<p>Which is more isolated?</p>
<p>Williams, mostly because the town barely exists. Hanover is larger, more robust and part of a region with more going on.</p>
<p>Hanover has a bus to Boston every 2 hours. Don’t even need reservations. Just hop on.</p>
<p>Williams is much more isolated. The upper valley area is much bigger, and Hanover is bigger than Williamstown. Also Dartmouth itself is much bigger. Dartmouth feels much less isolated.</p>
<p>Let’s put it this way. Williams is a good choice, if you are put off by the fast pace and urban intensity of Hanover.</p>
<p>Hanover is NOT a cultural center. In fact, I would argue that it is far more removed from the “real world” than Williamstown. Consider the social environment in the surrounding region-- it almost exclusively consists of white, rich, and liberal employees of the college and hospital. At least the Berkshire area is not so nearly culturally distorted.</p>
<p>HAHAHAHAHA I can’t believe this is a question.
I visited both during April this year, and both are pretty isolated, one way or another.
Isolation prob shouldn’t be a factor – you’re going to be far from cities and closer to wildlife in both cases. Dartmouth is about 2 hours from Boston. Williams is a bit farther from BIG cities but closer to a medium-sized one, Albany, which is about 1 hour from the college.
Mind you, both are pretty rural anyways. But I do agree Hanover is bit bigger.</p>
<p>Downtown Hanover is literally adjacent to campus. I find that I do not feel isolated at all; then again, I have simple needs (give me some good New York-style pizza, and I’m all set). There are always performers and speakers passing through, so I don’t feel culturally isolated. All my favorite chain stores are a town away in West Lebanon and accessible by bus. It is nice to get away when I can (field trips for my Earth Science class last term were quite fun), and the DOC, of course, is a wonderful resource (that I have yet to take advantage of… shame on me). And as 1ofeach said, there are buses to Boston.</p>
<p>I can’t say much for Williams/Williamstown, as I have only visited once, and I slept for most of the car ride to and from there. But if you’re the type that needs to be close to big civilization, then neither Williams nor Dartmouth will be a particularly good fit. Other schools (BU, BC, NYU, Columbia, Penn, Capital Community College in Hartford, etc.) will much better satisfy this need.</p>
<p>Going to a school in an isolated area is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The decision depends on you and your criteria and needs.</p>
<p>As a parent of a daughter who will be going to Williams class of 2013 isolated means that she will be able to concentrate on her studies. This is especially important since she has plans to go to medical school. We all know about how hard it is to get into medical schools.</p>
<p>My daughter doesn’t need to be distracted. It is hard enough to go college away from home. She doesn’t need to be distracted by the clubs and bars.</p>
<p>I am saying this as the parent who has to pay at least $16k a year towards her tuition/room and board/misc. I will have to take out loans to do this. In order to pay for this I will have work until I am at least 70 years old (I am currently 58 and have no pension plan since I can’t afford to contribute to it.)</p>
<p>If you’re happy with a small, isolated college where the focus of the town is the school, both Williams and Dartmouth are great schools. </p>
<p>My son and I visited Williams first and then drove to Hanover. To my eyes, in comparison, Hanover was positively bustling. Dartmouth is twice as big as Williams in terms of student body. Hanover also has the hospital, and Dartmouth has a few graduate schools to boot – Tuck, medical school, Thayer. IMHO, that makes it much less a rural setting and more of a beautiful rural location with lots and lots of intellectual things going on.</p>
<p>But that’s just me.</p>
<p>Williams seems deeper set into its beautiful surrounds - mainly, I think, because you travel two lane highways for some distance to access it and there is not any other signficant town near it for some distance. Dartmouth is easily accessed by two major interstates. It does not suffer from lack of nature and beauty, just a larger small town, closer to more small towns, more directly accessed. I really think the comparison Corbett gave in the similar thread under Williams is spot-on.</p>
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<p>Do not think for one second that just because your child is in a rural setting that there will not be any distractions and your child is going to spend hours upon hours in the library or her room studying as nothing could be further from the truth.</p>
<p>The one thing about rural settings is that everything happens pretty much on campus or at least very close proximity to campus. Your daughter will probably have more opportunities to hang out/drink because on a small rural campus, everyone is there all of the time (where as opposed to going to Columbia, you can literally do your 4 years and not see your fellow students outside of the classroom).</p>
<p>While you may not be going out for things, Williams and Dartmouth both do a good job of bringing things to you.</p>
<p>Percent of men who join fraternities: 43%
Percent of women who join sororities: 42%</p>
<p>LOL sybbie. I was thinking the exact same thing. My older brother went to Dartmouth and always had PLENTY to do. It all ended up very well for him (he just finished up his first year at HBS), I think he had an incredibly balanced life at D. I chose Brown over Columbia, precisely because I thought there would be MORE to do at Brown!</p>
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<p>this concerns me a lot…did you apply for financial aid? If so, did you try appealing the decision in order to get more? There shouldn’t be any reason why you shouldn’t appeal for more if your situation is so dire. God knows, I’ve contacted my college’s financial aid office 3 times already and each time, they’ve accommodated my needs. I’m sure Williams will do the same for you if you explain your financial situations. </p>
<p>Also, I totally agree with Sybbie – just because it is in a rural location does NOT mean she will not have distractions. Because “rural=no distraction” is a big, BIG fallacy. There’s lots of drinking and partying going on at every college, if that’s the kind of “distraction” you are talking about.</p>