<p>Wondering if anyone can share information on Ithaca and Skidmore.</p>
<ul>
<li>describe campus life: happy students? hard-working? party school? </li>
<li>academics? professor availability - do students get to know their profs?</li>
<li>class sizes in general?</li>
<li>highly competitive or do students enjoy working together?</li>
<li>any info. on sciences? </li>
<li>college town? (have heard Skidmore is great? what about Ithaca?)</li>
<li><p>anything else?</p></li>
<li><p>Is Skidmore an "A" student school? (S is not an A student, so wondering if this is worth it or too reachy)</p></li>
</ul>
<p>While I can’t speak to all your questions, we looked at both schools for my son, who is now a freshman at Skidmore. We loved both schools, and definitely both towns. Ithaca has so much going on with both Ithaca and Cornell located there, tons of restaurants. It is also naturally beautiful, on Cayuga Lake, with so many waterfalls, trails, and parks. We thought the campus was wonderful and a great size at about 6500 students. Saratoga Springs is also an amazing town with so much going on. Ithaca is less selective for sure, and we found, less financial aid. My son chose Skidmore, and while it is still early on, is wonderfully happy. My other son has Ithaca on his list, so I may have the best of both worlds!</p>
<p>My son applied to both schools and we visited both (he has not attended either).</p>
<ul>
<li><p>He liked both campuses but thought Skidmore’s was great … beautiful and nestled in the woods</p></li>
<li><p>Likes both college towns … the concern about Saratoga Springs was that given the town being an upscale vacation destination that it might be pretty expensive for a student</p></li>
<li><p>Really liked that both schools had a variety of schools which should bring a variety of students to campus (liberal arts, business, educations, performance arts, etc).</p></li>
<li><p>There is a difference in size Skidmore LAC sized while IC is 6000-7000 students … different students might prefer one over the other.</p></li>
<li><p>My son felt a difference in the vibe of the students … the Skidmore kids seemed to be more artsy and wealthier.</p></li>
</ul>