<p>Here's my dilemma. I have to pick between my two favorites...poor me, right? I was kinda hoping one of these two would reject me so that the choice was easy, but hey, what are ya' gonna do? Goucher is certainly cheaper, as I got $8500/yr from them, though Skidmore may or may not come through with the Tuition Exchange, which would make the choice that much harder. I love the city life, so Goucher certainly has that going for it, though Skidmore really seemed to have stronger programs overall. Hmmmm...decisions...If anyone has any interesting things to say about either one of these schools, or perhaps both compared, I'd love to hear it. Thanks's for your help.</p>
<p>..................bump.</p>
<p>...anyone?</p>
<p>......sigh.</p>
<p>My D is interested in these 2 schools for Fall 2006 , so I would really love to hear a response to this. Saratoga seems like a good place to hang out.</p>
<p>Here here, <em>someone</em> agrees with me!</p>
<p>corman,</p>
<p>What attracts you to these two schools? I'm curious about whether your needs and preferences overlap with my D's.</p>
<p>Corman,
My daughter also looked at both schools. This is only our personal opinion. She loved Goucher, decided Skidmore wasn't for her. She felt the folks at Skidmore are a little more "out there" than at Goucher. Skidmore, on the other hand, has a more balanced male-female ratio.</p>
<p>Academically, Skidmore ranks higher but I'd say Goucher is not far behind and is making steady progress. Both, as you know, are excellent for the arts but I think Goucher may have an edge over Skidmore when it comes to science and pre-med. Skidmore, on the other hand, has a business major. One other thing that Goucher offers that Skidmore doesn't is the opportunity to take one class a semester at any of the other Baltimore colleges, including Johns Hopkins, Maryland College and Institute of Art, Towson state. We've talked to students who say this is not difficult to do, especially because all of the schools run the free shuttle between them.</p>
<p>The bottomline is both are great schools and you will get a very good education at either one. I know that there's a livejournal community for Goucher - the students who post there seem pretty good about answering questions from prospective students. Go to <a href="http://www.livejournal.com%5B/url%5D">www.livejournal.com</a> and do an interest search on "Goucher" Skidmore may have one too.</p>
<p>Good luck with your choice!</p>
<p>Sorry, Carolyn, I don't understand what you mean by "out there" in this context.</p>
<p>both are good schools but i think skidmore is a little better.</p>
<p>if you are a guy, goucher has a good guy/girl ratio. i know a girl who goes there and she says she likes it tho.</p>
<p>I think what I meant (trying not to offend anyone here!) is that Skidmore kids strike me as slightly more individualistic, artsy and quirky. Goucher has its share of all three kinds but they are not quite as individualistic as those at Skidmore (oh gosh, I'm going to be flamed for this --- please, this is just my daughter's opinion, not fact! :) )</p>
<p>It is so easy to get flamed when you put in your personal vote for one school over the other which really should not be. Without the personal "feelings" we have about schools, it is difficult to get more than generic platitudes about a school, information that you can pick up from any rating chart or college book on the shelves. Hopefully this forum wants something more personal which may very well disagree with YOUR personal opinion.</p>
<p>When I lived in NY, Skidmore was one of the hot schools. Many, many kids had it on their lists as a top choice after the first line schools which were true reaches. Particularly, the "artsy" type kids. Goucher was more of a safety school. Looking at the USN&WR ratings , you see Skidmore in the top 50, and Goucher in the next level down; clearly by those criteria Skidmore is "better". But curiously there are schools like Dickenson, that are rated "higher" than Skidmore . It makes you wonder.</p>
<p>Having visited Goucher lately, as much as I like the Saratoga Springs charm, Towson is more of a college town and it is great being so close to a city like Baltimore and within an hour of Washington DC. It is a beautiful campus with a lot to offer. The programs looked solid and facilities superb. A problem Goucher has is that it came lately to the coed situation and is paying for it with its enrollment and admissions stats. As with any two schools, it really comes down to personal preference. When the generous merit aid Goucher tends to offer comes into the balance, many kids I know pick Goucher, because, the $$ often are the tipping factor. If you don't mind being in a more isolated locale, either school would fit the bill.</p>
<p>Hey guys, thanks for the help. Sorry about being such an itch with the whole bumping thing, heh. I did end up sending the deposit to Goucher, Skidmore never did end up offering me the TE scholarship and I'm starting to think I'd end up liking Goucher more anyway. Thanks again for the helpful thoughts.</p>
<p>It is interesting to me that these two schools are grouped together so often on these forums-no one I know at Skidmore ever talked about applying to Goucher. </p>
<p>More often than not, Skidmore students also applied to: Kenyon, Sarah Lawrence, Bates, Smith, Brown, and Vassar.</p>
<p>Corman, best of luck to you and have fun!</p>
<p>Trvllr, While you might be right about Skidmore receiving more cross-applications from schools other than Goucher, Goucher itself receives a high number of cross-applications from people who have also applied to Skidmore. </p>
<p>And, if you look at the schools that you list as being Skdimore cross-applicants, you will see that not all of them have Skidmore listed as being high on the list of cross-applicants. For example, Vassar's most common cross-applications do not include Skidmore but do include Barnard, Brown, and Amherst. </p>
<p>Cross-application numbers are not always a two way street between schools and need to be considered carefully and in context.</p>
<p>ah, thanks for the clarification Carolyn.</p>
<p>No problem. I'm glad to see you're here and offering to give people insight into your experience at Skidmore. I think Skidmore is a terrific school, just wasn't a fit for my daughter who did like Goucher. Go figure. :)</p>
<p>By the way, what's your opinion about the sciences at Skidmore? It's hard to get a clear picture. Unfortunately, what I find is that a school gets stereotyped as being good for a certain subject and then people start believing that same school must not be good for other subjects. So, would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this as from looking closely at Skidmore's information, it appears they do have a nice science program.</p>
<p>Admittedly, my perspective is from afar: I was an Econ. major and stayed as far away from science, apart from the prerequisites, as possible. :)</p>
<p>From what I have heard, from fellow students, and from what I have read, the program has grown considerably. They have received some very substantial grants from foundations (they just received $750k from the NIH for a multi-year genetic research study) and individuals in the past few years, and they have several initiatives that specifically target women in science. </p>
<p>I will certainly pass on any more concrete information.</p>
<p>Thanks, Travelrrr.</p>
<p>Have you ever been to Skidmore's art museum, the Tang? It's phenomenal. Even though I'm not an art major, visiting the Tang last week was enough to make me go "WHY DIDN'T I APPLY TO SKIDMORE?!"</p>