我为什么选择威廉姆斯学院Williams College？

威廉姆斯学院，文理学院之首！从老外选大学的理由中，看看对我们有没有启发？尤其是有体育特长的同学们，体育成为了你选校的一个因素吗？...



威廉姆斯学院（Williams College），创立于1793年，位于美国马萨诸塞州威廉斯敦。是一所享誉美国乃至世界的顶级文理学院。作为美国文理学院之首，威廉姆斯学院代表着美国最引以为傲的教育精髓——规模小、质量高，专注本科，崇尚通识和人文教育。其声誉在美国丝毫不亚于耶鲁、哈佛等名校。

从智梦外籍顾问Andy选大学的理由中，看看对我们有没有启发？尤其是有体育特长的同学们，体育成为了你选校的一个因素吗？

There were three crucial reasons for my attending Williams. Someone once told me that you will know what school you like during your first fifteen minutes on campus. At Williams, this proved tobe reason number one; to put it simply, I felt comfortable there, though, honestly, this was probably true at every NESCAC school. NESCAC stands for New England Small College Athletic Conference and boasts several of the top ten liberal arts schools in the US. Though my parents and brother attended Yale, I wanted a smaller environment, which factored strongly in my final decision. Perhaps the second biggest determinant had to do with athletics, as I had beena squash player since I was eight years old. Any college I went to would haveto include a team, and, as squash is a somewhat obscure sport, this was asignificant limiting factor. In fact, if I were to go to a top ten school (something I was planning on doing), it meant either NESCAC or Ivy League. I eliminated any possibility of attended a school in the latter category; for some of them, their squash teams were simply too good, and I didn’t want to risk being cut from a team. Perhaps more important, they were just too big, and, in my mind, attending a smaller, less renowned college would make me a bit of a nonconformist, a stupid notion that was nonetheless decisive during my selection process.

我上威廉姆斯有三个关键的原因。有人跟我说，你踏入校园一刻钟之内你就会知道你喜欢什么学校了。在威廉姆斯，这是首要的原因；简单来说，我在那里感到很舒服，说实话，也许在每个NESCAC学校都是这样的。NESCAC代表新英格兰区小型学院运动联盟，以联盟中几个美国前十的文理学院为荣。虽然我父母和兄弟上的是耶鲁，我想要一个小一点的环境，这点强烈地影响了我的最终决定。也许第二重要的因素是运动，毕竟我从八岁起就是个壁球运动员了。任何我去的学校都需要有一个壁球队，而且，因为壁球是一个有些模糊的运动，会对选校有很大的限制。实际上，如果我要去一个前十的学校，这意味着要么NESCAC要么藤校。我排除了任何去藤校的可能性，因为他们的一些壁球队太强了，我不想冒险被他们的一个队踢出去。也许更重要的是，藤校太大了，而且我觉得，上一个小点的、不“那么”出名的文理学院会让我看上去特立独行，这在我选校过程中无疑起到决定性的想法。

Squash, for me, was a booster. While coaches at smaller schools cannot simply force an admissions office to accept any student-athlete (or, as I consider them at Ivy League schools, “athlete-students”), they certainly have a say. With support from a coach, I could know the likelihood ofmy being accepted before I even apply. This may have been the third significant factor; the squash coach at Williams practically guaranteed that I would get induring the early admission process. I mean, who wants to struggle through theirsenior year of high school, living with the doubt that they might never go to college? Not me; I admit I wanted what seemed natural at the end of four years at a competitive high school: relaxation. Perhaps this desire was a bit juvenile, but, as I look back, I can’t help but celebrate this decision.

壁球对我来说是一个助推器。尽管小学校的教练不能强制招生办接受任何学生运动员，但他们无疑是有发言权的。在一个教练的支持下，我在申请之前甚至就能够知道我被录取的可能性。这也许是第三重要的因素；威廉姆斯的壁球教练实际上保证了我在提前批就能被录取。谁想挣扎着度过高中的最后一年，天天担心或许永远都上不了大学？反正不是我，我承认我想要的是在一个竞争激烈的高中里最后一年很轻松的度过。也许这个想法有点幼稚，但当我回头看的时候，我还是会为我的这个决定欢呼。

Finally, I’d like to add one more aspect that played heavily in my decisions regarding colleges. While I knew early on in the process that I didn’t want an Ivy League education, the school’s name was nevertheless important. Yet I believed that, while Williams was not a name like Harvard, it soon would be. At least this is what I imagined. As I write this, I realize that some of my selection process was quite ridiculous and my undeniable vanity is certainly apparent. Thus, I’d like to shift my objective a bit and return to the first topic: the Williams campus. As I mentioned, the campus just felt right. Sandwiched between what some the students refer to as the “purple mountains,” Williamstown lies nestled near the borders of Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York. You might ask when you walk down MainStreet at Williams, “Is this it?” Let’s be honest; this is a legitimate question. Of all the NESCAC schools (which are almost all rural), Williams isone of the most bucolic. The town consists of about five restaurants, one liquorstore, a theater, and a few other small businesses. Some might call it quaint; despite this, the campus never really felt small. Like all campuses, there arelarge expanses of green between the class buildings and many trees reminding the students that they’re living in the country. This is all pretty ordinary; what’s not ordinary is the weather. It’s cold. Anyone living in southern America, or southern China for that matter, might get an unpleasant surprise in northwest Massachusetts. Winter begins in October; spring starts in May. If youcan handle the cold, Williams might just be perfect. It would be impossible tobe a student there and not enjoy your surroundings. Campus life is closely linked to its accompanying environment. Students hike, ski, swim, and boat inthe surrounding valleys and mountains. This was a huge part of my college experience and should be a part of any students’ reality. No one can live in the library all day, every day.

最后，我想再加一点，影响了我对大学的选择。虽然我很早就知道我不想进藤校，但学校的名声还是很重要的。我相信，虽然威廉姆斯的名声不能和哈佛媲美，很快它就会成为同样响当当的大学了。当我写这个的时候，我意识到我的选择过程是挺荒谬的，而且我不可否认虚荣心也很明显。因此，我想转移下我的话题，回到第一个话题上：威廉姆斯的校园。就像我之前提到的，校园感觉就是很棒。夹在一些学生称为“紫山”之间，威廉斯敦坐落在马赛诸塞州、弗蒙特州和纽约州的边界上。在所有NESCAC学校中（几乎所有都很乡村），威廉姆斯是最乡村的之一。小镇由大概五个饭店，一家卖酒的，一个剧院，和几个小企业组成。有些人也许会称其为古色古香；除了这个，我从不觉得校园小。跟所有校园一样，在教学楼中间有大块绿地，郁郁葱葱的树也提醒着学生他们住在乡村里。这些都挺平常的，不平常的是寒冷的天气。任何住在美国南方或者中国南方的人都会在马赛诸塞州西北部感到惊讶。冬天在十月份就开始了，而春天却从五月开始。如果你能忍受的了寒冷，威廉姆斯就是完美的。对于一个学生来说不可能待在那里而不享受那里的周围环境。校园生活跟与之相配的环境是紧密相连的。学生们在周围的山谷和山上登山、滑雪、游泳、划船。休闲这些在我大学生活中占很大的比重，也应该是任何学生的大学生活中的一部分。没有人能整天和每天住在图书馆里。

关于威廉姆斯学院的更多介绍，请查阅智梦往期推送文：

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