Williams College Class of 2023 ED Results

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
1

Thread for results only! Decisions came out on Friday 6pm EST. Accepted, deferred, or denied, best of luck and congratulations Class of 2023.

Decision:
Accepted
Decision:
Waitlisted
Decision:
Rejected
[ b]College and Program:[ /b]
Objective:[ list]
[* ] SAT I (breakdown):
[* ] ACT:
[* ] SAT II:
[* ] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
[* ] Rank (percentile if rank is
unavailable):
[* ] AP (place score in parenthesis):
[* ] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[* ] Senior Year Course Load:
[* ] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
[ /list][ b]Subjective:**
Extracurriculars (place leadership in
parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays:
Teacher Recommendation:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview:
Supplementary Material(if any):
[ /list][ b]Other**
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket(specify if applied for
FA):
Hooks (URM, first generation college,
etc.):
[ /list][ b]Reflection**
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/
waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/
waitlisted/rejected:
[ /list][ b]General Comments:**

2

I’ll chime in with my daughter’s results:

Decision: Deferred
ACT: 35 (subscores: 36 on Science, 35 on everything else)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.78
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank, but probably top 20% (competitive high school)
AP (place score in parenthesis): Japanese (5), World History (5), Lang (5), Microeconomics (4), Environmental Science (4). Currently enrolled in 4 more (Psych, Calc AB, Lit, Gov)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Psych, AP Calc AB, AP Lit, AP Gov, 3D Printing (1 sem), Health (1 sem), Creative Writing (1 sem), Forensic Science II (2nd sem), Pottery (2nd sem), something else next semester. Can’t remember.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Founder and President of ACLU Club (started in 10th grade). Theater tech, GSA (Secretary, I think?), Model UN, volunteer tutor at library, played piano 12 years, girl scout for 10+ years, NHS
Job/Work Experience: Waitress during summer
Volunteer/Community service: Tutored at library 2 hours every Saturday
Summer Activities: ACLU Summer Institute, JSA 3-week course on Media and Politics, Speech and Debate thing
Essays: 9/10 or 10/10 IMO
Teacher Recommendation: I think really good, but who knows? She asked her AP Lang and AP Env. Science teachers
Counselor Rec: I think really good
Additional Rec: Faculty advisor for ACLU Club who was also her freshman year history teacher
Interview: N/A for Williams, but she did get to speak with an AO for about an hour as a consolation prize for not getting into WOW
Supplementary Material (if any): None
State (if domestic applicant): WA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Japanese + Caucasian
Gender: Sex = female. Gender = nonbinary
Strengths: ACLU is her big thing. She published a know-your-rights guide, ran voter registration drives, organized speakers to come to school, etc.
Weaknesses: GPA is a little weak. Her 1st sem freshman year was bad with a B-, B, and B+ (I think). She has a strong upward trend, but even at her best, it was all As and 1 B+. There are lots of kids with 4.0s for all 3 years
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: GPA
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Too early to say
General Comments: She always considered Williams to be a super reach. She applied to WOW almost on a whim and was surprised that they responded favorably to her application. She didn’t get in, but they gave her an application fee waiver and scheduled a phone call with an AO. They also told her that not everyone who gets rejected for WOW gets these benefits, and those that do have historically had approximately double the probability of getting in compared to the rest of the applicant pool. (So instead of a 12% chance, maybe a 24% chance.)

3

Decision: Accepted!

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 1580 (800 M + 780 CR)
[] ACT: 35
[] SAT II: 800 Literature, 800 Bio E, 770 Math 2
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank, ~5% maybe?
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (5), Seminar (5), US History (5), English Lang (5), Chemistry (3 lol)
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Physics I, AP Research, AP Chinese, and an elective
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): gold key and a silver key from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for short stories, got a short story published in a statewide magazine for student writers, National Merit Semifinalist, honor roll[/ul]

Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): creative writing club, worked as a tutor in my school’s writing center, played in a couple of music groups as a violist, Chinese club (treasurer), National Honors Society, Chinese Honors Society (Vice President)
[] Job/Work Experience: none
[] Volunteer/Community service: outside of tutoring, none
[] Summer Activities: Iowa Young Writers’ Studio, Kenyon Young Writers Workshop, New England Young Writers’ Conference, another workshop at Columbia
[] Essays: hopefully good? Idk how to rate my own writing, but because writing is my strong suit, they should have been able to stand out a bit.
[] Teacher Recommendation: I think I got a very good one from my AP Lang teacher, but the one from my AP Chem teacher may have been a bit generic
[] Counselor Rec: Generic, since I go to a medium-sized public school
[] Additional Rec: A well-written one from my viola teacher
[] Interview: N/A
[] Supplementary Material(if any): none[/ul]

Other:[ul]
[] State (if domestic applicant): Connecticut
[] School Type: Competitive public
[] Ethnicity: South Asian
[] Gender: male and cis
[] Income Bracket (specify if applied for FA): upper-middle class
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none, unless being Asian is a hook now (which I doubt it is)[/ul]

Reflection:[ul]
[] Strengths: Stats, summer activities, essays
[] Weaknesses: School and community involvement
[li] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think the combination of applying ED and my passion for creative writing pushed me over the edge.[/ul][/li]
General Comments:
I’m just so happy right now!

4

Decision: Accepted!!

Objective:
ACT: 35
SAT II: 720 Literature, 740 Biology E
Unweighted GPA: 3.95
Rank: My school doesn’t provide rank but probably top 10% out of a class of 35
AP: Literature (4)
Senior year course load: Physics A, English 12, Calculus, Current Events, Rhetoric (my school doesn’t provide AP/Honors courses, but my classes are probably considered at least honors level)
Electives: Chorus (all cape music festival 3 times), Advanced Painting, Advanced Ceramics
Major Awards: PSAT national commended scholar, gold award in the national german exam, honorable mention in the scholastic art competition, and 2nd and 3rd place at regional science fair.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Teaching Assistant for the studio art elective, founder of the after school art program, internship at the Marine Biological Laboratories, internship at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, horseback riding for 10 years (summer camp helper), Soccer (JV captain), Gay Straight Alliance (leader), and the Women in Science Club (founding member)
Job Experience: Gymnastics Instructor year round
Volunteer Experience: None
Summer Activities: Internships and working at the gymnastic studio
Essays: I feel like both the personal essay and the supplement were very good!
Teacher Recommendation: As far as I know it was very good. The teacher has helped me with and is very familiar with my science fair work. She also has a close relationship with me and I excelled in her class.
Counsellor Recommendation: Probably great! We have a close personal relationship and she worked in quotes from scientists I interned for and a full peer reference written by my best friend who is an amazing writer.
Additional recommendation: none
Interview: None
Supplementary material: I included a copy of my science fair abstract about my project on correcting disease-causing mutations within human kidney cells with RNA editing.

Other:
State: Massachusetts
School Type: Competitive Private School
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Cis Female
Income Bracket: Upper middle class (no application for FA)
Hooks: None

Reflection:
Strengths: Cool science fair project, extracurriculars, essays, and recommendations
Weaknesses: No hook, average stats
Why do I think I was accepted: I think it was probably a combination of my science fair project, my internships at top research institutions, strong essays and recommendations, and strong extracurriculars. However, even with these advantages, I probably wasn’t near the top of the pool because I don’t have any hooks

5

Decision: Accepted

-SAT: 1260
-ACT: 26
-Unweighted GPA: 3.94 (out of 4.0)
-Rank: School doesn’t rank
-AP: English Language (4)
-Senior Year:
Fall
1 AP Physics B
2 Integral Calculus H
3 Intro to organic chem H
4 Linear Algebra H
5 Survey of music H
6 AP English Lit

Winter
1 Multivariable Calculus I
2 AP English Lit
3 BC Calculus H
4 Adv American Gov H
5 AP Physics B
6 Economics H

Spring
1 Multivariable Calculus II
2 AP English Lit
3 Differential Equations H
4 Spanish Convo/Phonetics 1
5 AP Physics B
6 Classical genetics H

-Major Awards: National Spanish Exam (Silver Medal), Presidential Achievement Award, QuestBridge PrepScholar and QuestBridge Finalist, Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar, Regional and State Science Fair Awards
-Extracurriculars: ACS ChemClub (founder and president), Math Club (VP), School Ambassador, Varsity/Competetive Soccer(Captain), Youth City Council Member, NHS(VP)
-Job/Work Experience: Worked at local supermarket from 9th-10th grade, and construction jobs with dad during summers
-Summer Activities: UA Early College, Research intern at University of Alabama at Birmingham, HSF Youth Leadership Institute
-Essays: I spent so much time on them by revising with teachers/counselors/workshops and I think they were the stars of my application, so I would say they were solid 8 or 9 out of 10.
-Teacher Recommendations: One came from my biology teacher/advisor for my year-long science fair project, so I think she really had good insight. Other one came from one of my math teacher’s who knew me more personally as she was the one who interviewed me for entrance to my current boarding school
-Counselor Rec: Really good. She required an in-depth questionnaire and I answered every question with detail, so she had a lot to write about.
-Additional Rec: N/A
-Interview: N/A
-Supplementary Material: Science Research Abstracts

-State: Alabama
-School type: Accelerated STEM-focused boarding school (public, so free tuition)
-Ethnicity: Mexican
-Income: Lower middle class
-Hooks: Minority, first-generation, attended WOW, come from a very underserved community

-Strengths: Courseload, science research, essays
-Weaknesses: test scores, too few APs
-Why I think I was accepted: I was accepted to WOW, and they told us that WOW kids who end up applying to Williams have an acceptance rate of ~80-90%. I made a lot of sacrifices and went through a lot of setbacks to get to where I am now, and through them, I always did well in school

-General Comments: I didn’t match to Williams because my EFC was not $0, but the QB liaison sent me an email the day after Match day to say they were really, really interested in me so I applied ED and I got in. I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a good application all around, not just in one area. My test scores are nowhere near the median/average test scores for Williams, but I got in and it was because I didn’t let the scores define the type of student that I am. I got in with a freaking 26, and I encourage everyone who reads this to not let any ONE thing on your app bring you down. My parents never finished the 7th grade and I am going to one of the top colleges in the U.S. at no cost, and I can’t repeat how happy I am right now. YOU define your own future, not an arbitrary number/teacher/counselor.

6

Decision: Accepted:D

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT: 30
SAT II: n/a
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.75
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): maybe top 10/15%
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP US History
Senior Year Course Load: studying abroad, multiple intensive language courses.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): won 3 national full scholarships for study abroad, mvp- both years for varsity sport, national recognition from an organization, several local awards.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars: state ranked/state champion/top 5 in multiple events all-years varsity t&f athlete, big family responsibilities - cooked for my family every night, speed skating, karate, improv, diversity club.
Job/Work Experience: instructor at karate school and paid lab internship.
Volunteer/Community service: taught kids at my former middle school high jump for two seasons.
Summer Activities: several of my ecs.
Essays: pretty good, I think, my greatest academic strength is my writing skills.
Teacher Recommendation: didn’t see, knew the teachers for a long time/deep connection.
Counselor Rec: didn’t see.
Additional Rec: n/a
Interview: n/a
Supplementary Material (if any): n/a

State (if domestic applicant): Wisconsin
School Type: small town public, drawing from mostly rural areas and a couple suburbs.
Ethnicity: mixed race
Gender: female
Income Bracket (specify if applied for FA): EFC of 0.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): recruited athlete, URM, adversity (bereaved - lost parent beginning of high school, income).

Reflection:

Strengths: excellent ecs, good essays, jobs, personal qualities, unusual distinction w the v. prestigious study abroad awards/study abroad senior year/learning an uncommon language, “impact player” athletic recruit, urm, adversity.
Weaknesses: act and gpa isn’t terrible, but below the avg for the school, only 1 ap which I didn’t take the test for.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I like to believe that under some pretty extenuating circumstances I did pretty darn good. I think I have a lot to offer.

General Comments: I poured everything into my high school years and Williams has been my dream school since the beginning, beyond thrilled.

7

Congrats, folks!

  • Marv (Williams '94)
8

Decision: Accepted!
College and Program: English Literature and History

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1320 (630M, 690ERW)
SAT II: Spanish 800, Literature 690
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5%
IB (place score in parenthesis): predicted 42 (not counting extra points) an A in TOK, idk about predicted for EE
Senior Year Course Load: History HL, English Lang & Lit HL, Visual Arts HL, Biology SL, Math SL, French ab initio

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Air Dancer for 5 years, many presentations and performances
MUN for 4 years, various awards (leadership team)
Triathlon Team, 4 years placed in many competitions
National Honor Society
Prom Committee (organized prom, represented my grade)

Job/Work Experience: Worked at the most important newspaper in my country for an entire summer
Volunteer/Community service: Designed my own project to teach creative writing to at risk youth in my country. Presented the poems in an exhibition and raised money through an auction. Bought school supplies for all of the kids with the money

Summer Activities: Went to an Outdoor summer camp every summer during high school where we did backpacking, canoeing, hiking, rafting, and summited 14,172ft Mount Shasta. Went to Alaska to learn ice climbing.

Essays: Very good, have always been a very strong writer and this really pulled me through.

Teacher Recommendation: One from my English teacher, very good, really knew me well. The other from my History teacher, who dedicated a lot of time to it and potentially a very good letter.

Counselor Rec: very good, she put a lot of effort into my reccommendation

Supplementary Material(if any): added in my website which included my writing samples

Country (if international applicant): Panama

School Type: International school, K-12

Ethnicity: Latin American, White

Gender: Female

Income Bracket(specify if applied for FA): upper middle class

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Strengths: Very good writer and very original extracurriculars

Weaknesses: SAT not very high

Why you think you were accepted: Because of my writing. I worked very hard on my essays, and the fact that my first language is not English yet I was applying for English Lit and wrote well really helped. I also think my extracurriculars really made me stand out as both triathlon and air dance are not very common