<p>You should check out Oberlin too. Excellent creative writing program.</p>
<p>Kenyon, too.</p>
<p>Hi Denlah, I’m from Vietnam and I share the same interests as yours. Maybe, we can apply to W together and spend the nights discussing on the works of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller…</p>
<p>I don’t run to credentials or rankings. I like the scenic landscape of W. I’m sick of city life (after my 4 yrs in a tiny but bursting cosmopolitan city state like Spore). Anyway, I seek knowledge and ideas. About writing, I’m sure I can always sign up for random seminars or summer lectures in the summer…</p>
<p>Lol I didn’t know I repeated “summer”</p>
<p>Hey everyone! I am so sorry for abandoning this thread in September. I had to spend way less time on the internet when school geared up, but still, it was rude of me to disappear like that.</p>
<p>First, I want you all to know that I have applied to Williams. I still have a few reserves about the fit, but you guys convinced me it was worth a try. I have not yet been afforded the opportunity to head northeast, but I’m making a run over spring break and I hope very much to stop by Williams. If anyone has advice on getting there by bus, I would appreciate it greatly.</p>
<p>Second, my relationship with all schools is complicated now that the University of Pennsylvania sent me a likely letter. I didn’t know that likely letters were a thing, but apparently they guarantee you admission unless you get exiled to Russia or slip into a coma.</p>
<p>Perhaps the largely pre-professional University of Pennsylvania is an odd fit for me, but I have been extraordinarily excited for it ever since my interview. My interviewer connected with me wonderfully and convinced me of Penn’s arts scene, so now I feel like it can be home. Plus, Penn is home to the fourth best English department in the nation and to the Kelly Writers House, which students have described it as a little “Swarthmore”–an LAC-like oasis.</p>
<p>Despite my Pennthusiasm, I remain open to other colleges. Perhaps I will not like Penn when I see it or perhaps I will fall head-over-heels for William. I just have to see now. </p>
<p>I will let you all know whether I am accepted to Williams and where I choose matriculate. Thank you all for your encouraging posts that have led me here. You all clearly care about me and I have found your help touching.</p>
<p>Hugs,
Denlah</p>
<p>P.S. I am male.</p>
<p>Hi Denlah, Thanks for the update and the good news. Whether you end up at Penn or not, it’s still immensely gratifying to receive a likely letter.</p>
<p>I hope you’re not planning on taking the bus to Williamstown all the way from Tennessee. If you’re coming from New York, Boston or other NE cities look at Peter Pan Bus Lines. <a href=“http://peterpanbus.com/”>http://peterpanbus.com/</a> </p>
<p>Hopefully your spring break trip will be after your receive all your acceptances. Then you can concentrate on your top choices.</p>
<p>Williamstown and Philadelphia (and Williams and Penn as well) couldn’t be more different. Surely one will reach out and grab you by the heart. </p>
<p>Good luck and let us know how you do.</p>
<p>Thanks Momrath. Frustratingly, my school starts its spring break in just a week. Thus I will have to make my rounds in the northeast before decision letters come in.</p>
<p>Insofar as a bus ride from TN to Philly will be cheaper than two plane tickets, I have a long and bumpy road in front of me. In the Philadelphia area I will tour Penn and Swarthmore, then I will go north a bit to hit Princeton, then Vassar and Yale. Which is better, traveling to Williamstown from Poughkeepsie or taking the Peter Pan Bus from Boston? I want to check Harvard out mostly for fun. (I did apply but know I won’t get in. I wrote my H essay about chasing squirrels.)</p>
<p>I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun. Williamstown is closer to Boston than Poughkeepsie, but you have to make your itinerary based on the order that makes sense. Some of these colleges may also be on Spring Break during the time you’re planning to visit, which is unfortunate. Bear in mind that many of the colleges on your list will pay for you to visit after you’re accepted, so there’s still time.</p>
<p>The Williamstown Bed & Breakfast is a good place to stay, right on campus, you can walk everywhere. Otherwise, it’s not so easy to get around without a car.</p>
<p>Suggested travel reading: Peter Taylor’s (fellow Tennessean) “1939” about a wild and woeful holiday trip from Kenyon College to NYC.</p>
<p>Momrath, Williamstown is a good hour closer to Poughkeepsie than Boston. Unless you meant the bus route? I know it’s not direct from Boston, one has to change buses in Pittsfield, unless something has changed.</p>
<p>Hey Momrath, what are the consequences of visiting a college on its spring break? I’ll still be able to, you know, tour, won’t I? There will be fewer students there and I can’t sit in on any classes, but it’s pretty much okay, right?</p>
<p>Electronblue, do you know of a good way to get from Poughkeepsie to Williamstown without a car? If so, please do share.</p>
<p>electron, thanks for setting me straight. I’m resigning from the geography committee.</p>
<p>Denlah, Yes, spring break is a busy time for campus visits. The problem is that the campus will be missing its daily buzz. You might not notice it so much in a city, but in a place like Williamstown that can mean very quiet. But you have to visit when you can. My son made all his visits in the summer, and that turned out okay. As I said, once you get your acceptances you may want to go back to your top two for another look.</p>
<p>Denlah, it can be done but it’s not easy. Amtrak from Poughkeepsie to Albany and then from Albany to Pittsfield, and bus to Williamstown. That could be an all day voyage depending on the train schedule for what is an easy 2 hour car ride, and pretty costly at that. You might want to call a car service in Poughkeepsie and ask them to price a ride to Williamstown for you. You could also take the train back to Manhattan and pick up the bus to Williamstown from Port Authority. </p>
<p>Thanks again, @electronblue, for sharing some awesome travel advice. Ultimately I resigned to visit Yale after Vassar, then Harvard, and finally I was to take the Peter Pan bus to Williamstown from Boston. Fortunately I received an acceptance email from Williams College while I was still at Yale, and I am thrilled to say that Williams will be paying for my journey up there. Plus, their aid package is absolutely phenomenal.</p>
<p>I do plan to visit Williams, but it now is up against some steep competition. I am shocked and humbled to have been offered a spot in Princeton University’s Class of 2018. I still love the magic of liberal arts colleges, but I feel that Princeton captures both their magic and their benefits. The school is small for an Ivy, its campus is gorgeous and unbroken by streets, its town is quaint and lovely, and the focus there is on undergraduates–undergrads actually get library preference over the grad students. After spending the night with a frosh friend last week, I decided that it was my number one choice.</p>
<p>Of course, I have not seen Williams yet. My thanks go out to all the wonderful people in this forum who helped me discover Williams and who, through their unwavering kindness and assistance, have shown me that they genuinely care both about the school and about me. Wherever I matriculate, know that I am so incredibly grateful.</p>
<p>Hi @Denlah! just wondering what you decided, as I too am considering Williams. The other option for me is Smith, which does not have the drinking culture or athlete divide, but didn’t feel as academically invigorating. thanks!</p>
<p>Well @hattie914, I visited Williams College last week and I liked it very much. The students there were friendly and impressive (but humble), and I made friends with some very cool pre-frosh. They weren’t like me, exactly, but they were people I want to be like. I sat in three English classes, one lecture-based and two seminars, and the first of the seminars (taught by Karen Shepard) was so intellectually invigorating that, when I was stuck in an airport on the return leg of my trip, I searched the internet for the works they’d been contrasting (and I read them both! I had a long delay).</p>
<p>I got the feeling that I would be perfectly happy there the next four years. But the feeling that I absolutely wanted to go–that rare emotion you sometimes get about a very special place–I didn’t quite feel that. I only felt that at Princeton, and I will almost certainly commit there. Williams, I think, is my number two choice–even ahead of other Ivy Leagues. So I do hold it in very high regards and can say that you will find yourself in more challenging classes amidst a smarter group of people at Williams than you would at Smith.</p>
<p>Go to Smith if you really feel at home in the atmosphere of an all-girl’s college. Go to Williams if you want academic vigor and greater diversity. The two are so different that I’m sure you already have a gut feeling. Follow it.</p>
<p>Warm hugs,
Denlah</p>
<p>P.S. – Were you at Williams’ Preview too?</p>