I’ve been spending the week scrolling through colleges. I was hoping I could get some help selecting a college, and will post this in those that have stuck out to me.
A little about me:
GPA: 3.7
SAT: 780 Math 740 CR
4 Year Track Athlete
I generally prefer english to math but don’t mind either. I enjoy history and philosophy. I consider myself to be pretty competitive and love watching sports, and also appreciate art too and enjoy listening to music. I don’t care much for drama/theatre or sciences. While I love to run I don’t intend on perusing in competitively.
What I know I want:
-A magnificent campus. Something small with old and pretty buildings.
-Not Cliquey. I want a group of friendly and open people. This is important to me.
-No Frats. Frankly almost all accounts of fraternities I’ve heard about have been negative. I’d be open to change my mind. I know Bowdoin has an interesting alternative, however. I’d like to hear about that.
What I’m not sure about:
-A rural area. I think I want something rural (similar to what I’ve seen from Williams), but I’m not sure. What are the pros and cons?
-I don’t like to drink or party too hard, but I’m not sure if a college having a lot of this is necessarily a turn off, as hopefully I can just ignore it. Thoughts?
-Often some of these colleges are mentioned as being known for “academic rigor”, but that is kind of vague. How many hours a day is that? How stressful is it? I have a fairly strong work ethic but don’t want to be up late every night doing boring research projects.
Nathan says he is open to change his mind about the negative impression he has of fraternities generally. So Colgate, with its 5 fraternities would not necessarily be a deal breaker.
As you see below, freshmen and sophomores are not eligible to live in Greek houses (there are 3 sororities) while there are 9 “interest-based housing units” alongside the general/other upperclassmen housing options available to all.
Look into Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Amherst, all have beautiful pretty rural campuses with no frats. I would say Colby and Bates would be better for your GPA and less academically rigorous than Bowdoin, Midd, and Amherst.
It is a little much to say the frats control Colgate…but they have too much power over the social scene and donor representation. The rural location of the college will feel like a trap as you find there is absolutely nothing to do besides drunken antics downtown, in a dorm, or at the Greek houses. You don’t like excessive drinking or partying to loud dance music? You can still make close friends but you won’t be as flexible in picking and choosing friends similar to you. I believe for certain majors as you get into upper years it gets better such as philosophy or mathematics while for others it gets worse such as every science major and economics.
In regards to rigor of academic work at Colgate, I speak for the chemistry department when I say grade deflation so excessive an independent firm privately informed them they were hurting students’ chances of entering medical and graduate school. Class grades are paper and test-based. Multiple choice questions almost do not exist.
I’m pretty sure that Vassar doesn’t have frats. It’s a gorgeous campus and there is a train to NYC if you want some urban excitement. Being male would give you a bit of a boost for admission consideration.
S is at Vassar and @mamaedefamilia is correct. No frats, amazing campus (lots of “old and pretty buildings” - take the “360 tour” http://360tour.vassar.edu/?html5=prefer), S and friends go into NYC about once a month, but he says there’s lots of music on campus and a very chill party scene. He says he’s working hard, but the atmosphere is definitely more collaborative than cutthroat. And yes, while the overall M/F ratio is comparative to other LACs, the acceptance rate for males is higher than it is for females.