All wonderful choices! You can’t go wrong here. They also are much more similar to than different from one another, with all the advantages of small liberal arts colleges, and none of them have frats.
Spouse went to Vassar; child and I both went to Williams; child visited and seriously considered Middlebury.
Art history is a particularly strong department at Williams, with a super powerful alumni network in this field. English is strong at all three of those colleges.
The physical environments were described above by others. Here are some other considerations.
Williams:
The hardest to get into of the three, highest test scores, etc.
The most nerdy students of the three colleges.
A quite intense intellectual experience with a heavy workload, but a very collaborative community.
The tutorials are special and unusual among colleges. 2 kids, 1 professor in a class.
Winter Study in January.
Great freshman experience with close-knit freshman “entries” (dorms) and Ephventure orientation groups.
Alas, poorly maintained dorms and dorm furniture. And its campus is not as nice as the other two colleges’ campuses- a bit crowded, a road in the middle, and a hodge-podge of different architectual styles (although it is the nearest to the mountains- you can walk, not drive, to a mountain hike). Great and gorgeous new library, though!!!
The most prestigious choice of the three in terms of ranking (although more people on the street will have heard of Vassar). More people with a choice of the three colleges will pick Williams for this reason.
Best alumni network overall (although Vassar has the edge for performing arts alumni).
You will like the art history alumni connections and the three major art museums near campus.
Vassar:
Loosest academic requirements. That’s a nice feature. Lots of choice.
Ratio most skewed toward females of the three choices.
Great theatre on campus, and famous alumni in the performing arts.
The only one of the three that is suburban, not rural.
Closest of the three to a major metropolis, though still pretty far (about 2 hours).
Living in the same dorm for three years builds community.
Lovely buildings, Library, Shakespeare Garden, Sunset Lake.
Most recognized name of the three with the masses.
Middlebury:
The best maintained buildings and campus of the three, with breathtaking mountain views all around, too! Absolutely gorgeous.
Best food of the three. By far.
Most stringent academic distribution requirements of the three.
Of the three, for most people it will be the farthest away/ longest drive or trip/ most isolated.
The best of the three for foreign language study.
You can’t go wrong here. Make a choice and don’t look back. Good luck!