College admissions is competitive,

One of the best things about Williams is how beautiful it is in the Berkshires, and one of the worst things is how far away it is from everything. Williams is one of those schools with a really great reputation, if you're talking to people from grad school admissions. The general population is more likely to respond "Is that a community college?" or " Oh, you mean William and Mary," so don't go here is you crave the universal recognition you get from names like Berkeley or Yale. Two thousand people means it's a small crowd, and the college town is nonexistent, so if you're hoping for a huge social scene beyond the campus, well, good luck. We have a lot of school pride, which is a necessity when you're mascot is a purple cow. One of the biggest complaints on campus is the new cluster system, which breaks the housing into 4 clusters that the students are assigned to. You can switch clusters, but we are still hoping to equalize the way the houses are divided.

Professors definitely know you're name, even in big classes, they will make and effort and if you attend office hours or study sessions, you'll be recognized. Student studying ranging from minimal to intensive depending on the person, but students still find plenty of time for extracurriculars. We aren't a competitive lot, and many students help each other study.

Most of the departments have picnics and socials. For example, the Chemistry department has a couple picnics and an annual softball game against the Biology department. The Chemistry and Biology students also have weekly snacks, and the Math Department has an ice cream social every semester. I see two of my professors in the gym regularly (they train for marathons!), and some of the small classes or departments get together for parties or dinner at a professor' home.

Students at Williams have a broad range of socio-economic backgrounds, though the best represented US states are California, Massachusetts, and New York, like many other eastern colleges. While we have a large Jewish population and there are several churches and religous groups on campus, the student population is largely non-practicing or atheist. We tend to be a fairly casual bunch, tees and jeans and sweat pants are typical classroom gear, and we lean a bit towards the left.

Ultimate frisbee is one of the most popular groups at Williams, though a capella groups are fairly popular as well. Except for the homecoming game, most athletic events are well attended, many people will have conflicting events of their own to participate in. Theatre, a capella, and dance performances tend to be well attended, but guests speaker audiences can vary from a handful to standing room only depending on the topic and the number of simultaneous events. Most friendships are made in four ways: through class, sports, or the entry (the group you live with you're freshman year), and via other friends. There is an annual Winter Carnival in February and Mountain Day sometime in the fall were you get the Friday out of class. A biannual trivia contest engages many entries, though the winner faces the responsibility of running the next competition. There are no frats and few off campus activities, but many people party every weekend.

Sport-oriented outdoors people, work hard play hard.

Generally so, about 70% of students are involved in a sport.