<p>Seriously, when people say I, with 1500+SAT, wanna go to Williams College, they're like "where's that?" or like "Oh" with expression that it must be some kinda community college.
Maybe b/c i live in california. Do eveyone in the east know Williams?</p>
<p>Nope, Williams certainly does not have the name-recognition that other LAC"s (Amherst, Swarthmore) of it's caliber attain. However, among academic circles, it is well known that it is an institution that is among the elite group of liberal arts colleges in the nation. If you want name recognition, go somewhere else.</p>
<p>My son graduated from Williams several years ago and lots of his classmates were from the West Coast (as well as the Midwest and other parts of the country); there are people all over the country who have heard of the various top LACs, but they tend to be relatively sophisticated no matter what region they are from. There's almost an inverse snobbery about it--it's the ones who haven't heard of it who are lacking (at least lacking information and perspective), not the ones who want to go there.</p>
<p>Different perspective here. Williams has a very strong rep at our EC school - I would have said "What's Swarthmore?" May be because sports plays a strong role here.</p>
<p>I think we all know of Williams in Massachusetts, but it's looked on basically how us out here in the east view Pomona. Pomona is excellent, but doesn't have a whole ton of name recognition on the other side of the country.</p>
<p>Part of Williams appeal is that it's kind of an inside secret that makes everyone proud to go there.</p>
<p>And here in the middle of the country, we haven't heard of either Williams or Pomona.</p>
<p>And here in the middle of the country, we haven't heard of either Williams or Pomona.</p>
<p>Is that really true?</p>
<p>And here in the West Coast (40 mins from Pomona), we haven't heard of Pomona either. LoL. It's sort of funny...Pomona doesn't even have name recognition in it's home turf. Well, at least not broad recognition. Much more people have heard of the Claremont Colleges, but fewer specific ones such as Pomona.</p>
<p>True. When you say Pomona College to most Californians they think you are referring to Cal Poly Pomona.</p>
<p>Williams is pretty well known in Massachusetts.</p>
<p>It's the exact same when I tell people I'm going to Davidson, no one I've talked to has heard of it and assume that it's a community college (there is a Davidson CC in North Carolina). I guess it has a better reputation down South, but in the Northeast I bet 2 in 100 people have even heard of the school.</p>
<p>When you say Williams here, and describe a small liberal arts college, people here "Whitman", and I don't disabuse them of the idea - Whitman has a great reputation. (In 15 years of work in the state capital, I've never met an employer that knew what Williams was.)</p>
<p>It depends...if you're looking for a name that will impress your nextdoor neighbor or grocer, go somewhere else. If you're looking for a name that will impress a law/med/grad school you really couldn't go somewhere better. I've found that people either have no idea what you're talking about (or think you mis-spoke and meant "William and Mary") or people absolutely flip out and are incredibly impressed with where you go. </p>
<p>I personally love the fact that Williams doesn't have the sort of every-day reputation among the average person that say, Cornell does, because everyone who comes to Williams goes to Williams because they love Williams, and not because they want to impress people with the school's name. </p>
<p>College matters insofar as it provides its undergrads with an education and an experience. I honestly believe that you couldn't get a better education and have a better experience anywhere else. College also matters in that it serves as somewhat of a stepping stone for either post-grad studies or employment. Once again, you can't do better than Williams. If you're going to college so your Aunt Martha can brag about where you're going to her bridge buddies, than you're going for the wrong reasons.</p>
<p>I know the feeling, but Haon is correct. When I am back home in Texas, no one has heard of Davidson. But I was at a party once attended by the Dean of Admissions of the local medical school, and his response about attending Davidson was "what a great school, we get wonderful students from there, I have visited there twice on recruiting visits, I love the place". I do not care if the grocer knows about the school, the person who needed to know about it, did.</p>
<p>Among the elite I hope someday to join Williams and Davidson definitely are respected.</p>
<p>Williams is very well known in this small suburb just east of Detroit.</p>
<p>Williams has a ridiculously high rate for acceptance to med/law/professional schools AND one of the highest rates of Rhodes Scholars for an LAC. Anyone who knows Williams KNOWS Williams.</p>
<p>What is Williams known for? As in what is it strong in? (Such as engineering, sci n tech, fine arts...) I've been to the Williams forum and the thread on white jocks and heavy drinkers wasn't very encouraging, but they all said that Williams students are all very academically focused too.</p>
<p>EDIT: Nevermind, searched on pr and Williams' majors are:
Art/Art Studies, General, Economics, General, Political Science and Government, General</p>
<p>My nephew went to Williams after an IB program in Latin America....granted, his mother went to Smith so she had some influence there, but afterwards he had no problem getting into grad school for the Sciences...10 years later he's very successful, and treasures his Williams experience like nothing else.......goes back for every big reunion, and considers his Williams friends to be the best he's ever had....go for it!</p>
<p>Here in Texas, very little is commonly known about out-of-state LACs (emphasis on "commonly known"). If it ain't D1 football, Bubba don't know it. For that matter, the in-state LACs aren't exactly well-known, either. ("Southwestern? Isn't that in San Marcos?" "No, that's Southwest Texas State, which has now mercifully changed its name."). My daughter is looking at out-of-state LACs - we're doing a lot of explaining. Maps help.</p>