I’ve seen threads like this for prior years, so I thought I should start one up for this year. Who here is applying to Williams Early Decision?
As for myself, I’m from Washington state and will probably major in PoliSci. I applied to WOW but didn’t get in, though I got the next best thing—a phone call with an AO and an application fee waiver. I was able to do an overnight visit last month and loved the school.
I read in another thread that even though the official notification date is 12/15, they usually release the results the Thursday before that, which would put our notification at 12/13. I thought I read somewhere else that they send out notifications the first Friday of the month, which would be 12/7. Can anyone confirm?
Anyway, I just wanted to start up a thread since I can’t stop thinking about this.
The last couple of years, including last year, the notification was indeed on a December Friday one week before the official 12/15. (Last year: December 8, 2017, 6:00 pm eastern US time.) But do not worry: Williams does announce earlier in the week what will be the exact day and time that the decisions will be up on the portal, so you will know when to look.
Good luck to all applicants!
Williams is a great college, but applicants may find it helpful to spend some time before the decision researching and getting excited about one of their safety schools (and/or any school to which they were accepted via early action or rolling admissions). That may help applicants keep it in perspective if they are not accepted. Then an acceptance still will be a wonderful moment, but a rejection or deferral will not feel like the end of the world, because you will have reminded yourself there are other colleges out there where you can be very happy.
Thank you for the advice! Yes, so far I’ve applied to 7 schools including Williams. 3 were EA (two of which I’d consider safeties—Reed is more of a match) and I also applied to 3 other LACs that don’t have a supplement and which either waived my application fee or didn’t have one to begin with. There are 3 other schools without supplements that are ready to go, but I’m going to hold off until I hear back from Williams before spending the $ on the application fees. That’ll bring my total to 10.
In the meantime, to keep myself occupied, I’m going to prioritize the supplemental essays for my ED2 school if I don’t get into Williams. There are 2 other schools that don’t have/waived their application fee, so I’ll focus on those next since I can just submit them as I finish them. Then I’ve got a few more on my list that both require additional essays and have an application fee. I’ll deal with those last if I still have any energy left.
But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
In terms of notification date, the Friday before 12/15 is just 12/14, which is not all that early of a notification—unless it will be 12/7 this year?
I think 12/7 is more likely based on history, but you will see what they announce as the date approaches. Good luck, and thanks for starting the thread. I bet other applicants will join the thread as the date approaches!
Sounds like you have a great game plan, as you compose your essays for the first wave of applications let this process inform your Williams essays. Your hard work on the first essays may give you insights on what you write for Williams, so don’t necessarily cut off schools with several supplementals. Working on these may trigger ideas for the Williams supplementals.
The Williams ED deadline was 3 days ago, so I kind of hope I don’t come up with any better essay ideas, since I’ll just be kicking myself about what I should have written instead of what I actually wrote! I was pretty happy with my Williams supplement when I submitted it, so I’m trying not to think about it anymore.
Good idea, if necessary you have the materials to prepare the essays for later applications, are you working on ED2 applications or others? Which Williams supplement question did you choose to respond to? I think the tutorial question is an unique way to show creativity if you have that inkling.
Yes, I chose the tutorial question. I’m a bit paranoid that the AOs monitor these threads, so I’d rather not go into detail about what exactly I wrote about, but I think it was a good essay. Basically, I chose someone who is the polar opposite of me and said that I want to be challenged by different viewpoints.
I’ve been thinking about my ED2 and other essays, but it’s been slow going. I’m hoping to spend a good chunk of this weekend on them. I should have done them over Thanksgiving…
Sounds like a great approach to the tutorial query, emphasizing your openness to different viewpoints touches upon a key aspect of the interactive learning experience that Williams provides. For ED2, what schools are you considering?
That’s what @TheGreyKing said he thought it would be, but I haven’t heard anything. I’ve been checking the portal pretty much every day in case they posted an update there, but so far nothing.
@TheGreyKing - Do you remember when/how the decision date info was announced last year? Was there a little message on the portal? Did they email everyone to let them know it was being released a week early?
I had to go back to the ED2022 thread here to jog my memory! Last year, on 12/6, Williams added a little box to the top right corner of their admissions website, with a tiny image of a loudspeaker and the information that ED results would be announced on the evening of Friday 12/8.
I believe all the applicants may have heard more specific information directly from the college (I do not recall how), because I know my son knew for sure that the release time onto the portal of the decision about his admission would be exactly 6:00 p.m. eastern time. (It was a rather nerve-wracking couple of hours between the end of school and 6:00!)
That’s great to know. I was thinking that since they didn’t tell us it was being announced early this year that it might not be. (Or it might be 12/14, which isn’t really all that early.)
6pm eastern actually works well for people like me in the west coast. I’ll be able to check right after school!
I wonder if decisions will be released this Friday or sometime next week. Has anyone gotten an early notification for the Tyng Scholarship? Do they even send early writes to Tyng recipients during the ED round?
Regardless, I’m excited for decisions! Good luck everyone.
