Skidmore College — Local services in City of Saratoga Springs

Don’t believe the biased college reports or rankings & Skidmore’s carefully crafted advertisements. This school is focused on collecting tuition, nothing else. What you read on their website is not what you get as a student. There is much to say about this school. To make it simple I will number each issue.

1. As someone who attends Skidmore, I firmly believe that administrative staff here are writing the overly glowing reviews that you see on the internet. The content of the reviews simply don’t line up with what happens on this campus and sound nothing like how a typical Skidmore student talks. Office staff are writing positive reviews for the college. That’s how desperate they have gotten to prove that Skidmore is decent.

2. Skidmore gets negative reviews taken down in attempt to control information flow. Anytime I see an accurate depiction of this college online, it mysteriously gets flagged for removal. This is done by Skidmore staff. They are attempting to control information released about the college. Why? Because if people knew what how concerning the environment at Skidmore is, if people knew what really went on, it would affect their reputation and most importantly their cash flow. Anyone who affects their money must be silenced.

3. This is not a college for first generation students. Skidmore puts on a facade to the public of being inclusive and affordable but this claim is far from reality. They do not offer full coverage of tuition for low income students the way other colleges do. We have to take out loans. They even charged us for laundry until recently, even though we kept telling administration that low income students, especially first generation cannot afford to keep putting more money into Skidmore’s machines. We pay enough for tuition as it is.

4. The professors. The professors are burnt out + utterly miserable. There is no compassion for students, no excitement for what they do, and getting support is like pulling teeth. The professors are the worst thing about Skidmore besides the poor financial aid offers. Most of the faculty is mean spirited. This is not an exaggeration in the slightest. Unfortunately this is a small school so you can’t escape it.

5. The grading system - don’t expect an A unless you are a favorite. Skidmore allows professors to continually assign subjective coursework which leaves you at the mercy of whether the professor likes you or not. Subjective coursework leaves room for serious ethical concerns.

6. The dorms are ancient, dark and depressing. Skidmore makes a lot of money, yet they don’t update the dorms. Shouldn’t they be investing some of that money back into us, the students? Where is the money being spent?

7. Severely small class selection. Anything good fills up fast so you’ll be stuck in multiple classes you don’t like each semester just because you must take enough credits.

8. Diversity - I’m so tired of seeing Skidmore take photos of the same groups of students in attempt to showcase what a “diverse” student population they have. They don’t! If you did, you wouldn’t need to try to prove it so hard with the same students.

9. Controlling environment. Skidmore treats us like middle schoolers. Don’t think about missing a class, even if you have a legitimate reason. Professors will deduct so many points from your overall grade where you can’t recover. Other colleges do not obsess over attendance whatsoever. Other Universities know that we are adults and we can choose to go to class or not. They don’t need to monitor us and our whereabouts. It’s insulting that Skidmore does this to us. We are adults....

I liked Skidmore, BUT, my instincts were leading me to attend Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. So, in the end that's where I went. Hampshire was just more academically structured the way I preferred. Skidmore was too: "academically traditional" for me. Grades and Tests and very standardized in it's overall educational approach, BUT, I did love Skidmore's emphasis on creative thought. I needed "academically unconventional" + a creative emphasis. Skidmore was one or the other, Hampshire was both.

Skidmore's campus and facilities though were FIRST-RATE! The Tang, The King-Bernhard Theater and Zankel Music Center were...

Well being that I am a proud sister of a soon to be graduate this year May 2018, I think Skidmore College is going to continue educating students with sustainable development and knowledge. I am proud that my Brother (Byron D. Smith) was chosen and accepted by this college. I see his tenacity, his growth and his optimism which gave him a platform to do more. This college will be a recommendation for future innovators to be a true Thoroughbreds!!!...