Which offers a stronger liberal arts education: Arizona State or Colgate?

Colgate offers the stronger match for the small, discussion-based liberal arts education you describe. It is a residential liberal arts college with a much smaller undergraduate population, seminar-oriented classes, and a campus culture built around close student-faculty engagement. Its curriculum emphasizes broad study across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and arts rather than early specialization.

Faculty advising, undergraduate research, office-hour relationships, and discussion-heavy courses are central to the undergraduate experience, particularly in upper-level classes. The smaller scale also makes it easier to form recurring relationships with professors and classmates across multiple courses and campus activities.

Arizona State is a large public research university with far more academic options, professional programs, research centers, and campus settings. Its Barrett, The Honors College can create smaller classes, faculty contact, and an interdisciplinary curriculum within ASU, but the overall institution remains much larger and more decentralized. Students often need to be proactive about finding smaller academic communities there.

For a student prioritizing intimate seminars and sustained faculty mentorship as the default rather than something to seek out through an honors program, Colgate is the more natural fit. ASU would be more compelling if you value the scale, breadth of majors, research infrastructure, and opportunities of a major public university alongside liberal arts coursework.