Admissions to Williams is one of the most sought after acceptances among small liberal arts colleges. The same holds true for transfers, which they admit for fall enrollment only. In this post, we’ll break down what you need to know to write your strongest Williams transfer application. First, though, let’s talk numbers.
First-year acceptance rate for enrollment in the fall of 2023 was about 10%. Just one year later, for the class of 2028 in the 2023-2024 application cycle, that rate of admission dropped to only 7.5%. This is all ridiculously low, but the transfer acceptance rate remains even lower — only 3.15%. Of 476 students who applied to transfer to Williams for fall 2023 enrollment, 15 were admitted.
If these numbers don’t scare you off, you’ll want to prepare well in advance of the application deadline by earning the highest courses in the highest level courses, with a strong and clear academic focus and path, possible. Potential transfers are also required to have been enrolled in college for at least one full year before enrolling at Williams — but not before applying.
Getting into Williams as a transfer requires top grades, deep extracurriculars, clear vision for the remainder of your collegiate path, and a strong strategy. That’s where we can help.
Every year, we help to top students transfer to exceptional colleges and universities. Learn More.
Williams has a short series of supplemental essays and short answer questions that it is crucial to ace. Here’s how.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
If there are any aspects of your personal dynamic which we should be aware of so that we can connect you with the appropriate resources on campus, please share details here. Examples might include questions about child care, housing accommodations, etc. (250 characters)
This question is optional — and it is truly optional — so don’t answer it if you don’t think you have anything to say. However, keep in mind that Williams seeks out transfer students who bring unique and diverse experiences with them to Williams. This includes students from community colleges, the U.S. Military, and the workforce, in addition to more traditional transfers from other four-year colleges.
So, don’t be cautious or ashamed about sharing where you come from. Williams wants to see. But they also don’t want you to use this as a space to make excuses or exaggerate. It helps that you only have about two sentences, so there isn’t much room to mess around anyway. Regardless, though, be direct. Share the facts, and stay out of emotion.
THE ESSAYS
The next two essays are optional, too, but they aren’t actually. If you want to get into Williams, you have to answer these with thoughtful and well-crafted responses that emphasize your strengths as an applicant.
At Williams, students thrive when they are actively engaged in their academic and cocurricular lives. Please share how your prior experiences have informed your interests and how you hope to pursue those in and out of the classroom at your next institution. (4000 characters)
With this prompt, Williams wants to know what your plan is, but their asking it is a sort of sideways way. They don’t simply want to know what you want to study. Rather, they want to know who you are as person, not only as a student. We love approaches to this prompt that bridge the classroom and the “outside” world in a way that’s organic and authentic to who you are. After all, if you want to major in something you should be engaging with the subject in a variety of ways outside of the classroom.
First, we recommend starting by reaching out to the academic department that houses your prospective major. The department will be able to give you insight into whether your goals at Williams are realistic, or, rather, what you need to do now to make them happen once you arrive on campus. This includes helping you pick courses at your current college that will transfer to Williams.
Once you have confirmed your way into your dream major at Williams, or recalibrated what may work best for you at the college, it’s time to start writing.
Pick something you do outside of school that match with your prospective major, and use a story from a particular experience you’ve had as the way into talking about your academic passion and prospective major. Then jump off from there to talking about what you will do at Williams. What will you major in? What classes will you take? What professor or two do you really want to study under? Be super specific, including with at least two clubs or student groups you hope to join with that are connected to your major either directly (like a department-affiliated club) or more loosely (like an EMT certification program for a student interested in going to medical school).
Circle back, at the end, to another activity you are doing now that you hope to continue (either in the exact or a similar form) at Williams, again illustrating the connection between your commitments today and how you can contribute to the academic and student community at Williams.
Keep in mind that you absolutely don’t need to use all 4,000 characters to answer this prompt well. Use the characters you need, without stretching to fill the allowed space. This may be as few as 2,000.
Students who are interested in submitting an example of their written work have the option of sharing an academic paper completed within the last year, ideally 3-5 pages in length. The paper does not need to be graded, and can be creative or analytical. Please do not submit lab reports. If submitting this optional paper, please include a description of the assignment or prompt below. To upload your essay, please navigate to the Documents tab within our Williams application. (up to 3000 characters)
Having the opportunity to submit a piece of written work that you’ve completed within the last year is a great thing, but you also want to be careful of this. Follow the directions (i.e., no lab reports), upload it in the documents tab, and don’t submit something over 5 pages — excluding citations or references.
So, what goes here? They ask for “a description of the assignment or prompt.” Yes, this paper needs to have been for something assigned, and you can’t just write something new to put here and call it independent work. When you put the description in, try to include the original text as written by your instructor, within quotes, plus a narrative explanation of any further instructions or guidelines you were given outside of the official assignment.
While you are able to input up to 3,000 characters for this prompt, there is no reason to use more than 1,500 characters.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
You may use the space below to provide any additional information with details about circumstances or qualifications not reflected in the application that you wish to share. (up to 9999 characters < not an error)
Yes, we felt it was necessary to flag that this prompt does truly allow you to enter up to 9,999 characters. Don’t take that as a serious offer, though. They don’t actually want you to submit just under 10,000 characters. That would be ridiculous.
However, you may indeed have something to put here. What qualifies? Well, if there is something on your transcript or in your record at your current college that is a little complicated, you may want to include a short explanation here — emphasis on short. Or, if you have had exceptional experiences that will influence your course of study or extracurriculars at Williams, that may have a home here, too. Whatever you put here should be new information, and not a repeat.
You should feel comfortable leaving this blank, but definitely brainstorm for a bit because it’s ideal if you can find something that is a good fit.
EXTRA STUFF
If you didn’t have something to put in the additional information section, don’t stress. They have more for you to do! Williams allows students to submit research abstracts “if you have pursued significant scientific, mathematics, humanities or social science research and are considering a research or academic career.” If this describes you “materials can be submitted by to applicationmaterials@williams.edu.”
You can also submit additional recommendations on top of the two required college instructor recommendations. Additional letters may be from former or current employers, military personnel, coaches, or mentors.
And, finally, the SAT or ACT. Standardized testing is optional, but encouraged (by us) if you have strong scores that underline your academic achievements.
As you consider applying to Williams as a transfer, remember that they have a two year residency requirement. This means that, even if you’ve done 2.5 years of college already, you’ll still need to put in your two years physically at Williams to graduate with your degree.
If you’re serious about Williams, contact us. We’ll work with you to build your ideal strategy.