Creating a Williams RD 2025 discussion here, feel free to ask any questions on the process, chances and COVID impacts. ED applications were up and acceptances down, which could mean there is more room for RD acceptances this year.
Congratulations to all that got their applications in by the deadline today, now the waiting begins!
Based upon information from the ED discussion, applications are up this year and it looks like Williams will accept a larger class to accommodate the 100 or so gap year students from the class of 2024. Hopefully this means the gap year bubble will not make the RD round this year overly competitive.
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Hi. First CC Post but I’ve done a lot of reading the last few months. My DS applied to Williams RD. I think the wait of not knowing until April 1st is going to drive me crazy. After reading the ED thread, sounds like there is even more tough competition than usual for RD this year. I’m probably more nervous about it than he is…it’s what he really wants so of course, I want it for him. Hopefully, since Williams is his top choice, he will fit into the class dynamics they are trying to build for 2025. Good luck to everyone.
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As No. 1 Liberal Art College, Willams sending out reject letters shall be normal for most applicants. Adjust expectations and get ready.
Yes, we are quite aware of the competitive nature of applying to a school such as Williams and are well aware of the acceptance rate but rather than be negative about it, we are hoping things will go well.
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Agreed, in composing the class you just don’t know what they are looking for in a particular situation, they need to fill the singing groups, dance groups, symphony, etc. Did anyone submit an arts, dance or music supplement?
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My S didn’t submit any arts supplements to any of his schools. He applied to 12 schools - not sure if that was enough since I have seen posts here in CC that some people apply to as many as 30 schools - I’d go broke if he did that though between app fees and CSS profile fees. His top choice has always been Williams though. The good thing is I made sure that at least 4 of his schools were “safety” schools because the other eight are so competitive and most of those have an average acceptance rates of 25%. I’d post the other schools here but 1. I don’t know the forum etiquette on posting other school names in a specific school forum and 2. I don’t know if Williams monitors the forum and don’t want to hurt my DS chance of admission if they knew he applied to other schools. He had really specific criteria when he looked for schools that limited his options - location, distance from home, size, and of course major/minor availability so his number of schools was small.
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I do not think Williams can figure out who your S is.
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@TennisParent - just curious…Do you think ED was down and RD might be down as well to account or the spaces that will be filled in the class of 2025 by the students who were accepted for 2024 but deferred a year due to the pandemic?
I have heard rumors that those gap kids already turned into state colleges…
@FeiXing That doesn’t make much sense. Students that defer (take a gap year) after acceptance into Williams are probably highly unlikely to suddenly decide (and/or have time) to apply to and attend a state school. It would make more sense for the student to decline the acceptance from Williams than to defer if they planned to attend a state program. You seem to have something very negative to offer every time I post (I’ve noticed you are negative in other threads too). Instead - maybe try being nice or as the old adage goes - if you don’t have anything nice to say…don’t say it.
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It might be reassuring to know that Williams emailed all students who were accepted for the class of 2024, but are taking a gap year, asking them to confirm that they will be enrolling this fall. Replies were due back a few weeks ago so admissions should have a good idea about how many spaces are available in the Class of 2025.
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@gotham_mom Thanks. Your D is a gap year student right? I think I read that in the Williams ED 2025 topic last night. We are worried about the admissions cycle this year and the impact of students who deferred for a gap year in the 2024 cycle. I can completely understand why so many students would take the gap year in hopes of a “more normal” freshman year. I’m sure that at some schools it may not impact much but for smaller LACs that have these wonderful small classes of first-year students every year - I imagine it could make a larger impact. I suggested my DS apply ED but he was afraid of the binding nature of it (with the exception of being able to bow out if the COA is too high after aid is awarded). He loves Williams and I swear he has read their entire course catalog to see what classes they have and all of the classes he wants to take (he’ll be there until he’s 40 if he takes all of the ones he thinks are interesting!).
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Agree, so many great classes to select from!
It will be interesting to see how they address the gap year bubble, I think they want to be fair and not penalize the current applicants just because of capacity concerns, it would be a shame to turn away great applicants that would have been admitted in any other year just due to space constraints. As such, to the extent they can house a larger incoming class, I think they will make room. Williams has a lot of dorm space that could be used to make room, as they have during the COVID situation. If the Fall if a return to normalcy, they could convert many of the singles to doubles to make space. Williams is on the larger size of the spectrum for a LAC, with more than 2100 students, which makes it easier to handle a bubble moving through the cycle. Only Middlebury is larger among the NESCAC schools.
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I’ve been offline for a few days and just saw your post. Yes, my D is a gap year student. I don’t have any inside information, but I take the admissions office at their word when they say that they are planning for a typical-size first-year class of around 550 students. Keep in mind that the class of 2024 probably ended up being smaller than usual even after going to the waitlist. Hope to see you post good news in March!
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In case this is of interest, here is a link to the Six Colleges admissions website (Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Pomona, Swarthmore & Carleton)
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I submitted a music (voice) supplement to Williams. I tried to add personality to my portfolio by doing a creative arrangement of a new pop song (using kitchen appliances and food as my instruments) and through humor in my portfolio descriptions. Have no idea how they will take it lol. Williams is super competitive even in a normal year so I don’t have super high expectations (I also got deferred from Yale so that lowered my confidence a bit, though I didn’t send my music portfolio to them).
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Sounds like an amazing, entrepreneurial and creative concept which can only help your cause!! This is exactly what they like to see, initiative and smarts. Also, very Williams like in that your taking a multidisciplinary approach, best of luck, you have shown you are a good match.
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