As much as I appreciate posters’ pride in their “pet” colleges (not sure of the source - alum, parent?), it seems silly to keep pushing a school when the OP states "But both are very rural and I’m not sure if I would be ready to commit to a school that is 1. so isolated ". Some applicants don’t mind or even like relative isolation, others don’t. It’s not a knock on a college to call it somewhat isolated. It is what it is. On the spectrum from urban to isolated, Hamilton and Colgate fall on the isolated side.