Colgate University, Alone but Very Much Alive in the middle of New York
Written: Apr 28 '04
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: The campus is nicely set in a flat area in the hills of Central NY.
Cons: None I noticed.
The Bottom Line: If you are a Liberal Arts Student, have $40,000 per year, and like the open spaces and small classes, this may be the University of your dreams.
|
|
|
| popsrocks's Full Review: Colgate University |
Last week end I brought some fun events up to Colgate University for a spring party that was open to all the school. I made some observations being on the outside looking in.
The school is in Hamilton, New York. This is a college town. It is a nice rural town with a couple of hotels, many B&Bs, a movie theatre, a few grocery stores, some variety and specialty stores and restaurants.
It's important to mention the town because it and the University blend into each other on Broad Street. One moment you have a dorm house on the road and the next you are entering the Village Green with rows of stores on one side of it.
When we arrived late Friday night at about 11:30PM. Many of the students were walking the streets in groups. This went on for a couple of hours as the restaurants and bars closed. I suppose there is safety in numbers. As I say that, I really wouldn't know what they would need safety from. The town is well lighted and the students all know each other. It's not the kind of place, because of distance, where outsiders would hang out. It seemed that they were all just out having a good time though at one point some police cruisers were racing up and down the streets. I never did find out why.
The CAMPUS
The grounds are set into the hills of central NY. Though there are some areas where one must walk up and down stairs or hills from building to building, much is fairly level. The grounds are well cared for and quite beautiful. I have to say its the best looking campus I have ever visited and I have been to well over a hundred. The buildings are a mix of old and new and look good together. The new building were designed to blend rather than stand out. I have been to many places where everything is kind of mixed together without looking good. The campus is also VERY clean. Even the dumpster area where things can sometimes get a bit messy was perfectly clean.
The campus is divided by the main strip that makes its way into the town of Hamilton. What is great, I think, is that students really do not need a car or even public transportation to get around. A walk will get them right into the middle of a rural town that has a lot of charm and some places to go for a social life.
We ate in a small restaurant and I noticed signs up for different kinds of payment plans so it seems to me that at least some of the businesses are student friendly.
The school itself has a shuttle system that brings students around the 515 sprawling acres of property.
STUDENTS
From first look my impression was that this is an all white school. I tried finding some recent statistics, I couldn't. What I did find were stats from 1999. I found that it was then 85% White and the other fifteen percent is a mix of in descending order Asians, Blacks, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islanders and "others". I'm sure the school could give you up to date stats. I can tell you that by the looks of the students the mix is probably not much different now.
The school has an undergraduate class of about 2,700 students with a slightly higher female to male ratio. This is a stat that was the same in 1999 and still remains the same today. Back in 1970 it was still an all male school. My how things have changed.
PRICES
Expect to pay nearly $40,000 per year without scholarships. That includes tuition, room and board and other registration fees. Actually the figure was only $37, 500.
THE PARTY
This was an annual Spring Party they have. An open field right near Broad Street is fenced off. A big stage was set up with a good sound system, the Bar-B-Qs are fired up, we set up some interactive sports items and the party began.
There were a few bands playing throughout the day and the students were really into the music. A pizza eating contest was held. This was a big event and was played to the hilt. A huge crowd circled around the contestants. The contest was sponsored by a Fraternity and some local businesses. The proceeds went to the Madison County Children's Camp.
Bar-B-Q chicken, pulled pork sandwiches and other food was offered to the students. Ha, our crew had a plate each too.It was good stuff!
A mechanical ride was spinning away and cotton candy, jelly apples, soft drinks and other goodies were given out all day.
We brought some sports games. One is called Human Fooseball. This is where contestants from each team are strapped into place with a waist harness and they play soccer like it would be in a table top fooseball game. It was active all day.
Another item is the bungee run. This is where two contestants wear shoulder harnesses that have them attached to the back of an inflateable unit that has two lanes. When the contestants run forward, they are pulling against the bungee cords. The contestant to stretch the farthest is the winner. It's fun watching when the bungee cord takes over and brings them bouncing back on their rear ends.
We also had Sumo Wrestling Suits, Bouncy Boxing, Gladiator Joust, and a Big Bounce for the students to just let loose in. These never stopped for four hours straight. Good competition and good fun was had.
The students had a good time but were not nuts in the events. We do have times when, due to alcohol excess, we have to shut these things down. This was not happening here.
BEER HERE!!
I mentioned the entire area of the party was fenced in. I would say it was an area of three or four acres. There were signs at the two admission points that were stationed by security guards. The signs stated that no bottle, or drink could be brought it. No back packs were allowed.
There was an area where students could drink alcohol. I'm not quite sure as to how this all ran but there was a penned in area just off the main party area. Actually it was double penned so that someone inside couldn't reach to someone just outside the pen.
At the entrance all students had to show proof of age. If the ID was good the student would pay two dollars, get a wrist band, and head on in to the kegs.
It was basically a social in the area. No persons were getting wild or any such negative activity. they could listen to the band and hang out with friends.
PARTIES ACROSS the STREET
It seemed that a few Fraternity or Sorority Houses were having their own parties. There are some fine looking old buildings just across on Broad Street where they are housed. At a couple of them there was music and one even had a mechanical bull for their own entertainment.
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
This Liberal Arts school, that boasts small classes, seemed to have a great turnout for the day. The weather was good and the events were carefully planned and the students had a great time. After we packed up a started home I enjoyed the beautiful views of the area. So many people just don't know how gorgeous some parts of New York are. Go up to Hamilton and check out Colgate University and find out.
The Colgate Inn
Montclair University
NEW YORK STATE So much to see!
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.