Williams=elitist?

<p>How do williams students look at themselves? Do they view themselves as among the brightest in the nation? Is "williams is the best" constantly talked about? And lastly, are williams kids snobbish?</p>

<p>Wow it is really hard to put everyone at Williams in one category. </p>

<p>My daughter (class of 2016) is a very level headed wonderful person. She is from an upper middle class background. The people she has met from Williams have been down to earth and very friendly. </p>

<p>I think my daughter views herself as bright and views Williams as a top college. She doesn’t talk about Williams in the terms you outlined in your post. Not snobbish at all.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

<p>As MomofWilliams said, it’s kind of hard to generalize. But the short answer is, in large part, an overwhelming no. I think that most of the kids who choose a liberal arts college that, let’s face it, 98 percent of the general population has not heard of, when they could have easily instead gone to an Ivy league or equivalently well-known university, are not the type of people who walk around talking about how elite they or their school are. And if they DID act snobbish, most people would only be confused, due to the general lack of knowledge about Williams (you mean Williams and Mary? William Patterson? etc.). </p>

<p>The vast majority of Williams students are far more interested in getting a great education, and choosing the best fit for them, than in impressing other people. That’s why they chose it in the first place, after all. Now, of course there will be exceptions, and there will be some snobs at any school like Williams that is drawing a lot of people from, let’s face it, elite bckgrounds, but they will be a VERY small minority of the student population, and would not be terribly popular on campus. That isn’t to say that Williams students don’t love and profess pride in Williams, but it’s more in a fun “beat Amherst” kind of way than in a snobbish way.</p>

<p>Although my D loves to tell my S who is at Harvard that Williams is the best undergraduate school in the nation–just to shut him up :D</p>

<p>It generally goes unsaid (out of basic decency), but pretty much everyone understands that. When we are entrenched in our studies, we are humbled pretty quickly by the difficulty of the workload.</p>

<p>Yes, some are snobbish, but their number is quite small relative to other comparable schools, as far as I know. You’ll get that kind of thing anywhere with smart, assertive people.</p>