<p>I'm wondering about what the atmosphere is on the Williams campus. Is there any competition between students for grades? </p>
<p>I haven't heard of an instance like that, but at many of the other schools I've visited (Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, for example), the tour guides and admissions officers have really stressed that students are noncompetitive and very collaborative. Those two schools actually say that it's against their honor codes or something to ask someone for their grade on something...But nothing like that was mentioned on the Williams tour/info session. Was the "noncompetitive atmosphere" deal just implied?</p>
<p>The atmosphere at Williams is very far from competitive. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've been asked what I got on this assignment or that. For the most part, people just keep their grades to themselves, and student collaboration vis-a-vis projects and studying is very common.</p>
<p>That said, you should also keep in mind that most Williams students are high-achievers. Though there's no real grade-grubbing to speak of, there's also definitely a certain atmosphere that compels people to go work their tails off.</p>
<p>maripoza, I think my son would agree that Williams kids are for the most part non-competitive. Aside from the occasional exception, kids just don't talk about their grades (unless they're bad, that is). My son said he had no idea what his friends' gpa's were and in fact was pleasantly surprised by some of the awards they received at graduation.</p>
<p>Having said that kids do study hard and expect to achieve. They just don't compare the results.</p>