs and groups set up tables and you sign up for the email lists of the ones you’re interested in… then you can pick and choose which you attend. Sometimes there were multiple things I wanted to do at the same times - almost too much going on! Everything from the newspaper to geology club, cricket club to canoeing.</p>
<p>The reputation isn’t always reflective of reality. There’s Muslim and Buddhist student groups on campus, South Asian Cultural Club is very active, as are Japan Club, China Club and Korean Student Assn. 2/3 of students study abroad - they’re really pretty worldly, and everyone would be accepting.</p>