The colleges he’s admitted to: Williams, Amherst, Pomona, Princeton U, UPenn, Dartmouth, Duke and 2 in-state private and public colleges.
The colleges he’s either waitlisted or denied: Yale, Harvard, Columbia, UChicago, Stanford, Brown, WashU and Vanderbilt (didn’t submit music supplement to the last two).
The colleges on top of our wish list prior to the results: Williams, Princeton, Harvard
The colleges that offered the best financial aid package: Princeton (and Williams close second)
The colleges we’ve narrowed down to and planning on visiting before making the final decision: Williams and Princeton
Being young and impressionable, my son is leaning more towards Princeton, but as a parent, I’m truly impressed with Williams’ quality, care, and support they put into the undergraduate education and experience. Even before the official result was announced, my son received an email from one of the college’s violin instructors, expressing her desire to work with him and inviting him to a workshop this summer in Switzerland. I couldn’t accept her invitation not even knowing whether Williams was going to accept him or not at the time. Besides, we had already made a big plan for the summer, so we had to politely decline the invitation due to the schedule conflict. Nevertheless, it left me with a very strong and positive impression on Williams.
After the official acceptance, I was impressed even further that parents of current Williams students reached out to us, followed by an email from the chairperson of the music dept and another email from the chairperson of the bio dept, followed by another email from a current student. All the research into the school here on CC have also left me with a very strong impression that the college truly focuses on their students’ success. Many folks attested to how Williams is truly supportive of those students who are double majors and how successful these students are in their pursuits not only while they’re at Williams but beyond. I feel a sense of reassurance and confidence that I can’t really get from the larger universities to the same degree, including Princeton.
I’m a bit biased in favor of Williams at this point but that’s perhaps due to my limited insights into Princeton as I’ve done more research into Williams than Princeton so far. I will have to spend more time learning about Princeton beyond what’s on paper and pay visits to both institutions before making the final decision. In the meantime, I’d very much appreciate your thoughts on Williams vs. Princeton.