Yale or Williams

<p>My daughter got in Early Action to Yale and was wait listed at Williams. So naturally she is second guessing Yale and is pining for Williams. She doesn't mind a small school or isolation or cold weather....in facts likes all of that. However, what initially impressed her about Yale was the campus, resources, residential college system, and the small size of the Engineering department which is basically one professor per every student. She ruled out purely engineering schools because she loves the humanities and much as the sciences, and wants a well rounded education. Her chief concern is the interaction between professors and students. Is it good at Yale? She is enthralled with the idea of the tutorial system at Williams, but on the other hand, Williams does not offer an Engineering degree. (However she could do a 3/2). </p>

<p>of course all this is irrelevant if she doesn't get off the wait list at Wms.</p>

<p>Yale or Williams? thoughts?</p>

<p>DS is in at Yale and Williams and visited Williams last week. He did mind the isolation and is now deciding between Yale and Columbia. I think Williams is very strong academically but if it doesn’t have what she wants that could be frustrating. I don’t know about engineering at Yale but my daughter had a friend who did it when she was there and he had a very positive experience. My daughter had a lot of interaction with professors when she was at Yale but she was in different departments.</p>

<p>Everything I’ve read about 3/2 programs indicate most students don’t follow through on them because few are willing to move away from their friends after three years. I wouldn’t even consider that option.</p>

<p>Is she going to Bulldog Days? If so, I predict this will not be an issue in a week or so. Yale students can have as much contact with professors as they want, but it’s not as automatic as it is at smaller schools.</p>

<p>I’m a Williams alum, and if she is even thinking about engineering, she should go to Yale. And yes, I happen to think that the experienced educational quality for the average student attending is likely better at Williams. But why shut out the engineering possibility before even starting college? She might decide it’s not for her later, but at Williams, she won’t even get the chance to really see. (And, as Erin’s Dad notes, the 3/2 thing is better on paper than in actuality - few students anywhere ever actually do it.)</p>

<p>She can’t attend a school where she is waitlisted. So there is only one choice on table (it is a great choice lot of people wouldn’t mind) for which you can pay a deposit before May 1st. Williams is not available. If and when Williams becomes available, it is then a choice of withdrawing from another school vs selecting one.</p>

<p>what tex said.</p>

<p>We tend to pine for what we don’t have. Yale really wants her. I hope she can take joy in that. An early write? A great compliment.</p>

<p>And I’m a Williams parent. My kid loved Williams, but had he not been accepted I know he’d have done well someplace else.</p>

<p>And Yale is … well, Yale. It’s historic and beautiful.</p>

<p>I agree… 3/2 programs have logistical problem of leaving friends. And if it does work out, you end up paying for 5 years of college. Casting a vote for Yale. Congrats!</p>

<p>Put the deposit on Yale then establish a deadline for the Williams waitlist, say, end May. My guess is that by then she’ll be 100% sold on Yale, but it would be nice for it to be her own decision, not Williams’. </p>

<p>I’m not keen on 3/2 programs either.</p>

<p>I concur with Hunt. Have her go to Bulldog Days and she’ll be sold.</p>

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<p>My understanding is that a 4/1 program is most common. 4 years undergrad and 1 year graduate engineering. This is particularly true at Williams which has excellen math and physics to help prepare for the graduate work. OP, reading between the lines, it seems that your daughter might not be ready to commit to engineering and will enjoy exploring a broad based curriculum and a 4/1 program at Yale may be the best option for her if she still wants to be an engineer.</p>

<p>Yale and I concur with Hunt and T26E4> Go to Bull Dog Days, she will be sold!</p>

<p>My son is a junior at Yale. He LOVES it. Has been able to create relationships with professors. May take a bit more work than at a small school, but completely doable. Yale has so many resources that it is easy to get money for summer internships, projects, etc. It has been our family’s experience that they take very good care of their students.</p>

<p>Math and physics at Williams are excellent and would prepare her well for a grad engineering program. If she has her heart set on Williams I don’t see the harm in letting them know she would love to turn down Yale to go there, and why. The odds are against her but no harm in trying. She just needs to keep in mind that she is most likely going to Yale and to be okay with that.</p>

<p>At Bulldog Days, your Dd will meet some of the engineering profs at the tables the different departments set up to introduce themselves. In a small department like engineering, your Dd will be very well taken care of.<br>
My Dd graduated several years ago and had amazing opportunities in a department about the size of engineering. The profs are very accessible- even the big-name ones.
Dd chose Yale over Williams and Amherst after visiting all three after acceptance. She actually felt that the profs were more interested in her at Yale than at the smaller schools, but the vibrancy of the Yale environment is what sold her. Definitely have her attend Bulldog Days.</p>

<p>My daughter is a freshman at Yale and loves it.
As was said in an earlier post, they take great care of their students. The resources, programs, atmosphere, etc are all amazing!</p>

<p>Yale is the obvious choice over Williams for a prospective engineering major, but be aware that it only has three ABET accredited engineering degree programs: chemical, electrical, and mechanical.</p>

<p>If she is interested in a different type of engineering, she may want to reconsider any other schools that she has acceptances to that have the other types of engineering. Many schools with engineering do have a good selection of non-engineering courses to take.</p>

<p>Everything I’ve read about 3/2 programs indicate most students don’t follow through on them because few are willing to move away from their friends after three years. I wouldn’t even consider that option.</p>

<p>I’ve never heard of this before. My college had a very popular 3/2 program, and a lot of my friends were with it; the vast majority of them continued on to engineering schools for the last 2 years and got their degrees as planned. Do you have any evidence for this?</p>

<p>True in that she’s not been accepted to Williams, so there is little deciding to do.</p>

<p>Congrats to your daughter - she must be a very hard worker. We have lots of family who have gone to Yale and decades later still live and breath it. However, we adore Williams as it is the perfect fit for our son, currently there, and loving the mountains, class size, caliber of student (and human being). He also had zero interest in fraternity life (none at Williams). Williams is not for everybody, but if she does want to go there, she will probably improve her chances if she can honestly tell admissions that she would accept if admitted. If she winds up at Yale, she will likely fall in love with it as do most who matriculate there. Two very different environments with equally talented students.</p>