Which is harder to get into, NYU or Williams?

The biggest practical difference is scale: NYU enrolls a much larger undergraduate class across multiple schools and campuses, while Williams is a very small liberal arts college with a far more limited number of seats. That alone makes Williams harder to get into overall in the broad, everyday sense most applicants mean. Both are highly selective and attract strong applicants, but Williams is typically viewed as the tougher admit.

Part of the reason people talk about them differently is that NYU’s applicant pool is huge and spread across different colleges within the university, while Williams is evaluating applicants for one very small undergraduate institution. Williams also has a more intimate academic model, with small classes and a residential liberal arts focus, so each incoming class is tightly sized. That creates less room in the class even before admissions starts shaping for academic interests, geography, activities, and community fit.

Another factor is admissions style. NYU is a large research university with many distinct academic pathways, which can make selectivity feel more variable depending on the school within NYU. Williams is smaller and more uniform as an undergraduate experience, so its overall selectivity is easier to think of as one very high bar.

So if the question is simply which school is harder to be admitted to overall, the answer is Williams. NYU is absolutely difficult to get into and very prestigious, but Williams is usually seen as the more selective of the two in overall undergraduate admissions.