Williams College Athletic Admission

Athletic Recruits
1

Hello,

I am a current junior student who is very interested in running for the cross country and track and field teams at Williams College. My times are meh to average as I only started running seriously my sophomore year. I know that Williams College has a very strong/successful distance program, and I’ve also heard that the coach (Coach Farewell) is a very nice guy. The team is also pretty big compared to other NESCAC teams. Aside from athletics, I am attracted to Williams because of its unique Oxford tutorials, Winter Study, strong alumni, generous financial aid package, and the beautiful campus/surroundings. Although my xc/track times are average, I’m training hard in hopes of qualifying for states in cross country. I am very passionate about the sport and really want to make an impact on the team, whether it’s qualifying for nationals or running a very fast time in college. By filling in the Williams College recruit form, and personally emailing the coach (really showing interest), do you think that the coach can maybe help me in admissions? I’ve heard that Williams is pretty big with sports compared to the other NESCAC schools, and they also have a significant number of “tips” and “protects.” If asked for my academics, I would say I am a “B Band” athlete, with my grades getting better (upward trend) every year. I am also in multiple extracurricular activities aside from running such as: Co-founder of school’s Japan Club, I am bilingual and go to Japanese School every Saturday where I am a student council member and also volunteer a lot, volunteer for my city’s Japan society, had an internship every summer, and a member of the National Honor Society. I did take the SAT but I am very bad at test taking and did terrible on it. Thankfully, Williams College is test optional for my grade because of Covid-19. Academics is also very important to me, as I don’t plan on going to college just to run or slack. I will be taking multiple AP classes next year on top of honors classes, and on of my academic goals is to obtain at least an AP Scholar award. If I am able to get into Williams, some majors I am interested in are Global Studies, Political Science, Political Economy, and Science&Technology Studies. I am also interested in minoring in Japanese. Again, is it worth asking the coach to help me out, as I am very passionate about running and making an impact on the team (I don’t want to just participate/be on the team, but be a top 5-7 runner)?

2

Fill out the recruiting form, then email the coach with your times, grades, test scores (if any). Tell him you’re applying to Williams and would like to learn more about the program.

Williams has a strong and very participatory distance program. I’m guessing he’d be happy to have you on the team if you’re admitted. As far as the coach helping with admissions, that’s something you’ll get a sense of from email responses or phone conversations. He has a limited ability to help and the times will matter the most to him in how he uses his support. Most of the runners getting coach support at NESCACs aren’t “meh” runners. They are good HS runners.

3

I would say that they have to be better than “good” HS runners, if they want the coaches support. Coaches want athletes who will help them to win, which usually means outstanding HS runners. I would imagine it’s pretty cut and dried with most track events, unless you have a compelling story, i.e an injury interrupting what appeared to be a stellar trajectory of accomplishment.

4

@57special Yes, I might be using the term “good” more narrowly than most, to include athletes who are among the top on their team, probably all conference, possibly on the podium in many/most states. It’s a small percentage of HS runners. I’d probably reserve ‘outstanding’ for kids competing for state or regional championships and the like (those kids, most of whom end up as D1 runners, really do stand out in HS). But that’s just me. I think we probably agree on the basics.

In any case, I agree it’s going to come down to the times and what the coach is looking for in a given year. Tfrrs.org is a good resource for checking performance lists.

5

Put differently, Williams likely would not dip to a B Band athlete unless he or she is an immediate impact athlete. However, give it a go with the coach, and see how it shakes out.

6

The way athletic recruiting works at Williams (and several other schools) is that there are typically a set number of roster spots where the coach has some sway with admissions. If you are not sponsored by the coach, then your athletic status is not a consideration in admissions except as an EC. The above said, coaches are generally warm to the idea of having walk-ons when you matriculate.

IMHO, should not stop you from applying to Williams. Your Japanese bi-lingual status may be very appealing to them.