<p>Yea I'm in Orange County too! And seriously if it weren't for reading online and searching..I would never have heard of many of the LACs. At my school all we talk about are UCs, USC, Ivys and for most people at my school community colleges. =) sad but true</p>
<p>Oh and many people here don't even know about local schools! Like most people at my school don't know ANYTHING about the claremont colleges..."Pomona?..wait you mean Calpoly Pomona?"</p>
<p>If you are looking for a LAC with name recognition, there are quite a few that have more name recognition than Williams and, in many cases, are substantially easier to gain admission.</p>
<p>I would look at Colgate, Vassar, Middlebury, Wellesley (if you are a girl), Bucknell (on the east coast this is very well-known) among others.</p>
<p>Swarthmore, Pomona and Williams all have surprisingly poor name recognition (Pomona especially). </p>
<p>Amherst fares better than the aforementioned three in the name recognition department.</p>
<p>In my personal experience, academics are familiar with AWS, but they tend to not have heard of many of the other liberal arts colleges outside of their immediate geographic location.</p>
<p>I truly think Williams is a phenomenal school; it may not parallel ivy's in terms of prestige, but it certainly is just as competitive and academically rigorous. I'm looking into Williams myself, along with the typical Ivy reaches: all in all, it's a school worth considering.</p>
<p>I also think Williams is wonderful. Academically, I would say that it is as strong or stronger than all of the Ivies (outside of HYP) . That said, if you want tons of name recognition, LACS may not be the best route. </p>
<p>When I was at Williams, it seemed like a ton of students were children of college faculty. My rationale is that this sub-group is one of the few that has heard of Williams. Heck, the folks in Pittsfield often hadn't even heard of Williams.</p>
<p>I go to a non-HYP Ivy myself, and I think Williams is a great school despite its relative lack of a reputation and name recognition. Even though it's probably not as competitive to get into as Ivies (using conventional admissions factors) and not as well known, and I can't attest to the quality of the academic experience there having only been at Columbia (I don't think anyone can for any school except the one they went to), top LAC's in general seem to take in very intelligent and accomplished young people.</p>
<p>Williams' Common Data Set</p>
<p>The fact is that most students who apply to Williams are applying to the HYP and the other Ivies. It does parallel the Ivies in terms of prestige among those that will do the evaluating; professional schools, graduate programs, IB's especially if you plan on working on the east coast (NYC, Boston, etc).</p>
<p>People are much more familiar with the Ivies and schools with powerful athletic teams. </p>
<p>The student that choses Williams pretty much self select the school because they know the academic reputation and are really not worried as to whether your class mate or neighbor has heard of it. It's also a big reach because the freshman class is only approximately 535 students. The school also as one of the highest graduation rates in the country amongst private colleges</p>
<p>Overall it is an excellent school and I would have been more than happy if D had chosen to attend (because it was my first choice for her).</p>
<p>best_wr, Williams is well known among graduate and professional school adcoms, Wall Street, Fortune 500 companies, museums, academic circles and other groups that will help you get a leg up in life. It's quite possible that your next door neighbor (even if s/he's well educated) will never have heard of Williams and the more you try to explain what a wonderful school it is the more pathetic you will seem. People who know, KNOW. Everyone else will give you a blank look.</p>
<p>In short, if you want a great education and a great future go to Williams. If you want to impress the man/woman on the street make another choice.</p>
<p>I might add that Williams routinely wins the NACDA directors cup every year for Division 3 athletics, much like Stanford dominates the cup Division 1 category. Williams is a well-rounded place with high academic standards.</p>
<p>Link to NACDA:
<a href="http://nacda.collegesports.com/directorscup/nacda-directorscup-current-scoring.html%5B/url%5D">http://nacda.collegesports.com/directorscup/nacda-directorscup-current-scoring.html</a></p>
<p>When I talked about Williams/Swarthmore/Amherst most of my pals were confused as to what they were...</p>
<p>I really liked them though, and thought their days-on campus made it clear that they provided a unique, non-typical college experienece</p>
<p>Williams has lots of courses too so its pretty cool</p>
<p>i like williams very much. just wish i didn't have to explain to people how good of a college it is. </p>
<p>As of colgate, middlebury, etc. being stronger in name recognition, i don't think that's true. i mean, in west coast, people don't know any east coast LAC's. In fact, pomona and other claremont colleges are the most well-known..</p>
<p>
[quote]
just wish i didn't have to explain to people how good of a college it is.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Unless these people are writing your $40k tuition check you don't have to explain anything to them. To the ones that are writing the checks, let the facts of a williams education speak for itself.</p>
<p>the LAC's are small, and so that means they aren't going to be as well known. I'm from a medium-sized town in Wyoming (60,000) (someone made fun of it on this board....that's okay, it sucks). I'm currently at Dartmouth, and I can't say I would've heard of Williams before I came here really. Nobody had heard of Dartmouth at my school, nor had they heard of anything like Williams, Amherst, or Swarthmore. </p>
<p>Williams is an amazing school that gets a lot of respect on my campus. I understand the prestige idea for when you tell people- it does bum me out to know that I go to Dartmouth and that I feel like only 40% of people I talk to even have a clue what it is.</p>
<p>But when you realize the resources you have at a small school, you realize it's an amazing opportunity. Williams is very very good.</p>
<p>What sort of scores on the SAT II's and the ACT would be sufficient for Williams?</p>
<p>ive never heard of williams or swarthmore til this website. i think in the west coast, LACs are virtually unknown. most people on the west coast go to large universities (since there is a lack of LACs in the west coast) and aim for the more prestigious top 25 universities. people here rarely apply to LACs and this year i know of 2 persons at my school who applied to a liberal arts college. i think the general belief out here is LACs just arent as good, but what ive read that apparently isnt true.</p>
<p>Could somebody tell me the difference between LACs and large universities. I know LACs are smaller, more expensive, and more focused on the liberal arts than major universities, but are there any more differences?</p>
<p>The LAC's are focused on undergraduate education many having few or no graudate programs. Because of the lack of graduate programs virtually all classes are taught by professors, the smallness of the schools also make processors and resources more available at the undergraduate level. The top LACs offer research opportunities to undergrads that they would not have in larger schools.</p>