<p>Was accepted at all three and I'm trying to decide. Williams offered me the Tyng Scholarship which is a huge plus. I'm posting the question in all three threads. Looking for Pros and Cons, differences, similarities, etc.</p>
<p>Your question is far too vague. Without knowing your interests, possible majors, etc., etc., etc., no one can give you useful advice. </p>
<p>Tip: Ask Dartmouth to match the Williams scholarship. The school will match Ivies. You have nothing to lose by asking them to match whatever Williams is offering (which appears to be the typically vague “full” support for “demonstrated” need, so I’m not sure how huge a plus that is – but good luck).</p>
<p>Tyng also provides 3 years support for grad or professional school (up to $180k) - good luck getting Dartmouth to match that!</p>
<p>All 3 schools attract the same type of applicant . In fact there is a 50/50 split when it comes to choosing Dartmouth/Amherst/Williams.</p>
<p>Personally, I love Williams and would have been happy if my D had chosen to attend. She chose Dartmouth and had an amazing 4 years in Hanover. Her room mate from law school is an Amherst grad and another of their good friends at law school is a Williams grad. Any of them will give you an excellent education.</p>
<p>Visit all 3 (you will find other people who are making the same decision). If grad/professional school is in your future, take the Tyng scholarship at Williams and don’t look back.</p>
<p>Frankly, I’d go with Williams with no hesitation if I got the Tyang scholarship. Unless money is absolutely a no issue for you, realize that your resumes will say “Williams College '17 - Tyang Scholar” - a huge, huge add on to an already prestigious name. A Williams education will work wonders for you when it comes to grad school, and you now have a prestigious/generous scholarship to match.</p>
<p>^^ Syb… I don’t quite get the 50/50 split among three schools. Are you saying that if a student has to choose between Dartmouth and either Amherst or Williams that 50% of the time they will choose Dartmouth and the other 50% of the time they will choose either Williams or Amherst or are you saying that given the choice between Dartmouth and Amherst or Dartmouth and Williams alone they choose Dartmouth over the other 50% of the time. The first I would describe as a 50/25/25 split or something akin to that the other two to me would be 50/50 splits. Just curious!</p>
<p>Dartmouth beats “Williams College '17 - Tyang Scholar” in prestige. Very few people outside of New England have heard of Williams, and almost no one has heard of the Tyang Scholarship.</p>
<p>It’s the Tyng Scholarship, not Tyang. Let’s at least keep our facts straight while we talk about something that none of us really knows about. And, speaking as a Californian, I couldn’t tell you where Williams is without Googling (Rhode Island? named after Roger? I’ll have to go look [edit: nope, I was very wrong, wasn’t I]), and my uninformed take is “not quite Swarthmore? on a par with Haverford & Bowdoin?” and maybe I’m doing the school an injustice but semi-confirming what IvyPBear said. My pulse doesn’t race when I see Amherst on a resume either – or, even Dartmouth for that matter – but I’m looking at law schools, not the undergrad years. Honestly, I don’t really think your undergrad school matters that much (within a range, of course) if you plan on grad school/law school/B school/etc. Given that the Tyng evidently provides grad school/law school/etc. support, I vote with Sybbie. Take the money and run.</p>
<p>Try searching the internet for the 2001 Wall St. Journal article on the top feeder schools to the top professional and grad schools. Williams is up there. People in the know recognize Williams. You cannot go wrong at any of these 3 schools. Wait, here is the link [The</a> Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition](<a href=“http://wsjclassroomedition.com/college/feederschools.htm]The”>http://wsjclassroomedition.com/college/feederschools.htm)</p>
<p>I think the Tyng Scholarship is also based on demonstrated need. But if you qualify for significant financial aid, you have to seriously consider it.</p>
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<p>I would not put a lot of stock in what very few people outside of New England think. If they do not know that you are talking about the number 1 & 2 ranked liberal arts colleges in the country, I wouldn’t want their advice (but that’s just me). </p>
<p>While your neighbor at the supermarket may never have hear of Williams/Amherst, trust and believe top law/med schools, grad programs, consulting firms, IBs etc have heard of Williams and Amherst.</p>
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<p>Thank you for pointing this out. Sure, some average shuck on the street “outside of New England” has no idea about Williams, but top grad programs (such as HYPS that are well known by the average populace), prestigious financial institutions, management consultancies, F500 corporations, and organizations such as TFA, etc. DO know about Williams and DO recognize its prestige and rigor in both getting in and staying in. The Tyng Scholarship (spelling mistake before, my bad) along with Williams will be recognized people who actually matter in the long run.</p>
<p>And free money is free money.</p>
<p>justhavingfun, congrats on your acceptances. I would follow the money, and you aren’t going to get Dartmouth to match what you have received. No one seems to think ahead about grad school costs, but they are something to think about. $200-$250 on undergrad, then grad school, unless you are walking out the door of Harvard Law School, who is paying that tab, and maybe not even that situation works anymore. Debt is debt. And as honorlions said, free money is free money. Enjoy a free ride!</p>
<p>Dartmouth and Williams have very, very similar feels and cultures, except Dartmouth has frats and Williams banned frats a long time ago. If anything, Williams is probably a bit more academic these days. Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore are more or less the HYP of LACs (not that they match up one-to-one), so in terms of prestige-where-it-matters Williams and Dartmouth are close enough so that really isn’t an issue. Kids who like one generally like the other, and vice versa. My kids were very familiar with Williams because their grandparents lived nearby, and when my son and I visited Dartmouth together, after the first few hours his comment was “And this is different from Williams how?” (I had never been to Dartmouth, and I had expected it to be more different from Williams than it was.)</p>
<p>Anyway, objectively, it’s almost impossible to come up with an argument for paying anything significant to go to Dartmouth vs. effectively being paid something significant to go to Williams. There’s nothing actually important to trade off between them, except for trivial things, and lots of those go in Williams’ favor. (It’s prettier, the tutorials are totally cool.)</p>