<p>Doc, My son didn’t consider Middlebury so I can’t compare but I can comment on your Williams concern.</p>
<p>Williams is extremely vegetarian friendly. There are several restaurants and cafes that offer vegetarian options in downtown (joke!) Williamstown, but students tend to use the dining halls 20 out of 21 meals. One of the pluses of Williams is that it has five (or maybe six) dining halls that are open to all students. Williams kids are very health conscious and eating well vegetarian will not be a problem.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you’re asking about the premeds being “evil.” Do you mean the classes or the kids? Williams offers lots of support and advising for kids who are planning med school and their track record in admissions is very good.</p>
<p>My understanding is that Williams coaches do what they say they will do, but I don’t have personal experience in recruiting. I’d suggest you ask this question on the Williams board.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say Williams is a destination for film. In addition to the private theater on campus the college shows poplular movies and the museums show arty films. There are a handful of film classes every semester.</p>
Again, I can only speak to Williams. Williams reputation as being sports focused is, in my opinion, deserved; however, it’s not necessarily a focus on organized team sports. Students are just, in general, active and it’s a wonderful environment for “hiking, camping and such.” The Williams Outing Club offers a lot of activities.
<a href=“http://woc.williams.edu/[/url]”>http://woc.williams.edu/</a></p>
<p>Friday was Mountain Day – an annual event when classes are cancelled and everyone climbs a local mountain and parties. It’s supposed to be an enjoy fall in New England experience but yesterday they had snow! They called it Siberian Mountain Day.</p>
<p>Yes, probably, but you really ought to explore other options as well.</p>
<p>We found that the social life and meals at Middlebury did seem fairly dominated by sports and sport-centered cliques. I would expect Williams, if anything, to be more so. Don’t take my word for it. By all means visit and see for yourself, just in case our impressions were influenced by something specific to our experience.</p>
<p>However, if your own recreational interests are more free-spirited than clubby, you might like other schools. Possibly a LAC out west such as Carleton, Colorado College, Whitman, or one of the Claremont schools. These cover a range of selectivity and geographic settings; they all offer very good to excellent academics.</p>
<p>Of course, many of the best schools in the country are concentrated in the Northeast. What turns me off a little is the common admissions concept of “crafting a class.” This social engineering approach has the advantage of assuring a diverse mix of campus activities (not just sports by any means). An apparent side-effect is to induce a lot of jockeying as each student tries to elbow his way into a niche and establish a brand identity. Maybe this accounts for the clubbiness we observed. </p>
<p>I’m partial to the quirky Chicago essays and Oxbridge interview questions (“What happens when you drop an ant?”), not extracurriculars, as a way to expose the special qualities an applicant, as a unique individual, brings to the academic community. Then let them figure out how to organize and entertain themselves. Not that anyone at Williams or Middlebury is going to hold a gun to your head to make you be a joiner, or ostracize you for being a free spirit. As I say, go visit!</p>
I once talked to a Middlebury coach for another sport and he said they were looking for athletes with 2100 SAT or 31 ACT. Your son has the latter; I wouldn’t be worried especially if you’re this far in the recruiting game.</p>
<p>I think Middlebury’s size is an advantage. Approximately 2400 students instead of 1800 allows for more variety among freshmen. I also like the 10% international students vs. 5% or so at Williams. Regarding science/biology interest, I know a number of science-oriented kids who met with Professors in those departments before applying ED. That might be helpful. Good luck!</p>