What are the pros and cons of the freshman housing options: Frosh Quad vs. Mission? Are there single rooms at both? Do you have a better chance at getting a single at one or the other?
Mission Park is almost all singles. Common rooms are for the hall (the entry group). Mission is further from the center of campus and an uglier building (IMO), but it has nice views and its own dining hall so you can eat breakfast in your pajamas on snowy days.
Freshman Quad, which consists of Williams and Sage dorms, is in the heart of campus and a traditional brick building. The doors open on vertical entries, containing clusters of common rooms, each with two bedrooms. Sometimes both bedrooms will be doubles, sometimes a double and a single. Usually beds and dressers are in the bedrooms and the desks are in the common rooms. Common rooms are for the students who live in the common room cluster, but sometimes the whole entry will gather together in one, especially the junior advisers’ common room.
For both, the entry is the basic social housing unit at Williams-- about 18 freshmen and two junior advisers.
The “Bell Book” also offers insights about first year housing options from previous students:
https://student-life.williams.edu/bell-book/#eph-advice-life-in-mission-park
https://student-life.williams.edu/bell-book/#eph-advice-life-in-the-quad
Thank you very much for your replies, very helpful.