<p>My D got accepted to both. She got almost a full ride from Skidmore (incl financial aid and Merit). However the financial offer from F&M is not so great. As far as I know both schools are almost the same level. She visited F&M and she loves it. Does not even want to go visit Skidmore. What do you know about Skidmore?
She is going to do pre-med. What should we choose?
Thank you</p>
<p>Skidmore. For a premed, minimizing debt is essential (since there’s no financial aid for med school and costs are really high). Both schools are excellent. Anyway for premed what she needs is a high GPA, high MCAT score, and good letters of recommendation. Where she went to school will not matter one bit, whereas how much debt she has will limit her choices.</p>
<p>While I don’t know much about Skidmore, you and your daughter should definitely go visit. If she loves Skidmore as well, the decision is easy. If she doesn’t like Skidmore, my best advice would be to call up the F&M financial aid office, explain that F&M is unaffordable for you with your present offer, and try to use your Skidmore offer as leverage.</p>
<p>I didn’t think Skidmore gave much, if any, merit aid?</p>
<p>We visited both with my D (who is a science major and wanted a LAC) two years ago. Let me preface this by saying they are both excellent schools and IMO are very much on the same level. I thought Skidmore would be the “one” when we visited but she had an adverse reaction to the school – it just seemed to artsy to her (not helped by the fact that our tour included a looming center, a childcare center, and all the arts buildings – perhaps a different tour guide would have led to a different overall vibe). In fact at my D’s insistence we left the day long program at Skidmore early and went to see Union (which she liked). We also saw F&M which she did like a lot and felt it was very serious about the sciences. She ended up at a different LAC all together and she is very happy but Union and F&M were her other top choices.</p>
<p>SO…I think you really have to visit Skidmore givien the overall high quality of the school and her scholarship (I wonder if they are trying to encourage science students to come to the school). If she likes the school, then your answer is easy. If she has the same reaction my D did (and who knows if she will), then you have to talk about what is comfortably affordable for your family.</p>
<p>Congratulations on these great choices.</p>
<p>Thank you all. We definitely going to visit and then make a decision. 
</p>
<p>My D was very excited about Skidmore until she started looking at admitted students profiles (I think at Twitter) and noticed that almost each and every one is into theater, dance or art. Her concern is that she won’t be able to find friends there and won’t feel comfortable socially since she can relate herself to them in that respect…</p>
Curious where she ended up and if she likes it? In a similar situation…thanks!
Skidmore.
Academics aside, I think you’ll find there’s a pretty different vibe at the two campuses. My understanding is the F&M is pretty sporty and has a pretty significant Greek scene. Skidmore has no Greek life, has probably a more liberal and crunchy vibe, and yes, has a lot of artsy kids. That being said, I don’t think a sporty kid would necessarily feel out of place at Skidmore, nor would an artsy kid necessarily feel out of place at F&M, it’s more of difference in prevailing campus culture.
And yes, I’m curious, too, how your kid ended up with merit money from Skidmore. Did she win one of the small handful of science scholarships they hand out? My son loved his visit to Skidmore, but we ended up ruling it out because they don’t typically offer any merit aid (other than the few aforementioned scholarships).
Finally, for whatever it’s worth, looks like the SAT math scores are a fair bit higher at F&M, which may correlate with a bit more rigor in the science programs there – hard to say for sure. I know Skidmore is trying to get a new science center built, but it probably wouldn’t be completed until your D was nearly finished there (and may be, perhaps somewhat annoyingly, under construction the whole time).
This thread is from 2014. By now, her daughter has made her decision.
Oh, right you are. Another zombie thread crawls out of its grave…