<p>medical school preparation, research opportunities, atmosphere, competition, student body, diversity, financial aid, dorm, enviroment, settings, etc.</p>
<p>you should probably ask people in the college admission forum. I am sure ppl like sakky can answer your question in detail.</p>
<p>As far as Medical school prepration goes, I have some answers that i learned from sakky.</p>
<p>Medical school is very much about the GPA, MCAt and Science GPA.</p>
<p>Williams college's science courses won't be taht easy, but compared to those of MIT, they should be easier to get A's in. Medical schools love people from liberal arts school (As one Washintong Medical admission person said that English majors make best doctor), and non-science majors tend to do better in Medical school admission compared to sceince-majors.</p>
<p>I think in Williams, you wouldn't have problem finding research opportunities since you are already high-caliber and teachers are looking for students to help their research. In MIT, you might have to compete with graduate students.</p>
<p>Williams is non-competetive, friendly and you might get to know your teachers very well, which would be good for recommendation letters in the future.</p>
<p>heh that was my 2 cent. I know MIT is really really hard to pass up, so you must have hard time deciding ;).</p>
<p>Good luck on your Stanford and Harvard Admission!</p>
<p>Two very, very different schools.</p>
<p>medical school preparation--Williams is great. I believe MIT is great as well. I wouldn't make your decision based upon this.</p>
<p>research opportunities--Obviously more research goes on at MIT. However, I believe that more research open to significant undergad contributions goes on at Williams. I'd give Williams the edge here, for that reason, but I'm sure others would disagree.</p>
<p>atmosphere--Well you're looking at a tech school vs a liberal arts college. Williams students will be much less competitive with eachother than MIT students, and the general campus "feel" will probably be friendlier. You'll feel more coddled at Williams than at MIT. MIT's in boston and Williams is in the Berkshires--that's another significant difference. I would recommend spending overnights at each campus with a current student and judging all of this for yourself.</p>
<p>competition--see above</p>
<p>student body--I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but MIT has more guys than girls while Williams is almost exactly 50/50. The typical Williams student will be well-rounded, outgoing, and athletic. The typical MIT student will be quirky and typically more science/engineering/math focused. Both schools are pretty equally hard to get into.</p>
<p>diversity--I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but you can look them up. Williams is about 10% african american, 10% asian-american, 10% hispanic-american, and 6% international student. It's about 50/50 male/female. MIT you'll have to look up for yourself.</p>
<p>financial aid--both schools are 100% need-blind and extremely generous. Williams will probably tend to be more generous, but as his is on a case-by-case basis, you'll just have to wait to see what your package looks like. Most likely, whichever college gives you the lower offer will meet the higher offer if you're accepted to both.</p>
<p>dorm--40% of frosh live in singles, and about 90% of upperclassmen live in singles at Williams. You can't do much better than Williams housing in general. I don't know anything bout MIT's housing--sorry.</p>
<p>enviroment--City (MIT) vs Rural (Williamstown). I prefered the rural environment. Visit and decide for yourself.</p>
<p>Sorry I couldn't be more helpful in regards to MIT.</p>
<p>I've visited both campuses, stayed overnight, and attended lectures.</p>
<p>So......what are your opinions?</p>
<p>i can't deal with Williams lack of city atmosphere. That's my biggest and ONLY problem about Williams. I'm not much of an outdoor person.</p>
<p>I love both schools. I visited Williams during October Multicultural Week, and it was fantastic. Passionate teachers and very friendly students. It was a very warm atmosphere. Relaxed and tranquil.</p>
<p>I stayed at MIT for 6 weeks this summer. I love it too. I love the intensity, the nerd/tool/hack culture, etc. Cambridge is an amazing city.</p>
<p>staticsoliloquy, I'm in the same boat. williams, MIT and amherst. what to do?</p>
<p>Although I can't say I have your fondness for cambridge and MIT's campus.</p>
<p>hey I'm on the same boat as in making choices with other schools and Williams...I'm definetely visiting (only five hours away lol)</p>
<p>Instead of trying to compare science departments of different colleges, could someone knowledgeable describe Williams' Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, and Math departments?</p>
<p>In respond to josjmgs, I'll share what I know as an pre-med (but not a science major) sophomore. I've taken four chem classes: 151, 156, 251, and I'm in the middle of 256. Those four make up the intro sequence that all chem majors and premeds take, so they are fairly large. The first one was about 110 students, and we're down to about 55 four semesters in. Even in the class of 110, though, the professor knew EVERY student's name (on the first day actually. Quite disconcerting, but cool.) The profs in the chem department are really there to teach, and it shows. All four profs I've had have been approachable and available-- far over and above office hours. Any time I've stopped in to their offices or labs they've been glad to sit down with me and help with problem sets, etc. Couldn't ask for a better chem faculty. Also, it's really easy to get involved in research, as their are no grad students. Every summer a significant number of students stay on campus to work in labs (and get paid for it).</p>
<p>I've taken one calculus class, and while I'm not really a math person, it was a good experience. People who like math think it's a great department. Sorry I don't know more. Ditto with the other departments you've mentioned-- I haven't done my pre-med physics or bio yet. </p>
<p>I know very little about comp. sci, except that it's a fairly small department. I can say that one night my chem study group was working and a comp sci prof (that none of us knew) introduced herself to us randomly and took up out on the roof of the science center to show us an eclipse! So good people, but I would check their website for info.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.williams.edu/go/sciencecenter/%5B/url%5D">http://www.williams.edu/go/sciencecenter/</a></p>
<p>Check that out. Hope I helped.</p>