Although the blogs hosted by WSO have not produced an unreadably large amount of great commentary this year, there are often worthwhile tidbits. Shimon Rura writes:

You’ve probably heard this complaint before: Williams is too much of a secret. It’s easy to imagine that if we had a silly-sounding name like “Swarthmore” or something more obviously pretentious like “Amherst”, more people would kinda remember that Williams is a fancy school full of smart folk. But this all sounds pretty inconsequential. Or does it? Maybe the unflashiness of the name “Williams” actually is hurting us. I’m most concerned with two areas: jobs and grad schools.

You don’t need to be concerned. In fact, my impression is that coming from Williams is actually a slight advantage (holding intelligence/ambition constant) over coming from a more famous (read: Ivy League) school in terms of graduate schools and jobs.

Of course, Williams’s obscurity among the general public is real. Your Aunt Sarah probably still thinks that you go to William and Mary.

But, in terms of most graduate schools (especially large programs in medicine/law/business) and corporate jobs (especially in banking/consulting), there is no disadvantage in coming from Williams rather than, say, Princeton. All these places get many applications from Williams each year. All have Williams students currently present. All are able to compare/contrast how students from various schools have done. Since Williams graduates are, typically, quite comparable to graduates from Princeton, applicants from Williams are not disadvantaged in the process.

Of course, your mileage my vary. An Ivy League names does count for something, especially among people who are impressed by the Ivy League. The further one is away from elite US education, the more that the “name” matters. But, big picture, the people in charge of the hiring/admissions process know everything that they need to know about Williams.

Moreover, I often find that Williams alums, though fewer in number, are much more interested in helping/hiring fellow Ephs than their counterparts from larger schools. I know that I am. The “cult” of Williams extends far beyond the Purple Valley.