Freshmen are immediately integrated into school culture at Skidmore College. Through the First Year Experience Program, freshmen are paired up with peer mentors and placed in introductory Scribner Seminars. Freshmen must live on campus in dorms near other students in their seminar. About 40 adventurous freshman can spend the fall semester in London, part of the First Year Experience program that lets students kick off their college career across the Atlantic. Back at the schools campus in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., there are close to 100 student clubs and organizations, but no Greek system. Students can eat in traditional dining halls or, if theyre especially ambitious, can cook their own meals in an on-campus kitchen.There are about 50 majors at Skidmore, and students can design their own academic programs, too. All students, regardless of major, will take science and mathematics courses. Outside the classroom, the school sports teams are known as the Thoroughbreds and compete in the NCAA Division III Liberty League. For fun off campus, downtown Saratoga Springs is a mile away. Students can check out horse races at the Saratoga Race Course or tour the historic Saratoga Battlefield. The nearby Adirondack Mountains offer opportunities to ski, snowboard, mountain bike and white water raft, and, for a metropolitan experience, New York, Boston and Montreal are each about a three-hour drive away.Students are encouraged to pair up with faculty members for research projects. Science projects take place in the schools unique laboratory in the North Woods. The Skidmore student body is about 60 percent female. The curricula at Skidmore has produced notable alumni in the sciences, including Cynthia Carroll, former CEO of mining powerhouse Anglo American; and Laura Taylor, president and CEO of information security company Relevant Technologies.

Nestled in the College Hill neighborhood of Easton, Pa., is Lafayette College, a liberal arts institution. Easton is a small city about 60 miles from Philadelphia and 70 from New York City. One perk of living in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley: in warm months, students can load up on fresh produce each Saturday at the Easton Farmers Market, billed as the nations oldest continuous open-air market. In the winter, students can go skiing and snowboarding in the nearby Pocono Mountains. The campus has its own indoor rock-climbing wall and on-campus night club called The Spot for year-round fun. There are around 200 student organizations, including a popular Greek system of close to a dozen fraternities and sororities. Each fraternity and sorority has a house on campus for member students. Freshmen must live on campus at the residential college, and so must sophomores, juniors and most seniors. About 70 seniors who apply to move off campus will be approved each year. The Lafayette Leopards compete in the NCAA Division I Patriot League, and the football team has a notorious rival with Lehigh Universitys squad. Students kick off the year with the Presidents Ball, a formal dance, and end the year with All-College Day, a campus-wide celebration with music and food. Students can grab a bite after, too, when faculty members serve them Midnight Breakfast.The college newspaper, The Lafayette, is the oldest student-run publication in the state. Lafayette students can study abroad for a semester, a year or even just a month - in January or May. The schools interim programs, as the monthlong sessions are called, have taken students to destinations like the Galapagos Islands, Bali and Egypt over school breaks. In addition, faculty members lead specialty study abroad trips in London and Costa Rica. Lafayettes distinguished graduates include Ian Murray, founder of the Vineyard Vines clothing line; and Charles Bergstresser, a founder of Dow Jones & Company.