Hi!
Daughter has narrowed it down to W&M and Skidmore. Interested in acapella, choir, musical theater. Potential theater major, or maybe education, but hoping she will find new academic interests in college. Both seem like great schools where she could be happy. Wondering if Skidmore is worth the extra 30K a year for private vs. an public (albeit small) school. Thoughts?
Congrats to her on some great choices! I’d go W&M for the name recognition and difference in price- if she can really thrive at both schools. It’s a great school and really feels like the best of both worlds between a LAC and university. (But there is nothing wrong with Skidmore either!) Paging @LionsTigersAndBears , one of CC’s resident W&M experts!
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Can you easily afford it and grad school - no loans, impact to personal life, retirement ?
If so, then it’s a personal call.
Obviously W&M is a more well known name (by far) although that shouldn’t necessarily be a consideration.
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Objectively, I don’t think Skidmore is worth more than W&M. BUT if the price differential is comfortably affordable (no debt, no hardship, money for grad school if that is in the plan) AND the student has a strong preference for Skidmore then it is fine to choose that option.
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Ditto. And Skidmore is plenty well known. Not sure why some think otherwise. Its simply erroneous.
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Skidmore is well regarded for the arts offerings at the college.
Agree with @happy1 …
WM has a fine theater department and welcomes non-majors to participate also.
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Congrats on your daughter’s options! I am a bit biased here (per @tweee’s note!), but W&M is a great option for everything you’ve indicated your daughter is interested in. It has great arts and music (even for non-majors), a great education department, and great general liberal-arts-ing around vibes, letting students try different academic areas before committing to their major.
By any chance were you able to get to the Day For Admitted Students at W&M this past weekend? Anything from that that stood out as a particularly green/yellow/red flag for you/her?
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We did go to DFAS! It was a bit frantic trying to go to as much as we could, but I think she got a good feeling from it. My sense is that she’s worried about the work load. Ŵ&M seems to have a bit of stress culture vibe mentioned on online sites (I didnt necessarily get that vibe from the campus). My feeling is that both schools will be equally challenging academically. But correct me if I’m wrong!
I actually think her preference is for W&M, but doesnt want to completely rule out Skidmore. Maybe a bit if FOMO for the small LAC that she originally was aiming for? What would be she be getting at Skidmore that she cant get at W&M?
I think you are right.
Does weather matter?
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I can see how you might have gotten an “uhh, there’s a lot going on; is my kid supposed to do all of it and also stay on top of their work?” feeling from DFAS. (We were there for our 2025 twins, who are considering it. My wife and I also went there, so I’ve been tracking it for a bit.) I think that’s one thing I would have changed about DFAS … they really did a great job pointing out “the &” … you can be a dancer AND a historian, a biologist AND in an a cappella group, a world traveler AND be involved in student government AND go on geology field expeditions. But the implication that all of that made, I think, was that you maybe have to do ALL of it. And that misses out on two other slogans that have been used a lot on campus the last few years … the more common one being “depth, not breadth”, and the less common one being “be here now”. The school has invested a lot in balancing the “do it all” nature that (I think) was a bit more common a few college-generations back. See, for example, the new wellness center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfX-EZJiUaQ
That’s a bit of a long-winded way of saying that I think the stress culture vibes you might see online represent an earlier era of students. It sounds like that might track with your sense of things from the weekend.
I agree with @thumper1, that both schools will provide plenty of academic challenges, and your daughter will be invited to find the right level for her.
Has she been able to get to Skidmore for an admitted students event? I give those a lot of weight in terms of evaluating, as a means of getting as close to an equal comparison as possible.
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It is always hard to say no to a college one likes. She is down to two great options (congrats).
As I see it, the student prefers W&M and it is notably less expensive. Personally, I’d send in a deposit to W&M, buy a hoodie, and celebrate her success!!
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Doesn’t seem to be worried about that…
We decided not to go up to Skidmore because we will travel for 14 hours to be there for 8. (And yes, that would be her clue that it is a PITA to get there, but…). I would imagine that it would be more of the same, you can do and be everything, highlighting kids that are super accomplished on campus. I’d be happy to hear from the kid that takes 4 classes, watches movies on their laptop with their friends, and goes to a party on Saturday night. Yeesh.
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Amen!
We were at Skidmore last week and when asked about what she did for fun, our (awesome) sophomore tour guide said the night before she’d hung out in her room playing Minecraft with her boyfriend for two hours and that night was babysitting. 
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I like to note that sometimes the obvious choice is in fact the right choice for obvious reasons.
For sure, in some cases there would be kids with a strong enough preference for Skidmore, and parent who could comfortably afford the difference, such as to make Skidmore the obvious choice.
In this case, though, the kid actually seems to prefer W&M, and it is less expensive, so . . . done deal, right?
But I get that is easy for an outsider to say. These kids are under a lot of pressure sometimes to choose the “perfect” college (or similar sentiments), and when it comes down to making a final choice, it is stressful because they are not sure which (if either) is actually up to that standard.
So my message is basically–it is definitely neither, as the perfect college does not exist. They are all just normal human institutions, imperfect in various ways. And at a certain point, it is just impossible to predict where you will actually have the best experience.
So, you do your due diligence, you reflect on what you value the most, and then you make your best educated guess as to where you want to be. And fortunately, in most cases kids who do that end up quite happy, indeed possibly in retrospect they think they could not possibly have done better.
And then sometimes it doesn’t work, and maybe you have to pivot. But there is no way to eliminate that possibility at this point.
So, just go with the affordable college that most excites you overall. There are no guarantees, because life doesn’t work that way, but that is truly the best you can do at this point.
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The distance to Skidmore is one more reason (not that it is needed) to go with W&M.
Congrats to your D on a fantastic outcome. I know many students who have had wonderful experiences at W&M.
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I totally agree. Will show this to her, maybe coming from someone other than her parents, this opinion will be appreciated!!
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