Middlebury Vs. Carleton Vs. Reed

College Search & Selection
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1

Hello! This is a repost with some different details

My top three are Reed, Middlebury, and Carleton. (@ future students like me who see this, don’t worry so much!) I was pretty in love with Reed (accepted EA) but now that the others are in the picture, I’m leaning towards Midd but looking for some feedback.

About me/Context

-Female/ mixed (AA/EA) but from a suburb of Minneapolis so I’m fairly used to lack of diversity. Also bisexual.
-I would like to bio major(I genuinely love biology) and have some sort of minor (possibly classics) while following a pre-med track
-My cost will be around the same for all three schools. Carleton is 3,000 cheaper (1,000 of that is due to lack of travel).
-I love languages! Nearly fluent in French, okayish at Spanish, and am working on German
-Avid ceramic artist and nature/wildlife photographer
-Gluten Free and Pescetarian (since birth)

Reed

Pros
I really loved the campus (only one I got to visit), the weather, the two classes I visited were great, there’s a nearby Trader Joe’s, my friends would be quirky professor types, very queer, I wouldn’t have to worry as much about GPA (a huge source of anxiety during HS) and I vibed with the vibe (most important thing about Reed).

Cons

Lots of drugs (and weird drugs) and as someone who’s pretty susceptible to peer pressure/family history of addiction, that’s not great (my host did say she never felt pressured to use though). Reed has a certain attached reputation (smart but druggie) that I’m not thrilled about. Not a great rep for med schools (despite what they try to convey). I would be unlikely to study abroad due to the Junior qualifying exam and Senior thesis. Few to no parties (even though I’m not really the party type). I think I might leave Reed with extremely liberal (think buzzfeed) views. Not necessarily a negative, just not what I really want.

Carleton

Pros: really great school, has a “name” in Minnesota. Fits well with my personality and the vibe is very much in between Midd and Reed. Quirky but not too quirky. About 3,000 cheaper than the other two.

Cons: is within driving distance of my family. My father is abusive and very controlling (he would show up on campus if he thought it was necessary), so unless there is an extremely compelling reason to attend Carleton, I need to go to a farther school.

Middlebury

Pros

Language- as a language lover, Midd is THE place to be (at least for LACs). Campus is supposedly gorgeous w/ a lot of study spots. As a lover of French, the proximity to Montreal is a plus. My brother is a senior at a college near Boston so I could possibly visit him during breaks/if he decides to live there. Middlebury seems to do a really great job of preparing students for med school. I would likely study abroad. Great science facilities. I know most schools have kind people but MiddKids have a super nice vibe. I also like all the entrepreneurial opportunities.

Cons

No one around me has heard of it (a minor annoyance). I’ve never really been a part of the prep school crowd/ people who wear vineyard vines and I’m a bit worried about that. All three schools are very “white” but Midd specifically has very few domestic students of color (90% of my current friends are white so I’m more worried about this in classroom settings). There also is a hookup culture which isn’t really my scene and not a lot of gay girls (but wow are the guys fine). I’m not a huge fan of snow and cold even though I am quite used to it.
I can’t drive and won’t be likely to get a car anytime soon, so I’ll be stuck around campus. I’m kinda worried about getting bored and not feeling like I can escape. The campus is also fairly spread out.

I’m pretty set on Midd, but I wanted to get some last minute opinions. I am also waitlisted at Grinnell (the AO really liked me, I just forgot an essay) but I may be forced to go there by my parents if I get off the waitlist and the aid is great. Reed was the only one I was able to visit (thanks Covid!). I know when I was applying I read every single “Reed vs” thread so even if the info isn’t relevant to me it might help someone in the future. I’m just trying to collect some more info (anything you know about Midd or Reed or Carleton would be helpful) before my final choice!

2

In the context of your academic interests, the most compelling reason to choose Carleton would be for its notably strong biology program. However, you would find an equivalently strong biology program at Reed. For this reason, you might not need Carleton.

3

From your group Reed graduated the most classics “first majors” in a recent year (five), followed by Middlebury (two) and Carleton (one).

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Reed&s=all&id=209922#programs

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Middlebury&s=all&id=230959#programs

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Carleton&s=all&id=173258#programs

4

Middlebury has a GORGEOUS campus. Absolutely stunning. If you like nature, you’ll love Midd. And of course it is great for languages.

Have you worked out how you’d travel there from Minneapolis? You’d have to fly to Chicago for a connecting flight to Burlington, VT.

5

You have, IMO, done a great job summarizing the pros and cons of all three colleges.

My Daughter attends Midd, and really loves it there.

She does not have a car either, but there are enough other students with cars, that there is always somebody in each friend group who has a car if you all want to drive to Burlington (that would be the only place to which to drive, everything else is within walking distance). However, that is not a common activity - mostly the students stay within the college and town area.

If you want to know anything specific about Middlebury, ask (here or via PM) and I’ll see if my D has an answer.

6

Reed grad here, from somewhat long ago when the drug reputation was even greater than today. I never did drugs at Reed, never felt any pressure, and pretty much none of my friends really did either. Beer yes, there was a sunny day keg czar who’s job it was to produce kegs in front of the commons on sunny days. What did rub me the wrong way about drugs at Reed was that I thought the culture was too permissive of drug-induced bad behavior. If you are wasted that doesn’t give you permission to trash my stuff or be a jerk. And it isn’t MY job to go out of my way to create a “safe space” for you to finish your trip. But that sort of thing was only really an issue during the big annual spring Renaissance Fair and the infrequent weekend “social” which were the occasional school sponsored dance parties. No something you encountered daily. My sense from talking with current students (and I recently visited campus with my daughter who is a prospective student) is that the drug culture famous in the 60s and 70s and into the 80s is fading and the Reed of today is growing more similar to its east coast peers. Students everywhere today are just more serious than they used to be.

Don’t think Reed doesn’t have grades. It does. You have a letter grade transcript like anyplace else. And they are brutal too, as there has been pretty much zero grade inflation. They actually include a slip with your transcript explaining that Reed grades harder than most other places and showing the grade distribution. You just don’t get grades on your written assignments and tests and don’t have your grades posted like in other schools. That may be a disadvantage when it comes to applying to professional grad programs like med school and law school where GPA and test scores are the prime criteria. So if you want to go on to med school then you very much do need to worry about your grades at Reed. Although I had lots of peers go on to both med and law school so lots of students do it. But honestly when I read my alumni mag it seems like most of my peers went on into academia of some sort. For years it seemed like everyone was getting a post-doc someplace or had an assistant professorship some place. Or was doing a Fulbright someplace. Maybe they are the only ones who write in. In the Reed culture of my day, going on to get an MBA and a job in finance would have been viewed as “bourgeoisie” and a little gauche.

Don’t get me wrong. I had a great time at Reed and got a great education. But I was also a middle class local Oregon kid who had to work construction during the summers to pay my way. I never really completely fit in with the affluent NYC and Bay Area types who were prevalent there during my time.

My own daughter is considering Reed. But I’ll also push her to consider other regional options like Whitman, Lewis & Clark, University of Puget Sound, and the good schools in CA. Reed can be a pressure cooker and college doesn’t have to be that hard, unless that is really what you are seeking. Reed does have an absolutely top biology department so no worries there. But you won’t find subspecialties like molecular biology or ecology that you can find in larger schools. But that is fine for undergrad anyway. Specialization doesn’t come until grad school.

7

Regarding Reed’s biology programs, note that it does offer an interdisciplinary major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

https://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/biochem.html

8

My mistake. I think that is a more recent development. But allowing students to pursue interdisciplinary majors is not the same thing as having a stand-alone department in something like molecular biology such as you will find in larger universities. Reed has a single biology department, not separate departments in various life science disciplines as you will find in larger schools, where you have groups of professors dedicated to teaching and research of that specific discipline.

9

Thanks so much for alerting me to that. It didn’t change my decision (I chose Midd) but it DEFINITELY is something that was good to know ahead of time.

10

Were you referring to the grades at Reed? I was there decades ago and it was tough. I had a 4.0 in high school, transferred transferred to Reed from another LAC where I had a 4.0. I later went to grad school at the UW-Seattle in marine sciences where I earned a 3.95 GPA. My GPA at Reed was 3.21, and I worked about twice as hard at Reed as any other school I attended.

This is the letter they put in your transcript when they send it out to grad schools: https://www.reed.edu/registrar/pdfs/grades-at-reed.pdf