Williams meets full financial need, including transportation costs. Amherst is also very wealthy. I’m sure aid is good, but I’m not sure of school policy.
I’ve been to both schools a few times. Williams is fairly isolated, in a small town in the Berkshires. Albany, NY is not close, but not too far away, and that’s where you fly into. Campus is very nice. Everything is top notch. Students are incredible. One thing to think about at small LACs is that a fairly large % of the students are varsity athletes. Especially at these quality New England LACs, there are almost as many sports teams as at a large university (often including football). Since the student body is much smaller, a higher % are athletes. That’s not a negative, just something one might not anticipate. There are lots of outdoorsy things to do, weather permitting.
Amherst is in Amherst, which is also home to U Mass-Amherst, the school’s flagship campus. Basically it’s a small New England town with Amherst on one side and U Mass on the other. U Mass is much larger but not a massive school like Michigan or Wisconsin. So there are more students around Amherst than Williamstown. The view from the Amherst campus is beautiful.
Amherst is not far from Northampton and Springfield. Northampton is home to Smith College and seems like a very cool, larger college town with a fair amount for students to do. Both Amherst and U Mass, together with Mount Holyoke (women’s college), Smith College (women’s college), and Hampshire College, belong to a five-school consortium. Students can take classes at the other schools, though I don’t know the rules and how often they do so. It seems like a potentially good opportunity. I know a U Mass student who does a lot of extracurricular stuff at Smith.
The Albany area (which includes Saratoga Springs) and some Vermont skiing in the Green Mountains are reachable from Williams, but Amherst probably offers better access to more. Hartford, CT (good airport) is not far. Boston is not close but is not too bad of a drive.
Hamilton has a beautiful campus.