Ha! At least the banana slug doesn’t turn its butt to the camera.
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Definitely not run down. In fact I just got an email delineating current projects.
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Huge care for the student body. Lots of time spent by the administration on student mental health. JAs are a unique and wonderful resource. My JAs were like friends/parents all rolled into one.
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If you like anything outdoors it is gorgrous, truly spectacular. Greylock is a great climb. Skiing is fantastic.
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Good school spirit, especially basketball games during the long winter months.
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OMG winter study is so fun. You can just let everything go and take courses that interest you the most. One of my favorite classes was a winter study course - still use the knowledge from that class today.
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Every class taught by a professor who is easily accessible. (relevant only if you are comparing to ivies)
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Spring street is great and seems to get better each time I go.
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I never had an issue with name recognition, people who mattered (in terms of making decisions that affected me) all knew what Williams was.
Some bad.
Unless things have changed there is a heavy drinking culture at Williams. Kids work hard and then they binge drink a lot on the weekends. The “nothing to do” vibe is getting better - see above with the administration caring about mental health. I guess the good along with the bad is that campus security and the health center prioritize taking care of the students, not punishing them when they stupidly drink way too much. I fondly remember many chats with campus security as they hung around the outskirts of parties making sure no one died I guess??
Classes are hard, don’t go here if you want to just skate on your highschool success. Prepare to work your butt off for another 4 years, regardless of how “well prepared” you are for college.
My daughter is now in her second year at Williams. She had to choose between Williams and MIT and of course decided on Williams. Her reasoning was it was more like home for her. He live on a small Hawaiian island that is very rural. MIT was to city for her and she hated the huge tours of people constantly flowing through the campus. Her main point was that at Williams there are basically no graduate programs so the main focus of the professors is on the undergrads. She will be able to connect directly with them and build relationships and conduct research projects. MIT she would of been taught mostly by TA’s and not really mattered until she was a grad student.
I have a child at Williams and another at MIT. Both are at the perfect school for them. However, the belief that classes are mostly taught by TA’s at MIT has not been my child’s experience at all. The classes are taught by professors, and the professors hold office hours, too. The vast majority of undergrads at MIT also participate in research.