How many colleges are "better" than Williams?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Williams is around Dartmouth/Penn/Brown level. My Ivy pecking order goes H>Princeton>Y>Columbia>Penn>D>B>Cornell

There are only three other LACs that I'd call equal, not better or worse, and that's Amherst, Swarthmore, and Pomona. Pomona in particular is a rising star in the same way Stanford is overtaking Harvard in many aspects. They were the most selective LAC by acceptance rate, had a 55% yield for their recent class (much higher than Swarthmore's 40% or Williams 45%), they enrolled the most diverse student body of any top LAC in their recent class, and their endowment per student is the largest of the four, fifth only to HYPS. With the Forbes rankings I think they'll only get more selective. The 5 Claremont Colleges are also selective, with 4 of the 5 representing the lowest acceptance rate among top 50, non-military LACs, and Scripps the second most selective women's college after Barnard.

Williams is definitely more prestigious and has a richer history of successful alum than Pomona, however.

Bowdoin, Carleton, and Middlebury aren't far behind (comparable to places like Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt in rank), though they're poorer on an endowment per capita basis and not as selective.

pomona has shot up because of the weather and much less stress/easier grading compared to AWS.

AWS you get to freeze your gentials off and are subjected to harder grading.

So why go to AWS when Pomona is of equal quality but QoL is way higher?

[Anonymous]

I don't see how Pomona has "much easier grading" when the average median GPA at the schools is:

Amherst: 3.53
Swarthmore: 3.56
Pomona: 3.59

I can't find William's comparable 2013 number, but I'd guess it'd be around the same.

[Anonymous]

NVM I found it. Williams 3.41

Huh, wonder why it's so much lower?

[Anonymous]

According to Forbes, only one, Stanford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how Pomona has "much easier grading" when the average median GPA at the schools is:

Amherst: 3.53
Swarthmore: 3.56
Pomona: 3.59

I can't find William's comparable 2013 number, but I'd guess it'd be around the same.

Pomona had a semester exchange program with Swarthmore and every Pomona kid said the same thing - "wow, you are all way more stressed out and have to deal with harder grading than us".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Williams is around Dartmouth/Penn/Brown level. My Ivy pecking order goes H>Princeton>Y>Columbia>Penn>D>B>Cornell

There are only three other LACs that I'd call equal, not better or worse, and that's Amherst, Swarthmore, and Pomona. Pomona in particular is a rising star in the same way Stanford is overtaking Harvard in many aspects. They were the most selective LAC by acceptance rate, had a 55% yield for their recent class (much higher than Swarthmore's 40% or Williams 45%), they enrolled the most diverse student body of any top LAC in their recent class, and their endowment per student is the largest of the four, fifth only to HYPS. With the Forbes rankings I think they'll only get more selective. The 5 Claremont Colleges are also selective, with 4 of the 5 representing the lowest acceptance rate among top 50, non-military LACs, and Scripps the second most selective women's college after Barnard.

Williams is definitely more prestigious and has a richer history of successful alum than Pomona, however.

Bowdoin, Carleton, and Middlebury aren't far behind (comparable to places like Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt in rank), though they're poorer on an endowment per capita basis and not as selective.

You're over-analyzing this.

What an odd comment. I appreciate the thoughtful post PP!

[Anonymous]

My son is going to Harvard, but Williams was his top choice at first (he applied ED but was deferred-->accepted). After visiting Harvard he felt Williams felt much less resourced and much more isolated, though he saw its appeal and felt the initial reasons he had for applying early were accurate to the school. He also met many kids at Williams admitted days who were choosing the college over all of the other Ivies.

Williams was his favorite LAC that he visited. He also visited Swarthmore, Amherst, and Bowdoin, but didn't have the same "love" factor with them. He didn't even consider Pomona (didn't know about it at all).

[Anonymous]

Williams is one of perhaps ten that can all be considered "best".

Don't be such a snob and look at fit once you are at that level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Williams is one of perhaps ten that can all be considered "best".

Don't be such a snob and look at fit once you are at that level.

+1

[Anonymous]

I'd go to any ivy first. Also MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford, U Chicago, Johns Hopkins, and probably Berkeley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd go to any ivy first. Also MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford, U Chicago, Johns Hopkins, and probably Berkeley.

Go for the best fit like other posters have recommended. However, I'd disagree that Williams undergrad reputation isn't on par w/ Johns Hopkins or none-HYPS Ivys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd go to any ivy first. Also MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford, U Chicago, Johns Hopkins, and probably Berkeley.

You're just spouting prestigious schools. Pretty much nobody who is interested in Williams would have any interest in Cal Tech.

[Anonymous]

I'd put Wellesley above it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd go to any ivy first. Also MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford, U Chicago, Johns Hopkins, and probably Berkeley.

You're just spouting prestigious schools. Pretty much nobody who is interested in Williams would have any interest in Cal Tech.

+1

[Anonymous]

For the culturally/intellectually elite set, Williams--and Amherst and Swarthmore, also certain highly selective women's colleges--has more cache than HYP. This is often because it is simply assumed that one will go onto graduate school at a top university, whether it be HYP, MIT, Stanford, Chicago, etc. Any Joe Schmoe would be impressed by HY, but only those who have fairly privileged backgrounds would know to apply to AWS