Considered both a Hidden and Little Ivy, Colgate University is a tiny (less than 3k!) little liberal arts school located in Hamilton, NY. Popular majors include poli sci and econ, which is just so surprising for a liberal arts school in the Northeast. They also happen to be a pretty sporty campus, with 25% of students competing in varsity sports and 80% of the student population competing in any kind of on-campus sport. Unlike many of Colgate’s academic counterparts who bum it in the NESCAC, they’re an NCAA D1 school and compete in the Patriot League (wow, patriotic!). If you’re a student-athlete, you’re probably reading this and wondering if your athletic prowess can help you get into Colgate. Probably not, but maybe! Keep reading, because we’ll unpack this.
Colgate is a part of the Patriot League, which is officially made up of American University, the United States Military Academy, Boston University, Bucknell University, College of the Holy Cross, Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Loyola University Maryland, and the United States Naval Academy, but has affiliate members like Fordham, Georgetown, Richmond, and MIT for some sports. Not a super cohesive bunch there, but hey, we get it. Patriot League is D1, which means you need to be the best of the best in your sport to get noticed by the coaches. And at Colgate, you’ll also need the grades to get noticed, too.
Not only do you need to have some top-tier PRs, but you also need top-tier grades, scores, and extracurriculars to get into Colgate. And you won’t even get a shot at recruitment here if you couldn’t get into Colgate without sports. So let’s break down what you’ll need to even start making an account on the NCAA Clearinghouse.
Grades
For the Class of 2026, Colgate had a 12% acceptance rate, and the average GPA of accepted students was 3.95 unweighted. That means you need to have perfect grades to even be considered competitive. And not just perfect grades in regular classes, either. Schools like Colgate want to see straight As in the hardest classes your school offers. Hope you like taking AP classes!
Scores
Thank goodness Colgate actually publishes this data, unlike soooo many of the other small liberal arts schools in the NE. The middle 50 for the SAT and ACT were 1460-1540 and 32-35, respectively. In order to be a truly competitive applicant, you’re going to want a 1550+ or 35+ on your standardized tests.
Extracurriculars
And not just your sports teams! Liberal arts schools want well-rounded students, yes, even if they’re really good at football. That means you need to a) know what you want to study, and b) have taken steps to actualize those goals. That looks like taking internships, starting clubs, volunteer work, writing for a magazine, etc. If you say you want to study Econ, there should be more than just student council and 4 years of NHS on your resume. Prove to them you want to be there!
A Stellar Essay
Okay so you have like, really good grades and a perfect ACT score? Can you write well?
You’re going to need an amazing Common App essay to top off your application. Good news, you can write about almost anything you want. Bad news, you can’t write about your sport. We can’t stop you if you really want to, but like, don’t do it. Start during the summer to keep yourself from going insane senior fall.
Colgate also has “optional” supplemental essays. Yes, you have to write them. No, we don’t care that it’s “annoying.” It’s a 12% acceptance rate, so maybe put some effort in. We do, however, agree that it is annoying that they put them in their admissions portal after you submit your application:
“Applicants can choose to respond to any or all of the prompts, which will be available in their Colgate applicant portal after their application has been received. Applicants should submit responses to the optional supplemental prompts based on personal preference.”
Your personal preference is answering every single prompt. Made it easy for you!!
Athletic Talent
This is where we do some bubble bursting. In order to get recruited to Colgate you need to be in the like, top .00001% of high school athletes. That miiiiight be an exaggeration but probably not by much.
D1 sports require a massive amount of time and talent. If you are not being actively recruited or scouted for D1 teams, you do not have a chance of getting recruited. You would know it if you were! We’re sorry! If your athletic talent is just a little under the bar but you still want a liberal arts school, check out NESCAC schools like Bowdoin, Colby, Tufts, etc. And if you’re like, “yeah okay TKG, I probably don’t have the chops,” then quit the dang team and use that time to get super involved in your extracurriculars.
Getting recruited to a D1 school is no easy feat. Getting into Colgate is no easy feat. Getting into Colgate as a recruited athlete is… also not an easy feat. In fact, it is a feat much harder than those two alone. You need to have the grades, scores, extracurriculars, essays, and talent to make it happen. If you are getting recruited to Colgate, make sure you’re choosing them because you really want to go there, not just because they want you.
If you need help strategizing for college admissions, navigating the process, or writing your essays, reach out to us today.