Colby College is a private institution that was founded in 1813. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,857, its setting is rural, and the campus size is 714 acres. It utilizes a 4-1-4-based academic calendar. Colby College's ranking in the 2017 edition of Best Colleges is National Liberal Arts Colleges, 12. Its tuition and fees are $50,960 (2016-17).
Colby College is located in Waterville, Maine. Colby’s campus, home to the 128-acre Perkins Arboretum wildlife refuge, is a State Wildlife Management Area. The school also owns a nearby bog preserve and lakefront property for environmental studies. There are approximately 100 student-run clubs and organizations on campus, ranging from the Colby Ballroom Dance Club to the Society Organized Against Racism. More than one-third of students are members of Colby’s intercollegiate varsity sports teams, the Mules. Intramural and club sports are also popular. The majority of students at Colby live on campus in one of the 26 co-ed, mixed-class residence halls.
Colby has more than 50 majors across more than 20 academic departments. The most popular majors are biology, economics, English, history, global studies, government and psychology. Colby’s 4-1-4 academic calendar features the Jan Plan, a four-week term during which students can pursue an internship, independent study or focused course work. Past Jan Plan projects have included a Maine Jewish History research project and an internship with the Department of Justice. More than two-thirds of students study abroad, and Colby runs its own programs in Dijon, France; Salamanca, Spain; and St. Petersburg, Russia. Notable alumni include TV personality Billy Bush and counselor to President Obama Pete Rouse.
Founded in 1813, Colby is one of America's most selective liberal arts colleges. Serving only undergraduates, Colby offers an academic program rooted in the deep exploration of ideas and enriched by connections with Colby s world-class faculty. Students and professors work in tandem, pushing intellectual boundaries, testing hypotheses, and creating multidisciplinary approaches and solutions to complex scenarios. Research opportunities across the curriculum connect the liberal arts to the world.The Colby campus and its location in Waterville, Maine, enhance learning and support intense interaction among students and professors. Undergraduates enjoy easy access to premier research institutions through partnerships with Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory. Ongoing study of the local Belgrade Lakes provides students additional research experiences within minutes of campus. Exceptional facilities, including state-of-the-art academic buildings and labs and the finest college art museum in the country, enrich the academic program. The Colby museum is an integral resource for the College, with more than 100 courses across the curriculum using it as a place for teaching and learning in 2015-16. The connections Colby students make extend beyond academic and co-curricular life to all parts of the world, and Colby is committed to making global experiences available to all students. Nearly 70 percent of students study abroad, choosing from 200 programs in more than 60 countries. A robust, international community of alumni and parents plus partnerships with companies, nonprofits, and international institutions offers students opportunities for internships and research. Colby s career center, which will be housed in a new Center for Postgraduate Success opening in 2017, fosters networking through the online Campus Tap platform, an extensive job-shadowing program pairs students with alumni and parents in senior-ranking positions across a wide range of workplaces, and a new mentoring program gives every student the opportunity to be matched with an alumnus/a in a relevant field. These experiences inform students' intellectual pursuits put students at a distinct advantage as they enter the workforce and throughout their lives. Success is predictable; surveyed one year after graduation, 79 percent of alumni in the Class of 2013 were working full time and 19 percent were attending graduate school full time. One of a handful of carbon-neutral colleges, Colby earned the second-highest 2015 sustainability rating among 260 schools, based on scores from the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS), the premier sustainability assessment in North America. In 2016 work began on a solar field that will provide 16 percent of the College s electricity. Recent initiatives include a partnership with the city of Waterville to make the downtown a vibrant, dynamic destination for residents, visitors, and businesses, and plans are underway to build a college residence complex on Main Street with a focus on civic engagement. New baseball and softball stadiums with synthetic-turf surfaces opened for play in Spring 2016, and work will soon begin on new athletics facilities. The College is in the planning stages for a new performing arts center.The Colby Commitment, which highlights Colby s initiatives to ensure that the College is accessible to the most-talented students regardless of their financial need, includes $5 million in new financial aid added to an existing budget of $30M, meeting 100 percent of calculated need with grants, not loans, in financial aid packages. The applicant pool for the Class of 2020 was the largest, most academically prepared, and most diverse in Colby's history.
Colby College is ranked #12 in National Liberal Arts Colleges. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.
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When applying to Colby College, it's important to note the application deadline is Jan. 1, and the early decision deadline is Nov. 15. Scores for either the ACT or SAT test are due Feb. 15. It is most selective, with an acceptance rate of 23 percent.
For more information about the tests, essays, interviews and admissions process, visit the Applying to College knowledge center.
Selectivity Most selective
Fall 2015 acceptance rate 23%
Application deadline Jan. 1
SAT/ACT scores must be received by Feb. 15
The student-faculty ratio at Colby College is 10:1, and the school has 75.8 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students. The most popular majors at Colby College include: Social Sciences, Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, English Language and Literature/Letters and Physical Sciences. The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 93 percent.
Student-faculty ratio 10:1
4-year graduation rate 91%
Colby College has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,857, with a gender distribution of 48 percent male students and 52 percent female students. At this school, 94 percent of the students live in college-owned, -operated or -affiliated housing and 6 percent of students live off campus. Colby College is part of the NCAA III athletic conference.
Total enrollment 1,857
Collegiate athletic association NCAA III
At Colby College, 37% percent of full-time undergraduates receive some kind of need-based financial aid and the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $42,468.
Paying for college doesn't have to be difficult or devastating. Go to the Paying for College knowledge center to get advice on raising cash and reducing costs, or use the U.S. News 529 Finder to choose the best tax-advantaged college investment account for you.
| Applied for need-based aid |
41.6%
|
| Need was fully met |
99.6%
|
| Received need-based financial aid |
37%
|
| Received need-based self-help aid |
26.5%
|
| Average percent of need met |
100%
|
Tuition and fees $50,960 (2016-17)
Room and board $13,100 (2016-17)
Campus safety data were reported by the institution to the U.S. Department of Education and have not been independently verified. The numbers for criminal offenses reflect reports of alleged offenses to campus security and/or law enforcement authorities, not necessarily prosecutions or convictions. Experts advise prospective students and their families to do their own research to evaluate the safety of a campus as well as the surrounding area.
Colby College offers a number of student services, including nonremedial tutoring, placement service, health service, health insurance. Colby College also offers campus safety and security services like 24-hour foot and vehicle patrols, late night transport/escort service, 24-hour emergency telephones, lighted pathways/sidewalks, student patrols, controlled dormitory access (key, security card, etc). Of the students at Colby College, 47 percent have cars on campus. Alcohol is permitted for students of legal age at Colby College.
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