The Battle the Out-There LACs: Reed Vs. Grinnell

[JBSeattle]

Portland is a really neat city and has loads of good restaurants. I don’t think it is even close as far as location is concerned. Albeit Portland is weird (sometimes in a fun way, sometimes not so fun).

The other posters comments are certainly valid though!

[hokupaa]

@MatzoBall

Comments here make Grinnell sound more wholesome and conventional than it is. It is welcoming of all kinds of alternative types.

That’s because it’s being compared to Reed. I guess it all depends on one’s perspective. From a Portlandian perspective, Grinnell might seem a bit normie, but from a sort-of Middle-America flyover country Trumpian perspective, Grinnell would be thought of as “out-there”. They probably wouldn’t even make very much of a distinction between Reed, Oberlin, Macalester, Grinnell or Carleton; they’d consider all of those schools to be way out in loony la-la land.

@Midwestmomofboys

When we were [at Grinnell], we saw everything from blue hair, guys in skirts, pot smoke in the morning to well-heeled Polo-wearing athletes, with absolutely everything in between and further out on the spectrum. Grinnell is very much a “come as you are” community, sprinkled with Midwest “nice.” A very smart, inquisitive community.

My only 3rd hand experience with Reed was a very smart kid who was thrilled to attend and then transferred after a year, explaining that it was way too intense an environment – Swarthmore/Chicago-style. One student experience out of thousands, take it very much with a grain of salt, though for us, that suggested it was a place one had to visit and really delve deeply to see if it felt right.

One of my cousins went to Reed, and it is indeed very intense. Grinnell might be the harder school to get into, but Reed might be the harder one to graduate from. One of my fellow Carls worked at Grinnell, and he said it’s very much like Carleton, with a range of personalities and many colorful/eccentric/quirky characters.

@momrath

According to their 2016-2017 CDS Grinnell’s non-resident alien enrollment was 304 out of a total enrollment of 1699, or 18%. For 2017-2018 Reed enrolled 146 NRAs out of a total enrollment of 1415 or 10%.
Grinnell spent $8 Million on financial aid to internationals; 73% received aid. Reed spent $2.5 Million; 32% received aid.

The disparity of these figures would imply that Grinnell places much greater emphasis on the importance of international voices in and out of the classroom than Reed does.

More likely, it’s a consequence of the fact that Grinnell has a much larger endowment than Reed, In fact, Grinnell appears to have [the seventh largest among LACs (after Williams, Boston College, Amherst, Pomona, Swarthmore and Wellesley).](Best Universities In The World) If Reed’s endowment were as large as Grinnell’s, I’m sure they’d have much more aid, and I’m also pretty sure they’d have more international students as well.

[hokupaa]

Princeton Review
Birkenstock-wearing tree-hugging clove-smoking vegetarians
2010-2019

School name                               2019   2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2012   2011   2010
                                          rank   rank   rank   rank   rank   rank   rank   rank   rank   rank
Bard College (NY)                            5      7      6      2      7      2      3      9      1      1
Bard College Simon's Rock (MA)              NR     NR     NR     17     NR     NR     16      3      9      9
Beloit College                              17      5      9     11     NR     10     10      4     NR     NR
Bennington College                           1      3      2      3      4      1      2      6      3      8
Brown University                            10     16     15     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Bryn Mawr College                           NR     19     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Carleton College (MN)                       NR     NR     17     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Champlain College                           NR     NR     16     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Clark University                            NR     18     19     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR      6
College of the Atlantic                     11     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Colorado College                            16     15     14     19     NR     18     12      5     20     NR
Columbia University                         NR     14     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Earlham College                             15     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Eckerd College                               9     12     NR     16     20     14     NR     19     NR     NR
Emerson College                             19     NR     NR     10     12      9     NR     NR     11     17
Eugene Lang College                         NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR      2      8      3
Evergreen State College                     NR     NR     NR      7     NR     15      6     13     NR     NR
Goucher College                             NR     NR     18     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Green Mountain College                      NR     NR     NR     NR     17     NR     18     18     NR     NR
Grinnell College                            NR     NR     NR     NR     16     NR     14     16     NR     NR
Guilford College                            NR     NR     NR     NR      9     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Hampshire College                           NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR      2      2
Ithaca College                              NR     10      5     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Lewis & Clark College                       NR     NR     13      6     10      7      8     15     14     15
Macalester College                          NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     19     NR     NR     15     16
Marlboro College                            20     NR      3     14     NR     NR     19     NR     10     10
McGill University                           NR     NR     20     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Mills College                               NR     17     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
New College of Florida                      NR     NR     NR     13     13     11      9      1      4      4
Oberlin College                             NR     NR      8      9      5     NR     NR      8     16     18
Occidental College                          NR     NR     NR     NR     18     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
Pitzer College                               2      4     NR     12      8      8     11     17     12     12
Prescott College                            NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR      5     NR
Reed College                                 4      2      1      5      3      4      1      7      6      5
Sarah Lawrence College                       3      1      4      1      2      3      4     11      7      7
Skidmore College                             8     NR     11      4      1      5      7     12     NR     NR
SUNY College of Environmental Science       14     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
SUNY Purchase College                       13      8     12     NR     14     12     15     NR     19     20
University of California Santa Barbara      NR     20     NR     NR     NR     NR     20     NR     NR     NR
University of California Santa Cruz         NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     13     14
University of Central Florida               NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     14     NR     NR
University of North Carolina Ashville       NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     17     NR     NR     NR
University of Puget Sound                   NR     NR     NR     15     11     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR
University of Toronto                       NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     16     NR     NR     NR     NR
University of Vermont                       12      9     NR     18     19     20     NR     20     NR     NR
Vassar College                              NR     NR     NR      8      6      6     NR     NR     17     11
Warren Wilson College                       18     11     10     20     15     17      5     10     18     19
Wesleyan University (CT)                     7      6      7     NR     NR     13     13     NR     NR     13
Whitman College                              6     13     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR     NR

So, for the title of the thread, if we take PR’s tree hugging vegetarian list as a proxy for “out-there”-ness, then it appears that Reed wins that part of the battle.

[Lindagaf]

Reed is known to be very intellectual and intense.

Grinnell is known to be more arty and creative, though still academically rigorous.

I think if your goal is to have a highly intellectual college experience, engaging in debate with students and professors, etc… Reed seems best for that. If your goal is to have a “classic” LAC experience based on quirky individualism, perhaps Grinnell is better for that.

I’m getting the sense that Reed is a better fit for you, mostly based on the fact that you aren’t prioritizing location. If you can handle the intensity of Reed, I suspect you will like it.

[rosered55]

There are strong political and religious conservative movements in the state of Iowa. However, the president of Grinnell is a married gay man with two children. Depending on your political and religious beliefs, one or the other of these might entice you or bother you.

[Andrew2199]

@ccoolleeggeess You mention you’ve visited both and can’t decide. I recommend visiting both again. Now that you have been admitted, you will see things through fresh eyes and learn more about each. After that, trust your intuition and pick based on fit.

A side note on Reed/Grinnell alumni discussion above. Steve Jobs spent a year at Reed. Not as well known is that Jobs was later a Trustee at Grinnell. I read Warren Buffet’s biography The Snowball recently. Warren Buffett was also a Grinnell Trustee at the same time and the biography spent a surprising amount of time on the influence of Grinnell on Buffett and his social views (Buffett attended Penn, Nebraska and Columbia). It also described some interesting meetings of the Grinnell Trustee subcommittee on endowment investments, which was composed of:

• Warren Buffett
• Steve Jobs
• Robert Noyce (Grinnell alum, inventor if the integrated circuit, founder of Intel, "mayor" of Silicon Valley)
• Joe Rosenfield (Grinnell alum, billionaire, Warren Buffet's mentor...also a key figure in the biography)

From your visit to Grinnell, you probably remember the Noyce Science Building and Joe Rosenfield Center (JRC, which houses the dining hall).

Unsurprisingly, Grinnell did very well on their investments during this period.

[Ghostt]

Commitment to enrolling and funding international students (non-resident aliens) is also a point of differentiation.

According to their 2016-2017 CDS Grinnell’s non-resident alien enrollment was 304 out of a total enrollment of 1699, or 18%. For 2017-2018 Reed enrolled 146 NRAs out of a total enrollment of 1415 or 10%.
Grinnell spent $8 Million on financial aid to internationals; 73% received aid. Reed spent $2.5 Million; 32% received aid.

The disparity of these figures would imply that Grinnell places much greater emphasis on the importance of international voices in and out of the classroom than Reed does.

I was an international student on financial aid at Reed and a friend of mine was an international student on financial aid at Grinnell. Another friend of ours was rejected from Reed and admitted to Grinnell with insufficient financial aid. Reed meets the full need of all international admits. Grinnell does not.

In any case, Reed’s international student services office is great and takes amazing care of the international student body, placing students with local host families, holding many informal and formal events, providing personal mentorship and support, networking, etc. If your only investment in Reed’s international students is as ‘voices’ that will help you earn diversity training points by existing in the same vicinity as you, then sure, Reed has fewer of them than Grinnell. But as a former international student at Reed I can tell you I felt valued enough, personally (and received a ton of aid).