<p>tennisjump:</p>
<p>Wow. Your situation is really a tough one to handicap. As a starting point, most applicants need two things: really good academics and something that makes them stand out and fills a "need" on campus. You certainly have the test scores, but without any knowledge of your high school or your class rank, it's hard to evaluate where you stand on Williams academic scale. In other words, top 10% at some high schools is excellent for Williams; at other schools you want to be top 2 or or top 3.</p>
<p>Williams enrolls about 150 recruited athletes each year (out of a freshman class of 528). These fall into three categories:</p>
<p>a) 66 tips. These are slots used by the athletic department to enroll recruited athletes with below average stats. They would seldom "waste" one of these slots on a student with very good academics who could get accepted without the tip. The only time they would use a tip on a high-stat kid would be if it is a nationally ranked impact player. For an extreme example, they would use a tip on Tiger Woods even if he had 2400 SATs and was ranked #1 in his class with 20 APs.</p>
<p>b) 32 protects. Protects are used for recruits who have more or less "average" academic stats for Williams. In the pile of average stats, some kids will get in and others won't. The 32 protects are used by the athletic department to make sure that 32 recruited athletes get the nod.</p>
<p>c) 50 or so recruited athletes who get no boost from the athletic department because they have above average academics and the coaches are willing to roll the dice and hope these players get accepted without using a slot. Coaches sweet talk these player to get them to apply; tell 'em they are great, and all that, but at the end of the day don't use a slot to help with admissions. Because 72% of Williams students played varsity sports in high school, the athletics department can afford to roll the dice. They don't know which 50 they'll get, but the odds are they will always get 50 likely 4-year varsity players based on the sports-oriented composition of the Williams applicant pool.</p>
<p>Because of your athletics, you need to meet with the coaches (football and basketball) at all of your colleges and try to figure out where you might stand in these categories. It will vary from school to school. What is not good enough to be an impact recruit at Williams might be good enough to be an impact player at another less sports-oriented school.</p>
<p>Here's why your case is interesting and tough to predict. If you are NOT considered for one of these athletic slots at Williams, then you are kind of in no man's land. Your major ECs (football and baskeball) might not get any brownie points at Williams. Because Williams attracts so many athletes, they don't really need more athletes beyond the 150 or so recruited athletes each year. Instead, they need to worry more about attracting musicians, physics geeks, theater types, political activists, artists, language majors, and so on and so forth to get all of the types of students for a balanced campus. So, if you don't generate any excitement from the coaches, then you've got to think about featuring your other stuff on your application to Williams and/or finding schools where you would generate enthusiasm from the coaches. Fortunately, you've got other good stuff to feature, but you will be competing against the other musicians, science researchers, etc.</p>
<p>Bottom line. You are certainly a credible applicant for Williams, but trying to peg your odds is a pretty complicated endeavor. A lot will depend on how you read the coaches' interest.</p>