donpon11

Hey, Colgate is among my top choises, along with Skidmore. I was wondering, is the atmoshpere at Colgate drastically different than places such as skidmore and vassar? like ive heard that colgate is blatantly right winged....frats are dominant...sports are everywhere. Does this sound accurate?

RaboKarabekian

I don't know that it's blatantly right-wing, but it's definitely not as liberal as skidmore and vassar. As for the sports and frats...yeah, that's accurate.

tcolgate

remember two things, 1. the majority of college campuses lean to the left, and i guarentee you 95% of all professors everywhere are liberal. and 2. you can still be a fratboy or athlete and be a democrat, just probably not a hardcore liberal. from what ive heard of colgate, the political activity on campus is very subdued

wjb

In general, students at Skidmore and Vassar are probably more non-conformist and involved with activist causes than students at Colgate (although because of its relatively large size for an LAC, there are all types at Colgate, including non-conformists and activists). But Colgate is in no way "blatantly right wing." The majority of the faculty is liberal, and the student body is best described as moderate. (My daughter is happy there, and she's a liberal.) As another poster said, it's really not a politically charged campus. (Gotta note that on election night, there was an all-campus party with food from all the swing states -- the featured item for Minnesota was spam on crackers! Most of the campus was there.) It's a rural campus, so to be happy at Colgate I think you need to like lots of social interaction -- but it is NOT necessary to do it through the Greek system. Plenty of activities and groups to get involved in. Sports are indeed big -- D1 sports, intramural sports, club sports. Getting to and from class is an athletic activity in itself. Up and down (gorgeous) hills all the way.

travelr

donpon11:

they are very different schools and, subsequently, are comprised of very different student bodies. Colgate is much more conservative, fraternal, and homogeneous. Skidmore is more individualistic and liberal. Vassar seems to be poised inbetween the two.