<p>Hi everyone</p>
<p>I just got accepted to Williams by an early write and I'm really happy and everthing, but my parents don't really know the school and would much rather see me go to Stanford, UCLA, or some other "known school". Can anyone tell me how prestigious and known Williams is . Also my dad keeps on saying he's never heard of Williams college before.</p>
<p>Congratulations on the early acceptance!! Williams is an extremely prestigious school, and very "well-known" in the academic community. It was the number one liberal arts institution in the country last year, and it also won the spot this year. </p>
<p>I assume that you are from the West coast (most likely California), and so it is understandable that your dad would not have heard of Williams since it is known best in the East. I am from Colorado and it took some convincing to assure my parents that the East-coast liberal arts colleges were the best undergraduate opportunities in the country. </p>
<p>Ivy League graduate schools know of Williams, and respect its academic rigor and commitment to excellence. Stanford and UCLA have teaching assistants and large undergraduate classes. Williams offers the same academic quality in a much smaller setting. Never choose a college based on prestige; the college needs to fit what you are looking for. </p>
<p>If you want a small college with classes taught by caring, full professors, then Williams is your choice. The alumni from Williams can attest to their quality of education: they include CEO's, ambassadors, foreign royalty, generals and a President. The school was founded in 1793, and has an endowment of over $1 billion. </p>
<p>So, if you prefer a small setting, choose Williams. If you prefer a larger, more disconnected setting, then UCLA and Stanford should suit you. But, all of them are prestigious and that should not be a factor in your decision. I hope that helps....</p>
<p>If your parents can afford Williams, Stanford and UCLA, they shouldn't be worryied about whether anyone has heard of their son's college.</p>
<p>From what I've seen by telling people about my acceptance, I've gotten one of two responses:<br>
<em>blank look</em>..."William and Mary?" (local VA school)
OR
"Williams? Congratulations!! That's awesome, isn't that, like, the #1 Liberal Arts College in the country?" </p>
<p>People have either never heard of it, or they're really impressed. Most people don't know anything about it, despite its ranking and credentials, so if you're looking (or your parents are) for name recognition, it's not the right place. If you're looking for quality and recognition by grad schools or jobs, you'll be fine at Williams. </p>
<p>That's just to convince your parents...as SVE said above, you should choose the school for how it fits you. That's the most important part.</p>
<p>Hey Congrats! I am in my third year at Williams and also from California. I think your choice between Stanford and Williams really depends on what you want out of a school. Williams is a terrific place to learn -- there is really nothing much to do here, professors are really warm and welcoming, and the workload is rigorous and stimulating. However, if you are interested in a professional school like med school or law school, you may have a better bet going to Stanford. From what I have heard from my friends at Stanford, grades are a bit inflated there. Contrastingly, at Williams, professors are immediately sent letters from the Dean's Office if the Office senses that there are "too many" As in a course. As for the environment, as I briefly mentioned above, there is really nothing much to do on campus. Despite our school's feeble efforts to build a social environment, it is really boring and especially if you are from southern California, depressing because of the horrible weather. All in all, I love my school...but heck, if I had a choice between here at Stanford, I'd be in Palo Alto.</p>
<p>Hey. I am a Junior in Williams College. </p>
<p>Seriously, if you come to Williams, you are going to forget about the fact that Williams is virtually unknown to the world after few months. If you are worried about your future, just know that whether you want to be an ibanker, lawyer, doctor, a NGO volunteer, and etc, you will find your connections and you will find your path to your dream career given that your GPA, ECs and summer internships are decent enough. </p>
<p>BUT! I would still choose Stanford over Williams just because this college is filled with so many Harvard, yale, princeton, and stanford rejectees. I am not ashamed of my institution at all, but I definitely feel like my institution is not the best in the USA, which kinda makes me feel a little bad. Of course, I know that someone will try to defend my school by saying oh this kid i know chose Williams over Harvard and etc, but the cold truth fact is, if you go to one of the dining halls in williams and ask a random kid if this was your first choice, he/she will say no. (BTW, the cross yield rates of Williams-Harvard, Williams-Yale, and Williams-Stanford are all something like 15-85)</p>
<p>Oh, and I completely agree with the post above. This college is just so damn boring. If you really want to feel the atmosphere of this college, come during the last week of April. You will see mindless zombies walking in and out of sawyer and schow, distressed from their endless papers, problem sets and midterms.</p>
<p>Hmmmm, kind of funny that ephwoman09 and Eph2009 both joined on exactly the same day, and posted essentially the same Williams-bashing posts, on the exact same threads on this site ... either not really a Williams student, or a single disgruntled student with an agenda, I'd say. </p>
<p>If you are worried about acceptance to top grad schools and elite employers, Williams is essentially equal to Stanford (Williams' grading system is not exactly brutal, average gpa is around a 3.3, and besides elite grad schools and employers know which schools inflate grades and which do not) and far, far, far better than UCLA or any other Cal school. It is true the man on the street had never heard of Williams, but then again the man on the street thinks UPenn is coached by Joe Paterno. Who cares? The sort of places you will want to go after being an undergrad ... top 10 law, medical, mba, and phd programs, as well as elite fellowships, consulting firms, top teaching jobs, etc., are disproportionately filled with Williams grads. Plus our alumni network is so much stronger, because Williams alums are always especially excited to help one of their own ... tons of loyalty to the school, more so than almost anywhere.</p>
<p>Who cares if more people choose Harvard over Williams? Many do it for the wrong reason ... name recognition or parental pressure. If you are such a conformist that you would turn down Williams simply because the name alone won't impress every person you talk to, then you certainy WOULD be happier at Harvard or Stanford. People are at Williams because they want to be there, not because of who it will impress, or how much. Maybe that is why Williams alumni are generally (with, of course, some fairly limited exceptions) so fiercely loyal to the school and thankful for the opportunity to attend. Well, that and the fact that there is little doubt that Williams provides a better undergrad EDUCATION than a place like Harvard where you are often taught by TA's and where profs are evaluated solely on research rather than actual teaching ability. Hell Harvard itself has expressed its desire to make its undergraduate education more like Williams ...</p>
<p>Williams is boring if you only like going out clubbing and bar hopping, or crave the hustle and bustle of urban life. Williams is most definitely not boring if you enjoy spending quality time bonding with 2000 interesting, brilliant, talented, well-rounded, often quirky personalities (many of whom are likely to become your best friends for years to come), or if you enjoy outdoors activities like skiing, golf, tennis, hiking, frisbee and wilderness walks in one of the most beautiful settings (with some of the best outdoors facilities) in the northeast, or if you enjoy attending top notch D-3 sporting events with a very passionate student following, or if you enjoy attending and/or partcipating in an enormous variety of student music and dance groups, performances, film festivals, jazz festivals, theater performances, live music events, or if you are an art lover who enjoys visiting the three world class art museums on or within 10 minutes of campus, or if you like the traditional music / beer college party scene, or if you enjoy being a leader in campus organizations or community service, all of which are present at Williams in abundance ...</p>
<p>Williams</a> College | Admission | Explore | People</p>
<p>This website says Williams was the top choice of 93% of the student body. Is this not so?</p>
<p>Where are those cross-yield stats from?</p>
<p>I saw the same thing in the Williams prospectus. Statistics are terribly misleading anyway....</p>
<p>It was my S's first choice school, and he and his friends are very happy there.</p>
<p>drjay, Williams is not generally well known, in America or worldwide. It is, however, very well known to people who may make a difference in your life -- graduate or professional school admissions committees, top management of big corporations, the financial community, academia, foundations and government agencies. </p>
<p>If your parents want to learn about Williams there are quite a few ways they can do so. If their minds are already made up, then hopefully you'll still be able to make your own decision, based on the environment and teaching style that appeals to you. </p>
<p>If you have actually been accepted by Stanford, then you'll face a tough choice as there are a lot of overlaps in personality between the two schools. Stanford is bigger, sunnier and better known.</p>
<p>Between Williams and UCLA there are so few similarities that it's hard to even imagine anyone seriously considering both. Don't get me wrong, I like UCLA. Many members of my family are graduates and they had fine experiences, but they sure weren't anything like the Williams experience.</p>
<p>Williams was my son's first choice. He had a great four years and would go back again in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>Among those who know (graduate and professional schools and the intelligencia in general), Williams/Swarthmore/Amherst and some would argue Pomona are equally prestigious to H/Y/P. Not, admittedly, to the "man in the street", so matriculants at top LAC's should not have fragile self esteem.</p>
<p>Well cross admit stats are not necessarily incompatible with the 93 percent stat. First, 40 percent of the class enters via ED, so for 100 percent of those students, Williams is their first choice. Second, Williams does very well in terms of cross admits with most schools. Among its leading overlaps, Williams easily trumps Bowdoin, Midd, Carleton, Cornell, Haverford, Wesleyan, runs fairly even with Amherst, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Penn, and loses out to HYPS and MIT. Harvard is about 90-10 (but then again, Harvard trumps pretty much every other school by similar or greater ratios), and Y/P/S are closer but still favor those schools by a substantial margin (this is all from memory, saw these numbers quite awhile back). Third and most importantly, it is 90 percent of students who ATTEND Williams who list it as their first choice, so for students who get into both Harvard and Williams and choose Harvard, for example, that would not be relevant to the calculation. </p>
<p>Basically, what this stat indicates is that, for the vast majority of students who choose to ATTEND Williams, they are there because it is the school they most wanted to attend, and not simply because it was the best school they got into ... which is part of what makes Williams great. The school is most definitely not for everyone, but for those who do attend, they have usually carefully considered their reasons for doing so (meaning, not just the biggest name school they could attend but rather the right fit), and that enthusiasm tends to carry over into both campus life and alumni-hood.</p>
<p>I wouldn't call the 2000 people at Williams "quirky". Coming from an urban area, I was shocked at just how homogeneous Williams is. As a sophomore, I could say that quirkiness is not a trait of most Williams students. You were right about the focus on athletics and drinking. The parties at this school are loud, hot, sweaty, and very impersonal if you don't go with people that you know. In general, if you are from an urban area and enjoy the culture and diversity it provides, stay away from this place.</p>
<p>Teltar: I am sorry you're so unhappy at Williams. Maybe you would be happier if you transferred. Not being sarcastic.</p>
<p>You're slight insult on another thread was a bit unnecessary, but okay.</p>
<p>You're point of view is certainly not universal, either.</p>
<p>My S and his friends are quirky. They are not dominated by drinking or athletics. </p>
<p>I won't list his non-athletic interests because it would be silly here.</p>
<p>And we are quite urban and many of his close friends come from Manhattan.</p>
<p>So, I don't argue that this is your experience, but it is certainly not universal.</p>
<p>I know someone who picked Williams over Stanford and has never once regretted the decision. Really, don't decide based on "prestige"--you either would do better at a small liberal arts college or at a bigger university.</p>
<p>And, I'd say that rather than Williams getting a lot of HYPS "rejects," Williams has more people who would name Williams as their first choice than I ever would have expected. Most people who come here applied early, and while they didn't necessarily choose Williams over HYPS in the end, they decided to apply here early rather than at any of those four. Williams kids largely WANT to be here--regardless of the lack of name recognition--and I think that says something about the character of the student body and atmosphere of the school.</p>