Williams College

Imagine looking through a window at any environment that is particularly significant to you. Reflect on the scene, paying close attention to the relation between what you are seeing and why it is meaningful to you. Please limit your statement to 300 words. There is a friendly but serious white bench on court 1 that … Read more Court 1

Imagine looking out a window at an environment that is particularly significant to you. Describe it. It’s a dirty, badly-lit, second-storey room. Inside is a desk, a pile of movie posters, a phone, an answering machine, and a trash can. The desk holds my modes of entertainment for the night: a couple of YA books … Read more In the Projection Booth

2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you. The colors through the window become inconsequential, only the forms and their faces significant. Through the window of my hometown Kolkata, India I see a half naked child running around on the street. His face depicts childish levity and … Read more Disparity Through My Windows

Imagine looking through a window at any environment that is particularly significant to you. Reflect on the scene, paying close attention to the relation between what you are seeing and why it is meaningful to you. Not through tinted glass, or windows fringed with laced curtains, I stared out at the vast expanse. I was … Read more Humanitarian Disaster

Name a piece of clothing that you have found to be beneficial. My old poncho is an absurdly bright shade of blue. It has the uncanny ability to turn anyone who wears it into a baggy, rather ridiculous-looking blob. This poncho holds a special place in my heart. When my mom first gave it to … Read more My Ugly Blue Poncho

Common Application: General topic of your choice. I’m sure I have the visiting team’s attention by the time I finish my first lap around the soccer field. Standing in a circle, contemplating my presence, they venture guesses quietly, “Cross country? Lost? Girl’s soccer?” Finishing my second lap, I can always feel them looking at me, … Read more Watch Me

Describe a time you dealt with a moral problem that you treated differently the second time you faced it. St. Augustine tells us, “It is not true to say that a thing rightly done once should not be changed.” I know this is true because of my experience with my grandfather’s failing health. My grandfather, … Read more Ignoring Apples

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. It was already 6 PM, and I walked across the classroom, wary of the many fingers tapping away at their keyboards, their mouse clicks, their resizing and editing articles, photos, and captions. It was … Read more Student Newspaper in Every Middle School

This personal statement helps us become acquainted with you in ways different from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data. It will demonstrate your ability to organize thoughts and express yourself. We are looking for an essay that will help us know you better as a person and as a student. Please write an … Read more An Academic Affair

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 … Read more The Power of Language