Your personal review of Colby College, Waterville, Maine is likely to uncover a school that is small in numbers but expansive in its academic offerings . Going to Colby, you discover, will not deposit you in the midst of a metropolitan center but it will definitely locate you on a campus where learning is a part of every day life. For sure not everyone is meant to attend a four year college that is located in a quiet rather remote town in Maine but before you turn and go off to follow the bright lights of a college campus in the city, give yourself a chance to make your own review of Colby College , Waterville, Maine.
Did You Say Waterville College? What is now Colby College, Waterville Maine, has gone through lots of changes since its founding as a literary and theological school in 1813 By 1821 the school had officially launched itself as a full fledged college taking the name of the town and so calling itself Waterville, College. It is likely that the school would have kept that name until the present day were it not for the hard times that it experienced during the American Civil War. With many potential students of this all male facility called off to fight for the Union cause,Waterville College experience near financial collapse. Rescued by a Boston financier , who himself was a Maine native, named Colby the school held together a survived the 1860’s . In gratitude the school administrators determined to rename the facility in his honor.
As Colby College , this Maine institution led the way to opening colleges to female students when it admitted a woman for the first time in 1872 certainly well ahead of the national curve. The fact that the first woman went on to become the class valedictorian seemed to validate the choice made by Colby to pioneer the cause of women in higher education.
During the 1900’s Colby would experience the need to change its location and bring all its assets to bear on a new site on Mayflower Hill still in the town of Waterville. Today Colby College opens its doors to young men and women on that same site, welcoming undergraduates that number close to 2,000.
A Million Miles from Nowhere or Very Close to Perfect? Folks who make the trip to review Colby College, Waterville, Maine can’t help but notice that this is surely not a cosmopolitan school. While Waterville is more than a four corners with a barber shop, it is, with a population of some 16,000 still considered large town or a small city .
Not only is Waterville, Maine small, it isn’t really very near anything that is much larger. At Colby students sit a full 75 miles from the city of Portland, Me and 180 miles from the city of Boston , MA . This some would say puts students at a definite disadvantage. They cannot easily access all the cultural advantages and attractions that one finds in the big city.
But some who make the trek to Waterville, Maine to review Colby College decide that there is something special about being a small community that is part of a small town that is rather nice, almost perfect. There is a peacefulness here and a calm . When there is no place to run to, many young people stop running and start enjoying all that is right before their eyes. At Colby that turns out to be quite a bit.
Academics . In U. S. News and World Report Colby has long been lauded as one of the top colleges in the New England region and beyond. Colby is just that it is a “college” not a university. Its academic efforts are geared directly at the undergraduate student body and not at graduate and professional schools . Looked at from that perspective, Colby has a record of consistency in the academic supremacy that it is able to maintain in its undergraduate offerings. In the 2008 U. S News and World Report review Colby College was listed as #22 among all colleges in the U. S.
Certainly there is more to the evaluation than just academics but a sound curriculum is certainly something that Colby College brings to any review or evaluation. Even though the student body here numbers less than 2000 undergrads, Colby College offers courses of study in a total of 53 majors coming out of 25 academic departments. Yielding to the independent nature of many of its students, Colby also allows students to work at completing an independent major of their own creation. To pursue their various fields of interests students at Colby discover that they also may enroll in exchange programs with nearby colleges like Bowdoin, Thomas and Bates colleges. If you come to Colby with an academic dream you are likely to find the tools and the faculty support that you need to fulfill it.
Outside of the Classroom. If you get a chance to review Colby College by going on site you will discover that even though this is a small campus in a small city in the midst of a sparsely populated state you are surrounded by some other very bright young people. Student interests here produce plenty of clubs, organizations and activities to keep young people busy, entertained and enriched.
How amazing to have a student body of less than 2000 people who have more than 100 directions to go when “school is out”. There are service organizations, intramural sports, musical groups, and clubs that center around special interests. Student government , spirituality, politics , dance and many other groups draw folks out of their rooms and out of themselves to join with others in activities of mutual interest.
As for intercollegiate athletics, Colby competes at the NCAA Division III in the New England Small College Athletic Association. The only exception is that students at Colby who engage in Alpine and Nordic skiing compete at Division I level. Being plunked in the middle of Maine means that all students have lots of natural pleasures at their doorstep. Whether they engage in varsity sports or not students at Colby find fresh recreational options in every seasons just waiting to be tried.
Colby is a lot more than a small college in small town New England but you might only discover the truth about that school by performing your own thorough
review of Colby College.
