<p>I am going for a solid liberal arts curriculum probably majoring in Political Science. williams seems to be the better one academically overall but would ucla's strong poli sci program be comparable? i definitely prefer the environment... at ucla but still have academics as my first priority. williams or ucla?</p>
<p>I believe Williams would offer you more in terms of personal attention/small classes/undergraduate access to top faculty/intern & research opportunities. If you're from the east, or if you plan to start out your career in the east, Williams would also be considered more "prestigious." That said, these two schools are SO very different! If you definitely prefer the enviroment at UCLA, that's where you should go. Don't worry about UCLA's academics. It's a world-class university. You just may have to work harder and be more persisent to get the kind of personal attention/faculty access you'd have automatically at a small LAC.</p>
<p>If your gut says to go to UCLA, then I would strongly recommend that you do that. Williams is a great school, but it's small and much of a student's college life revolves around the town/city in which the school is located. UCLA and LA offer so many advantages.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Tough call. If money is an issue go with the financial aid, but this really comes down to what kind of experience do you want? These are completely opposite experiences in many ways, but academically both will serve you well. UCLA's academics are on par with anyone in the country. If you make them a priority you will get as much out of as you would at Williams, it is how you approach it. I took a lot of smaller seminar courses once I got into my upper division coursework. If you go to professors office hours you will find them very open but you have to be a go-getter at UCLA if not you can get swept in the crowd.</p>
<p>so your two main concerns are environment and academics. </p>
<p>well, if you prefer the environment at ucla, go to ucla. you'll be there for 4 years, so you might as well enjoy it! seriously, don't go anywhere where you don't feel like you'll have a good time and make friends. college is a big transition period for a lot of people, and you'll want to be somewhere where you'll feel comfortable.</p>
<p>also, we're not that shabby academics-wise either. if you just want prestige, remember that people on this side of the mississippi don't really know liberal arts colleges too well, but they do know ucla and uc berkeley. this happens even more with international people. seriously. go to china or france and ask people if they've heard of either school. many will know ucla (esp. in china!) and few will have heard of williams.</p>
<p>I think it is an east coast west coast issue. If you asked the question of many east coast students regarding schools ranked by US News for example close to UCLA's ranking. Williams or Tufts? Williams or Lehigh? Williams or Wake Forest? Williams or U Mich? Williams hands down. UCLA is a great school so you can't go wrong.</p>
<p>They have such different environments. Are you leaning toward the small LAC environment or big public U?</p>