<p>Hi there, hope everything is fine for all ;)! I am very interested in WIlliams College, but confused with some part of my life.</p>
<p>So, first of all, I am pretty old(21 yeas old) for so kind of college ( LACs), does it will affect on me? I decide to go to liberal arts colleges rather then to big universities, in order to get to good grad schools.</p>
<p>Secondly, I am graduate from high-school around 5 years ago, and have been working in different places. They( admission department) still will be looking for my grades seriously or they will be more concentrating on my SAT scores and work-experience?</p>
<p>Finally, what about work-experience and recommendations from employers? I have around 4+ years of work-experience in Ministry of Finance and bank with recommendations from all my employes. Does it really weight in admission process? </p>
<p>Thanks a lot !!!</p>
<p>Hi OP. There are a few non-traditional (older) students at Williams but not many. If you are looking for an environment where your fellow students have some life experience, you might want to keep looking around as there are quite a few schools which have much larger populations of older students. Even a school with a small grad school population will likely yield a more appropriate peer group for you. If you are female, some of the women’s colleges Smith, Mt Holyoke, Bryn Mawr have dedicated programs for students going back to college, some after many years. In general, if you find a college with a named or specific program for students returning to college, you’ll be more likely to find an accommodating campus and a larger peer group.</p>
<p>The other observation I would make, after reading your post, is that Williams will demand a high level of fluency in English for participation in some (required) classes, even if you are a STEM major. So, you’ll need to be able to do some scholarly writing and be able to write critical papers, expressing yourself with clarity and sophistication in English. Make sure you are prepared, both in terms of ability and desire, for that kind of rigor re: verbal and written expression.</p>
<p>Many students, not just those returning to college, focus more on where they can get in/how to be admitted than on the experience they will have once on campus, both in and out of the classroom. In your case, having had 4+ years of real world work, it will be important to you that the environment is suitable ~ again, both in and out of the classroom.
Good luck with your search!</p>