Just a clarification point…
Colgate is not a NESCAC school which is a small school/DIII varsity sports league and is rather distinctive in nature. Colgate is larger than almost all of them at 2950 students (but with a 9:1 student:faculty ratio) and is a DI school in athletics with its ECAC finalist position in men’s ice hockey and in the middle of the higher caliber competitive DI Patriot League with championships or runner-up positions in women’s soccer and men’s lacrosse during this academic year.
A visit to Colgate makes a big impression given it magnificent campus, charming, the safe small Village of Hamilton, and also its new construction: the athletic center, arts and cultural center in the village and career planning center- all deliverables for 2016. In 2015 Colgate introduces the first of its Residential Colleges, a smart alternative to its 8 Greek houses and 9 themed houses.
I can appreciate that Colgate has many features in common with the NESCAC schools. To me it does have more in common with them than with most of the Patriot schools- Army, Navy, American, Boston Univ, Loyola Maryland, Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, Holy Cross and some associates such as Georgetown in football). But its application pool does not overlap as much as it does with the Ivys and certain schools generally larger than itself, while the caliber of Colgate’s accepted students is at the top of the Patriot League schools.
Go 'gate!