About Hobart William Smith Colleges

Founded in 1822, Hobart William Smith Colleges. is a Private college. Located in New York, which is a city setting in New York, the campus itself is Town. The campus is home to 2,262 full time undergraduate students, and 9 full time graduate students.

The Hobart William Smith Colleges Academic calendar runs on a Semester basis. In the school year the student to faculty ratio was 10:1. There are 202 full time instructional teachers. Degrees awarded at Hobart William Smith Colleges include: Bachelor's Degree, Masters Degree, Post-master's certificate, Doctor's degree.

Quick Facts

Acceptance Rate57%
Application Deadline15-Nov
Application Fee45
SAT Range1160-1350
ACT Range26-30

Admissions at HWS are considered Selective, with ,29% of all applicants being admitted.

In the school year, of the students who applied to the school, only 13 of those who were admitted eventually ended up enrolling.

93% of incoming freshmen are in the top half of their high school class. 72% were in the top quarter, and 35% were in the top tenth. You can apply online.

STUDENT LIFE

We asked, and students answered these important questions about student life at Hobart William Smith Colleges.

0%
“We”re apathetic”
22%
“We know about current events and vote”
78%
“We participate and encourage others to get involved”
0%
“There”s nothing we won”t protest”
0%
“We save it for the classroom”
33%
“Sometimes, but not often”
56%
“There”s usually intelligent conversation to be found”
11%
“All the time, including weekends”
0%
“I”m always terrified”
11%
“I only go out in groups”
22%
“I usually let someone know where I”m going”
67%
“I feel extremely safe”
13%
“We don”t play sports”
0%
“We play recreationally”
63%
“We bought the gear”
25%
“We live for the big game”
0%
“It”s not really our thing”
22%
“Occasinally we gallery crawl”
56%
“There are a variety of opportunities”
22%
“We”re a very artistic group”
0%
“Haven”t met them”
11%
“Available in class”
56%
“They keep regular office hours”
33%
“They”re always available”
0%
“No greek life, but other groups to join”
56%
“There is some involvement, but not a lot”
44%
“Plenty of people join a sorority or fraternity”
0%
“It”s everything. If you”re not greek, you”re a geek”
0%
“We”re not into drinking at all”
13%
“Maybe a little, but it”s not a big thing”
50%
“We only party on weekends”
38%
“There”s some drinking happening every night”
0%
“Never, we”re here to learn”
33%
“There might be people who do”
44%
“People are known to partake on weekends”
22%
“There”s a huge drug scene”
0%
“We”re apathetic”
22%
“We know about current events and vote”
78%
“We participate and encourage others to get involved”
0%
“There”s nothing we won”t protest”
0%
“We save it for the classroom”
33%
“Sometimes, but not often”
56%
“There”s usually intelligent conversation to be found”
11%
“All the time, including weekends”
0%
“I”m always terrified”
11%
“I only go out in groups”
22%
“I usually let someone know where I”m going”
67%
“I feel extremely safe”
13%
“We don”t play sports”
0%
“We play recreationally”
63%
“We bought the gear”
25%
“We live for the big game”
0%
“It”s not really our thing”
22%
“Occasinally we gallery crawl”
56%
“There are a variety of opportunities”
22%
“We”re a very artistic group”
0%
“Haven”t met them”
11%
“Available in class”
56%
“They keep regular office hours”
33%
“They”re always available”
0%
“No greek life, but other groups to join”
56%
“There is some involvement, but not a lot”
44%
“Plenty of people join a sorority or fraternity”
0%
“It”s everything. If you”re not greek, you”re a geek”
0%
“We”re not into drinking at all”
13%
“Maybe a little, but it”s not a big thing”
50%
“We only party on weekends”
38%
“There”s some drinking happening every night”
0%
“Never, we”re here to learn”
33%
“There might be people who do”
44%
“People are known to partake on weekends”
22%
“There”s a huge drug scene”

Hobart William Smith Colleges REVIEWS

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  • How would you rate on-campus housing?

    73 Students rated on-campus housing 3.8 stars. 22 % gave the school a 5.0.

  • How would you rate off-campus housing?

    47 Students rated off-campus housing 3.2 stars. 0 % gave the school a 5.0.

  • How would you rate campus food?

    73 Students rated campus food 3.1 stars. 10 % gave the school a 5.0.

  • How would you rate campus facilities?

    73 Students rated campus facilities 4.1 stars. 37 % gave the school a 5.0.

  • How would you rate class size?

    73 Students rated class size 4.6 stars. 66 % gave the school a 5.0.

  • How would you rate school activities?

    73 Students rated school activities 4 stars. 40 % gave the school a 5.0.

  • How would you rate local services?

    73 Students rated local services 4 stars. 34 % gave the school a 5.0.

  • How would you rate academics?

    73 Students rated academics 3.7 stars. 29 % gave the school a 5.0.

What's your overall opinion of Hobart William Smith Colleges?

11 Students rated Hobart William Smith Colleges

Lillian - 03/24/2021

HWS feels like home to me. The campus is beautiful, the buildings full of history and vibrancy and life. The professors and faculty are wonderful, valuable mentors who genuinely care about their students and about giving us the tools to lead lives of consequence. What I really love is how interdiscipinary study is encouraged and how you can find at least one class you want to take in any department no matter what your major is because there's such a broad range of subjects that are taught. I love my school.

Tiara - 10/11/2020

This was my dream school and couldn't wait to apply, during what was my last semester at Genesee Community College (Fall 2018). After requesting information from the website, I was instantly paired with Marilyn O'hara Uhnak (Associate Vice President and Director of International Enrollment and Success). Ms. Uhnak instructed that I submit all the necessary documentation through their portal—as well as scheduling a date to both tour the campus and meet with her. On the day I was scheduled to meet with Ms. Uhnak, I entered the admissions hall and immediately—I felt uncomfortable. As a person of color walking into that setting, I instantly recieved a blank stares and the quick once-over—as if the staff hadn't expected me to be there (despite my formal attire). After my tour, I was finally able to meet with Ms. Uhnak and she was pleasant—at first. I am unsure if I did well in my interview or not, but needless to say, she hadn't reached out to me via email—like she said, she would. After a few days, I I still hadn't recieved neither a phone call or email from her or the office. I tried reached out to her multiple times and still no response. I even checked the Hobart and William Smith portal and it hadn't declared whether or not I was accepted—despite my submission of all the requred documents. Since then (Fall 2018), I hadn't pressed the issue nor did I try to file a complaint. Then, I figured that if they treated me that way, I can just imagine how I would be treated as a student—I counted it as a blessing in disguise. Moving forward, I hope that a student of color would read this review and reconsider attending colleges as such. At the time, I was so swoon over the offered majors and activities that I didn't do the necessary research on diversity and equity. Don't let that be you.

Jack

The College is pretty misleading. Honestly became a student here two years ago and I was really excited. Slowly I saw how stingy the Residential housing office was when they would charge nominal fees. For example I was charged $150 for leaving my dorm 15 minutes later than expected. Or I broke an exit sign once and for the rest of the year campus safety would come into my room at 6 am on Sundays to make sure I hadn't broken another and would try to pin other broken exit signs on me. Furthermore, HWS advertises how nice it is to live off campus but its honestly impossible because they charge 7,000 dollars per semester to live in residential housing so they have an incentive to make it hard to live off campus because they want the housing revenue.On another note the entire college is run terribly. The registration process it run better at state schools. Its hard to get into intro classes that I need for my major and twice my registration hold has been on my account "because of an error in the system" and I have not been able to take the classes I need. Furthermore, athletes on scholarship are prioritized to pick classes first because they have to work around their schedule which is bull shit, if they don't pay for school why should they have an advantage at picking classes when the process is already so hard. The deans and the provost have no power the teachers have it all, they fail students who have conservative thoughts and love students who hate Trump. In the four years that I will have been at this school I will experience 4 different presidents, teachers are pissed, students are pissed and there is no direction what so ever. Also athletes rape girls and the school turns a blind eye because they are good at sports. This school is not worth 66,000 a year.

Carey

Hobart and William Smith has provided me with so many opportunities, the professors have been accessible (some are more willing to help than others), the student services are good particularly the centre for teaching and learning. Varsity sports opportunities are excellent with coaches open to athletes for whatever they need and the strength and conditioning coaches being friendly and helpful.

Hobart William Smith Colleges FAQS

  1. What is the Acceptance Rate at Hobart William Smith Colleges?

    The fall 2020 acceptance rate for Hobart William Smith Colleges is 57%. That means, out of _____ applications received in 2020 , _____ students were offered admission. The number of males who applied was _____ vs the number of females which was _____.

  2. What should every freshman at your school know before they start?

    I would advise parents to be intimately involved in the college search process with their child. It is important to understand the needs and wants of your child when choosing the right college. I would therefore advise parents and students to decide what type of school they are looking for before visiting colleges by considering such characteristics as class sizes, accademic standards, campus activites, available financial resources, social life, distance from home, surrounding community, etc. This requires a fair amount of research to answer these questions. However, by taking into account all of these characteristics you can ensure that the choice that you make is the right one. Once the choice has been made, I would advise students to make the most of their college experience by being open and accepting to change. Entering the college environment can be scary and exciting at the same time. It is important to get involved and experience the resources that your college has to offer you. Many of the relationships made in college both socially and accademically will last a lifetime. Therefore it is important for parents to support their children and encourage them to explore their college environment to the fullest.

    Read all  66 answers
  3. Describe the students at your school.

    A wide variety of interests, perspectives and intellect, but all fairly friendly and open to conversation.

    Read all  16 answers
  4. What kind of person should not attend this school?

    Someone who likes big classes and wants to blend into the crowd or is very job-oriented will not fit in here. Also, the LGBT community is fairly small.

    Read all  15 answers
  5. What do you brag about most when you tell your friends about your school?

    The beautiful campus. The Quad is huge and there are always people on it. The campus is right on a lake that I wouldn't trade for anything.

    Read all  13 answers
  6. Describe your favorite campus traditions.

    econmics

    Read all  12 answers
  7. Describe how your school looks to someone who's never seen it.

    My school is beautiful, full of friendship, and full of surprises.

    Read all  11 answers
  8. What kind of person should attend this school?

    As a girl, you must be comfortable being in a male dominated social structure. Since, there are only fraternities and no sororities, all big parties are ran by men. In other words, all big parties call for girls to dress slutty. A girl must come to HWS confident and not willing to fall into the traps of Hobart men.

    Read all  11 answers
  9. What do you consider the worst thing about your school? Why?

    A lot of drinking goes on so if you're not cool with that it can be hard to find people to hang out with. It is possible, but it just takes a longer time, and I felt very lonely at the beginning of freshman year.

    Read all  11 answers
  10. Here's your chance: Say anything about your college!

    The small campus, more attention on me, I love it. I dont have to wait weeks to see a professor but that can also be a bad thing if you want to avoid them,

    Read all  10 answers
  11. What's unique about your campus?

    classes are very small, and the professors actually care about your learning.

    Read all  10 answers
  12. What's the one thing you wish someone had told you about freshman year?

    how hypocritical and unresponsive the administration is.

    Read all  10 answers
  13. What's the most frustrating thing about your school?

    It's very politically apathetic, with a disdain toward liberal politics from the administration and many students. Desires to be more enviromentally minded, but had difficulty doing so. The students are all mostly of one type: white, rich, uncaring, and conservative.

    Read all  9 answers
  14. What is your overall opinion of this school?

    Some of the greatest things about Hobart include: -The beautiful campus -The variety of people -The variety of athletics and intramural activities -It's environmental awareness -The personable faculty -The small class sizes If I could change one thing, it would be the presence of academic goals. At a liberal arts college, the goals tend to cause students to take bull-shit classes just because the goals tell them to. They often lower the student's gpa and tends not to diversify the student as they are closed minded to and generally pissed off about the class. I believe that Hobart is just the right size, but some say that it is too small as you often are forced to see people on a regular basis that you really don't want to see. Often times, when they hear that I attend HWS, people say that they have never heard of it. I spend most of my time in my room or doing things involving football, but that is not typical of a student here. When the weather is nice, students spend all day playing Frisbee or enjoying the sun on the quad. There are myriad talks to go to regarding almost anything that you could be interested in too. Geneva is definitely a college town and the economy thrives on the presence of the college students. There is not a ton to do, but most large chains are present. Geneva is close to several larger areas, including Rochester, Syracuse and Ithaca. The administration here is extremely involved with the students. As a transfer student from Clarkson University, though, I found that the financial aid department was not quite as personable as at other institutions. There is a great amount of school pride on campus. The turn out for sports is always great and school apparel is warn with extreme frequency. At HWS, there is a divide between Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Though we share the same campus, classes, dorms, etc.., we are technically two separate schools. We have deans of Hobart and deans of William Smith. Also, we have separate student governments. The men's athletic teams are the Hobart Statesmen and the women's teams are the William Smith Herons. But, this is about as far as the separation goes. The most frequent student complaint is the cost of attendance.

    Read all  1 answers
  15. What is the stereotype of students at your school?

    The stereotypes about HWS students include rich, snobby kids who come from prep schools in New England.

    Read all  1 answers
  16. What are the most popular student activities/groups?

    Just about all groups are equally popular. Athletics are very popular here and student government is also important. In my experience, students tend to leave their doors unlocked, and there is a policy of being welcome at any time, but the doors automatically close and thus need to be proped in order to stay open. Athletic events and guest speakers are extremely popular on campus. There are deep rivalries with several schools and those games are always well attended. HWS has the ability to bring very accomplished speakers to campus and the talks are well attended. Certain theatre events on campus are very popular, while others are on the rise. The dating scene is almost non-existent on campus and "hook-ups" tend to be popular. The student body is very social. Some of my closest friends are the people that I live with. First years at HWS are often put into housing that causes them to be with two if not three other people. The community feeling is enhanced as certain dorm buildings are small. This causes you to get to know a variety of people, and you grow close to them. If I am awake at 2am on a tuesday, chances are good that I am writing a paper. The days here are too nice to waste, so work tends to be put off until the night hours. People party every weekend. Partying is very common on this campus, as it is on every campus. There is an 18+ club in Geneva that is a popular haunt for HWS students. People say that you have to be drunk in order to enjoy it. Partying on Wednesday night is common as well, though most students do not do this every week if they do it at all. Fraternities are popular on campus and a great deal of parties are held at these houses. There are no sororities on campus to my knowledge. Last weekend I went to the lacrosse game with my friends and roommates on friday night. Saturday, during the day, I worked on a paper. And on saturday night, I went out with my roommates and a few of our other friends to just unwind before reading week. There are very often activites such as open mic nights and other things for students who don't drink, but there aren't too many options really.

    Read all  1 answers
  17. What are the academics like at your school?

    It is not uncommon to meet professors for coffee or at their office hours and I have done so on several occasions. HWS's academic requirements are reasonable, but I feel that the ability to achieve a 4.3 as opposed to a 4.0 is an elemtentary move. I feel that it would be difficult to take someone seriously who had a 4.3 under GPA on their resume. Also, it is often times difficult to pull your GPA up if you did poorly in a class that you thought that you would need but it later turns out that it has nothing to do with your major. The education here is geared towards learning and not necessarily towards a job whereas at Clarkson, EVERYTHING was geared towards graduation and getting a job.

    Read all  1 answers
  18. Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate?

    Many students here come from wealthy families and wear expensive clothes. Many also come from prep schools and a great amount come from New England, but the stereotype unfairly groups all students. There are a fair amount of students here from lower-mid to upper-low class families.

    Read all  1 answers

Student Body

Students

50%

female

50%

male

2,262

Total Undergrad Enrollment

9

Total Grad Students

59%

Out-Of-State

36%

In-State

5%

International

Organizations

80

Student Organizations

6

Fraternities

N/A

Sororities

Housing

Yes

On-Campus Housing

81%

of students living on campus

Student Diversity

% American Indian/Alaskan Native
N/A
% Asian/Pacific Islander
3%
% Black or African-American
6%
% Hispanic/Latino
5%
% White or Caucasian
72%

TUITION & AID

All students must apply yearly for financial aid. This process starts with the FAFSA. Though financial aid deadlines vary by school, it is a good idea to apply as soon as possible. For the upcoming school year, you can apply as early as October 1 for the FAFSA. Additional school aid will be dependent on the FAFSA results.

92% of students attending Hobart William Smith Colleges receive some sort of financial aid. 17% were awarded federal grants. While 57% received federal loans. Many students do also need to apply for additional private student loans.

Cost Out of State

$51,559

Tuition and fees(Out of state)

$1,300

Books and Supplies

$13,757

Room and Board

66,616

Total On Campus

Actual Cost By Income Level(W/Financial Aid)

Family Income
Cost
$0 - $30K
$15,660
$30 - $48K
$18,504
$48 - $75K
$23,818
$75 - $110K
$32,857
$110K & UP
$40,006

We use student reviews and the most current publicly available data on our school pages. As such, we don't typically remove or edit college information. Sources for school statistics and data include the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Portions of college data include copyrighted material, which is reproduced on this website by permission of Wintergreen Orchard House, a division of Carnegie Communications. © 2009-2016 by Wintergreen Orchard House. All rights reserved.

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