Williams/Swat/Midd

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
1

<p>Trying to narrow down my search...
Prospective economics major (plus a handful of math courses; I'd like to get a PhD in econ), pretty liberal, I love diversity (primarily racial diversity, but also socioeconomic and international diversity), I want to be in a rural area with outdoorsy activities (love skiing, hiking, kayaking, canoeing, etc), good food is always a plus, not too athletic (unless you factor in skiing/other activities listed above), intellectual and academic-oriented (but I still want a social life), small classes and access to professors, a little politically active, and a wide variety of students and clubs/activities (not just preppy lax bros or just intellects or just activists; a bit of everyone I guess)</p>

<p>Middlebury--used to be at the top of my list...I love Vermont, I'm attracted to the large percentage of international students, I like its size (approx. 1,000 more students than Swarthmore), an alum once told me that it has the quirkiest (in a good way) students of the top NESCAC schools (he said it's kind of like Carleton/not really uptight), but I'm concerned about its lack of racial diversity (as well as socioeconomic diversity), endowment not as high as other schools, founded on egalitarian principles--one of the first schools to graduate an African-American student, one of the first New England LACs to become coed</p>

<p>Williams--although PhD productivity isn't nearly as high as Swarthmore, it is higher than Midd; strong math and econ, seems to have more racial diversity than Middlebury, high endowment, I like the Berkshires a lot (a little less than Vermont but still up there)</p>

<p>Swarthmore--THE place to go for Econ PhD perspectives (I think Swat produces the most Econ PhDs), most intellectual, political activity seems reasonable (more than other schools but not as intense as Wesleyan or Oberlin), apparently has awful food and so/so dorms, don't love the location, might be too rigorous--I want a challenge and I am willing to work really hard, but I also want a social life (but I'm not interested in Greek life at all); seems like the honors program is incredibly cut-throat and I don't know if it's worth going to Swarthmore if I end up not doing the honors program, best diversity of the schools but I wish it had more students (like Williams and Midd)</p>

<p>Also--I don't like Amherst--it just doesn't seem like a warm/friendly place and I want an isolated/free-standing school (not interested in consortium), Wesleyan seems too radical, Vassar is too close to home (I live 20 min from NYC), but I am open to all opinions on the schools I like as well as any schools you think I should consider or reconsider. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Why don’t you just apply to all three? All three are really fine schools with more similarities than differences (especially Midd and Williams) and I’m not sure that the workload would be markedly less at Williams than Swarthmore (don’t know about Midd). You would likely enjoy all three. I can’t imagine that attending Swarthmore as a “regular” student rather than in “honors” program wouldn’t be worth it. You would still be getting an amazing education.</p>

<p>In any case, you might not end up getting accepted at all three anyway and then the decision will be taken out of your hands. If you do end up in at all three, you can re-think your options in the spring after acceptance.</p>

3

<p>I agree that you should apply to all three and see what happens.</p>

<p>Williams sounds like an absolutely perfect fit. Williams has an awesome economics department (plus the bonus of the small CDE program) and an even better math department. Williams has, easily, the best math department of any liberal arts school, and frankly, to get accepted at, and more importantly, to thrive at, any top-tier econ Phd program nowadays, you will almost certainly need a rigorous math background. No liberal arts school, and arguably no school period, can top the Williams combo math/econ education. Certainly, if you major in math or econ at Williams, and do well, you’ll get into a top notch Phd program. </p>

<p>[Economics</a> Alumni in Grad School](<a href=“http://econ.williams.edu/students/grad-student-list]Economics”>http://econ.williams.edu/students/grad-student-list)</p>

<p>I disagree that Midd is the quirkiest NESCAC school, if anything, I’d put it at the other extreme, kind of LLBean / perfect-looking-people central. I found Williams to be far more quirky than Midd in terms of the student body it attracts, although probably less quirky than Swarthmore. Williams, as far as liberal arts college goes, is very good in terms of diversity … the percentage of domestic minority students has exploded over the past few years (up to close to 40 percent in the most recent entering class), and Williams, along with Amherst, has the highest percentage each year among top LA’s in terms of students receiving Pell Grants and also students who are firsts-generation college students. </p>

<p>All of your other criteria … outdoorsy, rural, skiing, intellectual but with a social life, a wide variety of different types of students, easy access to profs, somewhat but not hugely politically active … pretty much describe Williams to a T.</p>

4

<p>Thanks, Ephman!
I’m really starting to like Williams (more than before), and the revamped website helps a lot.</p>