<p>My daughter will be a Senior this year at Colgate. It’s no more a “party school” than a thousand other colleges are, and a good deal less than a few where drinking and being drunk are the norm for a certain segment of the student body. Of course, this is a major concern for parents and new students, understandably. But there are drinkers and drug-users everywhere you go, I’m afraid. You just make your own group of friends and enjoy their company – like you would in any city or apartment building you lived in, or business you worked for. Might as well get used to the real world. </p>
<p>We all know those schools where partying goes overboard. Some are large state universities where a certain segment of the student body is immature and away from home from the first time. There are some smaller schools which have too much drinking on campus. Even the Ivies and Little Ivies (Bowdoin, Amherst, etc.) have their share of drunken partying. It’s everywhere if you want to find it. Most of the more responsible schools take the issue very seriously, as Colgate does. </p>
<p>As for Colgate, when it was an all-male school (when I went there) it had a reputation for hard partying that was somewhat deserved, and I went to a lot of those parties. Since I didn’t drink (and still don’t), I carried the same beer around all night and hardly touched it. So it was easy to talk to girls soberly and easy to see how silly some students got. But it was never that bad and mostly just lots of loud music, etc. A lot of students never drank, some preferred small parties where they were more likely to have wine, etc. There were all kinds of students back then, too, as there are today. </p>
<p>Today, Colgate’s party culture is often associated with a few fraternities and sororities. But it’s yours to involve yourself in – or not. This is true of virtually every college in the country. There will be drinkers everywhere you go, and there will be dopers who can’t live without marijuana, and every other type of person, as well. Welcome to the adult world, I guess. You find your friends and you enjoy life with them. My daughter does, and she doesn’t seem to have had any problems with a drinking culture very much at Colgate. She goes to parties, drinks sometimes, has fun, but doesn’t make it a big part of her life. </p>
<p>As for sports, believe me there are other people asking questions about why Colgate ISN’T enough of a sports school. I guess you can’t please everyone! Colgate students are pretty athletic, for the most part. About half of all students play some sports. It’s a very healthy place in that regard. And there is a big deal intramural and club sports program. But those are mainly for fun. And there are lots of students who have not the slightest interest in sports. If you are more intrigued by film, music, drama, literature, or just hanging out, then you don’t get involved in sports. No one is going to care. </p>
<p>One advantage of not being a very small liberal arts college like so many of the other LAC’s is that there is room for a great deal of diversity at Colgate. If it were a 1200 or 1800 student school, you might not have that. But at nearly 3000 students, Colgate is big enough to have an enormous variety of different groups of students – and many individuals who just go their own way as they wish. No standard student cliches fit Colgate students other than perhaps “smart,” “hard-working,” “well-rounded,” and “enthusiastic.” Oh, also “incredibly good-looking,” too. Had to add that one! Smile.</p>
Feel free to PM me if you have any more specific questions.</p>