Williams College

Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. The college was ranked first in 2016 in the U.S. News & World Report's liberal arts ranking for the 14th consecutive year,[5][6] and second in a 2016 Forbes magazine ranking of America's Top Colleges. There are three academic curricular divisions (humanities, sciences, and social sciences), 24 departments, 35 majors, and two small master's degree programs in art history and development economics. Students may also concentrate in 12 additional academic areas that are not offered as majors (e.g., environmental studies). The academic year follows a 4–1–4 schedule of two four-course semesters plus a one-course "winter study" term in January. There are 334 voting faculty members, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 7:1. As of 2012, the school has an enrollment of 2,052 undergraduate students and 54 graduate students.[8] Certain portions of the Williams education are modeled after the tutorial systems at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Williams is on a 450-acre (1.8 km2) campus in Williamstown, in the Berkshires in rural northwestern Massachusetts. The campus contains more than 100 academic, athletic, and residential buildings. The college competes in the NCAA Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference, and competes in the conference as the Ephs.