I have been offered a spot to play athletics on a Williams College sports team for fall 2017. How good is Williams compared to an Ivy league school? I would love to work on Wall St. What opportunities are there available at Williams? Will it be easy for me to get into an Ivy league business school afterwards? Does anyone have any experience about this? Thank you so much in advance. I can get a pre-read from admission and then will know for sure if I can go
It’s among the very best and on par with Ivies. Williams is definitely on the Wall St. recruitment map (it’s extremely abnormal for grads from any school to enter MBA programs right out of undergrad). If you’re looking for a great education with all the possible post-grad opportunities that are available anywhere, it’s hard to beat Williams.
Your questions:
How good is Williams compared to an Ivy league school? It is the equivalent academically to the Ivies.
I would love to work on Wall St. What opportunities are there available at Williams? Plenty, plenty and plenty - Williams, Amherst, Middlebury have great alumni networks in investment banking and private equity both in NYC and London.
Will it be easy for me to get into an Ivy league business school afterwards? It will be up to you, but a Williams degree will definitely not hold you back in any way.
Congrats. Williams is regarded as one of the top LACs in the US (currently #1 ranked by USNWR in this category for what its worth). It is the academic equivalent of an Ivy as others have stated. If you succeed academically at Williams you will be in great shape for a career in business or any other avenue you may decide to pursue. You will have to handle the academics at Williams along with the time commitment you will have for your sport. Good luck.
I’m assuming when you ask how good is Wiliams College compared to an Ivy league school you mean academically not athletically. Academically very close…athletically not the same level.
Many experts, even those IN the Ivy League, believe Williams and Amherst offer among the finest undergraduate education programs in the US, including the Ivies. Williams is extremely well connected, and its grads go on to outstanding job opportunities and grad schools.
For 12 years in a row.
What sport is it? If its lacrosse there has long been a pipeline from the NESCAC (the athletic conference with Williams, Amherst, and Middlebury) lacrosse teams to Wall Street. Good luck.
“Will it be easy for me to get into an Ivy League Business school afterward?”
At Williams you would have the opportunity to attend an Ivy League business school even as an undergraduate (“Harvard Business School Expands Online Initiative to Liberal Arts Colleges,” WGBH News):
“HBS says it has reached agreements with five elite liberal arts colleges . . . [Hamilton, Williams, Wellesley, Grinnell and Carleton]. The business school had previously formed a partnership with Amherst College, and the online program is already available to Harvard undergraduates.”
For top-MBA program feeder colleges specifically, these are the six LACs that appear among the top 20 when all schools nationally are considered:
Pomona
Amherst
Claremont McKenna
Hamilton
Middlebury
Bates
(“Top Feeders – MBA Programs – College Transitions.”)
“For 12 years in a row” (#6)
This streak is likely to continue. Williams’ four point separation over the 2nd ranked school is statistically substantial (and equivalent to 16 ranking positions elsewhere in the category).
Should you decide to attend Williams you will have many options, whether you decide to pursue graduate school or enter the business world.
Williams also appears on the link below:
http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/the-experts-choice-colleges-worth-every-penny/346/
I would say Williams is academically superior to nearly all of the Ivies. I turned down Yale to attend this fall.
@tim322 Excellent decision. Undergrad it’s nearly unbeatable. Granted, I chose Vanderbilt over Williams but that was more a matter of location and opportunity unique to my field. Had I been choosing between Williams and Yale, Harvard or any other such institution, I would’ve chosen Williams too.
wow interesting how everyone believes williams undergrad is superior to that of ivy’s. I have also been given a pre-read by u chicago. Any thoughts on which is better in my situation for undergrad? Again I would like to work on Wall st
Having attended both Williams (undergrad) and UofC (grad school), I can say that neither is “better.” As an athlete at Williams in particular you will certainly have a VERY smooth and easy path to Wall Street and eventually to business school, no question whatsoever. Williams is as highly regarded as any school on Wall Street, has a tremendous and very loyal alumni network (with many athletes going on to Wall Street careers, so that provides an additional hook), and many Williams alums are or have been at the highest ranks of venerable Wall Street institutions. UChicago by disposition is less inclined to send students to Wall Street, but I’m sure that is more of a matter of self-selection and its reputation for intellectual rigor and excellence (like Williams) in math and econ are also tickets to Wall Street, which is increasingly focused on quantitative and analytical skills.
When choosing between schools at that level (and I’d toss any Ivy or other top LAC into the mix in saying this), I really wouldn’t be sweating careers or grad school. First, you very well may change your mind in college – most people do. Second, if you do reasonably well academically and choose your classes and internships wisely, you’ll have no problem at all getting into a top MBA program or getting a job on Wall Street – especially since those jobs are far less popular than they used to be, with more new grads aiming for Silicon Valley.
The more important question is, where will you be happiest and thrive? Can I ask what your sport is – what is the culture of the team like at Williams vs. UofC? And note that the general culture of the two schools is very, VERY different – everything from location (in particular), to types of students to the types of instruction you will receive, to academics (UofC is far more restrictive in terms of what reqs you have to fulfill, or at least was last I checked), campus architectural style, really, almost night and day when you are comparing institutions with a comparable academics reputation. Personally, I would not have enjoyed being an undergrad at UofC, but plenty of UofC folks would say the same thing about Williams. Most people will end up having a clear preference for one over the other after visiting both …
@Ephman Thanks so much for your info. Its interesting to see the different perspectives on what school is better. Both schools definitely have their advantages. U chicago I heard though has one of the best business programs in the world but Williams has one of the best undergrad in the world. In terms of atmosphere I will definitely go visit both school in the near future. Both coaches seem very nice and I know a few kids playing in my respective sport for next year
U Chicago doesn’t have an undergraduate business major. Both schools are phenomenal for undergrad, and econ is an obvious strength at both. In virtually every way other than academic excellence, however, they are very, very different. Consider fit, location, culture, etc.