Skidmore College

College review by Lisa Bleich

Skidmore is a beautiful campus that almost feels like a summer camp lined with trees and wooded areas.  The colored fall leaves made the campus particularly picturesque.

We started the tour in their newly constructed Zangel Music Center with amazing acoustics and what appear to be piano keys lining the ceiling.  Skidmore’s tagline is creative thought matters, which permeates the campus.  There is a lot of interdisciplinary learning and many students double major in two seemingly disparate majors like music and politics or dance and business.

Many of the students spoke about how they liked the academic freedom that Skidmore offers and ability to create their own major or combine a lot of different interests.  Our tour guide was majoring in psychology and business with a minor in studio art.

The most popular majors are English and Business, however Skidmore is also strong in the sciences (geology is a strong major), studio art, psychology, and theater.  All students take a Scribner seminar as a freshman from topics ranging from The Music Between Us: the Culture of Musical Creation and Consumption to Purple Nation: Welfare and Politics to Dangerous Earth: Climatologic and Geologic Disasters.  These freshmen seminars provide students a living-learning community and help them transition to the college.   Students are paired with an academic advisor from their freshman seminar and ¼ of the class is spent helping students acclimate to college life.

Students also have a lot of opportunity to do research starting their freshman year.  There are also opportunities over the summer and within classes to do hands on learning.

Students describe themselves as adventurous, creative, eclectic, collaborative, and cosmopolitan.  Students dress with a certain flare.  Girls wore leggings, boots, interesting tops and colorful scarves.  Guys had jeans, interesting shoes and shirts along with the standard jeans and sweatshirt among athletes.  Many of the guys also sported beards.

The Outing Club is the most active club on campus, along with performing arts and athletics.  20% of the students participate in varsity sports and 80% in intramural or club sports. There are no fraternities or sororities.  Roughly 60% of students study abroad and there is also the option for incoming freshman to spend their first semester in London.

Skidmore is a great place for intellectually curious students with multiple interests.