Williams or Princeton?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be inclined to say Princeton but you should read up on mental health issues there and other pressure cooker schools. 8 suicides there in 3 years. Pressure is more than academic also socially can be hard. I don't know much about Williams but I have not heard the same concerns about it as I have about Princeton and Cornell.

adding to my post - know your kids and how they respond to school work, bad grades, do they find social life easy, etc.....

[Anonymous]

This isn't really a debate. Princeton is more prestigious and also has the best undergrad teaching environment of any Ivy. Williams, and most SLACs, are elite teaching environments, but don't have the general prestige of an Ivy League school.

Princeton would be the clear pick for me.

[Anonymous]

I think some might find Williams a bit too isolated and claustrophobic. It’s smaller than many local high schools and the town is also very small. The nearest city of any size is Albany, NY. Great if you like nature or relish the idea of being part of a small, tight college community, but if you don’t find your people there you’re stuck. I’d go with Princeton for the larger size, greater opportunities, and proximity to NYC and Philly.

[Anonymous]

Williams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sister was premed at Princeton. It was agonizing academically, especially at first, and she had to work her ass off. Got into one medical school barely — NYU — and the rest was fine. Princeton’s no walk in the park though.

This.

If the goal is to get into a good med school program--Princeton will be tough competing with classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:STEm is absolutely brutal at Princeton, I pile go with Williams.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Princeton is tough academically (but amazing, TBH), especially in the STEMS, so GPA is hard to keep up as high. This will make medical school applications harder as you will be competing with others who are 4.0's

Grad schools know grading at undergraduate schools, so this is bad advice.

But either Williams or Princeton will be good starting places for med school applications. With the caveat that many pre-med kids out of HS end up switching to something else anyway.

I interview for med schools so this isn't bad advice. High GPA is a screener for med school. Be very careful assuming you can make up for low GPA with the idea that they will "know" how rigorous your undergrad was.

[Anonymous]

The Williams career network is amazing if your kid ends up going into banking/consulting (a lot of former premeds in those fields!). I would lean towards Williams of your kid will fit in there. I think it will be harder to get into ked school from Princeton.

[Anonymous]

It isn’t just med school admissions concerns. Average grades in intro chem and calc this past fall on exams were well below 50 percent. Is your kid, who likely had perfect grades all the way through, going to be happy in this type of environment?

[Anonymous]

Pre Med: Williams. Unless your DC is addicted to stress.

[Anonymous]

Two recent grads of family friends both wanted med school -the Princeton grad with good but not perfect grades ended up at Pitt - the Virginia Tech grad with slightly better grades ended up at Penn…as others have stated grades matter more than school if this is your track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two recent grads of family friends both wanted med school -the Princeton grad with good but not perfect grades ended up at Pitt - the Virginia Tech grad with slightly better grades ended up at Penn…as others have stated grades matter more than school if this is your track.

Penn is one of the best med schools

[Anonymous]

I’d go with Princeton. Easy choice. Most people have never heard of Williams or confuse it with William & Mary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Williams career network is amazing if your kid ends up going into banking/consulting (a lot of former premeds in those fields!). I would lean towards Williams of your kid will fit in there. I think it will be harder to get into ked school from Princeton.

It sounds like OP’s kid has more valuable goals than banking or consulting. Princeton for sure.

[Anonymous]

Let your kid pick whichever makes him happiest, having such good choices and ending up at one he likes less would be sad, specially over fine details which may or may not matter at all.