<p>So yesterday I was blessed and cursed with a late acceptance letter from Reed College, which became my first choice over the course of my college search. I love the school's philosophy, atmosphere, workload, and location, and they have a very strong reputation for sending graduates in my major to top 10 PhD programs. The problem is I'm already a paid and enrolled student at Cornell (the university, not the college), which clearly has its own advantages - name recognition, fantastic research opportunities, being close to home (I live in western NY), and networking. They will cost pretty much the same including travel expenses, but I feel like the cost is more justified for Cornell.</p>
<p>Essentially, my brain says Cornell, but my heart says Reed. What say the forums? (I'm going to post this in the Ivy League one as well, just to get all degrees of perspective)</p>
<p>The question you should ask yourself is, what do you want from college? Is it just about preparing to get a PhD? Cornell does well on that front. Not in terms of %, but certainly in terms of numbers. I would not recommend that you attend Reed just because it is well known to graduate schools, because Cornell is too.</p>
<p>That said, if you feel that Reed is where you want to be, go for it. The costs are the same. I can’t overemphasize the need for fit. Many kids say no to Harvard, Yale etc etc for small LACs, simply because they want a different kind of experience in college. It’s not the end of the world, nor is it stupid. It just is the product of getting what you really want and ignoring distractions along the way.</p>
<p>Compare graduation rates for the two schools-the difference is surprising. Cornell has a 93% six-year graduation rate. The six-year graduation rate for the last two reported classes at Reed was 82% and 74%. It would be helpful to know why that is happening.</p>
<p>"The reason some people take longer than 4 years to graduate is that they take time off and spread their eight semesters over more than four years. I think that’s more common than simply staying at Reed too long. In any case, the main reasons people take time off or struggle to graduate is that they don’t do their research/come to Reed for the wrong reasons and find the actual academic expectations too high; that they want to take time off for their own sake, to do non-academic things they find exciting or for their health; and that they’re double-majoring or switch majors too late.</p>
<p>As long as you are willing to work every day and plan ahead, you will have no trouble graduating on time. The administration has been trying to raise the graduation rate; it’s in its best interests to make graduating on time as easy as possible, which is why you’ll find a lot of institutional support."</p>
<p>Reed consistently ranks at the top for classroom experience and professor accessibility. Cornell is a research university; Reed is a small LAC. While I largely agree with the above post, I also think that Reed casts a wider net and while it consistently attracts top student it also attracts a number of ‘flakier’ or less directed students.</p>