I think there are some older threads on this choice. I’m a Williams grad (and am very familiar with Amherst), and my younger son graduated from Northwestern. While I preferred a small liberal arts college (and am a big proponent of this form of college experience), my son’s experience at Northwestern did include many of the benefits of a small school. Arts & Sciences is in some ways like a smaller college w/in a large university. Other than the big intro classes, my son had many small classes and got to know a number of his professors, there are numerous research opportunities for undergrads, etc. I think I would pick Williams/Amherst for myself if I had to do it all over again, but I think a larger school does offer some real benefits: greater number and range of classes, internships in Chicago, wider range of extracurricular activities. Morty Schapiro, NU’s president, was previously president at Williams, and I think he has focussed on the undergraduate experience at NU during his tenure and been very successful. Bottom line: you can’t go wrong, they are both great schools. Congrats!