Hamilton College Top Questions

The stereotype is somewhat accurate. You will definitely get kids who are really preppy and shop exclusively at J Crew, but that is not true of everyone. I don't think there is one typical Hamilton student; there is a huge variety of interests, backgrounds, and personalities.

Depending on whether you are living on the light side or dark side, yes.

we're definitely not known for our sports (but mens soccer and womens field hockey do pretty well) and several of our students do fall into the preppy stereotype but no where near all of the students on campus fit that description

Not really, no. I generally found a ton of personal and ideological diversity on both sides of campus. I think the stereotype largely arose from the difference in architecture.

1) This is so far from the truth. We have a fair number of vineyard vine wearing yacht club members, but the same can be said about flannel donning hipster types. I also do not think that you will find the same ratio and spectrum of students at most NESCAC colleges. 2) If anything, I'd say we lean to the left. We finally just got our first Conservative student newspaper. Professors are also very liberal - but that's pretty standard in education these days. In my experience, it has never hindered discussion in the classroom. Professors are pretty good leaving their opinions out of lectures.

Not especially. While there are plenty of wealthy students and students from New England, 49 states and almost as many countries are represented. Scholarship rewards are generous, and less than half the students actually pay the listed tuition. There is also a great deal of socioeconomic diversity just below the surface.

Some students are preppy; most are not. We are, however, a rather homogenous group. Hamilton is trying to attract a greater diversity of students but it can be hard to entice people to Clinton, NY. It is quite rural. And the winters are harsh.

While a lot of students (especially those from the East Coast) did attend prep schools, Hamilton has a high percentage of international students (for example, I have friends from Nepal, South Africa, Lebanon, Pakistan, China & Paraguay just to name a few) who help even out the general attitude of the campus.

pretty much.

Yes. It's sad.

Absolutely not

to a certain degree, but not fair to create a blanket statement- many don't fit either stereotype.

In reality while there is a legitimate division there is no animosity on either side.

While the school definitely has the aforementioned type of person, there is also a large group of artsy students. The school is also in the middle of a diversification campaign that is bringing new and interesting students to the campus.

Somewhat, yes.

There is a kernel of truth in each of these. Almost all students are rich- but I'm not, and it doesn't bother me because you're all starting out on even ground and no one's really a snob.

While we do have preppy people, it's not like they take over the campus. We're very diverse, athletic, and yes, studious.

In many way, yes they are. Students tend to come from very affluent families and the majority of students do reside somewhere in the northeast.

1. No--it's just a different experience from an enormous IV League school. 2. Yes--I had no idea people of such a high economic status existed outside of television and cinema. However, there are several down-to-earth rich white kids, non-preppy rich white kids, a few not-rich white kids, and even a few non-white kids. There's a variety, one just needs to know where to look for it. 3. Not Exactly--Kids at Hamilton definitely drink more than kids at other schools, but it's a safer environment for it--few drink and drive because there's no where to go, and the place is crawling with EMTs and campus police in case of emergency.

On one side of campus ( light side), yes.

DNE

Mostly bull, there is a fair amount of prep, but its a small minority thats super prep. There is alot of diversity in the student body, especially with the Darkside of Campus. Oh and multi-cultural recruitment is increasing every year.

It's half true but that's because I tend to pay attention to things that don't conform to stereotypes and conformities. I know there are minorities, working class people, unhealthy people. I believe the drinking is true but I know there are lots of sober people. It's more like I refuse to believe it because even though there are few exceptions to the stereotypes, they are there.

These stereotypes are somewhat accurate. There are a lot of students that come from the New England area, but granted a lot of international students are represented at Hamilton. 70% of students come from outside New York State. The stereotype only becomes a problem if you make it a problem. Yes, rich people go here, but so is true for about every other private New England school.

not really. ive met many students who are on aid and scholarships and also i myself am not white. there are minorities and international students on campus as well

Students are definitely competitive, but we're not all English majors.

Yes, there is as with all stereotypes some basis, however obviously a stereotype won't fit the whole campus.

While a passing glance might make you seem that they are, the truth of the matter is that the Hamilton College stereotypes are not even skin deep, but merely clothes deep. At Hamilton if you choose to not let stereotypes define your social scene you will be blessed with an array of extremely diverse friends.

Fairly.

There is a large amount of white, middle-upper class, preppy students from the North East, but I have had no problem finding interesting, intelligent, genuine people at Hamilton.

Somewhat

Not 100% true. There are obviously a few who do, but most balance drinking academics well. There are many Hamilton students who also choose not to drink

some of them yeah

I definitely sense the preppy side here, but the benefit of having the 'dark side' allows for more quirky, artsy types along with a nice mix of all sorts...so it's not the overriding 'preppy' feel that comes with greek systems. As far as the homosexual stereotype goes, I happen to be a close friend to many homosexuals while not being one myself- so for me it feels like the percentage is high. However, I think this may be a specific case and not really reflective of the whole college.

all are exaggerations.

rich may be, but i think diversity isnt so bad, and more than preppy, i would define the predominant style as "indie" - maybe not predominant, but a LOT of kids go with this style - tacky neon sunglasses, tight jeans and small clothes from like random places that look really weird

in general yes, for everyone no

I find that there is always something to do even during the week at Hamilton and that the stereotype that there is nothing to do is not true at all. I do find that most of the students are pretty rich and come from wealthy towns and families.

They are only true for maybe 15% of our population.

Some people at Hamilton definately fit the stereotype, however there is quite a diversified population here. Hamilton makes a big effort to make sure that there are different kinds of people here.

A lot of the time, but not all of the time.

There are definitely epople who fit into those categories, but there are a lot of others as well. Hamilton is more diverse than we get credit for in terms of personalities and interests.

yeah... but i think for what the institution is, it does a decent job at diversifying the campus, at least on an international scale (more internationals than american minorities, i think). there is a lot of money here, but there are also a great deal of kids on Financial aid, like myself. The dark side allows for other types of diversity as well, a different mind set than WASP america to a point.

With the exception of north-eastern, not really. Hamilton works hard to ensure that the community is as representative (as a school of 1780 can be) of the wider world social, ethnically, and economically.

Fairly.

Yes. Yes. Not really to the athletics stereottype

There are plenty of people here who are neither preppy nor rich, though pretty much everyone is short. In fact, the diversity of students' ideologies is quite imporessive.

for the general population i would say hamilton kids are upper class white kids from the New England area. most came from amazingly well known prep and private schools. the problem with this however is that they don't realize how well off, privilaged, and advantaged they are from these backgrounds, they don't realize what kid of advantages they have over students who do not come from these backgrounds

I think the fact that you hear both the liberal and conservative stereotypes is evidence that Hamilton does a good job of balancing the different sides of the political spectrum. I think Hamilton has diversity but groups of similar races or backgrounds tend to group together and therefore students to experience a lot of diversity in their informal interactions. All schools drink a lot. And yes Hamilton is very academically challenges

Absolutely.