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Dear fg13 : True story - when S1 came down to the final two schools, the decision was Williams College vs. Boston College (after eliminating Cornell, Georgetown, and Amherst).
Williams is an exceptional academic school (US News and World Report pegs this as a number one liberal arts school) with an active on-campus sports tradition. The Ephs do have a reputation of being a "jock school" but it is far from that when you are on the campus. On the academic side, the tutorial system at Williams was undoubtedly the most exciting educational concept from just about any school : two students, reviewing each others work on a weekly basis, and one professor assigned to the tutorial. Williams student count sits around 2200 so the entire campus is sized to one of BC's entering classes.
While Williams is a beautiful setting in the Berkshires, it is remote - very remote. If you visit the campus, you will see that the school is 45 minutes from the interstate and the local town is made up of just a few shoppes. There have been issues this year at Williams, best described as dorm-based biological hazards or "poo" incidents. The drinking culture is strong, undoubtedly tied to the remote campus location - which begs the question how the liquor gets the dorms in the first place.
On accepted Eph day, you will hear about the alumni network which is very strong and extends from New York to Boston. Hard to believe, but Williams has only 25,000 alumni in their entire school history.
Honestly, I think you need to weigh your relative location to city life and campus size. Williams, Boston College, and USC spans the spectrum between size and location.
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