<p>Good job everyone! I just got in yesterday, my dad couldn’t stop telling me how shocked he was. I’m really excited (read: terrified). I just hope the financial aid is good enough that I can make it!</p>
<p>Hey guys I still need to visit reed. I have not visited any of the schools I applied to. My dad looked it up and it said you need 2 weeks notice for an overnight stay. Should I do that, or wait for some admitted students overnight thing?</p>
<p>^DoinSchool, there’s Reed Activity Days which all accepted students are invited to. In your acceptance package you should receive information about that-since scheduling a visit would take the same amount of time, I suggest going to RAD.</p>
<p>how common is it to get no financial aid? I am a little disappointed. I wanted to at least have something to count towards that enormous tuition. I didnt fill out the fafsa but I didn’t think that was necessary for merit awards</p>
<p>Reed doesn’t give merit awards, only full-need aid; FAFSA and PROFILE are required.</p>
<p>Well there’s no way my family would qualify for aid and I won’t be taking out loans, so I suppose i didn’t miss out on anything? That is relieving. I guess my dad will just have to pay the price of a lifetime for the education of a lifetime, lol</p>
<p>^ Absolutely. When you’ve earned your millions doing something cool that only Reedies can later in life, your dad will be paid back. You’re lucky that he’s agreed to pay, sometimes that’s the hardest to get out of a parent.</p>
<p>I’ve been accepted at Reed, which was really exciting.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I’m not sure at all if it’s worth it to go based on the aid they’re offering.</p>
<p>With the Stafford Loan, I’m getting around 20K a year. And unless I manage to get an obscene amount of private scholarships, anything I win will just reduce the award they give me (which seems kind of harsh, but whatever).</p>
<p>That means the remaining difference is going to have to be in loans. My parents can contribute 10 maybe 15 a year. So I’m still looking at 60-80 in debts by the time I graduate.</p>
<p>And I really want to go to Reed. Really really. The whole iconoclastic, learning more than grades, irreverent but still intense attitude toward academia, all of that really fits me to a t. I was totally ectstatic when I got the email, and said joy probably lasted until I got the formal letter with its financial aid.</p>
<p>But Kenyon is offering me 33 a year, Oberlin’s offering me 27 (plus they say any merit-based scholarships I win will actually decrease my tuition instead of my package), and I could probably get near a full ride at Ohio University. Swarthmore waitlisted me. (I don’t know, does anyone think they might increase their grant if I mention the other packages I’ve been offered?)</p>
<p>It’s really aggravating.</p>
<p>^ You have nothing to lose by appealing, mentioning other offers, and asking if there is any other info you could send that might result in a higher award. Make sure they know you really want to attend Reed, that you’re not just shopping around for the best offer.</p>
<p>I would attend Kenyon and not look back. If you can get Oberlin to increase its grant I think you’d be very happy there, and there’s a sliver of a chance Swat’s wait list will come through. Reed is awesome, but all these schools are.</p>
<p>I visited Oberlin and Kenyon when I visited them.</p>
<p>However, Oberlin is literally 20 minutes away from my house. Two of my high school teachers live in the town. Even my mother thinks that’s a bit too close, and everyone knows the classic mother stereotype who doesn’t want her son to ever leave home. Also, everything I’ve heard about Oberlin’s academia indicates that it’s not nearly as discussion-based as Reed’s or Kenyon’s.</p>
<p>Also, from a lot of the websites I’ve visited and talking to people I know, I’ve heard that people at Kenyon can be pretty snobby and conservative. I realize you’re going to get a preponderance of upper class WASPs at any expensive private school, but apparently it’s worse at Kenyon than it is at, say Oberlin or even Swarthmore or maybe Williams.</p>
<p>Those are both really silly reasons to not want to go to a college; I realize. I’m thinking Kenyon is probably my best bet at this time; what I’m going through right now is just another one of the Dream (Reed was the first college I really considered and it’s been my first choice ever since I heard about it) vs. Reality that everyone has to own up to eventually.</p>