Colby College, Waterville, Maine
Colby College’s motto is “Dare Northward” and it’s worth doing. Colby is unusual as a small liberal arts college in that it offers 100% of demonstrated financial need with no loans. This is the same offer its big endowment New England neighbors Harvard and Yale offer. But with 2,000 students, Colby is a significantly more personalized experience and one where you are much more likely to have a chance at having close relationships with professors, research opportunities, and leadership experiences.
Situated on 714 acres of land which includes an arboretum, bird sanctuary, trails, a pond, a renowned art museum, most of the campus of Colby College is a state wildlife management area. Perched atop Mayflower Hill, the campus is in the Kennebec River Valley and has easy access to plenty of outdoor life. Colby was founded in 1813 when Maine was still part of Massachusetts and has been a leader in progressive thinking. Just 20 years after it began they had the first Anti-Slavery society, went co-ed in 1871, and just a hundred years after that hosted the first intercollegiate women’s varsity hockey game. In 2013, the campus was carbon neutral, one of the first in the nation.
Colby has a whopping 56 majors and 35 minors, a lot for a small liberal arts college. From Environmental Policy to Financial Markets, from Studio Art to Biochemistry, from Science, Technology, and Society, to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, from Spanish, to Environmental Computation, there are majors for you. Minor in Creative Writing, Japanese, or Data Science. Study Russian Literature, Managerial Economics, or Astronomy. Want to be a Computational Psychology Major but still study Art? No problem. Love Physics but still want to do Italian Studies? Can do. Interested in African American Studies but also want to Cinema Studies? Yep, that’s a go. And with small class sizes (around 15 people or so) you’re going to get a chance to learn from professors themselves, not TAs, not adjuncts. Colby also has a couple other options for pre professional programming. They have a program in engineering with Columbia, a pre-med option, and a chance to design your own major.
The calendar at Colby is a 4-1-4 calendar. This means you take 4 classes in the fall term, 4 in the spring and there is a January term. Jan Plan is one of the best things about Colby. The goal is academic exploration and freedom. Take classes on campus. Take them off campus. Do an internship. Conduct research. Do the things that interest you and figure out what you love doing. Not sure what your options are? Here are some Jan Plan offerings.
On campus:
Jan Plan is not the only research opportunity for you at Colby. The CLAS (Colby Liberal Arts Symposium) is a chance for students to share their research with one another at the end of the year. And yes, you can share Jan Plan research, but at Colby, research options abound! Try the Colby Undergraduate Summer Research Retreat program, or the Colby Achievement Program in the Sciences which supports traditionally underrepresented people in the sciences with research opportunities. Presidential Scholars (this is merit based) offers the top students coming into Colby research opportunities as well as stipends to support their research. The Pulver Science Scholars (also merit based) are given internship and research opportunities as part of their admission package. But research doesn’t stop here. Professors often ask their students to work with them on their research and many Colby students have gone on to co-author articles with their professors. This kind of thing is graduate level work, and the sort of critical skills that you will need in your lives. Colby students are up to this. They are very, very smart and they are serious about their learning.
Colby also promotes interdisciplinary learning as one of the best ways to truly learn anything in any discipline. To promote this, they have a number of centers where students can study, learn, and work in the same way we do “in real life.” The Lunder Institute for American Art takes one of the top collections of American art and brings it to the community, artists, art history students, and art critics and creates a space for everyone to learn in context. The Buck Lab for Climate and Environment does the same, bringing students, climate scientists, biologists, foresters, and more together to take a look at forests, lakes, and coasts to discern how the climate crisis is affecting the Maine environment. Interdisciplinary Computation provides a cutting edge look at how computing and big data can work for any discipline. And these are not all. The Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs, Linde Packman Lab for Biosciences Innovation, Center for Arts and Humanities, Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights, and their Dual-Degree Engineering program with Columbia are also available to students. With their academically engaged students, Colby has no trouble attracting people to their centers.
About 70% of Colby students study abroad. That’s a really hefty number, but it’s not surprising at a school where students are curious and adventurous. They offer a few programs that they run themselves in places like Dijon, France and Salamanca, Spain (ordinarily I would recommend learning Spanish in Latin America because the Spanish from Spain is very different from what you will need in the US, but Salamancs is fairly awesome). There are more than 200 programs they will accept transfer of credit from. Uniquely, they also offer Global Entry Semester where you begin your freshman year in either Dijon or Salamanca. It’s a pretty cool idea, basically sort of Gap Year-ish semester before coming to Colby.
Unlike most colleges, there are no freshman dorms at Colby. First years are clustered together in groups but they are in the regular dorms with the general population, so to speak. This is how it was for me in college, and I must confess I really liked it a lot. I always had people I could ask about a professor, a class, how to get somewhere, or about take-out, even (I would never have learned about Harold’s Fried Chicken without my upperclassmen friends). At Colby it’s done for the sake of mentoring and community (as it was at my school), and I completely approve. In a place like Colby where students are collaborative and supportive of one another.
Students at Colby work hard, but they play hard too. Athletics are important at Colby. It’s DIII which means you can play here and it means that a lot of students do. Colby students are active on and off the fields (50 acres of them) and the rink, and the mountains. It’s Maine so think cold weather sports. Yes, your sports are here: football, volleyball, swimming, lacrosse, golf, tennis, basketball, cross country. But my childhood sports are here too: ice hockey, nordic skiing, and alpine skiing. Plus, you can choose between varsity and intercollegiate on most of them, or there is also club available as well.
And speaking of clubs, Colby has plenty of them for you to join. Ballroom dancing, Drones, Cricket, Taiko drumming, Anime, Acapella, Mock Trial, Powder & Wig (a theater group), Colby Young Americans for Liberty, Express Poetry Club, Photography Club, WMHB (radio station), Women in Physics, South Asian Society, Debate Society, Enviro-Co, Super Smash Bros, Music Incubator, Improv, Colby Echo (weekly paper), Special Olympics, Beekeepers, Amnesty International and so so many more. If you don’t have a club you want you can start a new one.
There is also a very healthy outdoor life at Colby. First years are brought into campus with a special trip to get them started with their community in Maine. Called COOT, for Colby Outdoor Orientation Trips, first years can choose which trip they want to do. Ranging from mild to strenuous they have options which range from rock climbing, canoeing, and surfing to civic engagement, fishing, and local exploration. In addition, there are some outdoors clubs at Colby including the mountaineering club and the outing club. The outing club will lend you pretty much everything you could ever need from ice axes and snow shoes to maps and guides. There’s no charge for the gear, They also will teach you how to do things so if you, coming from Virginia as you do, maybe have never cross country skied before, there’s an outing to teach you how to do it. Never telemarked before (it’s ok, it’s Virginia), they can loan you the skis, and show you how to do it. Plus they have a cabin on Great Pond and you can stay in it.
Is Colby for you? If you are smart, curious, and collaborative it might be. It’s definitely a highly selective school, with only 13% of those applying admitted. Financial aid is very generous but only to those who need it, and they are very honest and upfront about wanting a diverse class of students. Part of that is geographical though, and there are not a million folks from our area applying to Colby. There is no Greek Life at Colby so if that’s a deal killer for you, cross it off now. For students who are wanting a small liberal arts college with strong sciences, especially in environmental, and a great student body, this could be a good pick.
Pros:
Cons:
Colby College’s motto is “Dare Northward” and it’s worth doing. Colby is unusual as a small liberal arts college in that it offers 100% of demonstrated financial need with no loans. This is the same offer its big endowment New England neighbors Harvard and Yale offer. But with 2,000 students, Colby is a significantly more personalized experience and one where you are much more likely to have a chance at having close relationships with professors, research opportunities, and leadership experiences.
Situated on 714 acres of land which includes an arboretum, bird sanctuary, trails, a pond, a renowned art museum, most of the campus of Colby College is a state wildlife management area. Perched atop Mayflower Hill, the campus is in the Kennebec River Valley and has easy access to plenty of outdoor life. Colby was founded in 1813 when Maine was still part of Massachusetts and has been a leader in progressive thinking. Just 20 years after it began they had the first Anti-Slavery society, went co-ed in 1871, and just a hundred years after that hosted the first intercollegiate women’s varsity hockey game. In 2013, the campus was carbon neutral, one of the first in the nation.
Colby has a whopping 56 majors and 35 minors, a lot for a small liberal arts college. From Environmental Policy to Financial Markets, from Studio Art to Biochemistry, from Science, Technology, and Society, to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, from Spanish, to Environmental Computation, there are majors for you. Minor in Creative Writing, Japanese, or Data Science. Study Russian Literature, Managerial Economics, or Astronomy. Want to be a Computational Psychology Major but still study Art? No problem. Love Physics but still want to do Italian Studies? Can do. Interested in African American Studies but also want to Cinema Studies? Yep, that’s a go. And with small class sizes (around 15 people or so) you’re going to get a chance to learn from professors themselves, not TAs, not adjuncts. Colby also has a couple other options for pre professional programming. They have a program in engineering with Columbia, a pre-med option, and a chance to design your own major.
The calendar at Colby is a 4-1-4 calendar. This means you take 4 classes in the fall term, 4 in the spring and there is a January term. Jan Plan is one of the best things about Colby. The goal is academic exploration and freedom. Take classes on campus. Take them off campus. Do an internship. Conduct research. Do the things that interest you and figure out what you love doing. Not sure what your options are? Here are some Jan Plan offerings.
On campus:
- Meteorology
- African Music
- EMT training
- Intro to Entrepreneurship
- Kitchen Judaism: Jewish Identity Formation through Cooking
- Art of Fly-Fishing
- Geology of Bermuda
- Plants of the Tropics – Costa Rica
- Resettling Refugees and Immigrants in Portland
- Blacksmithing
- Furniture making
- Premed Academy
- Sheep to Shawl
- Local Food from Production to Plate
- Animal Planet
- Bank of America
- Futbal Club Barcelona
- US Dept. of Justice
- Conde Nast
- Sports Illustrated
- Colby Liberal Arts Symposium 2020
Jan Plan is not the only research opportunity for you at Colby. The CLAS (Colby Liberal Arts Symposium) is a chance for students to share their research with one another at the end of the year. And yes, you can share Jan Plan research, but at Colby, research options abound! Try the Colby Undergraduate Summer Research Retreat program, or the Colby Achievement Program in the Sciences which supports traditionally underrepresented people in the sciences with research opportunities. Presidential Scholars (this is merit based) offers the top students coming into Colby research opportunities as well as stipends to support their research. The Pulver Science Scholars (also merit based) are given internship and research opportunities as part of their admission package. But research doesn’t stop here. Professors often ask their students to work with them on their research and many Colby students have gone on to co-author articles with their professors. This kind of thing is graduate level work, and the sort of critical skills that you will need in your lives. Colby students are up to this. They are very, very smart and they are serious about their learning.
Colby also promotes interdisciplinary learning as one of the best ways to truly learn anything in any discipline. To promote this, they have a number of centers where students can study, learn, and work in the same way we do “in real life.” The Lunder Institute for American Art takes one of the top collections of American art and brings it to the community, artists, art history students, and art critics and creates a space for everyone to learn in context. The Buck Lab for Climate and Environment does the same, bringing students, climate scientists, biologists, foresters, and more together to take a look at forests, lakes, and coasts to discern how the climate crisis is affecting the Maine environment. Interdisciplinary Computation provides a cutting edge look at how computing and big data can work for any discipline. And these are not all. The Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs, Linde Packman Lab for Biosciences Innovation, Center for Arts and Humanities, Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights, and their Dual-Degree Engineering program with Columbia are also available to students. With their academically engaged students, Colby has no trouble attracting people to their centers.
About 70% of Colby students study abroad. That’s a really hefty number, but it’s not surprising at a school where students are curious and adventurous. They offer a few programs that they run themselves in places like Dijon, France and Salamanca, Spain (ordinarily I would recommend learning Spanish in Latin America because the Spanish from Spain is very different from what you will need in the US, but Salamancs is fairly awesome). There are more than 200 programs they will accept transfer of credit from. Uniquely, they also offer Global Entry Semester where you begin your freshman year in either Dijon or Salamanca. It’s a pretty cool idea, basically sort of Gap Year-ish semester before coming to Colby.
Unlike most colleges, there are no freshman dorms at Colby. First years are clustered together in groups but they are in the regular dorms with the general population, so to speak. This is how it was for me in college, and I must confess I really liked it a lot. I always had people I could ask about a professor, a class, how to get somewhere, or about take-out, even (I would never have learned about Harold’s Fried Chicken without my upperclassmen friends). At Colby it’s done for the sake of mentoring and community (as it was at my school), and I completely approve. In a place like Colby where students are collaborative and supportive of one another.
Students at Colby work hard, but they play hard too. Athletics are important at Colby. It’s DIII which means you can play here and it means that a lot of students do. Colby students are active on and off the fields (50 acres of them) and the rink, and the mountains. It’s Maine so think cold weather sports. Yes, your sports are here: football, volleyball, swimming, lacrosse, golf, tennis, basketball, cross country. But my childhood sports are here too: ice hockey, nordic skiing, and alpine skiing. Plus, you can choose between varsity and intercollegiate on most of them, or there is also club available as well.
And speaking of clubs, Colby has plenty of them for you to join. Ballroom dancing, Drones, Cricket, Taiko drumming, Anime, Acapella, Mock Trial, Powder & Wig (a theater group), Colby Young Americans for Liberty, Express Poetry Club, Photography Club, WMHB (radio station), Women in Physics, South Asian Society, Debate Society, Enviro-Co, Super Smash Bros, Music Incubator, Improv, Colby Echo (weekly paper), Special Olympics, Beekeepers, Amnesty International and so so many more. If you don’t have a club you want you can start a new one.
There is also a very healthy outdoor life at Colby. First years are brought into campus with a special trip to get them started with their community in Maine. Called COOT, for Colby Outdoor Orientation Trips, first years can choose which trip they want to do. Ranging from mild to strenuous they have options which range from rock climbing, canoeing, and surfing to civic engagement, fishing, and local exploration. In addition, there are some outdoors clubs at Colby including the mountaineering club and the outing club. The outing club will lend you pretty much everything you could ever need from ice axes and snow shoes to maps and guides. There’s no charge for the gear, They also will teach you how to do things so if you, coming from Virginia as you do, maybe have never cross country skied before, there’s an outing to teach you how to do it. Never telemarked before (it’s ok, it’s Virginia), they can loan you the skis, and show you how to do it. Plus they have a cabin on Great Pond and you can stay in it.
Is Colby for you? If you are smart, curious, and collaborative it might be. It’s definitely a highly selective school, with only 13% of those applying admitted. Financial aid is very generous but only to those who need it, and they are very honest and upfront about wanting a diverse class of students. Part of that is geographical though, and there are not a million folks from our area applying to Colby. There is no Greek Life at Colby so if that’s a deal killer for you, cross it off now. For students who are wanting a small liberal arts college with strong sciences, especially in environmental, and a great student body, this could be a good pick.
Pros:
- Research opportunities
- Amazing Campus
- Interdisciplinary Centers
- Jan Plan
- Smart student body
Cons:
- Highly selective
- Small school
- No Greek Life
- Very cold winter
- Far away