The hockey team is the most supported varsity activity. Going to those games are SO much fun. It's an experience. Community service is relatively popular. Probably the most popular genre of activities are club sports in general and intramural sports.
I play on the Colgate Ultimate Frisbee women's team, The Vibe. I am a captain and I adore it. We started it sort of haphazardly by just playing with the guys until we had enough girls to need a separate team. So we've been recruiting for the past two years and the team has unfurled in front of our eyes. It's been an amazing experience on multiple levels. I joined Frisbee freshmen year on accident. I was looking for a field hockey team, there wasn't one at the time and so I was dragged down by a friend to the frisbee field. I adore the people on the team. We travel around the east coast to go to tournaments. I've never done anything like it before. It's a relaxed bunch of people, but somehow there is still intensity within the sport. I hang out with these people outside of practice. We've become very close and I've met many underclassmen through this as well as upperclassmen. I think in general, club sports unite the different grades in a very unbiased way. It is a great way to prevent the Colgate social crowd from becoming stale.
Dorm doors are left open and that was my favorite part about freshman year. That is how I met some of my best guy friends. It creates a fun and close atmosphere. There's nothing like it.
Dating scene is what you make of it, but in general it's pretty weak. I met my closest friends all over the place--mostly through other friends. I met one of my best friends on my Wilderness Adventure and another in my FSEM, so you really keep your friendships even as you make new ones.
Awake on Tuesday morning? Either working furiously, procrastinating, or creating some kind of inside joke and deliriously giggling like a school girl with my roommates.
Spring party weekend is an important tradition.
Partying is prevalent, but it's amazing. You go as hard as you want to; peer pressure is not an issue. You go out when you want to and when you can. Most people enjoy it, some don't and that's fine too. Some people go out 5 nights a week, others once a week, some once every few weeks. It depends on your preferences. There is the work hard play hard ethic--this shows up more in greek life or in teams that like to party together--both are just cohesive groups that like to enjoy themselves in that way.
Greek life does not dominate the social scene--it enhances it. If you aren't in a sorority or a fraternity, your social life by no means drys up. You just have to find other ways and other activities to do.
Last weekend I went to Florence because I"m abroad. I met up with 5 of my sorority girls who are studying in other places in Europe and it was so much fun and so nice to see familiar faces and good friends. Normally, I probably would have gone out at Colgate or hung out with my friends in someone's apartment. I probably would have gone to the Jug, the only and amazing dance club in Hamilton. I love the Jug and I miss it.
You can do all kinds of things without drinking. You can go to the same parties without drinking. No one cares if you don't drink. You can go to plays, movies, watch a movie in the dorm/apartment, just hang out with friends, go an adventure with friends to places in the surrounding area, concerts in Syracuse.
Off campus: hiking, bike riding, shopping in Syracuse, skiing, cross country skiing, snow shoeing. I dont do much off campus, but I"m sure there's a ton more to be done.