<p>Williams seems sooo cool BUT I'm interested in engineering. Is the pre-engineering program worthwhile? Would I be able to get into Williams with these stats?</p>
<p>My stats:
-private school in chicagoland area, definitely ranked in at least the top 10%/300, but don't know for sure since my school doesn't release rankings
SAT (best composite): 2240 (750CR, 760M, 730W w/ 10 essay)
ACT: 34
GPA: 4.72W, 4.0 UW, have taken heaviest course load
PSAT: 218, at least commended, possibly semi-finalist
SATII's (I just took these in June):
Math I--690
US History--660
I'm taking Spanish, Math II and Bio this fall and plan on doing much better than these scores.</p>
<p>Classes next year:
AP Calc
AP Physics
AP Bio
AP Spanish
honors English (already took AP)
theology</p>
<p>ECs:
-student tutor (10-12)
-writing lab tutor (11-12)
-volunteer at non-profit organization 2x/week for about 2 hours (10-12)
-physical/occupational therapy aide at the above organization (5 hours/week during the school year, 20 hours/week over the summer) (11-12)
-lector at my church (11-12)
-NHS (this is only offered for seniors)
-I am planning on joining the JETS/WYSE team at my school next year which is highly ranked
Awards:
-was on a business case competition team that came in 2nd/42 teams at a large competition at a university</p>
<p>I will be attending the Cornell Curie Acadmey (selective all-girls engineering program--only 25 girls) this summer and a leadership conference in DC.</p>
<p>I'll start by assuming that you've read this: <a href="http://www.williams.edu/Physics/programs/eng.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.williams.edu/Physics/programs/eng.html</a>
Math and Physics at Williams are phenomenal. We looked hard at the pre-engineering program, but one thing we learned was that it wasn't all that popular, because no one wants to miss their senior year at Williams! In addition, the (paid) summer research opportunities in the sciences are excellent--my daughter basically has only been home for holidays since she left in fall of 2003--her time is consumed with research up there. When the time comes for her to pick her engineering or Ph.D. program, she will have her pick of the best. And she's gotten a great liberal arts education along the way--much to her surprise as a confirmed math/science geek. Dr. Sarah Bolton, featured in this recent article, is a dynamo of whom I'm particularly fond.
<a href="http://www.williams.edu/home/focus/scientist/%5B/url%5D">http://www.williams.edu/home/focus/scientist/</a></p>
<p>Williams is superb for undergraduate education in the sciences, including physics. One indicator is the number of Apker</a> Awards won in recent years by Williams students; this is a national prize given by APS for undergraduate research in Physics.</p>
<p>Engineering is another story. See this</a> link, if you haven't already.</p>
<p>Williams has a 3-2 BA/BS arrangement with Columbia, but I understand that very, very few Williams students actually go this route. It's more common for Williams grads to major in science or math, and then to enroll in an engineering MS program after graduating with a Williams BA. But in this case, you may not get the MS as fast as those with an engineering BS, because you may have to make up some undergraduate engineering coursework that was not available at Williams.</p>
<p>The BA/BS or the BA/MS approaches will work, but they will take longer and cost more than a regular engineering BS degree. If you like Williams but also like engineering, you may want to consider other schools, such as Dartmouth, Trinity, Smith, Swarthmore, Bucknell, or Lehigh, that have undergraduate engineering programs.</p>
<p>Whatever you want to do career-wise, Williams is a great way to spend four years. I'm sure majoring in physics or chem and then doing grad work in engineering would be just as good as (and in most cases better than) majoring in engineering at some other school.</p>
<p><em>but</em></p>
<p>If you like Williams but really want to do engineering, I'd recommend Swarthmore and Olin. If you haven't haven't heard of Olin, it's definitely worth checking out: free tuition, small classes, awesome students and faculty.</p>
<p>Sorry for hijacking the Williams board - i would have gone to Williams if not for Olin, and it was still a rough decision.</p>