The professors knew my name. I suppose it helped that most of the time I was the only Asian in my class, but nevertheless most classes are small enough that there is some kind of relationship between the students and professors that is built throughout the semester.
My favorite class… I don’t know. I think would have rather just been given the reading assignments and have a one on one conversation about the specific topic with the professor. Least favorite classes were the introductory classes.
How often do students study? I don’t know. Studying depends on the requirements for the class. Join a frat or sorority and get the inside information on how professors conduct their classes. It is a huge untold benefit of joining a fraternity or sorority, granted one goes out of ones way to join one (meaning going through pledgeship).
Class participation depends on the class.
W&L students, in my opinion, regurgitate what they hear without thinking twice about it. There was a comment from the Princeton Review (I think…) that said something like, “W&L students have a lot of intelligent students, but not very many intellectuals”. In my opinion, I felt this comment was not fair (whatever “fair” might be) because I found this comment true for most academic institutes. I’ve attended a class at Williams College (in MA), Seattle University (Summer), Harvard Summer Program, and Binghamton University (Fall). I think it would be safe to say that I’ve had the opportunity(?)/circumstance of getting a broader firsthand experience of the tertiary educational process.
Students are competitive, some are cold hearted, others are friendly and beneficial. It’s a mixed bag, probably like most any other place.
The most unique class I’ve taken at W&L was during my senior year during spring semester. Economics of Race and Ethnicity. I was the only Asian student in the class, no African American students, one Hispanic descent but looked Caucasian, and the rest was Caucasian. Just a coincidence? I think not, but if it was, it was quite a coincidence. This class did not have any text books. It had a great professor. All the required reading was from recent economic journal articles, and the homework was to systematically analyze the reading. Community service was required.
My major was economics. The department... well it's ok. I'm not quite sure what you want to know. As far as my understanding goes "C-School", as it's called amongst the students, is comprised of Econ, Business, and Accounting Majors. I though the education I received was pretty good. Some professors are better than others. All professor are reachable, prompt in responses, and have time to meet with you after class. The academic requirements, well there are some policies that I don't understand why they are there, but I think the school's academic requirement is strongly influenced by the composition of the student population structure and "tradition". Whether it's a good thing or a bad thing is something you have to experience, and arguments that are based upon subjective, personal experiences are hard to rationally justify as "good arguments" (read derrida, or was it someone else... i forget).
I'm not sure whether an W&L education is geared towards getting a job or learning for its own sake, but the way I think has been more theortical ever since.