<p>Agreed...</p>
<p>There are actually LACS out there that are:
1) easier academically
2) easier to get into
3) garner more name recognition</p>
<p>Try the following schools; Colgate, Bucknell, Lehigh, Middlebury, Wellesley (if you are XX), Vassar, Oberlin</p>
<p>If you think Colgate, Bucknell, Lehigh, Middlebury, Wellesley, Vassar, and Oberlin garner more name recognition than Williams, you are kidding yourself.</p>
<p>Hi, since when has Williams College not been a well-recognized school?
What's going on? This is crazy talk.</p>
<p>I don't see how you can be sure that you will get into Williams if you think you have no chances at an Ivy league school.</p>
<p>I'd say Williams is slightly more difficult to get into than Cornell, and slightly less difficult to get into than Brown. If you don't think you can get into any Ivy League school, there isn't any reason to think you can get into Williams, unless your a legacy.</p>
<p>My cousin is a freshman at Williams, and if you want to know her stats & where she was accepted/rejected...</p>
<p>Accepted.....</p>
<p>*Williams
*Cornell
*Georgetown
*Johns Hopkins
*Bowdoin</p>
<p>Wait Listed.....</p>
<p>*Harvard (SCEA)
*Brown</p>
<p>Rejected.....</p>
<p>*Yale
*Penn
*Dartmouth</p>
<p>I know that she was ranked near the top/at the top in a class of 80, and donated millions to her high school. I think she only had one EC (albeit a very strong one), & I think her SAT was in the high 1300's.</p>
<p>Also, she has hated her first month at Williams after talking for months about how much she loved it when she visited.</p>
<p>She said....</p>
<p>*There is absolutely nothing to do in your free time
*The rooms are like dungeons; she said she thinks they're 8' by 10' but considering she lived in a $40 million dollar house before going to Williams, she's probably going to think any dorm is ridiculously small
*She isn't getting individual attention in classes even though Williams told her all students get individual attention. Individual attention was why she chose Williams over Georgetown, so not getting it is what she's most upset about.</p>
<p>Well she must be going to a different Williams from the ones my friends are at... I've heard from a couple and they're ABSOLUTELY lovin' it. Probably a matter of fit/perception, but Williams really isn't for everybody.</p>
<p>If anyone's interested enough i'd recommend you take a look at the Williams blogring on xanga to get an impression of whether you'll be happy in Billsville.</p>
<p>Not meaning to repeat the posts above, but I wanted to note my observation that IMO you are placing far too much value on the perceptions others/peers will have of your choice and as to the elusive "prestige" factor. </p>
<p>Bottomline, Williams is as fine an undergraduate school as there is. When you start comparing Ivies to Stanford to Duke to Williams, Amherst, Pomona, Swarthmore etc. you're now just talking about personal preferences and where a particular person and their interests would fit best. Comparing the "quality" of such schools is nothing more than mental gymnastics.</p>
<p>Further to some excellent points raised in posts above, the general perceptions of the public as to various schools is typically not particularly well informed (no offense intended). A site like this is an exception to that as people who frequent here obviously have an interest in college related issues. In general though, for every member of the public that might know HYP, I'm quite sure that most people cannot tell you the schools that comprise the Ivy League. </p>
<p>To many people, Dartmouth might well be the name of some tooth or gum disease. Brown is a color. For everyone that knows the excellence of Stanford, many only know it as a school with a mediocre football team and an amazing instituion like Duke is known to far too many simply for its basketball program and Northwestern is just a direction.</p>
<p>I realize we are very much a brand name society, but IMHO don't base your college experience on such superficialities as name recognition.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, yeah that makes the most sense</p>
<p>Dude...Williams is the #1 ranked LAC in the country... and the richest. It is most definitely "good enough"!</p>
<p>Also, you may really be deluding yourself about Williams. It is really just as hard to get into as Ivies --it is much smaller too. Unless you have some connection or are recruited, it is really a long shot.</p>
<p>I agree with Soccerguy315 since when is Williams not been recognized </p>
<p>fantosme not getting enought attention is her fault not the staff....they are there...she just needs to reach out..</p>
<p>Colgate, Bucknell, Lehigh, Middlebury, Wellesley (if you are XX), Vassar, Oberlin</p>
<p>THESE SCHOOLS MORE RECONGNIZED than Williams???????????????? That is the most laughable thing I have ever read on CC.</p>
<p>The vast, overwhelming number of people have never heard of any of them, except for the one with the toothpaste.</p>
<p>(40 years ago, they would have known of Vassar because of Mary McCarthy's "The Group".)</p>
<p>Well Jay Matthews thinks that Wellesley, Amherst, and Vassar are among the best known LACs (with no mention of Williams)...</p>
<p>bullwinkle ..wonderful post.....</p>
<p>Who cars what Jay Matthews thinks. When I say well known I don't mean the guy at McDonalds, I mean people can really effect your life and people you will come into contact with. In those regards Williams is absolutely top notch.</p>
<p>Everyone here is being really aggressive. If someone wants to go to a school with a name that will be recognized around the world, that's their choice. I'm studying abroad in London right now and no one here has heard of Williams. To be honest, it's getting annoying. That said, the most important thing is to go to a school that you'll enjoy, not one with a big name. If you get into one with both though, then go for it.</p>
<p>Lol... someone said Williams was ranked #1 LAC. That's one major problem with these CC boards... everyone follow USA News and Report rankings like a religion. Guess what-- those rankings are formulaic and dependent on many arbitrary factors, not to mention that USA News and Report has its own agenga. A.k.a., it frequenty changes top rankings to "stir things up a bit" and get ppl to buy their guides. Here's soem advice: a school's ranking on US News and Report should NOT BE GIVEN ONE SECOND OF CONSIDERATION.</p>
<p>if you like milk and cookies!</p>
<p>What the heck.. no personal attention? I am a frosh at Williams College.. and I think you cannot get better individual attention from anywhere else. WEll, this is a college, so you won't be spoon-fed. You actually need to go see professors/TAs/etc. </p>
<p>I once had a small question about math hwk. AT first i was like.. man.. it's just a petty hwk question. I can't ask profs. about this.. </p>
<p>I was totally wrong. Profs will answer even the 'stupidest' questions you have and TAs are also really good @ assissiting class work. </p>
<p>In the social aspect, you have JAs, aka. Mommy and Daddy, who will help you fit in/adapt to this new environment. If you want more attention than this, maybe you should go to kindergarten or nearest child-care center.</p>