I'll give the nod to HYPS, but where does Williams fall after them? |
Behind Amhesrt for sure. |
Better in what sense?
The only thing that matters is the right fit for the student. |
One. Amherst. |
HYPS, Amherst, Williams? You believe Amherst and Williams are better than Chicago, Columbia, Penn, Duke, Dartmouth...? |
Yes. |
Well, if you watch The Affair on Showtime, not a single one. |
If you can't spell it........ |
A silly question because "better" is too nebulous to have any meaning in this sense.
Someone considering Williams should know better. |
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. |
This is a dumb thread. Better after a certain level becomes meaningless. |
haha no. |
Not really. Anyone who thinks Williams is HYP level, or at some level much better than other top LACs doesn't really know what they're taking about. Simple. |
Amherst, without a doubt. Williams is great, but what else is going on in the town? At Amherst you've got a great town AND access to Northampton and the rest of the Pioneer Valley. |