<p>My son is interested in applying to a LAC to get a BA in Economics and hopefully, after that to move into a career in finance, either in investment banking or asset management. He is interested in Williams, Amherst and Wesleyan. We will visit all 3 schools next year. Can anyone tell me their views on these schools 1) academics, 2) economics department, 3) campus environment/social scene and 4) location. Also, any information about the quality of the universities’ career services department and whether investment banks recruit on campus would be helpful. Thank you.</p>
<p>I can’t answer all those questions, but I’ll answer what I think I know! It seems that the consensus is that Amherst and Williams are more academically rigorous and elite than Wesleyan. Although they are all in the “Little Three,” I’ve found there’s a distinction in people’s minds. I haven’t visited Wesleyan, but I prefer Amherst’s location to William’s simply because of the 4 other colleges nearby (Mount Holyoke, Smith, Hampshire, and UMass). Amherst offers a small student body of about 1700, but when you want to go meet new people, there are tens of thousands more new faces at the other schools. Also, being able to take courses at any of the 4 other colleges is a huge plus in my opinion, since you have access to a very large range of professors and ambitious students.</p>
<p>Williams is the more significant feeder to Wall Street and business/finance. The location/campus is beautiful (matter of taste, but prettier than Amherst and in a safer location than Wesleyan). IB’s recruit on Williams’ campus and the alumnit network is extensive and loyal.</p>
<p>Thanks, Retter and Dad2</p>
<p>Williams stands ahead of Amherst in the particular interests you name, but that doesn’t make it the better school for your S. I think kids do best in environments that are sympatico to them.</p>
<p>We visited Amherst and Williams on the same day. I was drawn to Amherst; my S was drawn to Williams, even though on paper he looks like more of an Amherst fit: very left-wing, non-athletic, humanities type.</p>
<p>He is about to graduate from Williams and has adored every minute there.</p>
<p>However, had he been accepted at Amherst and/or Wes and not Williams I am sure he could have done well and been happy at any of them.</p>
<p>They’re not that different. </p>
<p>As Freud described: "the tyranny of the inpercepticble difference.</p>
<p>I think mythmom’s generally on the mark, re: differences being mostly imperceptible. </p>
<p>That said, here’s my read on each of your questions (purely based on visiting schools and having some friends at each school):</p>
<p>1) Academically, all three schools are excellent. Amherst and Williams are perhaps regarded as being more prestigious, but really, it seems that the actual classroom experience at Wes would be just as rigorous. </p>
<p>2) The econ dept’s at all three schools are very strong. I intend to major in econ (along with something else), and I chose to apply ED. Granted, I’m more interested in the PhD route than in investment banking/consulting/etc., so ymmv.
Depending on your son’s other academic interests, though, it’s worth knowing some of the traditional strengths of each school in other departments. For instance, Williams is traditionally a bit stronger than Amherst in hard sciences and fine arts, while Amherst perhaps has an edge in humanities (particularly classics!) and social sciences. I’m not as sure about Wesleyan in that regard.</p>
<p>3) Wesleyan seems to have a strange social scene–sort of polarized. There’s a sizable cohort of classically preppy, athletic types, but also a good amount of hipsters (the hipster scene is pretty druggy).
Williams tends to be characterized as being more jocky than the two other schools, which is true to an extent, though I also know quite a lot of quirky intellectual kids who’ve really enjoyed their time there.
Amherst, of all three, struck me as having the most integrated, fluid social scene. A girl I talked to on my overnight at Amherst wasn’t thrilled about how beer-centric she’s found mainstream social life there (though I suspect the situation’s similar at most other schools), though I met some other kids who spend more time with the on-campus arts scene, going to Northampton, and such.</p>
<p>4) For me, location sealed the deal for Amherst. Williams is in a pretty place and has nice buildings, yes, but the campus seems laid out less than deliberately–there’s a small highway running straight through the campus. And Williamstown is, well, Williamstown. Amherst’s campus on the other hand, was largely planned by Frederick Law Olmsted (great landscape architect), has a real sense of cohesion and organization, and some incredibly beautiful vistas. And there’s plenty of vitality in Amherst and particularly Northampton. The Pioneer valley may not be urban, but pockets of it are certainly urbane.</p>
<p>Hope that helps. Sorry for writing so much. Perhaps you can tell I’m a 4th quarter senior…</p>
<p>Agree with Mythmom, Amherst and Williams have much in common. Both excellent. A student from one will do as well professionally as that individual student would do from the other. Probably best just to visit the schools and see which one appeals (then apply to both and keep your fingers crossed big time. ;))</p>
<p>Don’t know much about Wesleyan. Sure it’s a great place too.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/sciences/sciencefacts.html[/url]”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/sciences/sciencefacts.html</a></p>
<p>Thank you for the excellent comments.</p>
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<p>That sounds more like Hampshire or Bard than Amherst, which I would say leans more towards preppy/jocky than "left-wing, non-athletic, humanities type.</p>
<p>Sophmore at Amherst - Firms routinely recruit here at Amherst. I do not know any seniors here who major in Economics/Math/Poly Sci who do not already have a job lined up in Boston/NY as consultant/IB/whatev. All of these comments are cute, both they hold very few solid facts. Amherst will put your son in a top firm, if thats what he really wants to do.</p>
<p>Rarely is a student fortunate enough to choose between Amherst, Williams, and Wesleyan. I assume here that he has all the requisite grades, ECs, recommendations, test scores to meet the high bar that these schools set. Next year, if he is fortunate enough to have been accepted at any or all three of the schools, then he can go down that road. Right now, it would not be prudent to focus on one school; he may end up with a broken heart and dashed hopes.</p>
<p>Sad to say, that in the LAC department, boys do better than girls, Williams being a possible exception.</p>
<p>S accepted at Bowdoin, Amherst, Wes, Vassar and Williams; GF accepted at Swat and Williams and rejected at the others with higher stats and test scores in all areas. As a feminist and mother of a daughter, too, sigh. S still chose Williams. To LurkerDad he was accepted at Bard, too. He fell in love with Williams.</p>
<p>I think he wanted to be in the mountains, and the music department (he’s a violinist) was very strong. The Clark (a world-class museum in Williamstown) turned out to play the most important role in his education, which we could never have predicted.</p>
<p>Kids and schools aren’t so easily pigeonholed. That’s why I said that the OP’s son needn’t be hindered by his particular area of interest. So much goes into educating a person. Probably only 50% involves the classroom, even for the college years.</p>
<p>Stegner, I appreciate the comments. However, we are just starting to narrow down our choice of schools that we might visit as my son is only in Year 11 in the UK system (Grade 10 US equivalent). I realise that these are all top schools; however, for someone coming from a top London private high school, the US LACs would be a good match for him academically due to their breadth of curriculum, small class sizes, etc. as well as culturally compared to larger universities. Furthermore, most of the London kids applying to US schools tend to apply to the Ivys and other popular East Coast Schools (Georgetown, Duke, JHU, etc) with fewer applying to LACs (at least in my experience).</p>
<p>^^ JackUK: kudos for thinking “outside of the box”. The top LAC’s are an outstanding group of schools, and the best universities (deans, admissions officers) openly strive to emulate this quality in their university-based undergraduate programs (I’ve heard a Stanford dean bemoan the fact that they, of course, can’t have the depth of faculty-student interaction that occurs at Swarthmore, but they’re trying…).</p>
<p>Dad2 - Thanks for the great comment.</p>
<p>JackUK,</p>
<p>I understand the logistics of choosing colleges from overseas. I have nieces in an English public school, so I know that there are many breaks during the year. It is rather inexpensive to fly to the US, so if you can afford the time, you and your son should visit the schools. A possible itinerary could be:</p>
<p>Fly into JFK
Drive to New Haven (Yale) – 2 hours depending on the traffic
Drive to Hartford (Wesleyan) – 45 minutes
Drive to Amherst (Amherst) – 45 minutes
Drive to Williamstown (Williams) – 2 hours</p>
<p>Throw in Middlebury, Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown, and end up at Columbia. Or venture north to Bowdoin from Harvard or Dartmouth. </p>
<p>We toured Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Harvard, Amherst, Middlebury, Williams, and Bowdoin over one-year period. As an alum of two of the schools, I thought I knew these schools well. However, the schools presented themselves differently from what I thought I remembered from 25 years ago. </p>
<p>Sometime during a tour at Amherst, my seemingly diffident child was entranced. We knew then that this was the right place.</p>
<p>Stegner, Great idea. This is very helpful. Are there any other East Coast LACs that we should be considering (probably for a second trip!). The ones that spring to mind are Haverford and Swarthmore. Are there any others that are academically in the same league as the schools that you mention? Thanks again, Jack</p>
<p>Definitely should look at Swarthmore as it is in a class of its own (Amherst and Williams are peer institutions but more birds-of-a-feather). Haverford is smaller, but also a great school.</p>
<p>Frankly, we did not look at any other schools. Others on the forum are more knowledgeable. </p>
<p>Mid-Atlantic itinerary could look like this:</p>
<p>Fly into Newark,
Drive to Princeton – 2 and 1/2 hours
Drive to Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania) – 1 and 1/2 hours
Take train or drive to Swarthmore and Haverford – 30 minutes</p>