Located in Williamstown, MA, Williams College is ranked number 1 in liberal arts colleges in the U.S.
Williams College is one of the most popular liberal arts colleges in the U.S. Being a liberal arts college, Williams only has an undergraduate enrollment of around 2200 students, with approximately 550 students in each class. The small student body allows students to get to know their entire class, encourages classroom engagement, and fosters stronger relationships with professors.
Like most liberal art colleges, Williams College follows the 4-1-4 academic calendar, with two 4-course semesters and one 1-course winter term in January. Williams has strong departments in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, art history and economics. Want to learn more? Here are 10 fun facts about Williams College.
If you’re interested in applying, you can check out successful personal statement examples in our database! Williams also has a writing supplement that is entirely optional. You do not have to submit it if you don’t feel the need to. Just in case you do, here are the essay prompts you can choose from:
Please respond to one of the prompts below in a short essay of 300 words or fewer.
Essay Prompts #1
At Williams we believe that bringing together students and professors in small groups produces extraordinary academic outcomes. Our distinctive Oxford-style tutorial classes—in which two students are guided by a professor in deep exploration of a single topic—are a prime example. Each week the students take turns developing independent work—an essay, a problem set, a piece of art—and critiquing their partner’s work. Focused on close reading, writing and oral defense of ideas, more than 60 tutorials a year are offered across the curriculum, with titles like Aesthetic Outrage, Financial Crises: Causes and Cures, and Genome Sciences: At the Cutting Edge. Imagine yourself in a tutorial at Williams. Of anyone in the world, whom would you choose to be your partner in the class, and why?
Essay Prompts #2
Each Sunday night, in a tradition called Storytime, students, faculty and staff gather to hear a fellow community member relate a brief story from their life (and to munch on the storyteller’s favorite homemade cookies). What story would you share? What lessons have you drawn from that story, and how would those lessons inform your time at Williams?
Essay Prompts #3
Every first-year student at Williams lives in an Entry—a thoughtfully constructed microcosm of the student community that’s a defining part of the Williams experience. From the moment they arrive, students find themselves in what’s likely the most diverse collection of backgrounds, perspectives and interests they’ve ever encountered. What might differentiate you from the 19 other first-year students in an entry? What perspective(s) would you add to the conversation with your peers?
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