stilldeciding7

I have narrowed my decision down to Colgate, College of William and Mary, and Boston College (I just eliminated Holy Cross), but have been unable to make my final decision. I am planning on majoring in either History or Government and live in NJ. Law school may be in my future, but I am not sure. I have never visited Colgate, but will on Friday. Any suggestions for making my choice?

ticklemepink

Whoa, you're in great luck! I'm a history major at Colgate and to be honest, I transferred to Colgate for their department. It's really quite excellent with tough but great professors. It's one of the more popular majors on campus so the demand are very high because the courses are really interesting and the professors are great about bringing the subject alive. There's also the London Study Group where you can spend a semester in London doing your thesis using real archives. We have quite a few who are planning on law school after taking a year off from Colgate. Unlike a lot of schools, Colgate is one of the few that actually offers a history workshop training that is required for the major/minor. The class is designed to give you the grounding of how to write in history and use a variety of materials and sources. Though it's a pain but most people find them pretty useful and fun because there isn't anything to memorize!

Poly sci is also huge with their semester in DC program...

gellino

I would personally go to Colgate out of those three from an environment and selectivity perspective. However, none of them is that far academically from the others (although BC has less of a historical reputation), that would be more concerned about fit. I would say that W&M may have the most intellectual/nerdy feel to it, but think it may have the least strong job placement of the three, at least in the northeast.

bluebayou

If cost is not an issue, I'd go with either private college over the public.

ajayc

Colgate is way better than both of them.

I know I am biased....

swish14

Three great schools with very different feels.

W&M
Sun/beach/history/public/cheaper/intellectual

Colgate
Snow/hockey/rural/alcohol/private/expensive

BC
Catholic/sports/Boston/private/bigger

It all depends on what matches the OP needs. W&M has most name mystique and no toothpaste jokes. Look honestly within and you will make the best choice for you.

SPQR08

Come to Colgate, major in Classics, get a good GPA, be active on campus, and you are almost guaranteed admission to a top law school. Search for a combination of Classics and law school on Google and you'll find that the major in itself is impressive on law school applications and that majoring in Classics will put you at a distinct advantage over your peers there, because you'll have a facility for picking up the Latin that constitutes the majority of legal terms. Additionally, it will improve your verbal and written communication skills more than you could imagine. Colgate's Classics department is no joke, and the social aspect of your education, something you have to experience at Colgate to understand, leaves W&M and BC with their faces in the dust. Four years at Colgate will make anyone with even rudimentary, even autistic or Asperger's-like social skills incredibly more personable, which definitely helps for achieving success as a lawyer.