<p>Could someone compare and contrast these three colleges for me...less on a level of things like SAT requirements and selectivity and more on a level of student life, traditions, things that you like/don't like about the schools, types of students they attract, political climate, professors, administration, and med school acceptance rates?</p>
<p>i’ve visited amherst/swat and know enough people at williams, but take this post as one person’s opinion. </p>
<p>Swat - very liberal. attracts sort of activist/humanitarian students. easily hardest workload of the three schools. close to lots of other schools, but not within walking distance. you can be at a frat party on penn’s campus within a half hour, though. </p>
<p>Amherst - still somewhat liberal. attracts an artsier crowd than williams but a less activist one than swat. in a town with four or five other colleges, so the social scene involves all the schools together. </p>
<p>Williams - more moderate. attracts preppy/athletic/hard-partying but still intellectual students. extremely isolated. lots of nature and mountains for outdoor activities. academics similar to those at amherst.</p>
<p>All three are excellent schools with huge endowments and tremendous resources. They vary in campus culture, location, etc. Med school admissions are very high from all three – depending on how you measure and the year between 90% and 100%. That’s a non-issue.</p>
<p>**Size: **Williams is the largest with 2100 students, Amherst is next expanding to 1850, Swarthmore is the smallest with 1500.</p>
<p>**Location:**Williams is extremely rural, Amherst is in a mid-sized college town, Swarthmore is an old tree-lined inside the beltway neighborhood of a city with 5 million. It has its own train station – 25 mnutes to downtown Philly, 20 minutes to a major airport, 2 hours to NYC, etc. </p>
<p>AcademicsAll three are excellent. Williams is particularly noted for art history, math, and political science/econ. Amherst is noted for history and English, has no course requirements. Swarhmore is noted for sciences, engineering, and all social sciences especially poli sci, econ, sociology, and linguistics. Swarthmore has the highest percentage of science majors followed by Williams. Amherst has relatively few science/math majors – just 15% Swarthmore is one of the top three colleges and universities for per graduate PhD production, behind only CalTech and Harvey Mudd. 23% of Swarthmore graduates get PhDs. It’s the top PhD producer in social sciences, econ, and poli sci. Swarthmore has a unique Honors Program followed by about a third of the students. It involved honors seminars in four topics followed by oral and written exams by 150 outside experts (mostly professors from other schools) who come to campus in May. Both Swarthmore and Amherst have first-year seminars. Williams has tutorials, where a class of 10 will meet in pairs of students with the professor to read and discuss each others papers. Swarthmore has the biggest investment in peer mentoring programs such as their nationally recogized Writing Center.</p>
<p>**Sports: **Williams is the top Div III athletic program in the country and has been for many years. It is a major emphasis. Amherst is quite similar and almost beat out Williams for the national Directors Cup this year. Swartmore has fewer varsity athletes --about 24% versus 40%, mostly because it does not have football or men’s ice hockey. Sports is definitely more low-key at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>**Social scene: **Swarthmore has a low “binge drinking rate” – a nation wide standardized survey that asks how many times a student has had five or more drinks in an evening over the last two weeks. Quite a bit below the national average of 44%. Williams (and probably Amherst) are at or above the national average, depending on the year. This isn’t a function of availability as booze is freely available at all-campus parties at Swarthmore every weekend. It’s more a function of students and campus culture. </p>
<p>**Diversity: **All three are ethnically diverse. Swarthmore is one of the two most diverse liberal arts colleges in the country – only 55% of the students are white US citizens. Williams and Amherst are 62% and 63% respectively. The difference is mostly in the percentage of Asian Americans and somewhat in the percentage of Latino/a students.</p>
<p>**History:**Williams and Amherst were all-male colleges until the 1970s. Swarthmore was co-ed at its founding and has always had a bylaw that the Board of Managers be split 50%/50% male/female. One of Swarthmore’s founders, Lucretia Mott, organized the Seneca Falls Convention, the first organized women’s rights meeing. A famous alumna, Alice Paul, led the women’s suffrage movement that resulted in the right to vote in 1920. It was originally a Quaker school (along with Haverford and Bryn Mawr) although it has not been formally associated with Quakers for nearly a century. The new President, Rebecca Chopp, is an ordained Methodist minister.</p>
<p>They are all really great schools. There are no bad choices among them, just different choices depending on what you like. Science geeks will find more to offer at Swarthmore and Williams. Art History buffs will be impressed by the size of Williams department and the number of museum curators who have studied there. Students who want engineering in a liberal arts context will prefer Swarthmore. Theater and Dance students will probably prefer Swarthmore as it has been turning out graduates into cutting edge theater for a while (there are four Swat groups performing at the Philly Fringe festival, including the Obie winning Pig Iron Theater company with a premier of a new play. Swarthmore tends to attract students interested in social justice and civic engagement – they have an array of courses and extracurricular activities in those areas and have been routinely sending students to receive awards from the Clinton Global Initiative for projects started during college. Williams will tilt more towards athletes and “outdoorsy” types. Swarthmore and Amherst have a lot of cross-admits. Williams and Amherst have a ton. Williams and Swarthmore not very many as they are quite different in some ways – city versus rural and so forth.</p>
<p>What kind of stuff are you looking for?</p>
<p>A school that is either slightly liberal or moderate, a strong science program (since I want to become a doctor), lots of traditions that bring the student body together, rigorous academics, engaging/accessible professors, a good choir (I love singing and take voice lessons), plenty of extra-curriculars, a strong study abroad program, plenty of undergraduate research opportunities, active social life, and plenty of volunteering opportunities.</p>
<p>[Amherst</a> College - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Amherst College - Wikipedia”>Amherst College - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>All three schools are liberal, and all three schools are fine destinations if you’re interested in a career in medicine. Both Amherst and Williams are members of the same athletic conference, and have been around longer than Swarthmore, so the two are richer in tradition. All three schools have academically rigorous programs, though at Amherst, you have the complete freedom to challenge or neglect yourself as you please. You’ll have the most engaging experience at Williams, arguably, because of the prevalence of the Oxford tutorial system. Extracurriculars, study abroad programs, and social interaction will be strong at all three schools. Because of Williams’ isolation, you’ll have more opportunities, and it will be easier for you, to get actively involved in community service at Amherst and Swarthmore. Amherst is surrounded by Holyoke, Springfield, Hadley, and Swathmore is ten miles or so from Philadelphia.</p>