When it comes to us internationals who want a substantial financial aid, our options of colleges is severely limited. In my extensive search, I could only find around 60 schools that gave some sort of aid and that were decent in teaching CS. Out of those, most were colleges like the T20s and T50s where aid is extremely competitive (think sub 5% acceptance rates if you need aid). Among the others, almost all are LACs. And who’s the best in CS among all LACs? Williams is certainly up there.
When I inquired about Acceptance Rates at Williams, they said RD was around 5% vs 11% in ED. Also, I’m not a big fan of CA so Pomona was out of the way too. So, really, it was a choice between Williams and Amherst and I chose Williams.
It really comes down to the aid for me though. Only 5 out of like the 22 colleges I’m applying to are urban not because I specifically chose rural schools, but because those are the only options I have.