<p>I do find this exchange quite entertaining. Although please excuse my writing, I only have an AAS degree from a state school. 
Anyway, my family visited both schools over 2 days. We were very impressed by both. Last year U.S. News had Colgate higher, this year Hamilton is higher. Colgate does appear higher on the income surveys 10 years out of school, usually top 10. But who cares about that, as statistics don’t apply to the individual. (My Ivy parents never forgave me for my college choice, but I retired at 50, 15 years before they did.)
The one thing we found very interesting was on the tours, the mentions of their rivals. At Hamilton, 3 times unprompted, they mentioned Colgate on the tour. One was how their cannon pointed to Colgate. Another was when they mentioned they were a smaller more intimate university than Colgate. I don’t recall what the other reference was, as it was over a year ago. On the Colgate tour, the only time Hamilton was mentioned was in regard to a question on how they compared. We were impressed that they stated what a fine school Hamilton was and we should look at it. Also, that we were very lucky to have 2 of the best liberal arts colleges in the country so close to our home. We came away with the impression that Hamilton was a bit insecure, which is silly and unfounded.<br>
Bottom line- ED to Colgate, if not accepted, Hamilton is on the short list of second choices.</p>
<p>The students at Hamilton seemed laid back, outdoorsy, outgoing, and always willing to learn. I got more of a “ra-ra” feel at Colgate.
Now I know that every school has its minorities, and I’m sure you’ll all pull numbers off of a website about this, but when I toured Colgate, I legitimately only saw 2 African American students…they were sitting in the dining hall at a table in the corner by themselves. The lack of diversity, along with the preppy, snotty feel I got at Colgate really turned me off.
Hamilton is not a very diverse campus either (a main issue with many current students), but the overall feel there is much more positive. </p>
<p>…Just my opinion.</p>
<p>Here is another example where facts are useful…</p>
<p>The colgate.edu website’s section Admission & Aid, subsection Diversity & Admission shows Class of 2014 statistics as well as the details of the entire student body and faculty. You might as well compare them to those on the hamilton.edu site to make your case as to what you saw and what it means. It seems to me that Colgate compares favorably as far as campus diversity is concerned. </p>
<p>I’ve heard it said that perception is everything. Based on what you say, and taking the expression at face value, then Colgate IS “Ra-Ra” and maybe not a good fit for you. Maybe it means that you are really looking for a smaller college and more laid-back atmosphere.</p>
<p>Good luck with your college search and the application process!</p>
<p>Hey everyone! </p>
<p>Sorry I didn’t show up earlier when I should come out to explain.</p>
<p>ksanyee, I’m sorry about the problem I caused here. Thanks for helping though you don’t even know me. =)</p>
<p>markham, I apologize if I said anything that made you feel offended. Also, I’m sorry that my English is horrible regarding to the fact that I’m a first-year intl student and English is my second language. All the stuff I said before is based on my personal view. About that intellectual thing, that’s something I feel and also because of the sports performance of both schools, as you mentioned before, Colgate in DI and Hamilton in DIII. About diversity, both schools are trying really hard to be more diverse. As in class of 2014, there is a big change in the component of student body in Hamilton College, more diverse I’d say though still it doesn’t have that many internationals as Colgate does (4% vs. 8%). One thing to mention, I don’t know if you know, there are 19 Chinese students in Colgate this year, which is a bit unusual but reasonable considering the whole admission situation in the US, whereas only 3 in Hamilton. That makes up a big part of the number.</p>
<p>I’m saying that two schools are different. Hamilton students are quite laid back I’d say. I don’t know how Colgate students are. Both are top colleges. They are just different.</p>
<p>Again, I’m sorry for making you feel upset.</p>
<p>Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>Hey,guys, </p>
<p>Well, honestly, when I applied to colleges, Hamilton was my first choice, and Colgate was the second. Partly because they are both good at some courses that I am interested in. However, iam sorry to say this MarkHam, but they are truly different. Hamilton is much more liberal(This opinion is not from me, but my friend who is currently in Colgate). Hamilton Students like to write, like to do small theater shows, are really close to each other, do protests, debate over lots of issues during lunch diner time. I am not from Colgate so I do not really know about colgate, but from some of my friends in colgate, they think colgate is athletically strong, like you said, in Division I while we are in Division III, but come on, and students are not so much liberal as Hamilton, as students are more like study, rest and sports type. </p>
<p>About shopping mall, haha, since im a guy, i do not really care about it but it is something that applicants might take into consideration, especially for girls:) So it is a advantage of Hamilton. </p>
<p>Colgate is gorgeous, but Hamilton is pretty too:) And because of the difference of dark side and light side, students can have different experiences. College life is definitely as important as the academics, even academics in Hamilton is very exceptional too.</p>
<p>So from my opinion, except for the close distance and similar building style, hamilton and colgate are way different. Do a campus tour and you will realize this.</p>
<p>Good luck guys</p>
<p>Thanks for your views. Yes, I agree that Hamilton and Colgate have different vibes and so may attract freshmen seeking more of those experiences they sense from their campus visits as well as from friends’ and guidance counselors’ views. The websites’ look, feel and of course content are a great starting point in seeking that understanding.</p>
<p>Another difference that may or may not appeal to applicants and parents, and one we have not discussed in this thread, is the Core curriculum at Colgate and the lack of such a common curriculum at many other LACs. My personal view is that the Core enriches the student body simply because all students acquire competencies and understanding of the themes taught within prescribed disciplines.</p>
<p>It’s great to hear that you enjoy Hamilton. Enjoy and maximize the opportunities college life offers as it all passes so quickly! Once you are an alumnus you should remain engaged and thereby enrich your college for everyone’s benefit. The US system of non-profit higher education is truly world class and hopefully will remain that way. It’s up to those of have benefited so much to give back.</p>
<p>I don’t usually visit other college postings (not my name!), but I thought this thread was interesting. </p>
<p>These are both very good small liberal arts colleges, but also very different. Hamilton is a smaller top college, a little cozier than Colgate due to its smaller size, I think. Colgate is a little larger with a somewhat more varied student body, playing Division I athletics, and with more off campus and international programs, and is an equally top college. Hamilton has about 1800 students to Colgate’s nearly 3000. </p>
<p>I think Colgate’s campus will likely be considered pretty impressive by any visitor. It’s certainly beautiful, having been chosen as one of (if not “the”) most beautiful college campuses in the country. Hamilton is also very attractive though I find the older part of that campus much nicer than the (former) Kirkland College part (Hamilton at one point tried to create a separate coordinate women’s college, but that did not work so it was abandoned and regular coeducation was instituted; about the same time, Colgate just went coed which turned out to be simpler and more effective. Different approaches.). </p>
<p>I’m an alum of Colgate and would never disparage Hamilton, but clearly I’m not the most objective commenter and wouldn’t pretend to be. A few of my students (I’m a teacher) have gone to both schools, though, and most have loved their experiences at each, but there are differences.</p>
<p>My daughter goes to Colgate and loves the variety and the excellent academics she has found there. Last year, my school also sent a top Hispanic and a top black student to Colgate along with a number of other students, so there is some racial and ethnic variety there. This may be just as true at Hamilton, and it might be worth asking about if that matters to you. I’m not much of a fan of schools that look like big prep schools filled with only WASPey kids. </p>
<p>For what it’s worth, my daughter was an A- student at a top private high school in Los Angeles, played some sports, travelled overseas a lot, is a very good writer, and choose Colgate over a number of other “small Ivies” like Wesleyan, Middlebury, etc. She’s loves it there. For all I know, she might have loved Hamilton just as much, but did not apply there. </p>
<p>Hamilton and Colgate are academically pretty similar – top professors, small classes, good liberal arts programs. Their locations are only 20 miles apart, so there’s not much difference there, either. It’s in their styles that they differ. You will need to read up on them and visit them. If you fall in love with one of them, good. If you visit one on a rainy, cold day, perhaps you won’t like it. It’s all a bit subjective, but that’s life. </p>
<p>Good luck, and if you visit one, you might want to take the half hour drive to the other, too.</p>
<p>Last February my son and I visited both Hamilton and Colgate. In both cases, we were the only family visiting, and we had individual tours in both places. We flew into Syracuse Airport from California just after a huge snowstorm had passed through Philadelphia and NJ, and perhaps other families were scared off by the weather reports. My son interviewed at Hamilton and had a one on one info session with one of the Associate Deans of Admission at Colgate. He went back to Hamilton the second day to attend a Classics class to get a sense for the intellectual/academic flavor of Hamilton. So he spent the equivalent of a full day at Hamilton and an afternoon and early evening at Colgate.</p>
<p>I loved both campuses. Both had incredible vistas and that classic small college feel, though of course, Colgate is about 1000 students larger. Colgate had been my second choice when I was applying to college in the late 60s, but I had never been to either campus.</p>
<p>I had the sense that each campus was a bit isolated and yet not so far removed from off-campus possibilities. Colgate’s campus literally spills over into the village of Hamilton, NY. Hamilton College, 40 miles away in Clinton, NY, is on a hill at the end of a long road, yet the city of Utica is just about ten minutes away.</p>
<p>Hamilton seemed to be a very friendly campus with an evident tight-knit community. People seemed quite happy and based on what he saw and what we felt, rather serious students. The tour guide at Colgate kept referring to the places where underage kids could get beer and where they couldn’t, which baffled me since my son was just 16 and I thought it was quite unappropriate. When he took us into the room of one of his friends, she had a liquor bottle open and seemed to be a little drunk. The Associate Dean we met with was not very personable–he gave a very rudimentary info session, giving us the impression that he just wanted to get it over. But just before we left, the Dean of Admissions came down to meet us, and he was a class act. </p>
<p>As it turned out, my son wound up getting into Wesleyan ED, but beforehand he had firmly decided to not apply to Colgate because everything we had seen did not present us with a picture of intellectual depth, although Colgate seemed to offer tons of options just as a much larger university might. He preferred Hamilton, and if Wes had not accepted him he would have applied there and very likely would have chosen to attend if he were admitted.</p>
<p>The funny thing is, he still has a big poster of Colgate in his room. With its duck lake and beautiful grounds, it surely has a special look and feel. </p>
<p>If you are torn between these two colleges, I highly recommend a visit in February when no one else is around.</p>
<p>As a Hamilton alum, I love the spirited rivalry between the two schools. I’m glad that cannon is pointed at Colgate, and I am sure graduates of both schools are secure in the knowledge that theirs is the superior institution.</p>
<p>Any idea where the science program is stronger? Where can I get better research facilities?</p>
<p>My purely objective impression was that Colgate is a bit of a rich kids’ school.</p>
<p>Anyone else feel this?</p>
<p>Both schools have their rich kids, and both will have bunches of rich snobs. I got the impression that the average Hamilton student is more intellectually curious than the average Colgate student. It’s as if the Hamilton students are more like the college students of years past, the people who have a passion for learning anything they can, while Colgate’s students seem more like modern college students, one’s who are just their because a college degree looks good.</p>
<p>Three years ago we took our son to visit both schools even though we figured he would end up at a Western NY school. I recall saying he didn’t have to go and see Hamilton after visiting Colgate if he didn’t want to. Both schools were well down on my sons’s list. </p>
<p>We arrived at Colgate to an empty building and learned our info session had been moved up the hill. The lonely walk uphill was very hard on my wife but we arrived in time to learn that the DaLai Lama had visited the campus. The presenter was so so, and the tour guide took us all over the campus but never connected with my family.</p>
<p>We went on to Hamilton, and two minutes into the info session, I was hooked. Both presenters wowed me with information and made it clear they were not going to regurgitate facts and numbers. When they finished, two Hamilton seniors got up and talked about their four years at Hamilton and answered a lot of questions. </p>
<p>So we were off on the tour and here came our tour guide. She walked up to my son, shook his hand, and then asked him where he went to high school. When told the name of the school, she instantly chatted with my son about her classmate (a doctor’s son)who had also gone to this same high school. During the tour she came over to my son a few times to ask him questions and make him feel comfortable. When we left the campus in the afternoon I felt a positive vibe about Hamilton and commented how different this visit was from the one to Colgate.</p>
<p>The same thing happened at the interview at Hamilton as the school was still not my son’s top choice. We arrived and my wife and I nervously stayed behind while my son was gone for around 30 minutes. When he came down the steps, he and the interviewer were talking as if they had known each other for years. I asked him later on what did they talk about and he told me they both played the same instrument, and were talking about jazz music. He chose Hamilton over another school that offered him a tremendous package, and he never applied to Colgate.</p>
<p>Too bad so much was based on the information session and tour guide but sounds as if it worked out well for your son.</p>
There used to be a big drinking oriented culture at Colgate. I don’t mean ordinary student drinking but more like the Animal House stereotype. Then Colgate administration put money into downtown Hamilton so there would be other things to do. I’ve wondered home much that’s changed but comments about “boot and rally,” the tour guide who talked about where to buy beer, and the dorm room with a student who seemed inebriated during the day and a partly filled liquor bottle on a dresser make me think that’s still the case.