Williams College

About Me

Intro

I'll admit, I'm always a bit worried about coming off like Kanye when I talk about myself. It's just that the praise sometimes goes to my head.

Let's be real. I'm hard to miss when I keep appearing at the top of those top ten lists. To name one example, I'm numero uno on U.S. News & World Report's 2015 list of liberal arts colleges. Outsiders say I've got it all: smarts, good looks, small-town charm…and I want to live up to my reputation. My academic interests range from anthropology to Arabic studies to astrophysics—and I haven't even gotten out of the A's.

I'm also well-endowed, which is evident in my new state-of-the-art theatre arts building and gorgeous new library.

Before you start hating on the rich kid, consider the perks you'll have just by hanging with me. I may seem a bit distant—elitist, even—but I can assure you that I warm up once you get to know me.

I have everything a small liberal arts school can offer, including great sports teams and extracurricular clubs. From an annual school-wide trivia contest, to hiking nearby Mount Greylock on Mountain Day, there are lots of activities that help create a sense of camaraderie.

As you probably guessed, I'm a bit preppy. Button-down shirts or polos are my usual garb. I've got my share of prep-school grads from wealthy dads, but I'm also worldly. I'm pretty much the Brangelina family of the college world. I make friends with people from all walks of life to avoid being cliquey.

Name

Call me Eph (rhymes with "chief"), which is short for Ephraim Williams, my founder. I'm better known as a purple cow, probably because Eph looks a bit serious. I try not to take myself too seriously.

Hometown

No, it's not Middle-of-Nowhere. It's Williamstown, Massachusetts. That's the northwestern corner of Massachusetts, in the Berkshires.

Birthdate

1793. Yep, I'm almost as old as Uncle Sam himself.

Body Type

Petite. As in, roughly 2,100 undergrad students, plus a handful of grad students in art history and development economics…all on 450 acres in a rural setting.

It's pretty cozy, so if you're looking for hustle-and-bustle, city-type crowds, you'll have to wait for spring break. Classes are tiny, too. With a 7:1 student-teacher ratio, three of every four classes have fewer than twenty students, and fewer than three percent have fifty or more.

Current Living Situation

Hope you like dorms, because almost everyone lives in one. It's my belief that living together is an important part of building a close community. To this end, freshmen all live together in the aptly named Freshman Quad or in honeycomb-shaped rooms in the maze-like Mission Park. MP has its own cafeteria, common rooms, and pool tables.

To make things easier for newcomers, the dorms are broken into smaller groups called entries. Each has a couple of juniors who live with the freshmen to answer any questions they might have and (more importantly) to relive their first year.

Upperclassmen are offered a range of options, including the former frat houses (which have been cleaned up since then…don't worry). Most peeps have their own rooms; singles make up over 907 of the total 1,085 dorm rooms.

Off-campus options are generally reserved for seniors, but there are lots of houses close-by that have been rented by college students for many years…and hence are in varying degrees of disorder and disrepair.

Relationship Status

I'm part of a cool club called the "Little Three" with Wesleyan and Amherst. I'm kind of like the older (and smarter and better) brother of Amherst. Like all siblings, Amherst and I don't always get along. I blame it on Amherst's inferiority complex, which is evident in his insistence on being called Lord Jeff. Like, really?

Politics

I lean a bit left—after all, I am a liberal arts school—especially when talking about social causes. Even so, there's a pretty solid cluster of conservatives and many who meet in the middle.

You should apply to me if...

you have a passion for learning, serious academic chops, and don't cringe at the thought of being somewhere where the tallest building is only four stories high.