Colgate University

Academics

Geography professor Peter Klepeis discusses the ways that environmental sustainability initiatives affect emotion in GEOG 306: The Geography of Happiness.

Excellence

What makes learning at Colgate so exceptional is academic quality at a remarkably personal level.

Every single class is taught by distinguished faculty — never teaching assistants. Professors truly get to know and mentor their students, with classes kept small enough to ensure it. At the same time, Colgate’s larger scale provides an enviable choice of majors, research, and global study. The hallmarks of a Colgate education have stood for centuries: critical inquiry, knowledge across disciplines, rigorous preparation for the world. Graduates have a profound ability to summon reason, gather facts, solve problems, and communicate with power. This is the choice for students who are sophisticated, driven, and eager for transformative teaching.

Scholars Programs

Colgate offers scholars programs for first-year students based on qualities demonstrated in their admissions applications. All of these students receive valuable support toward learning, research, and global travel as they begin their Colgate life.

Alumni Memorial Scholars

Students with an exceptional academic record who will thrive by contributing to the intellectual community

Office of Undergraduate Studies Scholars

Students who have shown creativity, determination, and intellect in the face of significant challenges

Anthropology and peace and conflict studies professor Nancy Ries listens to students in her class War in Lived Experience.
Professor Enrique Galvez was named an Optical Society Fellow.
Jerome Balmuth Award for Teaching recipient Engda Hagos’ published research in the European Journal of Cell Biology with 10 Colgate student co-authors, that examines how a specific protein inhibits cancer growth at the cellular level.
9:1
Student-to-faculty ratio
100%
Classes taught by faculty who are leaders in their field
93%
Retention rate (students returning as sophomores)
Art and art history professor Lynette Stephenson explores creative visual modes of expression in her studio art class.

Curriculum

Colgate’s core curriculum teaches not just topics but habits of mind.

The core takes students through an intellectual exploration of questions that every educated person will need to deal with at some point in their lives. Gathered in lively small-group discussions, students go in surprising directions of discovery as they dive into history and challenges of modern life. The courses cross all majors, reflecting a Colgate liberal arts education that teaches the whole person, and a world that never fits neatly into just one discipline.

Although it's one small slice of a student's coursework, the core unites everyone in a common academic experience. And even though its tradition runs more than 90 years, the core is distinctive for never aging. With intensity and care, the faculty debate each year how to keep the core fresh, ensuring that it is constantly relevant.

Professor Rebecca Ammerman discusses aspects of early Greek life including art, architecture, and culture.
Students perform experiments in an intro biology class in Olin Hall.
Antonio Barrera, Associate Professor of History, lectures to his class in Alumni Hall.

Majors

Minors are offered in most majors.

  • Africana and Latin American studies
  • Anthropology
  • Applied mathematics
  • Architecture†
  • Art and art history
  • Asian studies
  • Astrogeophysics
  • Astronomy/physics
  • Biochemistry
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Chinese
  • Classical studies
  • Classics
  • Computer science
  • Computer science/mathematics
  • Creative writing†
  • Economics
  • Educational studies
  • English
  • Environmental biology
  • Environmental economics
  • Environmental geography
  • Environmental geology
  • Environmental studies
  • Film and media studies
  • French
  • Geography
  • Geology
  • German
  • Global Public and Environmental Health†
  • Greek
  • History
  • Humanities
  • International relations
  • Japanese
  • Jewish Studies†
  • Latin
  • LGBTQ studies†
  • Linguistics†
  • Mathematics
  • Mathematical economics
  • Mathematical systems biology†
  • Medieval and Renaissance studies†
  • Middle Eastern and Islamic studies
  • Molecular biology
  • Museum studies†
  • Music
  • Native American studies
  • Natural sciences
  • Neuroscience
  • Peace and conflict studies
  • Philosophy
  • Philosophy and religion
  • Physical science
  • Physics
  • Political science
  • Psychological science
  • Religion
  • Russian and Eurasian studies
  • Social sciences
  • Sociology
  • Spanish
  • Theater
  • Women’s studies
  • Writing and rhetoric†

†Minor only

The Colgate University Department of Theater presents A Date, A Birth, and Business as Usual starring student actors from a variety of academic interests and class years.

Off-Campus Studies

Colgate opens up the world to students by giving them an extraordinary chance to see it.

Over its history, Colgate has long been moving outward, encouraging its students to learn the cultures and perspectives of foreign places. What came of that commitment is one of the most revered off-campus programs anywhere. The sheer scope is remarkable, led by more than 100 approved study-abroad programs in 50 countries.

Students can also do semester-long off-campus study groups, or short-term faculty-led trips with a professor after the semester ends. The majority of students study somewhere else in the world. From Cuba to China, Uganda to Jamaica, Australia to Argentina, Colgate classrooms are everywhere.

63%
Percentage of Colgate students who take part in off-campus study

Wales

The Wales Study Group experiences quintessential parts of the British Isles, including their many historic sites.

South Africa

Students in the South Africa Study Group take excursions that reinforce the biogeography theme of the study group.

Florida Keys

Students participate in cognitive and behavioral research of marine mammals on the Florida Keys Extended Study trip.
Off-campus study programs unlock endless opportunities for learning at locations all over the world.

More Than 70 Countries Visited

In any given year, Colgate students study economics in London, England; education in Seoul, South Korea; geography in Wollongong, Australia; and society and culture in Trinidad — often led by Colgate professors. Options for domestic programs include the National Institutes of Health, where embedded students contribute to advanced research, and Washington, D.C., where they can dig into the operations of executive agencies, think-tanks, and congressional committees.

Outdoor Education

Colgate loves the outdoors, and it sure tends to attract students who feel the same way.

The University’s outdoor education program is regarded as one of the nation’s best. For first-time students, it begins even before they do; more than a quarter of incoming students take a pre-orientation trip in the New York wilderness, hiking, climbing, and paddling with trained leaders. That symbolizes a commitment to get people outside, have fun, and earn credit in the backyards of natural settings around the region. Outdoor classes capture the driven nature of Colgate students. The lessons learned — leadership, teamwork, personal growth — capture Colgate itself.

Colgate is also committed to protecting the environment. In 2019 it became the first college or university in New York to be carbon neutral — meaning it offsets its own greenhouse gas emissions by reducing or removing emissions elsewhere, such as by planting trees that absorb carbon as they grow. Colgate students participate in a “tree climbing for break” class in the woods along the Darwin Thinking Path on the former ski hill on Colgate campus. The class was run by Outdoor Education for students who remained on campus during the autumn break.

Colgate’s Outdoor Education program traveled to Cochise Stronghold, a rock climbing destination in the backcountry of Southern Arizona, for spring break. Staff, guides, and students came together to enjoy the spectacular landscape of rugged canyons and towering granite domes.
Professor of Geography Peter Klepeis takes students of his on a snowshoeing walk in the woods around Colgate as part of an exercise in happiness and paying attention to details in nature.
Incoming freshman students participate in a sea kayaking Wilderness Adventure led by Outdoor Education on Cranberry Lake in the Adirondacks.
Outdoor Education ice climbing trip to Keene Valley in the Adirondacks.

Research

Colgate’s research is distinguished in quality, respected by peers, and honored by awards, but the real surprise is who gets to do it: an overwhelming majority of undergraduate students.

The access to research opportunities is a true differentiator at Colgate, where students can typically work directly with top scholars simply by asking.

With no teaching assistants at Colgate, undergrads get doctorate-level opportunities without competing with graduate students for those chances. The research covers the entire spectrum of Colgate liberal arts, from the sciences and social sciences to the arts and humanities. Some students even get research published before they graduate. The intellectual experience of teaming with faculty in discovery is transformative.

$1+ million
in funding designated for students to pursue summer research

POLITICAL SCIENCE
State-Building, Violence, and Indigeneity

Jordy Medina ’23

BIOLOGY
Cellular Metabolic Responses to Mammalian Reovirus Infection

Jasper Lim-Goyette ’23, Beckman Scholar

ANTHROPOLOGY / SOCIOLOGY
Noh K’uh Archaeological Project

Jordan Nichols ’23

PHYSICS / ASTRONOMY
Artificial Neurons using Superconductors

Denzel Bullen ’23

CLASSICS
Bucolic Notions of Unrequited Love

Tate Wright ’23
Students in the lobby of Benton Hall, the home of Career Services, the Office of National Fellowships and Scholarships, and the Thought Into Action entrepreneurship program’s administrative office

Success

The students of Colgate carry its values.

And one day they carry out the value of a Colgate degree, which opens doors with its reputation for excellence. The finest employers and most competitive graduate schools all know what it means to meet someone who went to Colgate. This university teaches people to grow in both confidence and humility. To challenge themselves and others with reason and respect. To communicate clearly. To see many perspectives. To embrace responsibility and engage in society. Those are the skills employers want. They reflect well-rounded people who can help, compete, and win in the real world. They are Colgate graduates.

Top Employers of Recent Graduates

  • AlphaSights
  • Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  • Barclays
  • Colgate University
  • Ernst & Young
  • Guidepoint
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • National Institutes of Health
  • NBC Universal
  • Peace Corps
  • UBS
  • Vettery
99%
Percentage of last year’s class secured jobs, admission to graduate schools, fellowships and scholarships, military or volunteer service within nine months of graduation

River Corrado ’23

Assisted with research focused on how anthropogenic noise affects the acoustic behavior of Hawaiian monk seals at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology.

Mac Chirara ’25

Conducted field research focused on the social ethology of the endangered black and white rhinoceros at Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservancy in Zimbabwe.

Emily Schreurs ’24

Investigated the impact of the drug estradiol on the body’s stress axis following traumatic brain injury at Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md.

Fabrizio Montisci ’24

Worked at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga. as part of the Sudan conflict resolution program aimed at establishing a cohesive and democratic civilian-led movement to achieve peace in the region.

Riley Decker ’23

Created content, developed brand identity, and recruited athletes as a marketing intern with Powerlifting America.
With support from Colgate’s Thought Into Action Incubator, entrepreneur Uyi Omorogbe ’19 created African-inspired clothing company NaSo. Profits from sales fund renovations and supplies for Nigerian schools.

Choose a Colgate education

Colgate offers rigorous preparation for the world at a remarkably personal level. Students at Colgate are challenged to be enlightened thinkers and global citizens who will thrive in life and in work — and you can be one of them.

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