Forbes rankings, while placing second in 2012, 2015, and 2016. Annual rankings following 2017 would see Williams fall out of the top ten to as low as 19th in 2019. Williams ranked 18th after Forbes changed their ranking methodology to emphasize alumni salaries and graduation debt in 2021. In the Forbes 2022 College Rankings, Williams College rose to 7th. In their 2024 ranking, the college fell again, to 17th.
Williams has been ranked first in U.S. News & World Report's rankings of Best National Liberal Arts Colleges every year since 2004, and has been in the top three every year since the rankings were created in 1984. (This list does not include research universities: unlike Forbes, U.S. News & World Report ranks universities and liberal arts colleges on separate lists.)
=== Winter study ===
Williams follows a 4-1-4 schedule, with the month of January dedicated to "Winter Study", a time when students take one course (or more) on campus or engage in an international program, an internship, or independent research …
