<p>Suffice is to say that Reed is easily my top choice for colleges. I could go on and on about why but I'm sure many others, especially those in this section of the boards, can understand why.</p>
<p>My questions is, is ED worth it? Does it help your chances of getting in? The only reason I would not do it is not because I have an issue with being bound to accepting, but rather the financial aspect (i.e. if I get accepted, then have to attend, but the financial aid is less than sufficient. Would obviously create problems). If you get accepted ED, will the financial aid people be somewhat more accommodating? I just want to make sure my chances of getting into Reed are as high as possible, but I don't want to stick myself and the only way I can get afford it is due to heavy student loans (which I'm more than happy to take out to an extent, but if I have to graduate with a ton of debt, that is obviously something I would need to weigh. But with ED I would be bound to go regardless of how much loans I would need to take out. So can't decide ><).</p>
<p>Any advice/opinions/whatever would be most welcome.</p>
<p>You can decline Reed ED acceptance without consequence if the FA is not sufficient. Your chances are not necessarily better at ED than RD, but might be; it seems unpredictable. If Reed is for sure your number one choice, I would say go for it. :)</p>
<p>Reed is somewhat stingy with FA and is typically not always considered to be the best with it.</p>
<p>And Atlas, the EDI deadline is passed, so if you plan to apply under any kind of early decision plan, then it must be EDII (whose application is due by the 1st of January, I think.)</p>
<p>Yeah, I know. EDII would be my plan, Jan 1st being the deadline (as opposed to Jan 15th for regular decision). And then you find out in February as opposed to April.</p>
<p>The Federal Pell Grant Program provides need-based grants to low-income undergraduate and certain postbaccalaureate students to promote access to postsecondary education. The tabulation below shows how Reed compares to certain "Most Competitive Institutions" in the percentage of students receiving Pell grants, and thus suggests that one result of Reed's financial aid policies is to enable a relatively high percentage of needy students to attend. There will be some cases where the FA offer is not enough to enable attendance, but, on average, I think Reed looks pretty good in this respect.</p>
<p>Barnard College/Columbia University 18.4%
Cooper Union 17.1%
Cornell University 16.3% Reed College 16.3%
Amherst College 15.8%
Wellesley College 15.6%
California Institute of Technology 15.3%
Columbia University 14.9%
Claremont McKenna College 14.5%
Wesleyan University 13.8%
Haverford College 13.4%
Swarthmore College 13.0%
Georgia Institute of Technology 12.5%
Rice University 12.5%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 12.4%
University of Chicago 12.4%
Pomona College 12.0%
Vassar College 11.9%
Stanford University 11.7%
Harvey Mudd College 11.5%
Carnegie Mellon University 11.4%
Dartmouth College 10.9%
Georgetown University 10.8%
Boston College 10.6%
Colgate University 10.4%
Tufts University 10.4%
Bowdoin College 10.2%
Duke University 10.1%
Yale University 10.1%
University of Pennsylvania 9.8%
Brown University 9.7%
Johns Hopkins University 9.6%
Northwestern University 9.5%
Williams College 9.4%
Bates College 8.7%
College of the Holy Cross 8.6%
University of Virginia 8.6%
Middlebury College 8.1%
College of William and Mary 8.0%
University of Notre Dame 8.0%
Washington University in St. Louis 8.0%
Princeton University 7.4%
Wake Forest University 7.0%
Harvard University 6.8%
Colby College 6.5%
Davidson College 6.4%
Washington and Lee University 3.4%</p>
<p>Reed reserves the most aid for returning students and for ED.
My daughter applied RD, but still they met need, with subsidized Stafford, small Perkins and a grant ( as well as small work study)
If that is where you want to go, and you want to find out early, I would go ahead and apply ED</p>
<p>I think the one thing my son would do if he did it over again, was go ED. His intuition was that Reed was the right match for him, but I was concerned that he should wait and choose, so I pressured him to apply RD. It ended up adding months of waiting. OTOH, our experience with Reed aid has been really good, even RD. (Though that's with an EFC=0.)</p>
<p>My daughter IS a reedie-- very smart, not afraid to speak her mind but eager to engage others in meaningful dialogue, loved playing Giant Skrabble as a prospie...
She applied EDI and we are hoping that she will get an early Christmas present in the form of an acceptance letter. :)
I am teacher (middle school math) and my husband is a self-employed gardner. I hope that we can afford to pay for my daughter's college expenses without going into an overwhelming amount of debt.<br>
I would appreciate any advice from other Reed parents regarding navigating the financial aid process.<br>
Our combined income will be about $50,000, but we do itemize and have to file 1040.
Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom!</p>
<p>I'll just say that while others have said that they thought Reed's financial aid was 'stingy', our family was very happy with the generous award. I also think that at the income level you mentioned, I think you're still at the point where you'd have a good award. The financial aid office is very easy to talk to and very responsive, so I would take your concerns there first, to see what they say. YOu ask about "navigating" the process, and I think Reed's financial aid office was so helpful and communicative that I never felt I had to navigate anything -- they're there to talk to, whenever you need them, and are honest and upfront about answers to questions.</p>