<p>Those high marriage percentages are myths that have conclusively been debunked.</p>
<p>No way 70% of Williams alums marry each other! There are plenty of Ephs couples but the % is way lower than that ... probably single digits. I think around 14 of my classmates (there are over 525 of them) are married to other Ephs.</p>
<p>Congrats Justcallmemom!</p>
<p>Both Williams and Midd are supposed to have relatively high rates of alumni intermarriage. I suspect that this may actually be true, but it's nonsensical to suppose that the rates are in the 60-70% range. </p>
<p>This 2001</a> article, from the Johns Hopkins alumni magazine, states that 6% of JHU alumni are married to other JHU alumni, and claims that this is a "relatively high percentage." But it also states that the comparable figure for Williams is 10%. Don't know where JHU got the number, but it seems plausible.</p>
<p>According to JHU, Williams is "a cozy place" with a "tiny campus nestled in the picturesque Berkshires, where students are often snowbound together for long stretches of winter." One could describe Midd in similar terms (different mountains though).</p>
<p>Amherst guys have far more social opportunities than Williams or Midd guys, due to the proximity of Smith, Mount Holyoke, and UMass (conversely, this may work to the disadvantage of Amherst women). I would suspect that the alumni intermarriage rate at Amherst is significantly lower.</p>
<p>JustCallMeMom, Congratulations from the mother of a Williams senior! My Eph would like to re-enlist for another four years.</p>
<p>niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee</p>
<p>"My experience at Amherst was disappointing. The adjacent city and the immediate village (charming if it could be seen) suffers from chronic traffic, and parking is a nightmare. The older admissions officer presiding over the info session seemed to be on valium as he answered our questions and trailed off into his own private musings. Fellow attendees, although beautiful and impeccably dressed, were completely mute. I felt as if my daughter and I were having a private interview surrounded by stuffed dummies or Stepford people. As for their college consortium, students average only one or two classes off their own campus (contrast to Pomona-Claremont-Harvey Mudd etc where students feel LIMITED by the 20% rule.) While I'm sure Amherst students are brilliant on tests, they just didn't seem to have any spark. I was left feeling that Amherst attracts students who are very beholden to the rules, who are seen but not heard. Based my (admittedly limited) 3-hour snap shot, if Williams is a little outside the box, Amherst IS the box. It is much too stuffy for a West Coaster. Perhaps I caught them on a bad day."</p>
<p>Firstly, congratulations to your daughter on being accepted ED to Williams, that is very exciting.</p>
<p>As an Amherst student, I have to say that I am a bit offended by the post you made, based on a three hour long campus visit. "While I'm sure Amherst students are brilliant on tests, they just didn't seem to have any spark. I was left feeling that Amherst attracts students who are very beholden to the rules, who are seen but not heard. Based my (admittedly limited) 3-hour snap shot, if Williams is a little outside the box, Amherst IS the box." felt particularly crazy to me. Amherst has an open curriculum, and this definitely attracts quirky, free-thinkers. I consider myself to be one of them. I'd like to think I do have a "spark" (and apparently the admissions officers at both Amherst and Williams agreed!) The student body at Williams and Amherst are far more alike than different, and I am guessing that the "stuffy" looking people whom you toured the campus with are the same people who would be touring Williams' campus as well. We come in all sorts of varieties at Amherst, and I think it's absolutely crazy to say that we are more "the box" than Williams students. As someone who received very little formal education my entire life, and have always created my own path (and been nurtured to do so by my advisors at Amherst) I think your comments are ridiculous.</p>
<p>I apologize. My colorful expression frequently gets me into trouble. As an Amherst student, you deserve respect for succeeding in one of the nations top institutions. </p>
<p>I can sympathize with the dilemma of collegeclueless because the objective data on the three schools does not distinguish them very clearly. When we visited each college, both my daughter and I attended the info session. Next my daughter took the official tour while I wandered around campus, talked with students at random, watched interactions, peeked at dorms, sniffed cafeteria food, read bulletin boards, noticed whether teacher office doors were open, eavesdropped, lurked, skulked, spied, and generally made a nosey nuisance of myself. Based on this small taste, we each formed subjective impressions, some of which actually matched. She expected to like Midd the best, and although everything about it was first rate, the distance from home (measured in travel time) scared her. Later when we visited Williams, it was love at first sight. With Amherst, she felt no affinity at all. Ultimately she put Midd at number three on her college list, and she removed Amherst altogether. The process was completely individual and hopelessly subject to small sample bias, rumor, and innuendo. I agree with a prior poster in choosing a college you just have to follow your gut. Whether or not it feels like home can make all the difference.</p>
<p>I understand this. When I visited Williams' campus, it was love at first sight as well. Your daughter will be spending the next four years in an incredible place. I'm sorry that her experience at Amherst was not better, I know it is a very subjective thing. I just felt the need to comment on the "Amherst students don't seem to have a spark" bit. I really don't think the students are very different; Williams students may be slightly preppier on average, and perhaps a little bit richer, but the two schools are so similar. I have the utmost respect for Williams college and my friends who go there, but I definitely think that we're all pretty sparky (with major exceptions at both schools :)).</p>
<p>you go unregistered get yours man</p>
<p>Hi unregistered. Yours is a very gracious answer that I probably do not deserve. I suspect that if I had stumbled accross you in this odyssey I would probably hold a different opinion. Having seen both campuses and attended one, can you favor clueless with any insights about how to choose between them? Do you think they are completely interchangeable?
Happy holidays.</p>
<p>I'd say there are considerable overlaps between Amherst and Williams and some major and some subtle differences. (We didn't make it to Middlebury so can't comment there.)</p>
<p>One major difference is in the physical location: Amherst is in a college town with a lively, college-y population, Williams is in a New England village surrounded by profoundly beautiful countryside.</p>
<p>For my son who was (and is) interested in art and art history, the decision went to Williams hands down. Amherst is rather sparse on fine arts. Williams has three world class museums, a renowned art history department and an excellent studio program.</p>
<p>After that the differences are more subtle -- open curriculum vs distro requirements. Winter Study and tutorials at Williams. I'm sure Amherst has programs equally distinctive.</p>
<p>But the overlaps remain in student personality -- smart, driven, extroverted, active, multi-faceted. In committed, accessible and nurturing faculty. In incomparable resources. In lifelong opportunities and connections.</p>
<p>Anyone who is lucky enough to be admitted to both would have a tough decision to make.</p>
<p>it is a tough decision</p>
<p>I can talk mainly about Williams vs. Amherst, since that was my ultimate choice. I loved Williams very much, but I don't know if I could have spent 4 years there without going stir crazy. Amherst feels much livelier, with the fabulous town of Northampton nearby, but still plenty of beautiful scenery. Williamstown is absolutely breathtaking. The campus architecture is lovely. It's a big trade off, and a very individual choice. I probably, honestly, would have been very happy at either school, and ended up choosing Amherst for very personal reasons. </p>
<p>Williams' January term is often sold as a plus to Williams - and indeed, for many people, it is. For me the idea seemed horrid. I like to travel, and do so often. If I went to Williams, I would be returning to campus very soon after New Year's for J-term. I decided on Amherst, which gave me a fellowship to travel and volunteer over winter break instead. I love Amherst, but I have very little free time and cherish what I do have as my own. Williams does allow travel opportunities during J-term (after freshman year) but they are still very limited. What I am doing at Amherst, I initiated and planned on my own, Amherst is merely providing the funding. I'm a very independent person, and this is a fantastic thing for me. I like the options of January break at Amherst - people are doing all sorts of things; traveling the world, doing an internship, research, non-credit courses at any of the 5-colleges, working...I like this. I would hate to be stuck in Williamstown through January (magical as it may look...I also don't ski, though. :))</p>
<p>Williams, I sense, has a stronger community feel than Amherst - a result of its isolation. Some love this, but I like the ability to utilize the 5-college consortium and be exposed to more people. I also have very ecclectic interests - schools like Hampshire provide some courses that really fascinate me, Amherst and Williams have much more traditional course offerings. The options are really good for me. I also have an interest in some rathe obscure languages, and between the 5 colleges, nearly everything under the sun is available to study.</p>
<p>The open curriculum was another reason for why I chose Amherst. It wouldn't be a big deal for some people, but to me it was. I hear that Williams has very manageable gen ed requirements though, I don't know.</p>
<p>Amherst and Williams both offered me amazing financial aid packages (Williams' was actually slightly better, but it was very insignificant, less than $1,000 difference) but there were work opportunities (one I am currently engaged in) in the Amherst community which I knew I wanted to do, and this more than balanced the financial disparity. Again, this was a very personal thing.</p>
<p>I realize that this post came off with a strong Amherst bias. I should let the OP (and whomever else) know that it was an agonizing decision, and throughout the summer I bit my nails to the core wondering if I made the "wrong" one. At the end of the day, though, both schools are wonderful places and will probably provide their students with very similar experiences.</p>
<p>Amherst is simply amazing, williams simply amazing, middlebury simply amazing, ever heard of a 3 headed coin? your going to need it....</p>
<p>Williams and Amherst have such an interesting relationship, one which is hard to ignore and essential to effectively describing their similarities and differences. Amherst was born of Williams, a so-called "defector." The tag line I received from my Williams tour guide was "Jeffrey Amherst took half [Williams'] books, half [Williams'] students, half [Williams'] faculty, moved halfway across Massachussets and founded a halfway decent school." They share the main school color of purple. Both schools' mascots are their founders. </p>
<p>The interplay runs even deeper. A large portion of each schools' student body applied to both schools. Some Williams students are Amherst rejects, and some Amherst students, Williams rejects. </p>
<p>Beyond their historical and personal relationships, the two schools seem like two different sides of the same coin. First and foremost, they are spectacular schools with extremely intelligent and motivated student bodies and accomplished and accessible faculty (the vast majority of which hold terminal degrees in their fields). Both schools are wealthy, offer great financial aid, and boast Ivy-like yields as far as graduate student acceptances (by percentage).</p>
<p>That being said, there are important differences. </p>
<p>Williams is in the middle of nowhere. Some say this contributes to the closeness of the campus community. Being from the middle of South Florida, I could not possibly submit myself to that. Amherst, on the other hand, is in a failry large college town, thanks in large part to the presence of UMass. Amherst also grants complete freedom in course selection via the open curriculum. Williams has distribution requirements which are probably not very restricting but still, they're requirements. Amherst breaks in January for a month and four days. You can be home for all of that. Again, coming from SoFla, I don't think I could handle Mass in the dead of winter. At Williams, you have to be there for Freshman year winterterm, and odds are you'll be there for a couple more winters as well. </p>
<p>Therefore, I chose to apply ED to Amherst. I planned on applying to Williams as well, but I was admitted to Amherst and haven't looked back ;)</p>
<p>My advice is to visit them both, as well as Middlebury, as well as as many other schools as possible. I found where I fit in, and you should do the same.</p>
<p>We visited all three...got into one, went to colgate. She loved Williams but didn't get in and thought it was way too small town in the end. She would have loved to go to Amherst from her two short visits but she was waitlisted last year (no movement on the WL) she got into Middlebury but it was too birkenstock and granola mood around for her. She stayed overnight with an aquaintance and liked it less after staying there then she had before. She ended up at Colgate (I guess it truly does cross reference...) and has enjoyed it. Still small town which at times drives her batty but the people and the atmosphere and the education has been outstanding!</p>
<p>If you browse the 2005-2006 "Common Data Sets" for these three schools, two points stand out.</p>
<p>First, Amherst clearly had the broadest appeal. Amherst got significantly more applicants than either Williams or Midd, even though it is the smallest of the three schools. Amherst got nearly 15 applicants for every slot in the freshman class; Williams got only 11 and Midd only 9.5.</p>
<p>Second, Williams and Midd apparently got more committed applicants. Williams had a "yield" of nearly 49% (the "yield" is the percentage of accepted applicants who actually enrolled). Midd was not far behind, at about 44.5%. The Amherst yield, though, was less than 37%. Amherst actually sent out more acceptance letters than Williams, even though Williams enrolls about 25% more students.</p>
<p>Amherst is often perceived as the most diverse of the three schools, which would be consistent with its broader applicant pool. Williams and Midd are generally regarded as more close-knit, which could reflect their strong appeal within narrower applicant pools.</p>
<p>so are us aying midd cant compete with amherst and williams - cause it is a pretty impresive school</p>
<p>Well seeing as Midd got a larger applicant pool last year (and this year too probably) than either Amherst or Williams, it is clearly on the rise</p>
<p>I'd be very hesitant to use application numbers as a gauge for a school's quality. Keep in mind that Middlebury is an SAT optional school, which attracts many applicants who wouldn't bother applying to Williams or Amherst</p>
<p>Middlebury also has a larger student body than either of these two schools, and they have two classes that enter each year "Seps" and "Febs," Published admissions statistics are only given for the "Seps."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/admissions/facts/%5B/url%5D">http://www.middlebury.edu/admissions/facts/</a></p>