A Sense of Place

Beauty

From the first look, the campus is inviting. And then, as it takes hold, the scenery becomes defining.

Colgate’s allure shapes the experience of living and learning here. The feeling comes alive in every majestic view. It is in the cover and colors of sugar maples and red oaks. It is in the strolls along Willow Path, the serenity of Taylor Lake and Payne Creek, the history chiseled into halls of stone. Set in the Chenango Valley of central New York, Colgate is one of the most beautiful environments in America. It is forever in Colgate’s identity: breathtaking beauty.

Location

In the center of New York, in a town known as one of the friendliest in America, Colgate offers the best of college life.

A short walk down the hill is charming Hamilton, a village of about 3,800 people, where most of the Colgate faculty live. The town is like an extension of Colgate, from the stores run by alumni to the landmark Colgate Inn that amounts to a front door to the University. Hamilton is the spot for students to get off campus and grab a slice, catch a movie, browse the bookstore and enjoy a weekly farmers’ market. Weekend getaways are a reasonable drive away: the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in 40 minutes; the Syracuse Hancock International Airport in one hour; and Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City all within four to five hours.

Fit

Students often choose Colgate because it just fits, the intangible quality that can mean everything in picking a college.

They know it as soon as they get here. It starts with that first step on campus, seeing the landscape and the way people engage with each other. It grows and endures because students find others who share their interests in class, in recreation, in reflection.

Colgate is expressly designed to help people connect, from its courses to its residential commons. This place attracts students who want to live in a community with peers, study seriously, challenge themselves, be active, get involved. The reason it feels right to people from so many different places and perspectives is because Colgate supports, welcomes, and wants them. It fits.

Scale

The scale of Colgate is unlike any in America.

As a university, it offers world-caliber faculty, extraordinary research opportunities, dozens of diverse majors, more than 250 clubs, and the highest level of competition in athletics: Division I. As a private and selective liberal arts college, it is intimate enough to ensure that teaching is the priority and that students know their professors. Colgate is a learning environment of small classes, on a campus designed for community, in a town where people gather at the inn and village green; it is also a 575-acre home of expansive academic choices on campus and around the world. The balance of that scale is distinctive. It creates opportunities only Colgate can offer.

Small-School Feel

• Scenic setting in small a town. Forbes listed Hamilton as one of America’s friendliest towns
• Housing is guaranteed, providing a four-year residential experience
• Residential Commons system offers small living-learning communities
• Faculty and administration leaders are approachable and active in the lives of students by attending brown bag lunches, holding drop-in hours and more

Big-School Benefits

• Uncommon opportunities for undergraduates to take part in research and significant service projects each summer
• Strong, loyal, passionate network of alumni
• Distinguished faculty
• Expansion of physical spaces on campus: Benton Hall, Jane Pinchin Hall, Burke Hall
• Study-abroad options: 100+ approved programs, Colgate study groups, extended study options
• High caliber of visiting speakers, scholars, and artists