Early Decision or Regular Decision?
If you're a first-year applicant and Williams is your top choice, you’re welcome to apply through our Early Decision program. Students may apply Early Decision to only one institution. If admitted, you'll be expected to accept our offer and to withdraw any applications you’ve submitted to other schools.
If you're a first-year applicant who wants to apply to more than one school, your best option is to apply under our non-binding Regular Decision plan. The majority of students apply to Williams via Regular Decision. If admitted, you'll have until May 1, 2025 to accept your place in the class.
An important note about QuestBridge: Williams is proud to be a longstanding QuestBridge College Partner. If you’re considering applying to Williams through QuestBridge, please visit the QuestBridge website for all of the information you’ll need.
Required Application Materials
The following items are required of all first-year applicants for the 2024-2025 admission cycle:
- Common Application, Apply Coalition with SCOIR or QuestBridge Application
- School Report
- Counselor Recommendation
- Two Teacher Recommendations
- Mid-Year Report (Due February 7* or for schools on a trimester, when 2nd trimester grades are available)
- $65 Application Fee or Fee Waiver**
- Early Decision Agreement Form (Early Decision applicants only)
*There is no need to worry if your counselor cannot submit mid-year grades by February 7. If this is the case, simply email us at [email protected] to let us know when we can expect them, and we will plan to wait until then. A late submission will NOT disadvantage your application to Williams in any way.
**On the Common Application, students who select "Applying for a Williams College Fee Waiver" in the Williams-specific section will have their application fee waived. For Apply Coalition with SCOIR, applicants will be able to request a fee waiver at the end of the Williams supplement (part 2).
Transcripts, letters of recommendation, and other supporting documents sent by a school can arrive shortly after the submission of a completed application. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us with any questions or concerns.
Optional Application Materials
You have the option of supplementing your application with submissions in any of the following areas:
SAT or ACT
All students applying for entry through the fall of 2025 may choose whether to submit SAT/ACT exam results. Regardless, your application will be reviewed in a thorough, student-centered, holistic admission process.
If you decide to submit an SAT or ACT score, you can do so in any of three ways:
- Enter them in the testing section of your application.
- Email a screenshot of your score report to [email protected].
- Have them sent to Williams directly from the testing agency. The Williams SAT code is 3965 and ACT code is 1936.
Williams will superscore the SAT or ACT. This means that if multiple test scores are submitted, we’ll consider the highest subsection scores when reviewing your application.
Please note that SAT and ACT scores for all enrolling students who choose to submit them will be verified. Discrepancies between self-reported scores and official scores may jeopardize a student’s place at Williams.
The submission of SAT subject tests, AP scores, IB exams, A-levels, and language proficiency tests have been optional at Williams for many years and this will continue to be the case.
Additional Writing Supplement
Students are welcome to submit an academic paper completed in the last year. To learn more, visit the Optional Writing Supplement page.
Studio/Performing Arts Portfolio
If you have a well-developed talent in the visual or performing arts, our faculty would be delighted to review your portfolio. Please visit our arts supplement page for specific deadlines and details about submissions. Use SlideRoom to submit samples of your work for review by Williams faculty.
Scientific Research Abstracts
If you’ve pursued significant scientific or mathematics research and are considering a research or academic career, we welcome a brief description of your past work. Please include this information on your application, or email it to [email protected].
If you'd like to submit an update to your application for admission at any time, please email the update to applicationmaterials@williams.edu.
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