<p>Hi Folks,</p>
<p>My daughter is finishing a very happy first year at Skidmore. I remember having a lot of questions at this time last year, and it was sometimes difficult to find straightforward information about classes, campus life, dorms, food, etc. So feel free to ask me anything and I'll do my best to answer.</p>
<p>Thank you, NorthBroadway! What is her anticipated major? I’m particularly interested in the visual arts department and how graduates fare compared with their peers who attend actual art schools. </p>
<p>I’m afraid I can’t be of much help to you with that. My daughter will be an English major, and she’s into musical theater.</p>
<p>Did your daughter participate in the First year London experience? Wondered how that group of kids fit in with the rest of the school second semester?</p>
<p>She wasn’t part of the London program so I can’t speak from personal experience. But she’s met a bunch of the students who were and says they quickly fell into the campus routine. It’s completely different from being the awkward “new kid” in high school. The students are constantly meeting new people in and out of class and don’t seem to give a second thought to adding another person to their herd.</p>
<p>I’m the parent of a very happy and satisfied Skidmore senior, who also didn’t participate in the London program, but had two girls who were in London move in next door to him on their return his freshman year. I can reiterate that there was no awkwardness or difficulty fitting in. In fact, I recall speaking to him about it at the time and he said that the crop of London kids returning was a breath of fresh air in the winter - the freshman class were waiting for them and looking forward to adding to the crew. </p>
<p>@NorthBroadway
I know I’m a bit late hopping on the thread right now, but I am a prospective English and theatre double major. I was just hoping for some general comments about the faculty for both (or just English, if she’s more familiar with that department) and about the facilities of the theatre department/groups. How does the theatre community seem? - I’m a stage manager rather than an actor, and at my school’s theatre program, crew/techies were welcomed as if they were a part of the cast. I’ve also been in other programs in which crew and actors don’t really associate with each other. Just curious 
Thank you very much!</p>
<p>How do you avoid the dreaded triple? lol</p>
I was a London FYE student in fall 2010 (I graduated from Skidmore May 2014). It was THE BEST EXPERIENCE. I’m a big traveler anyways so it was right up my alley. London is amazing. The foreign/IES faculty were overall pretty great. A couple of really hard profs (at least during my time there) and it was academically quite challenging. I didn’t LOVE the 2 Skidmore faculty that went, but it’s kind of like a crapshoot every year who the leaders of that program are so some years you’ll have GREAT ones and other years not so great.
The London group gets very close while abroad and I’m still great friends with many in that group. It’s nice because you have that core group of friends when you get back to campus…plus, like 80% of us got singles upon our return (almost unheard of as freshmen!) because they put us in the empty rooms that students who were going abroad in the spring were vacating. I didn’t think it was hard to assimilate back on campus - but of course, its up to you to go mingle and join clubs/sports teams/etc and get yourself out there.
Many of us bedazzled our graduation caps with the Union Jack <3 The London FYE pride runs deep!
Thanks, @skidmoregirl! Those of us whose children will be starting at Skidmore this fall are very happy to hear that you had a great experience. My D is not going on the London FYE program, but I’m confident she’ll still make friends.
My daughter just got accepted as a transfer (into sophomore year coming up) 2 concerns I have are: (1) the very uneven female to male ratio and (2) She doesn’t have a strong interest in the majors offered, and would have liked Communications. It seems very difficult and intense to make your own major. Any thoughts on either of those?
Hi there! I am the mother of high school senior daughter who sounds a lot like your daughter. My daughter is into English and also very serious about Musical Theater. She plans to apply to Conservatory programs for MT and also to Liberal Arts colleges, and then she’ll make the decision. Skidmore seems like a strong possibility for her. How does your daughter like it so far, and does she have some Music Theater opportunities? Thanx!
I know this is an older discussion, but I have some questions about what it’s like to be a science major at Skidmore. I’m really interested in biology and neuroscience and potentially ending up as an equine vet. I feel like Skidmore is more humanities based, but how do the science majors feel?
I have two sons at Skidmore, both in the Science departments. My older son is starting his Senior year as a Chemistry major. He has had an amazing experience, great classes, great summer internships, and wonderful relationships with his professors.
Good to hear jamiecl 
My D just started Skidmore this week and will be double majoring in applied math and science (DNA/Genetics). Skidmore was never top of the list but they provided a package we couldn’t turn down all the while keeping our fingers crossed that they could provide the advanced science and math cirriculum she will need. Good luck to your sons!
I’m so excited to see conversations about science at skidmore. My daughter is interested in skidmore but wants to be a biology and environmental science major. It’s hard to find info on the strength of their science programs
Can anyone tell me how is the business program at Skidmore, considering it is a liberal arts college basically? Does it have a good standing with recruiters? Please help!!
My son just started his freshman year. My thoughts may be premature but I am impressed so far. While it has been a few years since my MBA, we did plenty of research on this program. I think it is the most robust business program coming from a small liberal arts school. I would recommend jumping on their website and reviewing the course catalog. It’s certainly not a vanilla degree. The freshman MB107 course is built on Harvard case studies. Forces the kids to use a wide variety of skills and work in groups while making presentations to local business leaders. The maximum class size is 25. You will never be led or graded by graduate students or TA’s. Professors work with you from start to finish.
My son was looking for a small school and participate in D3 athletics while majoring in business. This really narrowed his choices. I am not entirely knowledgeable on the employment recruiting piece. We weren’t all that focused as he was interested in graduate study.
The only down side that I see is the ability to formulate a minor in the sciences. By the time you fulfill the business requirements plus liberal arts requirement, I am not sure there are enough available credits to receive a minor in the sciences. Other minors like psychology, English, languages would be no problem.
Good to hear you like the business program. D is not interested in majoring in business but she may follow a math path to actuarial careers and there’s a bit of marketing, economics, stats, etc. in that field. On the issue of double majoring, D has formulated a four year schedule of sorts and is planning to double major in applied math and bio/genetic science with a minor in Spanish and with careful planning it can be done. For instance…there’s an arts requirement so she is taking a 2 cr guitar class this semester. There’s a third chem class in the bio major and she’ll take a 2 cr chem research class, so a few semesters at the 18 cr mark (which is the limit). If your son sits down and maps out his classes, he should be able to minor in science I think.
Thank you for your response @BarneyPelty
Could anyone shed some light on the employment and recruitment opportunities post graduation? Where do Skid grads end up? How do they fare in comparison to grads from bigger, more renowned institutions such as NYU?