OP…your college experience is going to be impacted far more by the community of students that you’ll be a part of then the proximity of outlets or size of dorm beds. As PP have suggested, it really is important to interact with current students and I’d be wary of relying too much on one-off data points. I’m admittedly biased towards Wes but I would vastly prefer to be in Middletown with easy access to NY and Boston than spend four years in Williamsburg. I also wouldn’t characterize the Wes student body as being radical…there is a a segment that is radical, as there is at just about every LAC, but overall the student body is diverse with a strong liberal bias.