Academics
Just 30 miles north of Albany lies Skidmore College, a small liberal arts school that is home to around 2,500 students. Skidmore thrives on combining academics with creative expression, and the school works to cultivate students who want to explore ideas across traditional disciplinary boundaries. “The pursuit of knowledge is valued here,” says a student, so “you won’t be barred from an academic department just because you aren’t enrolled in it.” Another student states that the school is “excellent when it comes to every path or field of study,” and “you can pursue everything you are interested in.” This all happens in classrooms run by “very helpful, understanding, motivating,” and “understanding faculty who know that we are human beings before we are students.” Students also enjoy “small class sizes [that] allow for the formation of impactful and lasting relationships.” Furthermore, “all teachers are accessible outside the classroom,” which helps teaching extend beyond the traditional four walls. Other examples of this include “environmental studies [classes that] take place in the North Woods” and an artist interview class “in which each student chooses an artist they admire and [interview] that artist.” One student sums up the Skidmore academic experience by saying, “Learning feels important and productive toward society.”
Student Body
This is an “active and involved” student body, with the average Skidmore student having “at least a major and a minor [and getting] involved in multiple clubs, [while] probably working more than one job as well.” One member of this “well-rounded and over accomplished” group says, “Skidmore is the school for students who want to do it all.” Plus, it’s a place where everyone is “super welcoming and friendly” with a student body that “puts the ‘liberal’ in liberal arts.” That’s all representative of the “drive for creativity” on campus and the fact that students “support creativity in one another.” As one student jokes, “there are more shades of hair here (mostly unnatural) than there are people.” But despite any differences, everyone at Skidmore “has ‘their people’ and is welcome in many other circles and friend groups as well.”
Campus Life
People “are constantly on the go at Skidmore,” but this “doesn’t mean that students…don’t take care of themselves.” A typical day involves “going to classes, eating meals with friends,…meeting for a group project, studying in the library, maybe [taking] a nap, and getting outdoors.” The outdoorsy crowd finds great joy with the Adirondack Mountains and Lake George being just about an hour away. Those looking to stay a little closer to campus also have options: Saratoga Springs, which some call “an amazing town” to be near, is just a ten-minute walk from campus. And Boston, New York City, and Montreal are just a few hours away as well. Regardless of whether they’re spent on campus or off, days are “always full of activity and connection,” and there are more than 100 student clubs and organizations, making it “easy to integrate and be part of the community.” Those clubs “host tons of lectures and events for students,” and “the arts are a huge strength at Skidmore.” Anywhere you look, “students are constantly collaborating and playing shows,” and there is “a good culture of attending events on campus and supporting the student body.”
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