I went to grad school at Hopkins at a time when the surrounding neighborhood, outside of a few blocks right adjacent to the campus were pretty sketchy. You learn to deal with it. Hopkins is an open campus (no gates to block folks from walking on) although maybe they restrict cars (can’t recall but certainly there is parking adjacent to campus) but I don’t remember feeling unsafe on-campus or even going back to my apartment just across the street. Kids at Clark seemed to feel safe and happy. I would not count it out on that basis.
My point about type was that one of my sons is not an artsy type and would have maybe played his sport there. The tour guide said nobody cares about sports, but the tickets for the dance performances are gone within minutes. That would have been great for one of my kids, but not this one. The info session emphasized that there is a specific type of student that the school appeals to and that you would not be happy there if you didn’t fit that type. I am sure the kids there are happy - because they fit that type. There are lax players there that apparently form their own universe. The one soccer player I know that was recruited left after first semester freshman year to transfer to a more traditional school where he would not be playing soccer.
I think Skidmore is also very artsy and theater is big there. There seemed to be no potential for merit aid there as there was at Clark for my kids, so we didn’t even visit.