<p>I was accepted last year RD to Williams, but I turned it down to go to an arguably more prestigious college. As this time of the year rolls around again, it got me thinking: why oh why didn't I choose to go to Williams instead? It has a beautiful campus, amazing facilties for a liberal arts college, awesome faculty resources even based on raw numbers professors alone( it blows both Amherst and Dartmouth out of the water in this regard), and all the money a student could ever need (highest funding for summer research of any US college/university AND generous financial aid). Its strengths lie directly within my academic interests. Its tutorial system and Oxford exchange program is unique unto itself. It has amazing placement rates in industries, and professional AND graduate schools according to the surveys such as the WSJ one. Its tight alumni network paved the way for the recent massive campus expansion. Did I just turn down the school because of mere rumors of it being a jock school, despite the fact that it has a lower athletic participation rate than both Amherst and Dartmouth? Did I make the biggest mistake of my life? Can someone else who turned down Williams please level my head.</p>
<p>oh and the worst thing is that i know so many people at my school that turned down williams too!! i dont get it</p>
<p>so you're at dartmouth?</p>
<p>fwiw, I do attend Williams, and while it certainly looks spectacular from the outside, the actual society is a bit more complex. It has its ups and downs, and I don't doubt that fall semester has been a blast, but from the outside looking in, people tend to downplay Williams's weaknesses.</p>
<p>For beginners, living in - quite literally- a mountain valley carries with it an odd lifestyle. Williams's society is totally secluded, and there are only 2000 students. This can be a good and bad thing. Being from the city, however, there's been more than one time that I longed for the vast amenities of Washington DC. Also, information moves fast as lightning. Some obscure fact about your life could spread into a rumor in, no jokes here, overnight. Once again, a good and a bad thing. Relationships ( friends, gf, whatever) tend to be incredibly tight; that kind of society, when it works, is simply amazing. When it doesn't, there's nowhere to turn.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Williams does have an enormous amount of cash to blow, and it shows. The school doesn't shortchange its students like many other schools (even some ivies), and there's a lot of academic freedom. You're paying for it of course: the price tag for a year at Williams sits at a whopping $50,000. That's cash that a lot of people don't have. For those who demonstrate need, the finaid is awesome though. They really take care of you.I'm into invesment banking, and the connections here are sick. The President of the Board of Directors of JP Morgan is a Williams Trustee, and JP Morgan takes a lion's share of our kids...it's truly amazing.</p>
<p>the weather: awful. As I write this, NE is being walloped by a snowstorm that has cancelled my flight, and I don't quite know how i'm going to get home. I know that this is a region-wide thing, but being at such a high altitude, Williams tends to get it the worst. Luckily, there's no need for a car here, so it's not a big deal, but right now I need to vent lol.</p>
<p>That said, i'm not going to say just yet that i love Williams, but i'm definitely starting to feel cozy.</p>
<p>Transfer?</p>
<p>(I have found Amherst to be amazingly generous with summer/interterm aid, too, and I think it's per student endowment is a little higher than Williams'). I, too, turned down Williams, and I don't regret it because I know I made the right choice for me to come to Amherst, but I looooved Williams.</p>
<p>Actually, I've found the weather in Boston to be worse than in Williamstown.. Being so close to the ocean, Boston is unbelievably windy. This makes a cold day feel ridiculously cold. DC, on the other hand, has amazing weather!!!</p>
<p>FYI. Williams' elevation is actually quite low. At a whopping 680 feet above sea level, most folks (especially those to the west of the Mississippi) would roll their eyes at your categorization of Williams as "high altitude."</p>
<p>hahahha.. I'm just being argumentative though.. Glad to hear that the semester is going better R!</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>My S turned down UChicago, Brown and Amherst to attend Williams and he is sure he made the right choice for him. That said, I am sure he would be thrilled to be attending any of these schools.</p>
<p>PS He is not a jock. He has found plenty to do in Williamstown. In the interests of full disclosure he thinks he has an awesome entry, so that may have something to do with his general satisfaction.</p>
<p>Actually I'm pretty sure Williams has a higher per-student endowment than Amherst. That said, I can't really find any numbers. </p>
<p>To the original poster: don't worry about it. Williams is a wonderful place but if you're happy where you are, that's what matters.</p>
<p>According to this:</p>
<p>List</a> of U.S. colleges and universities by endowment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>William's overall endowment is larger than that of Amherst, but Amherst's is larger on a per capita basis. </p>
<p>They are both impressive numbers.</p>
<p>"Williams' elevation is actually quite low. At a whopping 680 feet above sea level"</p>
<p>From the National Weather Service site/NOAA, Williamstown's elevation is pegged at 1155'. Stats for Williams: "Lat/Lon: 42.71 -73.17 Elevation: 1155 ft." I'm only guessing, but this may be from Hopkins Forest, where a monitoring device is located.</p>
<p>It's the North Adams airport that's officially shown with an elevation of <700 feet (from the same NWS/NOAA site): "North Adams, Harriman-And-West Airport Lat: 42.71 Lon: -73.17 Elev: 659."</p>
<p>Winter has come early to the Northeast this year. Ski fans are calling it the best season in years.</p>
<p>Yes.. Williamstown and North Adams share the same valley, and are at the same latitude. The elevation of the college is less than 700 feet</p>
<p>Coughdrop where do you go?</p>
<p>Haha, Ya elevations are a bit different in California. I live in the low foothills at about 1800 feet and go to school at about 3000 feet.</p>
<p>But I applied to Williams yesterday and love the school!</p>
<p>Lol coughdrop sounds suspicious. Anyway I wouldn't really be negating Dartmouth and Amherst at the expense of Williams, those two schools offer so much to their undergrads as well and very similar resources. Negating big university places with fewer undergrad resources and not a strong undergrad college life (plenty of top schools in the category) seems to make more sense.</p>
<p>haon and ncram65,</p>
<p>This is based on 2006 data, which is now pretty outdated. New 2007 data from the National Association of College and University Business Officers is expected this month. This is a lot of dough per student!!!</p>
<p>Endowment per Student</p>
<p>Grinnell College $1,076,056</p>
<p>Pomona College $942,530</p>
<p>Swarthmore College $841,000</p>
<p>Amherst College $820,846</p>
<p>Williams College $783,000</p>
<p>Dartmouth College $614,035</p>
<p>IMHO, unless coughdrop went to Dartmouth (which I doubt), he did make a grevious mistake. ;)</p>
<p>So I applied RD to Williams and got in Early-Write--and opted not to go there. While Williams does have some amazing things, it has been described to me as extremely liberal (which could either good or bad, depending on my point of view, but I wanted more balance). </p>
<p>In retrospect, while Williams is an amazing place for a lot of people, not going there (and going to Rice, where I am now), was one of the best decisions I've ever made.</p>
<p>That being said, and since this is the Williams forum, I would HIGHLY recommend Williams, since I came thisclose to sending in the matriculation form. It's not the top liberal arts college in the nation without reason!</p>
<p>I know I should probably know this, since I did apply to Williams, but what does early-write mean?</p>
<p>In mid/late February through early March, Williams sends out early acceptance letters to some students. These students are usually really high stat/qualified. If you do a search on CC for last year's posts you'll see a number of students posting about their early write acceptances. It's similar to the likely letters that a number of Ivies send around the same time, although the Williams letter is a actual acceptance letter.</p>
<p>I attend Williams…and I would even say that Amherst is better…</p>
<p>WLIES: Is that because Amherst won the NESCAC football championship this year?</p>