@allthon , we visited both and my D has been admitted to Clark. She ended up not applying to Skidmore. We found the Skidmore students to be a little “down” as opposed to Clark students. No question, we found the Clark students to be more open and appealing.
I am always surprised by people who think the neighborhood is sketchy. It’s certainly not like the neighborhood around BC (lifestyles of rich and famous) but it doesn’t feel remotely unsafe. Please look at the annual Clery crime and safety reports( Google it). Clark is not unsafe at all. If sketchy neighborhoods were that much of a problem, no one would attend Yale, or any number of campuses that are near or bordering “sketchy” neighborhoods.
In terms of urban vs rural, my kid, who is mostly interested in LACs not particularly near anything interesting thought Clark had a much better location. Boston is one hour away. Saratoga Springs is many hours away from any interesting city. Though Clark is “urban” it is most definitely not urban in the way that NEU or BU are. It is a College in a neighborhood.
Re academics, I am not sure, but again, I give Clark the edge, certainly for chemistry at least. Not sure about drama. The LEEP program is cool. I think you should look at both campuses for sure, if you can.