Is there an advantage in applying ED to Williams?

TheGreyKing
Sun, 23 Jun 2019 20:27:24 +0000

Welcome to College Confidential, @johnstitt!

Although many athletes are admitted to Williams early decision, so the ED advantage for all applicants is not as strong as it may initially appear, it also is true that many students are admitted early decision to Williams who are not athletes. Experience with the ED admitted students’ chat group makes that very clear: students were from all interests, places, walks of life.

Think of it this way. With about 47% of the class admitted through early decision, if it is a top choice for you and you are confident that you would not have regrets about closing other options were you to be admitted, ED is a smart choice to increase your odds. By being admitted to the first half of the class, if you are from North Dakota, or play the oboe, or are a member of an underrepresented minority group, or a first generation student, or a legacy, you will receive full consideration before those slots are filled by other talented students who could fill those same slots.

But if you want to keep your options open, do not despair. Lots of students are admitted RD every year. In fact, more are admitted RD than ED, because many of the people admitted RD end up picking another college, so they have to admit plenty of RD applicants to account for that.

And choose your extracurricular activities by what you actually want to do! Have fun in high school doing what you love. There are tons of students at Williams who were high school athletes who put tons of time into their sport in high school but were nowhere good enough to even think about playing on a varsity team at Williams. Your activities do not just match to needs at Williams. They show what matters to you as an individual and what you made of the opportunities available to you.

Best of luck in your college search and application process!