So my daughter had her phone call with the admissions officer from Williams today. She asked about taking a 3rd language (i.e., 2nd foreign language), but he said she didn’t have to. If she’s interested, she could start a new language after getting to college.
Other interesting comments he told her (in no particular order):
She's a strong candidate and would get a full hearing at the committee table. ("Strong consideration" is apparently the phrase he used.) Not every applicant gets a full hearing.
Getting all A's next semester would go a long way to addressing the biggest weakness in her application which is some bad grades that she got earlier. (I don't know if he was referring to the B- she got first semester freshman year, or the 1-2 B+s she got each semester after that.)
Applying ED won't really help her chances, since they apply the same standards ED as RD. She should apply ED only if she really just wants to know the answer sooner and is ready to commit.
They talked about other things - the culture at Williams, the tutorial system, some essay writing tips, but these were the main takeaways that I think were either specific to my daughter’s situation or that I thought were a little counterintuitive. (Point 3)
@dla26 Thanks for posting that report. Did the admissions person really use the word ‘bad’ when referring to the B range grades, or was that your D paraphrasing the conversation?
I checked with her, and she thinks the way he phrased it was “a few minor slips in your grades.” And he pointed out that there were a number of Bs. I believe he must be referring to the fact that she got 1 B and 1 B- her first semester freshman year. After that she got all As 1-2 B+s each semester. I’m not sure if they count B+s as Bs. He also said that her senior year grades would be the most important.
I’d say B+s are counted as Bs. We didn’t find that Williams put as much emphasis on foreign language study as some of its cohort.
I don’t know what to make of the adcom’s comments on applying ED. If Williams turns out to be your daughter’s top choice then you should consider it. My understanding is that Williams financial aid is generous, ED or RD, but for sure if she applies and is accepted ED you’ll never know what kind of aid – need or merit – you might have received from other schools.
I believe ED was the best choice for my son. He attended a small international high school in a far away country. Although students from his high school regularly admitted to top colleges in the US, no one had attended Williams for as long as any one could remember. He applied ED and was admitted which was great for all involved. (We weren’t eligible for need based financial aid anywhere and didn’t expect to receive merit.)
What happened afterwards made us glad that he had applied ED. First, the first semester of senior was his worst ever, more Bs than As for the first time, but he was already admitted by the time these grades came out. (Ironically the second semester of senior year which no one was looking at was his best ever.)
Secondly, unbeknownst us one of the top students in his class targetted Williams. He was the Sal, all As, perfect scores, 2 sport athlete, multi-lingual, played the trombone and was an all around great kid. I really think that had my son applied RD Williams wouldn’t have accepted both. Who knows?
The point is that there are risks in applying ED and risks in not applying ED.