The typical Colgate student spends about 2,500 hours – or 104 days – outside of the classroom each semester. Colgate’s residential education program seeks to capture the many “educational moments” that occur within this time.
Colgate takes a four-year approach to residential education, fostering the progressive development of its students. The program is viewed as a working model by colleges and universities across the country, and administrators are regularly asked to speak about the program at national conferences.
• The First-Year Experience supports students’ transition to higher education and independent living within a community. Students live in designated residence halls, and they engage in first-year seminars and life skills workshops on topics such as time management, networking, business etiquette and decision making.
• The Sophomore-Year Experience encourages further reflection. Numerous opportunities invite students to explore and engage in the habits and skills necessary for active citizenry and democracy, including public speaking, active listening, teamwork and conflict resolution.
Students also solidify their decisions about choice of major, off-campus study, and potential career paths.
• Juniors and seniors put their citizenship and community building skills into practice while living in the Broad Street Community, where fun and self-governance are as important as service to others and cultivation of the whole as well as the individual.
Groups of students select who they will live with – in free-standing theme houses, Greek organizations, or in small communities within the new town house complex.
By the time they graduate, Colgate hopes that all students will have acquired the skills, habits, values, and knowledge they will need to be prepared professionally, personally, and civically for the challenges of the 21st century.