She’s plans to major in Chem and perhaps a minor in communications. Pre-med (for now) 
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So last week was a bit challenging for D21, her counselor told her that she may want to add one or two schools to her list because this year is so unpredictable. This came up after she told her she was unsure if she wanted to go to our state school which she has been excepted. Being deferred from her ED school brought about this conversation.
Today she received a package from Reed, it has a letter of acceptance with a person note about her supplement and a book, sticker and pencil. She is over the moon, we thought EA decisions came out in February.
We were not able to visit Reed and are hoping to get out there in the spring. I have read many time Reed is not for everyone if anyone can tell me more about Reeds vibe or anything I would love to know.
Also, S19 has been looking for a co-op he has sent out well over 100 resume this fall. Today he got a call for an interview. Our house is all smiles!
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What an amazing program! If you could invest and have it lined up where your kids want to go there! I wished UCs had it in California. Imagine how much money they could make from the upfront deposit.
I agree with your point that, if you live in Illinois and want a big state school, there’s little point of going to a more expensive one. Why would we send one of our kids to Wisconsin or Michigan if they can go to UIUC for so much less? I’ve mentioned it in the past but, if either one of our kids wanted comp sci, engineering or business, we would have put some pressure on them to go to UIUC. Those programs are very strong there.
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Oh we have 529 money too. We knew there was a chance they wouldn’t go to UIUC. We are NU alums and, at least when the kids were little, we wanted to plan for them to go there if they wanted and could get in. Neither of them found NU a fit either. Lol.
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@homerdog My D18’s freshman roommate at UMich was from IL (near Evanston IIRC) and her mom went to UIUC. One of the frequent UMich forum contributors, @Knowsstuff, lives in the Chicago area and his son attends UMich.
I know nothing about the school, but from what I hear, there’s a lot of UIUC angst.
Yep, I hear ya. Of course I have the kids who are in those fields and still chose to go OOS! 
Just didn’t want to go to college with 100 other kids from high school.
This will be a year that many kids who want to go there may not even get in!
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oh I know. And Michigan has a nicer town and a lot more national regard than UIUC but it would just be hard for us to pay $70k for a big state school experience unless it could match UIUC’s price. For better or worse, S19 wanted a LAC and D21 also balks at big state schools. We walked around Madison one summer day and took a tour since we were there visiting family and she decided she wanted a much smaller campus and the option to live in campus housing all four years. Plus, being so undecided on nature, we feel it’s better for her to be at a smaller school.
Not saying people in our neighborhood don’t send kids to Michigan or the UCs at full price because they do!
Yes. There is that too. UIUC mostly Chicago suburban kids and our kids wanted out of dodge to experience another part of the country and to meet kids who would not automatically know our suburb and high school.
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@AOP1925 - I have a bad memory, but there was an active poster that did a great review of PNW colleges including Reed - plus he was a Reed alumni (if my memory is working!). Maybe @Camasite. All I hear is that is quite academically challenging - not much help and hopefully other posters have more personal insight and/or Camasite is correct and sees this post 
Reed in most ways represents the qualities associated with a top-level college education (as one indicator, see the link below).
With respect to potential drawbacks and uncertainties, Reed’s curriculum is fairly narrow (e.g., no geosciences department or creative writing major) for students who might want to explore widely, and its admission yield is notably low, with 15% of accepted applicants this year deciding to attend. Also, Reed’s apparent mission might seem quixotic to students who do not desire a career in academia, in that its professors appear especially to foster students who aspire to become, somewhat recursively, professors.
Further in its favor, however, Reed offers superb programs in core academic disciplines such as mathematics, biology, English literature, economics and international studies. An acceptance there represents a significant recognition. I hope your daughter continues to consider her offer seriously.
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@coffeeat3 Thanks so much I will try to find the post.
@merc81 Thanks for the information, most of the drawbacks you mention does bother D21. She has thought about a career in academia but thinks there may not be enough jobs in the future.
Yep and then I just loved the call I got saying “every kid is from xxxx” and I was like, what did you expect when you went to school in xxxx? Gotta love our kids!
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@homerdog I’ve said it many a time here, but D18 will graduate early with 2 minors and never has had a problem getting to see her advisors and/or professors. And zero problem with class registration.
I don’t think she could have done that here at one of our UC’s. And stuff is just cheaper in MI than CA.
So I’m spending more, but in this crappy Pandemic Year, D18 just had her best semester ever. So I’m good.
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U.S. News includes information on early career salaries in its individual entries, which might offer you a sense of employment prospects for graduates across colleges of interest (e.g., https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/reed-college-3217).
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I agree with those who have said Reed is a ‘fit’ school. Will you be able to visit before deciding? Reed is one of the most liberal LACs, with a strong SJW vibe, has no intercollegiate sports, and their yield is around 17%…which is quite low, so I do wonder for what proportion of students who attend it was their first choice school. On the plus side it does send a lot of students on to phd programs.
Here are the degrees by dept: Baccalaureate Degrees by Department - Institutional Research - Reed College
and Senior survey results (which does not have salary info): Senior Survey Results - Institutional Research - Reed College
I think there was a big difference for the freshman who were in UIUC housing vs private dorms or apartments. Also - returning students who were set in their social groups fared better.
COVID has changed how we looked at choices for my D21. Having done this before it was interesting to see how this added layer changed our perception of some schools- many were repeats from my older kids.
She also had little interest in a large school.
FYI my nephew got good merit at Minnesota twin cities. Agree that Madison and Ann Arbor are big bucks for our kids and I hardly ever hear of anyone getting anything more then token merit.
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Could be right about social groups, as my kids are not freshmen so same deal at their schools, socializing was much easier for older kids even though covid at one was basically a non issue due to testing and such. Let’s just hope next year wherever kids are, covid is not an issue and socially things are much better for freshmen everywhere. For my S21 he didn’t like Madison at all when we visited with my older ones and on our way home I couldn’t believe the OOS cost. That’s another very popular one, more so than UIUC if kids could actually get in. No clue how things are going to shake out but he’s a little less picky in terms of worry about who’s there so much as wanting the program but it is a tough year for these kids so who knows where we will be in 4 months when final decisions have to be made, OR hopefully by then are indeed made! Not thrilled with the idea of having 4 kids in 4 different cities. To much stress.
We almost did that but did a different type of 529 that we can use anywhere and it’s a good thing since neither went there
This… Like 80 %of my kids school gets accepted to UIUC (or used to)… When we toured he knew too many people from just being in sports leagues in Chicago alone… Lol.