Skidmore College officials said they are welcoming an incoming class of 740 students, selected from its largest-ever applicant pool of 11,000 candidates.
Skidmore’s Class of 2023 is also among the College’s most diverse, officials said. It includes Skidmore’s highest ever percentage of domestic students of color and first-generation college students. Members of the class come from more than 30 different countries and 30 U.S. states.
More than half the class, including athletes and international students, arrived on campus early for pre-orientation activities. The rest moved into residence halls on Sept. 1. Classes began Sept. 4.
Thirty-two students are spending their first semester in London, where they are studying with Skidmore professors and learning through participation in cultural and educational activities as part of a First-Year Experience program.
The class of 2023:
Includes citizens of more than 30 different countries and residents of 30 states.
Eleven percent of the class are international students and 6 percent are dual citizens.
Twenty-eight percent of first-year students are domestic students of color, and 17 percent are first-generation college students, both records for the College.
The class is 44 percent men and 56 percent women.
Nearly half of all first-year students are receiving some form of financial aid, with an average grant amount of more than $43,000.
Forty-seven percent of the incoming class enrolled through early decision.
Members of the Class of 2023 begin their liberal arts education with Skidmore’s First-Year Experience (FYE) program, which celebrates 15 years this fall.
The centerpiece of the FYE program is the Scribner Seminar: Students select from 50 interdisciplinary courses that range in scope from Cultures of Climate Change to Chaos Finds a Voice: The Politics of Identity in the U.S./Mexico Borderlands. The small-group courses help first-year students explore ideas, challenge assumptions, think critically and build a solid foundation for continued study at Skidmore.
“We welcome the Class of 2023 to Skidmore,” said Mary Lou Bates, vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid. “Driven by a core belief that ‘creative thought matters,’ Skidmore provides students with an academic and co-curricular environment that is richly influenced by creative thinking across many disciplines, including business, humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts and literature.”
Founded in 1903, Skidmore College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college of about 2,500 students.