Dear Families of the Williams College Class of 2026,
My Dean’s Office colleagues and I look forward to meeting your students, and you, at Williams late this summer!
Move-in for most first-year students will take place on Tuesday, August 30. Families of Williams Firsts and international students will learn more in June about pre-orientation programs that begin Saturday, August 27, and end Sunday evening, August 28.
As your students learned in yesterday’s email from the Dean’s Office, there’s a fairly extensive task list they’ll need to complete this summer, ranging from dorm room preferences to fall course selection. Some of these (particularly health insurance and bill-paying) will require input from you. For now, don’t worry! We’ll help your students through these processes as they unfold, and I’ll make sure you know what’s up so that you can join us in gently prodding them to get stuff done.
There are only two things we’d ask for your help with at this moment:
- Yesterday’s email to your student was sent to the email address they used when applying to Williams and explains how to sign up for their new Williams email account. Please encourage your student to find and read that email. It’s the last one they’ll receive from us at their pre-Williams address, and important messages from us are already beginning to flow into their new Williams in-box.
- Schedule a doctor’s appointment if need be. A physical is required for all students within 12 months prior to July 1, 2022. (While we told your students yesterday that our portal for submitting health forms won’t open until June 15, it’s actually open for business now.)
Because we also hope that you’ll engage with our larger community as well as your own student’s education, we’ll ask your student to enter or verify family post office addresses, landline, and/or cell phone numbers in our database. Once we have that information, we can be in touch with you at a moment’s notice. I’ll follow up soon with information on how to get involved with Williams yourselves.
To find answers to our families’ most frequently asked questions and tips on helping your student make the most of Williams, visit families.williams.edu early and often.
And feel free to join our Williams Families Facebook Group, where seasoned families of current students are eager to share great tips and guidance. (We’ll grant all membership requests to this group in June, so please be patient for a few weeks.)
Whew! That’s all (and plenty) for now. We’ll continue to communicate with you throughout the coming weeks and throughout your students’ time at Williams. If you have any questions or concerns whatsoever, please feel free to email at any point. (I’m tied up in the Class of ’22’s Commencement celebration, so I may be a bit sluggish in response, but I promise to get back to you.)
Have a wonderful summer,