<p>discuss.</p>
<p>well, its been a record year for most top schools so its no surprise</p>
<p>In actuality the Williams increase this year of just 2% is the smallest increase I've heard of. What are people's feelings about why this is so small an increase? Is it just the construction on campus? I find it hard to believe that construction only would deter many applicants from the #1 rated LAC. How do others see this?</p>
<p>I think it may be because last year was so diffficult for so many--baybe mroe than usual--qualified applicants, who did gain admission to Amherst, Swarthmore, etc. but were either denied or waitlisted at Williams (and of course apps were up last year presumably in part because of the #1 ranking, which had eluded Williams for several years priot to that). It may be that college counselors and students themselves who had friends who experienced that last year decided to apply elsewhere. Remember, too, that it is only very recently that the Williams accceptance rate has been lower than Amherst's, so the relatively low increase may be a return to previous patterns. But you know, it could also be the construction, which really does keep anyplace from looking its best. And a student union is a fairly imoprtant part of the package for some kids. (I am the parent of an alum, not of a current student, so it's hard to say for sure what specifically this year that might have turned some applicants off.)</p>
<p>Apps were up only 1.9%, actually, and ED appls declined.</p>
<p>Williams had a big jump in applications last year as well as a significant jump the year before. Amherst, I believe, fell 10% last year, and there were other colleges that didn't have amazing years either. I think Williams jumped a year before many of these other ones, so didn't go up quite as much this year as some others did.</p>
<p>I was not aware that Williams applications have been growing disproportionately compared to its peers over the last few years. Do you have links to data supporting this surprising claim?</p>
<p>News link to class of 2007
<a href="http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?view=article§ion=news&id=4515%5B/url%5D">http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?view=article§ion=news&id=4515</a></p>
<p>And that despite having a smaller class.</p>
<p>I believe the biggest increase was for class of 08. For 09, applications have leveled off, but they're still showing an average acceptance rate of 18%, 16% for RD.
<a href="http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?view=article§ion=news&id=5537%5B/url%5D">http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?view=article§ion=news&id=5537</a></p>
<p>Those April numbers turned out to be a little overly-optimistic after summer melt. Final numbers: 19.2% acceptance rate overall, 17% RD admit rate, with an RD yield rate of a little over 36%, even including the "early writes".</p>