<p>Mais c’est si bon, mon cheri. Quel est votre problem, Eh?</p>
<p>Seriously, they are all highly ranked schools with large influential alumni networks, great endowments, well-loved by their students, who are for the majority, white and rich or foreign and rich or disadvantaged and brilliant. Everyone is smart and for the most part, academically oriented. The sports are a sideline, not the main attraction like at a Big Ten.</p>
<p>If you are fortunate enough to have a choice, you can’t really go wrong, as you would have to be crazy to be unhappy at any of these “gardens of chosen plants”</p>
<p>I have 2 sons at Midd-both seriously considered Williams and visited Bowdoin. </p>
<p>Personally, I think that Bowdoin is more insular in terms of the main cohort being from New England(old money and very prep). It went co-ed in the late 1970s, so it does not have a long egalitarian history-Midd has been co-ed the longest, and I think the culture reflects that. Williams is more jock-oriented and has the smallest town. It is smaller than Midd by 400 students, which is partly why everyone is brilliant AND an athlete or brilliant AND musical. Brunswick is kinda cute, and the coastal location is nice. </p>
<p>Midd is of course famous for languages, has the largest study abroad program, and the best pool and indoor athletic facilities.
Williams has the “tutorial” program-with 1 prof to 2 students for really in-depth study.
Bowdoin has the best food, and lots of alumni who fought for the union in the civil war…</p>
<p>Can’t really go wrong, tho. We are splitting hairs here.</p>
<p>I’m always a bit “flip”, but “I calls 'em as I sees 'em”. Seriously, the reason my boys decided Bowdoin wasn’t for them-prematurely in my opinion-was because the tedious 1 hour prospective student talk in the admissions office harped on Franklin Pierce and Bowdoin’s contribution to the Union during the civil war.
Then the tour guide brought us to see the plaque of Bowdoin students who died in the Civil War-son one said “Unless you are a re-enactor, why would you want to come here?” And that was it.
I actually sent admissions a note about how off-putting it was, and I imagine they may have changed their focus to what Bowdoin does for the students of TODAY.</p>
<p>everything read on the internet should be taken with a grain of salt</p>
<p>i think that especially for young generations, bowdoin should cut that out of the admissions talk. i’m sure 30 years ago, what chamberlain did was more “appealing” to students.</p>
<p>these days they should just talk about hawthorne, longfellow, and their new hockey rink.</p>
<p>coastal studies center, kent island, the new fitness building, the fabulous art museum, polar bear club, and on and on. . .it ain’t a bad place to spend four great years ;-)</p>
<p>I think we all agree they are three great schools, and anyone who gets accepted at one is very fortunate-if a choice, visit, and see how you feel about the campus and students.
The ocean is a big plus in my mind, part of why I’m “Old Batesie Doc”. I love the Maine coast. But it does feel the most “New England Prep” to moi. Prolly also cuz they had just gone co-ed when I was at Bates and one of my female friends transferred to Bates because she couldn’t take the harassment. It’s a different world now, really.</p>
<p>Looking at a single season doesn’t demonstrate anything. Williams doesn’t dominate the NESCAC. They’re very successful, but I would never use the word “dominate.” They place well in many different sports, but they haven’t won nearly as many national championships as Middlebury. Amherst is another up-and-coming contender in NESCAC and Div III.</p>
<p>there are so many things wrong with your post i don’t even know where to start.</p>
<p>firstly, if you want to look at hockey… Bowdoin ended up winning the NESCAC title, crushing williams 5-2, (at the terrible williams rink too…pretty embarrassing)</p>
<p>Williams has never been in the top “NESCAC Standings” in the past 4 years. bowdoin and midd have always been taking the #1 and #2 spots respectively. bowdoin and midd have played at least 4-5 nescac finals together. williams is a huge outlier this year and this was proven when they just got crushed in the finals.</p>
<p>williams doesn’t dominate anything when it comes to hockey, thanks.</p>
<p>in basketball, williams is definitely strong, but doesn’t “dominate”. both midd and williams are in the final four and will likely play each other for the D3 title… I’ll be supporting midd cuz they aren’t a bunch of stuck-up kids who try and brag about their sports “dominating” when the only thing williams is PROVEN to dominate is track & field and swimming - hahah</p>
<p>S accepted EW at Williams! Love the school/location, but now concerned after reading this thread. Likes liberal arts education (looking at law school for graduate studies), not an athlete, a decent musician (not world class). His top choice, but how will he fit in?</p>
<p>SSSmomof3, what are your concerns? What I see is some stereotypical generalizations being thrown around along with some baiting in the guise of civil conversation. D is a freshman (not a recruited athlete) who loves her classes and the social life. She is not wealthy, preppy nor an econ major. She and her fellow students do not feel it’s competitive and she has a study group for most classes. Feel free to PM me for questions.</p>
<p>sssmomof3–agree with gtalum, don’t take this thread seriously. loving the school and the location is the first step towards a great experience. remember to have realistic expectations when going in, but williams will work overtime to make each students experience worthwhile. congrats to your son!</p>
<p>^athletics are indeed strong at Williams such as is true, e.g. at Stanford (approx. 40% of students are varsity athletes, a similar proportion to Haverford College). Given Williams’ size, however, this means that over 1200 students are not varsity athletes (and include artists, poets, social activists etc.). In terms of academic prominence, Williams (along with Swarthmore and Amherst) are to Midd and Bowdoin as HYP are to Columbia, Penn, et al. All are wonderful schools, but the OP’s concerns about athletic prowess seem a bit beside the point of SLAC’s- why not attend Duke if national athletic dominance is your priority?</p>
<p>“CONS: literally in the middle of nowhere, everyone is econ major, competitive”</p>
<p>Williams is NOT competitive. I don’t know any of my friends’ GPAs or even any of their grades in a class. People care about their grades, for sure, but only for internal, self-motivated reasons (of course, there are always exceptions, but I don’t know those people).</p>
<p>I am not an econ major, and most of the school isn’t. Bio is a hugely popular major, as are Psych and Art History. Econ is not in a class of its own. That said, it usually IS the largest major. I would say the most notably large major at Williams, in terms of what percentage major in it here versus at a typical school, is math.</p>
<p>Yes, we are in the absolute middle of nowhere, and at times it sucks hard, and you really shouldn’t come if lack of a mall within walking/public transportation distance is a deal breaker, but it does allow us to have Mountain Day. :)</p>
<p>Are any of these schools a good fit for a bright kid from the west coast? We don’t have prep schools or boarding schools around here, no “old money” or relatives who fought in the Civil War. How well do kids from the left coast fit in?</p>
<p>My son graduated from Wiliams in 2010 and simply loved it. My D applied RD this year and I am worried if she will be able to get in. Her stats:
GPA: 4.89 uw
Rank: School does not give rank but probably under 10 of 320
SAT1: 2310(740,800,770)
SAT2: BC Math 750, Bio 770, US History 690
AP: AP US History(5) - School offers 1 AP in Junior year
Current APs: English Literature, Spanish, Math BC, Music Theory
ECs: ABRSM Grade 7 in Piano, 4 years Varsity XC and currently co-captain, 4 years Varsity Track, 4 years Frisbee (co-founder and co-captain of team), Church youth group for 4 years.
Race: Asian</p>
<p>I am so anxious. What do you think? Thanks.</p>
<p>SSSmomof3 - your S will love Williams. My S graduated from Williams and simply loved it. He was no athlete. Williams kids are simply put, ‘well-constructed’,</p>
<p>Well, I researched a lot these 3 colleges, as I wanted to decide to which I would apply ED…
What I found out was that all of them are really great…u cannot tell which one is better or worst…u can only tell which one is a best fit for a certain kid…
I decided to apply to Midd…Midd is a really unique college… and it combines all that I want…
My suggestion is not to focus on rankings, avg scores ect… just try to find the perfect the best fit…
Afterall, it’s not what college is the best… it’s all about what college is the best for YOU…
For me it was Midd, for someone else may be Bowdoin or Williams…
:-)</p>
<p>Oregonianmom - D and her 2 friends from a state in the south went to public school and feel like they fit right in. One advantage of being in the middle of nowhere is that there is no place to spend money and no flaunting of wealth. D says, “there are a lot of rich kids here but they don’t act rich.” I’m not sure where you got the “old money” or “civil war” stereotypes. A bright west coast kid should fit in well. </p>
<p>Pdad - I’m sure your D has a great chance getting into Williams. </p>
<p>As mentioned by Eph2013, math is big at Williams and arguably the best undergraduate math education you can get.</p>