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Williams is a special and wonderful place to spend 4 years. It was a life changing experience for me, and I hope your twins get to experience their college years there! As for your experience at Amherst, itâs so interesting how weather and tour guides and other random circumstances can make such a huge difference. My D who spent many a weekend at Williams growing up actually preferred Amherst after she spent some time on the Amherst campus (pre-pandemic) and interacted with the students there. We also had a brilliant and witty tour guide that my D vibed with when we visited. If it had come down to those 2 schools, she would have stuck the proverbial stake through my heart and likely to have chosen Amherst.
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Anyone have an astronomy/space sciences kid? We are about to start visiting schools (COVID permitting) and am struggling to make a good list! Like her older sibs my d23 is super-smart and intellectually engaged but not necessarily in a way that translates to being a very high GPA student and she goes to a very competitive high school where many are shooting for the most selective schools. Re Williams, it is quite jocky (50% of the class are recruited athletes) and preppy. My nephew went there and though classes, profs, and academics were amazing he (a science focused nerd) really had a hard time finding his people. We will likely visit Swarthmore and Amherst but not Williams.
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Hereâs a list of accredited programs. Is it pure astronomy or astrophysics?
Dies she have a preference on type of school? geography?
I am somewhat concerned about the high percentage of athletes, but from my research itâs 35%, not 50%. I see they fill half the class ED, so that is probably a lot of recruited athletes.
Will probably not go back to Yale. May try to squeeze in a trip to Hamilton (Econ twin) and Cornell (Math/CS boy). Also will do a day trip at some point to Swarthmore.
As you can see, I am falling at taking my own advice about focusing on matches and safeties. If nothing else, this trip was great for our mental health. Also, got to spend a few days with my LHâs parents. It was wonderful watching their 87 year old Grandpa beat them in chess (though they are starting to win the occasional game).
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Novacat - we are in early stages of list making. Astronomy and astrophysics- probably both, NASA stuff but sadly doesnât want engineering. Mostly knows what she doesnât want. Not huge and not urban, liked Smith where she did a summer program, not cuththroat competitive âno funâ like UChicago or Columbia, no red states or otherwise conservative student bodies. Open to womenâs colleges, we are full pay so no budget considerations. She is smart, likes to have fun, quirky, nerdy, intellectually curious, gay, progressive politics.
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Try this recent thread regarding astrophysicsâŠ
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@relaxmon : I would thing University of Hawaii would be a great place to study astronomy, with access to one of the best telescopes in the world!!! How about Vassar and Haverford? Both LACs with strong astronomy programs
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And, they kinda like women scientists:
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I am trying to find this thread. When I click on this it does not take me to a thread. Would love to read it if someone can help me find it! Thx
Oh thatâs strange⊠when I click on the title, it works. If not, try searching for astrophysics and change filter to âlatest.â
We took D23 to tour Mount Holyoke on Saturday. It was a really good tour. Our tour guide was the best weâve had so far. She was very funny and friendly and did a great job helping D to see what it would like to be a student at that school.
They are gearing up for move-in, so we saw some RAs moving in and a few groups of students who were just finishing up summer research (including two in astrophysics). I know this about them because every time we saw other students, our tour guide would stop us and ask the students to tell us something related to what they were doing on campus. So the group that was eating in the campus center told us about their summer research and about their thoughts on the food on campus (terrific!), the student staffing the table in the campus center for move-in carts told us about campus activities, and our guide even knocked on a lab door in the science center and that student came out and told us about her research. It was amazing. Our tour was supposed to be 11:30-12:30 but at one point the 12-1 tour passed us, and we ended up finishing right behind them at 1pm. We were able to go into several buildings, which was great, and because the RA was moving into the dorm we toured, several rooms were unlocked in addition to the show room and we were able to see a variety of room set ups. The rooms are so much bigger than I remember from my dorm days, and I really enjoy dorms that have quirky rooms of varying sizes, which is what we saw here.
My D had initially said she wasnât interested in womenâs colleges, but reluctantly agreed to include some on her initial list. This is the first one weâve toured and I think she was surprised at how much she liked it. At one point the guide mentioned the Dance and Sport Center (my D is a dancer but not into sports) and my D made a comment to me about being intimidated about sharing space with student athletes. I pointed out that all the athletes would be women, and I could see that she had forgotten that and that she could suddenly see the appeal. So weâll see.
I do think that one of the 5 colleges in this consortium would be a good choice for her - they do a great job coordinating all of the dance programs across the five colleges for interested students and all have strong programs in her areas of interest (English/writing and theatre). Weâve already toured Amherst, which she also liked, and will tour UMASS and Smith (Hampshire is great for some students but my D is definitely looking for more structure and Iâm worried about its stability).
Final thoughts: very pretty campus, big emphasis on students getting involved in research, fun spaces (the library was full of little nooks, balconies, and other architecturally interesting spots; the dorm common rooms are big and comfortable looking and all have pianos; the science building we toured had several science-y design elements, etc), and friendly, passionate students. I could definitely see my D here.
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Oh this explains everything! I have been searching the online maps and zooming in trying to see a quad like Amherst College has. I decided I would just look for the Adirondack chairs 
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@Mom24boys It is definitely possible. My D, whom I expected to love Amherst, was so turned off by our tour that she didnât apply. She will be starting Williams in a couple of weeks. FWIW, she didnât fall in love with Williams when we toured, but she liked it and loves the Berkshires having spent many summers at camp in the area. Her first love was Middlebury, the most stunning campus and setting, but she was deferred ED1. (She did end up being accepted RD, but I think the deferral left her more ambivalent about the school.)
There is nothing quite like the Amherst main quad; perfectly situated; perfectly suited to its site. Harvard Yard comes a close second. Wesleyanâs looks as though they couldnât decide which of two sweeping views to sacrifice for the sake of Beaux Arts symmetry, Brownstone Row or the white topped observatory above Foss Hill. So, they kept both.
Suffice it to say, all of NESCAC is a shutterbugâs paradise:
Amherst
Wesleyan
Williams
Trinity
Hamilton
Bowdoin
Middlebury
Bates
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@circuitrider That did not even do the quad at Amherst justice!
And to answer @Mom24boys question-
âIs it possible to love Williams and hate Amherst (or was it just the tours).â
As a parent of students at both schools, no, itâs not possible. 
It was just the tours. Go Mammoths & Go Ephs!
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Haha! Yes. That is an eye sore, but I love that it has the Amh Cam on it so I can check the weather every so often 
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That is far out:
https://www.amherst.edu/visiting/amhcams/quad_large/node/19190
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