Williams or Amherst?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
1

Having an extremely tough time deciding. I realize there are threads devoted to this already, but I’d like to describe my own situation. Posting this on both Williams and Amherst forum so as to balance out bias.

I will be as concise as possible to get the most possible traffic/responses. *PLEASE FEEL FREE TO JUST SKIM OVER THIS haha

FINAL GOAL: recruitment to an investment bank
INTENDED MAJOR: physics; I prefer theoretical, but this isn’t imperative
SPORTS: xc, track (will walk on); horseback riding
GENERAL PROFILE: White, upper-class female from CT. Went to prep school.

*note: my parents would prefer that I get into Williams because it’s “#1.” Please consider the school’s ranking as you evaluate this haha

Description of visits
–AMHERST-- went twice
First time, previews: Felt extremely at home. EVERYONE liked me and wanted to talk to me, from pre-frosh to football boys. I liked everyone. Didn’t go to any classes. Met a pre-frosh boy I really, really like. Hung out with him and another kid all night. It was really fun. My host girl was really nice, too; she even invited me to go on a sunrise seniors-only hike with her. Was ready to sign all the paperwork and commit afterward.
Second time: Was afraid my liking the prefrosh boy (a definite Amherst commit) was influencing my decision, so I went back to take classes today. I loved the classes I went to; physics (just above intro level) and colloquium can only be described as amazing. Also felt ready to commit.
LIKE:
-have never felt more like I belong
-unlimited food swipes (lol) and I like to eat small meals
-could take a class at Hampshire or use resources from UMass
-open curriculum
-could live in a substance-free dorm
-school allocates $1,000,000/year just to student groups, so it would fund travel abroad (like with a club). It would also fund internships, from what I’ve heard–all without regard for my non-aid status. My parents will not be paying college a dime more than tuition lol.
-already know a few pre-frosh and some current students (met at previews)
-has the least autistic, funniest physics professor I’ve ever met

DISLIKE:
-must have a roommate
-UMass people around on weekends
-campus isn’t as pretty
-the diversity might be a little overwhelming

–WILLIAMS-- went once
Previews: Host girl kind of ignored me. I ate lunch on the steps with her and her entrymates, and they didn’t say much to me. Interpol (teacher talked whole time, and she was annoying) and econ (only 5 kids/20+ said anything) were terrible. A 300-level phys class was absolutely amazing.
LIKE:
-get a single
-facilities nicer; everything is much prettier
-astrophysics program is better
-library better

DISLIKE:
-the entry system seems overbearing…like, I don’t know if I want essential cliques to dominate my and my peers’ lives so much
-I didn’t meet any people I liked

I will be returning to Williams to see if the first visit was a fluke haha. Maybe I was just in a bad mood or something.

2

I think you should go to Amherst. You clearly feel the “fit” there. Differentiating between these two by rankings is silly.

3

You should go to Amherst. You obviously want to go there, and the fit was obviously better. Too much diversity is absolutely not a reason to go, the small step outside your comfort zone will probably be a really good thing. Bottom line: you should definitely go to Amherst.

I just want to clarify one thing, though: the entry system is NOT a clique-manufacturer, nor is it anything close to one. Your first friends will likely be in the entry, as they would be with the people with whom you live at any school. The difference is how cohesive and friendly and safe the environment is; it’s basically a family. Your friends will be made in your entry, but they will also be made outside of it. I have a few great entry friends, but most of my friends are made outside the entry. I’m rooming with a friend who I met in my chemistry class next year, and I know of only a few people who are rooming with solely entrymates. So it’s NOT a clique system at all, and I urge you not to think of it like that. I’m sorry your Williams experience was not as good as it could have been - it happens anywhere, really - but Amherst sounds like the school for you. It’s an excellent school with actually somewhat better name recognition than Williams for some reason, and its place as second to Williams in pretty much every ranking metric system (sorry, I had to) is by no means an expression of its inherent inferiority. It seems to me that the choice is clear: Amherst is your home.

4

I agree with the above posters.

5

Oh, the horror!

6

I went on previews for Williams too, and my host told me that it was a bad time to visit, and they didn’t know why the school planned it to be at a busy time. He said that people were busy and stressed out with piled up homework at that time, and other students said the same too: the previews experience would have been better on another day.

7

Go to Amherst.

  1. You like it better.
  2. Ridiculous that your folks think you should go to Williams because it is USNews #1 vs a paltry #2 at Amherst.
  3. If you think the diversity at Amherst might be overwhelming, that is exactly why you should go and be exposed to it.
8

Amherst: “have never felt more like I belong”
Williams: “I didn’t meet any people I liked”

Seems like an easy call in favor of Amherst.

9

Go to Amherst - that prefrosh boy you met and liked is already committed there.

10

I agree with other posters. Seems like you are really struggling for a reason NOT to go to Amherst. Amherst and Williams are considered exactly even by anyone who is in the know, and deciding anything based on rankings, where you have a clear preference, is just totally nonsensical (especially when the two schools are, in reality, dead-even). You should go where your heart is.

All that being said, I will say a few things in favor of Williams (not saying, given what you’ve said, that you should choose it over Amherst, but if you did truly sound like you were actually on the fence, these are some things I would consider).

Don’t put TOO much stock in the happenstance of who your host is at previews. Williams was by far my first choice and I applied there ED, Amherst would have been my second choice. So I was already locked in, went to previews, and had a terrible time – didn’t like my host, and the two people I was hanging out with (one of whom I knew before) ended up hooking up, leaving me a bit abandoned. So I was pretty bummed out. But when I arrived at Williams, I loved it, enormously, from day 1, and met loads and loads of people who I bonded with fairly quickly. The differences between Williams students and Amherst student are extremely, extremely small – if you put 20 kids in a room, ten from each, the odds of you being able to tell who goes where are tiny. So I would chalk up your different experience in terms of the people you met largely to happenstance – if you could find a home at one school, you’d likely find a home at the other. But, there are some subtle differences in vibe, and to the extent Amherst just felt like more your speed, I’d certainly go with Amherst.

Another reason to choose Williams over Amherst – Physics and Astrophysics are stronger at Williams than Amherst, as is Math (which is closely related of course), so in your intended field of study, Williams has an edge. Williams’ science facilities are substantially better than Amherst’s (including two observatories on campus, one historic, one used by the department), and Amherst’s facilities are going to be disrupted over the next four years because they will under construction the entire time – not an ideal learning environment. The Amherst science center is pretty egregiously outdated at this point. Williams is also soon to embark on an expansion of its science facilities, but keep in mind, that is a far more modest and less disruptive project, since Williams finished a comprehensive renovation of its science center back in 2000.

So, if you were of the “flip a coin” mindset, and wanted a place to study Physics for the next four years, I’d say, choose Williams in a heartbeat. I still believe that, most likely, if you enjoy four years at Amherst, you would probably enjoy the Williams experience just about as much, and vice versa. But despite that belief, I’d still, like others here, say you should go with your heart and with what feels like home, which for you is clearly Amherst. Rankings are certainly meaningless when you are comparing schools like these, and also a single vs. a double is really no big deal at all, relative to feeling comfortable around your peers at the school. I do hope you visit Williams again and have a much more positive experience, but if you don’t, good luck at Amherst.

11

Rest assured that the UMass riffraff won’t be hanging around Williams. On the other hand, the occasional hiker might wander off the Appalachian Trail.

12

Young woman are probably much happier at Williams than at Amherst because the dating scene is much healthier. At Williams, there are equal numbers at men and women. At Amherst (because Smith and Mt. Holyoke are so nearby and connected to the social life), women outnumber men 3 to 1. And, alas, young men in such an environment often behave in ways that young women do not appreciate.

13

Oh come on EphBlogAgain! That’s not a reason to chose or not chose a college. All of the elite New England LACs are known for having similar hookup dating cultures (Williams included). Having other schools around in a consortium is such an advantage…Amherst students can take so many more classes in more fields (like trying engineering) that Williams students can’t. But, at the same time, I’m sure the students from the different colleges are NOT always around each other.