Music, Theater, arts, social life and academics.
More info needed. They’re both good choices for music, theater, arts and academics. I think the social life would be slightly different. And getting down into the weeds of the details of the music, theater, and academics as well. What are you asking?
Both wonderful for those disciplines! I’ve heard stories that Bard is struggling financially, but not sure.
My D was accepted to both and ended up at Skidmore. She is a freshman Theater major (who auditioned to a LOT of Acting BFA programs and didn’t get into those she wanted) and is likely double-majoring in Classics. I don’t think she has formally declared her majors yet.
She fell in love with Skidmore at their accepted students day and didn’t want to go to Bard’s accepted students day as we had planned to do the very next day. My husband and I secretly hoped she’d end up at Skidmore, so we did not push the Bard visit.
That said, good friends of ours have a D who attended the same high school as our D. I believe she is a graduating senior at Bard this year - WOW, time flies! She absolutely loves Bard and her father said it has the most beautiful campus he’s ever seen. The parents downsized from their house in NJ to a Manhattan apartment, since they were empty-nesters and their D chose to go home more weekends than they were expecting, so the proximity to NYC was a huge plus for their family. Apparently, Bard kids do go into NYC often. I remember her dad once saying that for kids who want a career in NYC, Bard is a great school with strong connections in the City.
I think I remember that Bard’s academic program may have been a bit more loosely structured, leaving a lot up to the students to craft their educational experience. I remember that being a red flag in my mind, since my D has not always been the most organized, goal-driven type of student. I appreciate that Skidmore assinged an academic advisor to help select courses over the summer so students stay on an efficient track.
They are both nice choices, similar sort of kids at both in my opinion.
thank you so much!