It just seems like everyone who goes there are either vals, sals, or in the top 1, maybe 2-3% at least. I’m not sure if I’m totally wrong, but, save for the athletes, it just seems like rank is so important.
To answer your question briefly, no.
Like most elite private colleges, Williams practices a holistic admissions process that considers many factors, including grades on the transcript, rank, test scores, teacher recommendations, essays, extracurricular activities, personal factors like being an underrepresented minority or a first generation college student, etc., etc. You can look up the Common Data Set for Williams, or any college, to see them list all factors they consider, ranked from “very important” to “not considered.”
P.S. Athletes have to be strong scholars as well as good athletes in order to gain admission to Williams and other NESCAC colleges; if interested, look up NESCAC and check out their rules.
@Senior2016M thanks!
@TheGreyKing thanks!