<p>So I got an early-write to Williams last Friday (w00t!) and now that I've returned to earth over the joy that I got into college, particularly WILLIAMS, I need to know, what is the culture at Williams like?</p>
<p>I know that there are a large number of athletes at the school, and I would love to attend games and join some club/intramural sports, but are people who aren't a part of varsity sports left out of the social life? How would some Ephs describe the social life?</p>
<p>And what are students' views on some of the departments (particularly Political Science, Econ, Math, ENVS, others)? The Debate Team?</p>
<p>DoctorDuckey: No, actually I was curious about the later receipt of your early write, as compared to other posters here--wondering if maybe you lived quite far away. Just holding out a slim hope that there's another letter making its way to us!</p>
<p>@Cadence--ahh, I see. Sorry, by last Friday, I meant two Fridays ago. </p>
<p>@limetime--Thanks for the post, it seems like non-athletes can be themselves. I have not really been into debate in HS [besides the Debate/Rhetoric units in English], but I really want to branch out in college, and debate sounds like a great place to go into.</p>
<p>I've just sort of been wondering if there is some mixing between the non-athletes/athletes, or if there's some kind of tight, clique atmosphere.</p>
<p>Well, writing on behalf of my D, I think currently it's a huge jumbled tie! Bowdoin has been 1st (mostly for coastal location), Williams has been tied/2nd/flip-flopping, and Colgate has accepted with super-enticing incentives... we'd all love to have it figured out and done!</p>
<p>To the OP, congratulations! I was also accepted to Williams as an early-write all the way back in 2004, and I remember how excited I was at the time. If you believe Williams is a good fit, you can choose few places that would be better academically.</p>
<p>In terms of social life, I don't think you need to worry about the "athlete-culture". I never played organized sports at Williams, but I had plenty of friends across the spectrum, including varsity athletes. Perhaps a more salient divide exists between drinkers and non-drinkers. Like at all colleges, binge drinking and loud parties occur on the weekends. And while non-drinkers won't be actively ostracized by drinkers, it can be harder to "fit in" under certain circumstances (i.e. a dozen friends sitting around getting drunk while you sip on a soda). Many non-drinkers at Williams also tend to find each other and hang out on the weekends doing alternative activities. All in all, Williams is a welcoming place to most people, but again, non-drinkers may feel a little awkward.</p>
<p>Our Political Science, Econ, and Math departments are all excellent. If you're interested in studying the international relations subfield of Political Science, Williams is particularly strong: International</a> Relations 2008 | Marc Lynch. Lynch taught IR at Williams for more than 7 years, but he now teaches at GWU. He's an amazing teacher.</p>
<p>Our Econ and Math departments have also produced some pretty big names, and the current faculty are great, especially so in the Math department. My Math major friends always talked about how nearly every professor in the department was amazing.</p>
<p>As for the Debate Team, if you're looking to do policy or Lincoln-Douglas, sorry, but you're out of luck. While Williams does have a debate team, it seems to be some sort of variant on parliamentary debate.</p>
<p>Slightly dated Willipedia article on debate at Williams (the success / level of activity of the debate team tends to ebb and flow based on the enthusiasm / level of interest of the students who participate ... but many never did high school debate, and you need no real training to succeed as the parliamentary debate style that Williams -- along with all the ivies, etc. -- participates in just requires you to be smart, articulate, and good at pulling arguments out of thing air, rather than any actual substantive knowledge of, well, anything):</p>
<p>cereal/ephman: Thanks so much--that cleared up a lot of my questions. I was sort of hoping for a full on Speech/Forensics team, but oh well. I am supremely excited for Previews in April...</p>
<p>Sorry to bog you all down with more questions, but what do you know about the Environmental Studies program?</p>
<p>What is the social scene? Are people really uptight about academics? I know some amazing people from my high school who love Williams, but I am also interested in Bowdoin. Can anyone distinguish the social life between the two for me? I know its individual, but any input from current students.... thanks guys</p>