Welcome to the First Year Experience!

At Skidmore, we believe in the transformative power of liberal education, more precisely, in the power of an educational experience that combines curricular and cocurricular opportunities to liberate the mindand fulfill the soul. 

Your journey begins with a choice: First-year students select a Scribner Seminar from approximately 50 different course offerings. Both intense and intimate, these seminars offer students the chance to work closely with Skidmore's most talented faculty, exploring interdisciplinary topics such as"American Buddhism," "Robot Design," and  "Environmental Problems. Economic Solutions?"

All seminars are designed to stimulate intellectual curiosity, challenge preconceived notions of the world, and provide a solid foundation for the important intellectual exploration that will characterize one's career at Skidmore.

And yet the Scribner Seminars are just one component ofthe overall first-year experience. Students in each seminar are housed in rough proximity to each other to cultivate richer living-learning communities—communities built on the principle that engaged liberal learning is not isolated to the classroom. Additionally, the seminar faculty are not simply instructors; they take seriously their role as advisors and mentors, cultivating close relationships with their seminar students that often continue throughout a student's career. What is more, programming is offered throughout the year specifically designed for the unique needs of the first-year student.

In all, then, Skidmore's First-Year Experience is far more than a single course or an isolated event. It is a combination of offerings and opportunities aimed at the student as a whole person. In the grand tradition of liberal education, our hope is that students emerge from the first year, and eventually from the College, as wiser, more curious, and more capable citizens of the world.

Beau Breslin
Interim Dean of the Faculty
Professor of Government