<p>okay...so this is the question for all current colgate students/or the ones that are familiar with life at colgate...what's the social life like...where do students go out, party, have fun etc...and how do you handle those cold cold cold winters??</p>
<p>Winters aren't that cold! Although it's probably below zero right now, including wind chill. Just get some nice sweaters and a north face jacket, or whatever's in next year. And boots. Students go out to party at frats and student apartments or bars. There are also usually a ton of free events on campus like movies, dances, speakers, etc.</p>
<p>sounds really cool.........</p>
<p>When I visted with my daughter last April, the campus and students looked....well... a more .... "Jocky" than all of the other LACs we visited. Well, preppy jocky, anyway. Was my perception off? (My D still applied).</p>
<p>I wouldn't call Colgate a jock school since you've got to be really smart to go there. Of all the LACs, it's really the only one that is a D-1 school which illustrates how seriously athletics are regarded at Colgate. Athletics are a good part of campus life whether it's cheering on the varsity squads or participating in the intramural and club sports. Unlike some other campuses, athletes and athletics are respected and encouraged at Colgate because of the character-building aspects of sports participation and all the commitment, dedication and determination that an athlete must have to be a part of a successful team. Such character traits are translated into the success of Colgate students after college, giving them an adantage in many businesses and social situations that students from other LACs might not have. Similar schools to Colgate where athletics play a large part in campus life include Dartmouth, Yale and Princeton as well as a couple of D-3 schools such as Williams, Middlebury and Trinity. Your daughter made a wise decision to apply there.</p>
<p>Hope I didn't seem to be denigrating the atmosphere at Colgate, because I hadn't meant "Jock" in any of the derogatory connotations of the word. I agree with you about the importance of sport: all my kids have been active in travel teams before high school and varsity in high school. (My very feminine, small 5'0" daughter, in fact, was the only girl on the boys soccer team. After years of travel, she wouldn't let the fact that her private high school had no girls team deter her love of playing.)</p>
<p>In any event, and this is even more embarrasing, I realize now that I was thinking of Union which we had visited the day before. Now I guess I'll alienate and offend a whole other forum.</p>
<p>Not to worry. Sounds exactly like something I would do. :o)</p>
<p>Can somebody tell me a bit more about Colgate? What's the curriculum like? I hear the campus is beautiful but out in the boonies. True?</p>
<p>Everyone has to take Modernity, an FSEM, and fulfill some core requirements. Your fsem prof is your first year adviser. </p>
<p>The campus is really nice. I live in the town, and when I visit other colleges I think they're all ugly. It's an hour away from Syracuse, the nearest airport. They're doing a bunch of construction on the library right now, so it's not as picturesque as usual, but in the end you'll have a library with an automatic retrieval system, so not bad. They're also building a new apartment complex a little bit away from the main campus which should be ready in a few years.</p>
<p>Curriculum: There are four courses in the core curriculum, one taken each semester for the first four semesters: One, as Rabo notes, is Modernity. The other three cover Western Traditions, Scientific Perspectives (several choices), and non-Western cultures (also a number of choices). There are also six distribution requirements -- two each in Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Social Sciences. Sounds like a bunch of requirements, but I don't think students find them too burdensome. My daughter is a first-year student, and has been really happy with her profs and classes so far. </p>
<p>Beautiful, beautiful campus. It is indeed physically isolated.</p>
<p>I can't believe I forgot Western Traditions! Every day outside my class the tour would go by and the every tour guide would say, "And this is where I had my Western Traditions class. As you can see, it's conference style with a big table, made for class discussion." I really don't believe every tour guide had their Western Trad class in the Classics center.</p>
<p>What kind of class is Modernity? The nearest airport is an hour away? Do the students need a car to get around since the campus is isolated?</p>
<p>The nearest airport is in Syracuse, about an hour away. The local taxi company makes ample runs between campus and the airport during peak travel times. Some kids do have cars, although there is really no place to go, except to do something like make a Walmart run (I think the closest one is about 20 minutes away). When you're at a geographically isolated college, life necessarily centers on campus, and Colgate's administration tries to keep that life vibrant by bringing the outside world in -- performing groups, speakers, etc. </p>
<p>As for Modernity, according to the course catalog, the class "investigates aspects of the development of Western identity and culture by examining the classical roots of Western traditions, identity, and values." I think about ten sections were offered this semester (it's a small seminar-like class), and the focus of a given section depends on the particular professor's area of expertise.</p>
<p>What is a FSEM?</p>
<p>Freshman Seminar. All first-semester freshman choose one from a wide array. (Actually, students have to pick a first choice and 4 or 5 alternates. My daughter did not get her top choice, but wound up really liking the alternate she took. A wonderful professor didn't hurt.) All the FSEMs emphasize improving writing and critical thinking skills. Most (maybe all) count towards fulfilling a core or a distribution requirement or both. The FSEM instructor becomes the faculty adviser for each student enrolled in the seminar.</p>
<p>What's the approximate cab fare to the airport?</p>
<p>wjb, you seem very knowledgable about Colgate. Are you an alum? How is the diversity there?</p>
<p>I'll try to answer that for you, about the diversity</p>
<p>Colgate is not a very diverse campus. It doesnt seem to attract many minorities for one, and its location certainly does not help. Also, when minorities get to campus, they are encouraged to live in theme houses like the Harlem Renaissance Center instead of among the rest of the students. When I visited about a year ago, the student body looked about how the stats described it, and the kids i talked to said its the schools fault for trying to push diversity to the point where they hate that word. </p>
<p>However, that being said, Colgate does not seem to be a racist campus by any means. It's pretty much what you make of it. Minorities didn't seem to have a problem fitting in, there just weren't that many on campus</p>
<p>Also, when minorities get to campus, they are encouraged to live in theme houses like the Harlem Renaissance Center instead...</p>
<p>Really?</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure that's after freshman year. Minority freshman are just assigned a roommate in a random dorm, just like everyone else.</p>