Skidmore College prides itself on creative expression, with its ever present slogan "Creative Thought Matters," on many a bumper sticker and sweatshirt. The opportunity for creative expression is interwoven into almost all aspects of life at Skidmore, including all of it's academic disciplines.
Skidmore is made up of about 2,500 undergraduate students which makes it a relatively smaller school. The two most popular majors at Skidmore are Business and English, although many students graduate with double majors. Because of the flexibility of the curriculum, students can craft their own majors like architectural archeology. Any student who is admitted to Skidmore can choose any major which they will declare after 3 semesters of core curriculum classes. Skidmore is home to the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery (images to the right are from former Skidmore "Thoroughbreds".)
The first year experience is known as the "Scribner Experience" (named after founder Lucy Skidmore Scribner) which includes the Scribner seminars. Scribner seminars are made up of a small group of incoming Freshman students who are assigned to a Faculty advisor who acts as a mentor for those students. Seminar classes range in topics and are designed to improve student writing and creative thinking. Students in each seminar group live together and learn together, fostering close friendships with peers early on to help with the transition to college. Incoming students choose which seminar group they would like to be a part of, and the theme of that group seminar is carried from the classroom to the residence halls. Some previous seminars included; American Liberty, Math Where You Might Not Expect It, What Is Noir?, Ireland: Myth and Reality, and the London Experience Seminar, British Past in Film (described below).
"The seminars invite students to think about the liberal arts as a whole, to challenge their preconceived notions about inquiry and knowledge, to examine issues from multiple perspectives, and to make connections across disciplines. Faculty instructors participate not only as specialists in particular fields of knowledge, but as models of people who have themselves been liberally educated, and are thus able to apply their thinking to a variety of new as well as familiar experiences."
A select group of students are admitted into Skidmore's First Year Experience in London. Students accepted into this program will spend their first semester of college in London at the London Center of the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES Abroad.) Students will take their two required Scribner Seminars and four additional classes while abroad. All courses count towards a Skidmore degree and following their Fall semester in London, students will join their classmates in Saratoga Springs for the second semester. For more information on this opportunity, please visit this link:
For Shakespeare enthusiasts there is the Shakespeare Theater Programme which is a study abroad program collaborated with the British American Drama Academy.
"(The program) affords a unique opportunity to study Shakespeare in London and Stratford-upon-Avon during a semester-long program carefully designed to link texts of his plays and productions drawn from the full, magnificent range of British theatre. The program is designed for students who seek a rigorous and challenging program in England based on the study of Shakespeare, theatre and English literature that is of the highest academic standard. It also offers students the opportunity for additional courses in acting, directing, playwriting and literature, as well as direct exposure to the world of William Shakespeare."
For more information, please follow this link:
Skidmore does not have any Greek Life on campus as they believe in fostering an inclusive community setting. Sixty-percent of their student body studies abroad, keeping to their ideal of cultural literacy and global understanding for their students. It is located on an 800-acre campus which is houses the New York City Ballet in the summer. Skidmore is ranked Division 3 in Athletics. The average acceptance rate at Skidmore is 39%. Their incoming class sizes range from 615-640. There are 36 students admitted into the London Program each year. There are two notable scholarship opportunities at Skidmore, the Filene Music Scholarships ($40,000) and the Porter Presidential Scholarships in Science and Mathematics ($60,000) (http://cms.skidmore.edu/financialaid/merit.cfm.) Skidmore pledges to meet 100% of a families demonstrated need, although at this time that includes loans. They do have an appeals committee which deals with discrepancies in financial aid awards and what families can reasonably contribute.
