<p>Title says it all. </p>
<p>Main considerations: </p>
<ul>
<li>Prestige</li>
<li>Academics (Top-tier grad school placements?) </li>
<li>Financial Aid </li>
<li>Drug/Alcohol Culture (Preferrably minimal.)</li>
</ul>
<p>I’ve been told that Grinnell has quite the Drug/Alcohol Culture, but that if you don’t want to be included in it, you won’t be pressured into it. Honestly, it’s completely understandable: it’s in the middle of Iowa. I would say it has more soft-core drug involvement than some schools, but it’s not in your face.</p>
<p>Haverford is the most prestigious and probably has less drugs and alcohol than the other three, it certainly has less overt drug abuse than is seen at Grinnell and Reed. But these are problems at all colleges. All 4 are small schools, and the drug/alcohol culture will shift as the student population shifts so it is pretty hard to give a definite answer. At all 4 schools you won’t face pressure to use drugs, but you will occasionally have to deal with the havoc caused by the minority of students who have drug and alcohol problems. (Some schools have a culture that is so based on alcohol that it can be hard to have a broad social life without using.)</p>
<p>Grinnell and Reed are similar academically and are better known nationally than MacCalester, but this does not mean they are better schools. </p>
<p>If you need financial aid Grinnell and Haverford have pronounced social mission. Reed students can be pretty cut throat.</p>
<p>“Reed students can be pretty cut throat.”</p>
<p>In what respect? The usual issue is competition for grades, but Reed grades are never ever made public; students normally don’t see them. Do you mean something else?</p>
<p>These are all great schools and all ones my S applied to and was accepted by. He chose Grinnell, but my H and i would have been happy with him choosing Mac or Haverford (or Carleton, Oberlin or Vassar). My H and I felt an edgy vibe at Reed that is hard to put into words except to say that the other campuses all felt friendlier. We let our S make his own choice, of course and he was very happy at Grinnell. </p>
<p>Reed and Grinnell send very large percentages of students to PhD programs. Most people on the east coast haven’t heard of any of these colleges, but graduate schools have.</p>
<p>I’m a current first-year student at Grinnell, and I had a terribly difficult time choosing between Macalester, Reed, and Grinnell last spring. Didn’t apply to Haverford.</p>
<p>Prestige – Reed is probably the most well-known of these schools based on my impression, and likely the most well-known to grad schools, but Grinnell is becoming increasingly well-known. They both send a lot of students to grad school, like bethievt said.</p>
<p>Academics – Ties into what I said above. Based on the impressions I’ve gotten, academics are probably best at Reed or Grinnell, although Macalester is definitely comparable and I don’t know that much about Haverford.</p>
<p>Financial Aid – Grinnell gives GREAT financial aid; consistently on lists of schools with top financial aid. Basically everybody I know here is on some sort of financial aid. I think I heard it was something like 90% of the students, but I’m not completely sure. Out of Grinnell, Reed, and Macalester, Reed gave me the worst aid, but that can vary by person.</p>
<p>Drug/Alcohol Culture – There is a large drug and alcohol culture here at Grinnell, I admit. But it’s also not at all hard to avoid. I’m personally sub-free, meaning I don’t drink or do drugs or anything, and I have never really felt pressured to drink or do drugs. About half my friends are also sub-free, and the other half definitely isn’t. Some weekends we all hang out together, other times we split up, but there isn’t any conflict about it. I’d say the vast majority here drinks occasionally or regularly, but there really isn’t any pressure to participate. There’s plenty to do every weekend that doesn’t involve drugs or alcohol; I’ve never felt bored or like there’s nothing for me to do. There are sub-free dorms on each side of campus, and among the other dorms some have more of a reputation for drugs/alcohol than others.</p>
<p>Can’t speak from personal experience about Reed, but I’ve heard alcohol and especially drugs are even more prevalent there than at Grinnell. Not sure about Macalester or Haverford.</p>
<p>I ultimately chose Grinnell because it’s a really nice, tight-knit community with intense academics but without the pretentious or competitive vibe I got from Reed, and because I’d rather live in a small-town rural environment than a city like Macalester. Again, I don’t know much about Haverford, but one of my best friends here has a sister who goes there, who doesn’t like it much because the social environment is apparently very cliqueish. That’s definitely not the case here.</p>
<p>Grinnell does have a drug presence, but it’s not there if you don’t want it. A close friend is graduating form Grinnell this year and she has been bale to maintain a healthy balance between fun and responsibility wiht the drug scene :)</p>
<p>Reed t is a place where students put a lot of effort into ranking each other. I would really recommend visiting and see what if feels like to you. I have numerous friends and family members who attended Reed over 4 generations, so I am not writing without being familiar with the school. I would say that the training there helped my professionally and hurt me personally.</p>