There are things about Colby that have remained constant over the years – indeed decades – but like all schools, it has evolved quite a bit and I think that as @colfac92 notes, the speed of evolution has picked up under David Greene. He is very much of a dynamo!
Traditionally, Colby was known in New England to be a good, selective school with excellent teaching that was favored by smart kids who liked outdoor sports (and not necessarily intercollegiate ones, but ones like skiing and climbing). In many ways, it is still all of those things, but there has been a huge push over the last several years to attract students from outside of its traditional circles and to be more inclusive. The school has worked hard on this in many ways – it was one of the top schools matched in the Questbridge match for the last few years, the launch of DavisConnects, more ties with the town of Waterville, deans and programs focusing on diversity and inclusion, etc. It has, of course, been well supported for things it’s always done well (such as environmental science), and alumni seem very supportive of where the school is going, (That suggests to me that it is more of an evolution than a change in direction.) Part of what increasing diversity (in every respect, including geographic) means is that there are fewer seats for the traditional base, and this has been somewhat frustrating/infuriating to those who might have assumed (rightly a decade ago) that this would be a slam-dunk acceptance for them.
The students I know who are there now appreciate the strong sense of community and having friendly, motivated classmates who are not competitive or cutthroat. The teaching is excellent. A lot of the kids there considered other schools like Bowdoin, Bates, and Middlebury (all ones that offer much of the same – no Greek life, strong community, and winter sports,) There are distribution requirements, so it is attractive to students who are open to “sampling” and most departments do a great job of offering introductory courses that just might entice someone to dive in a little deeper.
If, as @colfac92 mentions, you’re not familiar with this part of the country, you should visit and see what you think. It’s a beautiful part of the world, but it’s definitely a bit remote!