yellowhighlight

I absolutely love Colgate...the only thing that I was concerned about was the social life. I assume that since Greek life is so big, and because the town is so small, alcohol is very prevalent. As someone who does not drink (but does like to occasionally party, just not all the time), I wondered if there are other weekend alternatives to drinking.

Do students ostracize others if they do not drink? Can you still go to a party and have fun even if you do not drink? What are the other non-alcohol events that go on? Dances? Theme dances? Concerts? Just chilling in dorms? Do you think that the majority of students drink?

I hope that these are not too many questions, but I absolutely fell in love with Colgate the minute I layed eyes on the campus, I just want to make sure that the social atmosphere isn't analogous to a "party school."

5757

i do not drink and i was worried about this too. when i visited colgate and talked to some students, even though they drank they were very supportive of non-drinkers. they showed me east hall and talked about its history. it made me feel a lot better.

SPQR08

There are plenty of social options for kids who don't drink. Actually, the strongest thrust in student events planning at Colgate is to provide outlets for students who don't drink on the weekend. We have tons of free movies and our movie theater downtown is so cheap it's practically free. There's a gaming club that has events like Rock Band or Super Smash Bros tournaments, and one of the biggest events each semester is Dancefest, where student groups perform on stage. Colgate has concerts all the time. If there's some kind of new event or club that Colgate doesn't have and you want, it's easy to get funding, etc., provided that you find other people who will enjoy it. We do drink a lot, but you won't feel like an outcast if you abstain. I've never heard of someone being ostracized for refusing to drink. It's hard to compare Greek life at Colgate to other places because, in my experience, Colgate tends to do everything different from other schools (and better). There's no pledging until sophomore year, and you'll probably remain good friends with Greeks even if you don't choose to join. They kind of have their own little world. I consider Greek life confining and I'm glad I didn't join a frat because it leaves me free to enjoy the majority of our attractive student body.

Adaman

Speaking of drinking/not drinking, does anyone here know what the deal is with East next year? My brother's a sophomore at Colgate, and he told me that there's been a lot of talk about East not being substance-free next year, and that they'll only have one or two floors of sub-free. Has anything been announced about that?

ticklemepink

I would not seriously worry too much! SPQR08 pretty much has it on target in terms of what Colgate has offer. I'm a stay-in movie type of a gal and I'm okay with it. I live in a sorority house where the girls love to hit up the local bar for happy hour on Fridays and go over to a frat house for a mixer several times a semester.

Colgate is NOT what you see on Animal House. I just survived Spring Party Weekend which is really notorious but it's luster has worn off several years ago when the administration took over the Greek houses. A lot of excitement about drinking comes from the freshmen. It starts leveling off in sophomore year and by junior year, people just couldn't care less about how often they drink per week.

Colgate students know how to play and work hard- literally. True, professors find freshmen obnoxious, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays (after Freshmen Mondays and Colgate "Thursdays" on Wednesdays) but they're generally good about it. You will definitely find yourself wondering how is it that your classmates who partied the night before managed to come to classes but look a little closer, especially in morning classes, and you'll figure out who tends to party a little too hard

The other factor that will give an isolating feeling is the fact that freshmen dorms are ON THE HILL so freshmen have to wander down to frat houses and the Jug. So once everyone leaves, it can feel pretty weird... but once you're down the hill as a sophomore, you'll be in better position.

shakennotstirred

lol. i remember worrying about that myself before matriculating in 05.

honestly, it's only a big deal right now because it's so completely different from high school. after a year (or two) you won't even have to time to realize that it was all no big deal cuz of all the fun partying you'll be doing!