<p>My daugther loves the small town atmosphere at Colgate since it’s so different from big city life and a lot more friendly. In L.A., most of her friends were a long freeway ride away. At Colgate, they’re just across the hallway or in the next building. You do get to know just about everyone. That might be a negative for some people, of course, but it’s up to you what you want. </p>
<p>Colgate is no less welcoming to urban and minority students than any other small rural liberal arts college! Every school of this type is going to have many WASPey kids from families with higher incomes (but you already knew that) just like many of the Ivies and other schools. But all of these colleges admit very large numbers of different types of students, foreign students, gay and lesbian, black, Hispanic, Asian . . . who am I forgetting? Check Colgate’s website. I think Colgate’s current make-up includes about 30% or more racial minorities and so on, a pretty high percentage. Other schools may be more or less, of course, but my daughter who is there now says there are all kinds of students and everyone fits in just fine. I don’t think you should worry about it being some kind of all-white country club. </p>
<p>And, they do just fine after the initial transition that all students go through in college. My daughter had one good friend drop out because she was homesick, working too hard, etc., but she was blonde and blue-eyed so there was no minority adjustment problem there. The black, Hispanic and other students at Colgate are actually more likely to graduate than similar students at other schools because Colgate has such a high percentage that do graduate. And that includes athletes, including many racial and ethnic minorities, because of the school’s great success in giving athletes the same education other students get (not true at many universities where athletes are on a different academic track) and graduating them at very high rates, among the highest in the nation, in fact. </p>
<p>Hamilton, New York is not Los Angeles (or New York or Chicago), that is for sure. But, heck, it’s four years of your long life with lots of people who will be your good friends on a beautiful campus with top academics. It’s hard to see a major problem with that, isn’t it? If you are admitted, you will be amazed at how beautiful the campus is, how friendly every one is, and you’ll find the quality of education as good as any. If you do encounter problems, I imagine they will be of the type you would have found just about anywhere that wasn’t a major urban university, and you will find racial (and other) problems at larger more urban schools, as well, as you know from the news. In fact, I think at smaller colleges like Colgate where people deal with each other more personally as friends and classmates, it’s less likely that minorities have problems or don’t fit it, but that is only my personal opinion. </p>
<p>In any case, as a top student who happens to be Hispanic, I’m going to guess that Colgate’s admissions people will fall in love with you, and you will find that you will make many good friends there – if you go there.</p>
!!</p>