<p>I attended the program and returned home this evening. I have to say I was a little disappointed by my first visit:
1. No card was given to access dorm, some buildings, etc. Not cool!
2. In one and only class I attended (which I regret for not going to another), I found students snobby and unfriendly to the pre-frosh as soon as they saw a group of us.<br>
3. During Purplekey activities fair, I approached one of the sports club who clearly wanted to ignore me. He did not say a single sentence that was not responses to my questions. He clearly sent out an impression that he did not want to talk to unathletic looking kid, me. Later saw him hand out his email address and invitation to practice to a WASP-ish kid.
4. Weather, but can't blame the college for it.
5. Financial Aid office people weren't welcoming at all.
6. I was especially disappointed to find the campus pretty much empty throughout the day.
7. No cafe/pizzaria was a bummer to my fantasy collegiate town setting. Not very excited to see a liquor store in lieu of them.</p>
<p>Here's some things I liked:
1. The admission officers were uber-friendly and nice.
2. My host was very friendly and helpful.
3. As a minority, I found BSU, other multicultural organization and the people absolutely amazing.
4. I got the finaid package I wanted.
5. Food was good.
6. Hiking</p>
<p>So, in brief, the Preview pretty much reinforced the jocks-driven atmosphere stereotype for me and now looking into my other school for a more diverse and laid back environment.</p>
<p>Bummer that you had a bad experience. You have to go with your gut and if you were not “feeling” Williams, then hopefully you will find someplace else you prefer.</p>
<p>I will just say, to those who are locked in to Williams yet had a bad preview experience, don’t worry too much. I applied ED and went to previews just for fun. I had a less-than-stellar weekend due to a variety of factors, and was a bit apprehensive accordingly. As is obvious from my posts here, I had an amazing experience at Williams (despite being a non-WASP, non-jock, non-private school kid). </p>
<p>I am not trying to discount your impressions, Columbus – indeed, I often say to people to spend time on a campus and trust their instincts after doing so. This is more addressed to others who applied early or are locked in to Williams for other reasons, yet were discouraged by previews – don’t despair!</p>
<p>As a parent, I’d like to offer another explanation to snobbery – perhaps people were shy. My S and his GF, both Williams adoring, very kind kids, are on the quiet side. And Williams students are often contained in the classroom wanting to absorb information.</p>
<p>Not trying to sway a decision, OP. Of course your observation are valid as Ephman said.</p>
<p>S didn’t make it to preview days at any of his accepted schools, but when he visited Middlebury in the middle of the week, the kids in the class he attended all took an interest in him. He met a ton of kids in that class alone. </p>
<p>I will admit that he is your “suburban white kid” on the surface, but I think the impression of snobbery at Williams is well-founded. Not that this is pervasive, and not to say that shyness is not a factor (as I have a very shy husband who I thought was a pompous A** the first time I met him), but there is a gut thing at work here, and I would venture to say that at all of these top schools – Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Bowdoin etc – the kids are very much engaged in their academics as a rule, not an exception and you either feel welcomed or not. The question, of course, is do you think you can make a difference in the next four years or will you constantly be swimming upstream? There are kids for whom either option would be ideal and others for whom they’d rather get out thumb screws. :)</p>
<p>Could it be that you are overreacting? There will be people you find unpleasant wherever school you attend, and going in with unrealistic expectations is bound to lead to disappointment. Williams is still a great college.</p>
<p>Wow- my D’s experience at Previews was completely opposite of yours. She raved about how friendly and interesting the students are. She had great conversations with prefrosh and students, stayed up late one night with some other prefrosh in a junior’s room talking and talking. The profs were very welcoming and excited about answering prefrosh questions at the academic open house. </p>
<p>My D’s experience at the PurpleKey fair was also so unlike yours. She said whenever she slowed down as she walked by the booths, the students engaged in conversation, asking if she’d be interested in learning more. She had no problem with the financial aid folks. In fact, you could set up a private appointment to meet with them if you wanted. </p>
<p>She attended 5 classes and loved the discussion-based format of some of the classes. She also said the classes were incredible, and the students and profs again were very welcoming to the prefrosh. She said the students would excitedly yell out “prefrosh!” and would ask prefrosh if they needed help finding their way around. Some students gave her their email addresses and told her to email them if she had any questions. </p>
<p>My D (who will add to the diversity of the class) was happy to see the great mix of students from many backgrounds. She, as a non-athlete, did not experience the “jock-driven atmosphere” whatsoever.</p>
<p>Interesting how her experiences were so opposite of yours.</p>
<p>ccgmom and MidwesternDad: I had a very similar experience as well. Notably, the students/prefrosh on campus were SO friendly and very interesting to talk to.
One example of an upperclassman being ridiculously nice: I was standing in line for the Paresky Grab ‘N’ Go, and got to where this lady sits and swipes your card. However, I didn’t have a card since I was a prefrosh and so I said “I’m an accepted student”. She then went on to say, “So you’re not a student. That’ll be 10 dollars.” TEN DOLLARS for a bag lunch with a sandwich, beverage, and bag of chips. I was about to pack up my stuff and leave lunchless (my shuttle was about to come in 5 minutes) when this upperclassman girl, who I had never seen before in my life, tells me that she’ll just give her card to the woman to swipe a lunch for me. I of course refused, since I didn’t want to spend someone else’s money, but she went on to explain that she had 10 guest meals on her meal plan that she could use. She INSISTED I take the lunch, and I ended up getting a great lunch to eat on the shuttle. The girl was a complete stranger, and I was touched by the random act of kindness.
There’s Williams for you!</p>
<ol>
<li>we were met at the airport by the dean of admissions, and got all our security cards and such. this was saturday morning.</li>
<li>Every staff member i came across were friggin awesome people. I guess the head of financial aid seemed like some weird old man, but he didn’t seem too bad from my view.</li>
<li>It was very busy on sunday, when it was real sunny. I was told by my host that whenever the sun is out, people are out playing frisbee and sitting on the lawns in front of paresky.</li>
<li>Pareksy had coffee and w/e else you wanted, and pizza was available at the bottom floor. during the night, everybody downstairs had very delicious pizza. i was jealous.</li>
</ol>
<p>I am still at Williams and it is sick. I am def not a rich preppy white kid but everyone is nice to me. I look rather old so I think they think I am a freshman they have never seen. Yesterday night I went to this moot trail with 4 real known judges. It was awesome.</p>
<p>For me it made the decision harder in that I had basically 98% eliminated Williams before I came and now it’s right back in the mix. Previews was that awesome.</p>
<p>The 'rents did, indeed, hear back and we got more aid!
Williams is now only 4,000 a year more expensive than Cornell.
I’m so excited!!! I couldn’t believe Williams gave me more money :D</p>
<p>CB, congratulations! S decided to decline Williams after the Previews. Your participation on this board makes me think you would have been a good guy for him to meet had he decided to join Williams. Good luck.</p>