Honest Assessment of Colby

[Anonymous]

Another Coiby grad here. I admittedly did not have the best feelings for the place when I left (mid90s) but that was 100% about me -- immaturity, some of the campus politics of the day, and just some bad sports luck that I was bitter about.

With age comes perspective, and in hindsight I can admit that I loved my time up there and it prepared me really well for the "real world". From everything I can tell, it's an even better place now than it was then. The new president is doing amazing things up there. See how they have dealt with COVID. Look at the impact they are having on the Waterville community, playing a huge role in redeveloping downtown Waterville. They are significantly upgrading their physical plant and investing in the arts and some really innovative programs (see recent announcement about their AI programs).

IF DC wants to go to grad school, you have no worries. Grad schools know Colby and the academic rigor. I will say, though, when I came down to DC after graduation, the "Colby name" didn't open many doors down here, but once the door was open, the 4 years I spent at Colby prepared me to walk through it and hit the ground running, job-wise.

[Anonymous]

FWIW: Pre-covid, my older DC and I went to an admissions talk that featured four schools, and Colby was one of them. The Colby admissions guy was wearing outdoor gear and a vest like he had come out of the woods or off a canoe--not quite that extreme but you get the idea. I recall because we were in dense city in The Valley in Los Angeles; he looked so out of place, but in a happy, confident way. All I could think of was, my older DC would hate Colby, but my younger DC would love Colby.

We plan

[Anonymous]

When I was studying abroad, there were a few students form Colby. They were smart, sophisticated and very very rich.

[Anonymous]

My DC is currently at Colby and absolutely loves it. Had plenty of options that were ranked higher, but really fell in love with the campus, the students and Maine. We couldn't be happier. Also, the new President is a trailblazer and has done/will do incredible things at the school and with the town of Waterville.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations! Colby is a fantastic choice to have! I would visit. We just drove through so I did not get a real feel. It definitely felt sporty to us. The kids we saw looked happy.

I would visit if you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8% acceptance this year so she must be a great student! My daughter and I loved Colby. Very sporty, outdoorsy, prep-school vibe. Lovely campus, cute downtown that appears to be on the rise (look up Colby’s investment in downtown Waterville), amazing new sports facility. Maine is a special place and it gets into people’s souls. I don’t know anyone who’s spent significant time there who doesn’t hold it close to their heart.

selectivity figures don’t mean all that much anymore since private schools throw money at marketeers who say and do anything to get students to apply in order to turn them down. That makes the selectivity percentage drop, which is then reported to USN&WR

Name a school with a less than 10% acceptance rate that isn’t excellent. I’ll wait.

Alice Lloyd College of Kentucky. Its 7 percent acceptance rate is lower than Colby's.

[Anonymous]

Another Colby grad here. Overall, great school when I attended and it looks like the President and his forward-thinking team are making significant advancements upwards.

Definitely a rural campass. Definitely long, cold winters. However, I studied abroad for a year and during Jan-Plans. Recommend visiting and feelilng the vibe for yourself, but overall, strong academics and nothing but positive things to say here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8% acceptance this year so she must be a great student! My daughter and I loved Colby. Very sporty, outdoorsy, prep-school vibe. Lovely campus, cute downtown that appears to be on the rise (look up Colby’s investment in downtown Waterville), amazing new sports facility. Maine is a special place and it gets into people’s souls. I don’t know anyone who’s spent significant time there who doesn’t hold it close to their heart.

selectivity figures don’t mean all that much anymore since private schools throw money at marketeers who say and do anything to get students to apply in order to turn them down. That makes the selectivity percentage drop, which is then reported to USN&WR

Name a school with a less than 10% acceptance rate that isn’t excellent. I’ll wait.

Alice Lloyd College of Kentucky. Its 7 percent acceptance rate is lower than Colby's.

You check-mated me there. Well played.

[Anonymous]

Since nobody has said this yet, I will -- if your kid wants to go to law school, they should focus on getting the highest gpa and lsat score they can. Outside of yale law, nothing else matters. If colby is known to be "rigorous" and "grad schools know this" (translation - it's difficult to get good grades), steer clear. Law schools don't care if you went to colby, swarthmore, or state u.

Also, as a neutral observer here, particularly since your kid is considering grad school, think really hard about whether you want to full pay for a small-name lac. Did your kid get money somewhere comparable? Or could they do honors college at a bigger public? It sounds like the finances will be a stretch and I wouldn't do that for colby.

[Anonymous]

Colby Grad here and I will be the dissenting voice: don't go. I had a miserable time there and regularly recommend others don't go. So as not to sound the Debbie Downer here are the pros and cons as I see them:
Pros:
-Academics are top notch. I had friends that went Ivy and I never felt that their education was any better than mine\
-It is great if you love skiing/snowboarding. Winters last from Nov-April and Sugarloaf and Sunday River (2 of the best mountains in the Northeast)
-You can study abroad at some great places through programs that they have (Oxford, LSE)
-There are some really smart people that go here. Also so VERY rich people

Cons:
-If you can get in here, you probably have similar choices academically
-Waterville has nothing around at it all. It is at least 30 minutes from anything else so you better love being on campus
-Waterville may be "reviving" but it is still a dying milltown and the locals hate you.
-The place is SMALL! Everything that your DD does wrong socially will be brought up for the remainder of their time there. It's all the hell of a small town high school
-The school splits socially along if you went to a New England Prep School or not.
-There was very little school spirit. Sports/extra curriculars are not a thing that people care about up there, the most popular sport is ice hockey.
-There is almost no diversity. Most of the people are from Boston suburbs/New York
-Others may have other experiences but my experience of the alumni network has been dismal. I have reached out to them before and they have never once been helpful to me. The job placement numbers look good because a lot of the kids that go there are already from wealthy/connected families so they use that network and Colby is a "good enough" name to get you a look.

In short, while the academics are as advertised, there are way better college experiences to be had. I personally regret my choice to go there and if I could do it all over again, I would have gone somewhere else. If you have the academic numbers to get into Colby, you probably got in somewhere similarly (but a little lower ranked) with a better alumni network and better location.

[Anonymous]

Is she outdoorsy and does she like cold weather? I think these are the biggest factors in whether she’ll be happy there.

[Anonymous]

I have a niece who transferred out a couple of years ago. She came from a top private in the Philly area, but said that the social environment was dominated by very rich, very white New England boarding school students, who treated Colby as a continuation of boarding school. With it being a small school in the middle of nowhere, she felt very isolated and left after freshman year for another SLAC with a more diverse student body and less of the prep school vibe.
I do think people get taken in by the very low admission rate, but as others have said, that seems to reflect a very aggressive marketing campaign designed to boost numbers. But it seems like the actual students are the same rich NE boarding school grads that Colby has always relied on to pay the bills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since nobody has said this yet, I will -- if your kid wants to go to law school, they should focus on getting the highest gpa and lsat score they can. Outside of yale law, nothing else matters. If colby is known to be "rigorous" and "grad schools know this" (translation - it's difficult to get good grades), steer clear. Law schools don't care if you went to colby, swarthmore, or state u.

Also, as a neutral observer here, particularly since your kid is considering grad school, think really hard about whether you want to full pay for a small-name lac. Did your kid get money somewhere comparable? Or could they do honors college at a bigger public? It sounds like the finances will be a stretch and I wouldn't do that for colby.[/quote


This +1000

Think about the long game. Colby is very expensive ($254,000) and is filled with rich kids. Nothing wrong with that, but add to the undergrad minimum costs expensive travel abroad, spring breaks, travel, clothes, etc. Law school will cost another $220,000-$300,000 unless they get top top grades at Colby and ace the LSAT so they qualify for merit aid. Business School could possibly be paid for by a company, but if not that will run another $120,000-$150,000 grand.

Having just gone through this with my DC, who attended State School, is not at a top 5 Law School, and will graduate debt free, the trade off of graduating Law School debt free (and us not using every penny of our savings for undergrad) is life changing all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a niece who transferred out a couple of years ago. She came from a top private in the Philly area, but said that the social environment was dominated by very rich, very white New England boarding school students, who treated Colby as a continuation of boarding school. With it being a small school in the middle of nowhere, she felt very isolated and left after freshman year for another SLAC with a more diverse student body and less of the prep school vibe.
I do think people get taken in by the very low admission rate, but as others have said, that seems to reflect a very aggressive marketing campaign designed to boost numbers. But it seems like the actual students are the same rich NE boarding school grads that Colby has always relied on to pay the bills.

Is your niece a minority student or is she white?

[Anonymous]

My child is there. Nice school. Not graduating yet. But, I am worried about this year's graduating class. The school has sent out a letter to the Colby alums and parents asking for help securing jobs for these kids. I thought Colby would have the name recognition to to better even with Covid. Makes me rethink our decision.