I live in Boston, and one of our better meals last year was while visiting Colgate and Hamilton - Motus in Utica. It had a great vibe.

The reason Utica is germane is because notwithstanding the characteristically ignorant comments here, Utica (Utica-Rome) is the seventh largest metro area in New York State, with nearly 300,000 people. Its western suburbs like New Hartford are on the "side" of Utica that's closest to Hamilton. Which means that Hamilton is a ten minute drive to the regional mall that contains about 50 stores including the usual small-mall staples (the Macy's there closed this year as part of Macy's broader retrenchment but regional Boscov's is a kind of Macy's lite), as well as Target and DSW. And an array of restaurants, some chain.

What Utica also provides, for students who care about this, is a convenient opportunity to get out of the SLAC bubble. It's famous for the volume of refugees that have settled there. As a function of Utica's former prosperity, it has an art museum (Munson) that not only has a great collection but has an joint BFA program with Pratt in NY.

So no, Utica isn't Manhattan or Boston - that's hardly a revelation. But when you think of SLACs that are located in tiny isolated rural communities, and the isolation and remoteness and lack of access or options that generates, being just outside Utica (and as noted above, a 50 minute drive to bigger Syracuse) means that's not quite the case for Hamilton.

Arguably one of the best things about Hamilton's location is that it weeds out kids from silly families that would turn their nose up at it. That's not nothing.

My niece went there. Now a practicing MD in Boston. Loved it -- the academic experience, the people she met there. Weather doesn't seem to have been a factor.

I went to Hamilton and have only stepped foot in Utica maybe four times. It is not at all a part of the student experience. The activities are designed so that students do not need to leave campus on weekends, and many do not.

Former central NYer, Hamilton is great. I doubt these students are hanging out in Utica, however.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some appear to be commenting on Utica without ever having visited its prominent features, such as a museum known for its Thomas Cole collection. People will vary with respect to art appreciation, however.

Hamilton isn’t in Utica.

It’s very close. It basically is. People I know who work there live in Utica. I used to live in the area.

It is in Clinton, NY. About the same as UMD in College Park to downtown Washington DC.

Although the distances are similar, it takes only about 14 minutes to drive from Clinton to Utica. From Hamilton's campus itself, it might take 17 minutes.

Yes. this is silly. it is 2025. Click on the map and everyone can see the exact location of Clinton and New Hartford, and Utica, and the Adirondacks etc. You can see the entire Erie canal route stretching from Albany to Buffalo in all its glory. There is no reason in this day and age to not have clarity about the location of places.

I don’t understand why some of you are obsessing over Utica. There is nothing there. I’m from CNY, at least drive to Syracuse for the closest place to go out. I know the area well, no need to look at a map. If you are not from the area, you can’t understand it is not like the distance from DC to MD because the roads are empty.

Go visit if you want to see Hamilton, or don’t. If your kids will have cars they can drive to these places. If they don’t then they can stay on campus. They certainly don’t ever need to drive all over Utica.

Anonymous wrote:Lol, Hamilton boosters are bragging about closeness of Utica to hang out in!

You misunderstood. I didn’t post it was close as a positive. It’s hard to follow the comments. I posted previously how depressed the area was and how I would never let my kids consider it since I have family that went there and worked there. They loved Hamilton. I find the entire area incredibly depressing.

I don’t judge others who love it though. Some people are not affected by seasonal depression. Others are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow in a high mountain gully and feel the same urge to climb towards it."

— Edmund Hillary

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment, where is it to be found?”

– J. B. Priestley

"You can’t get too much winter in the winter."

— from "Snow,' by Robert Frost

Jason Priestley?

Anonymous wrote:"Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow in a high mountain gully and feel the same urge to climb towards it."

— Edmund Hillary

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment, where is it to be found?”

– J. B. Priestley

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some appear to be commenting on Utica without ever having visited its prominent features, such as a museum known for its Thomas Cole collection. People will vary with respect to art appreciation, however.

Hamilton isn’t in Utica.

It’s very close. It basically is. People I know who work there live in Utica. I used to live in the area.

It is in Clinton, NY. About the same as UMD in College Park to downtown Washington DC.

Although the distances are similar, it takes only about 14 minutes to drive from Clinton to Utica. From Hamilton's campus itself, it might take 17 minutes.

Yes. this is silly. it is 2025. Click on the map and everyone can see the exact location of Clinton and New Hartford, and Utica, and the Adirondacks etc. You can see the entire Erie canal route stretching from Albany to Buffalo in all its glory. There is no reason in this day and age to not have clarity about the location of places.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some appear to be commenting on Utica without ever having visited its prominent features, such as a museum known for its Thomas Cole collection. People will vary with respect to art appreciation, however.

Hamilton isn’t in Utica.

It’s very close. It basically is. People I know who work there live in Utica. I used to live in the area.

It is in Clinton, NY. About the same as UMD in College Park to downtown Washington DC.

Although the distances are similar, it takes only about 14 minutes to drive from Clinton to Utica. From Hamilton's campus itself, it might take 17 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some appear to be commenting on Utica without ever having visited its prominent features, such as a museum known for its Thomas Cole collection. People will vary with respect to art appreciation, however.

Hamilton isn’t in Utica.

It’s very close. It basically is. People I know who work there live in Utica. I used to live in the area.

It is in Clinton, NY. About the same as UMD in College Park to downtown Washington DC.

Anonymous wrote:Agree Hamilton and Colgate have always catered to WASP families. That demographic is in a very steep decline and those 2 schools have limited appeal to a more diverse population.

Idiotic take. All the oldest New England schools originally catered to wasps.

Very little diversity at Hamilton with over 65% white students. As pp stated WASP dominated vibe.

Anonymous wrote:Lol, Hamilton boosters are bragging about closeness of Utica to hang out in!

Wow, you need to get a couple of meters checked.